It's over....

Well today must be the worst of my life so far....
My swim buddy has pulled out of Blenheim Palace swim and Eton Dorney 5k...
I am gutted, so gutted that I can't even be bothered with swimming any more
My life is so full of let downs and this is just one more.
So signing off...not that I think anyone reads these posts anyway.

7th July ~ Swimming in Fordingbridge Lake

I had made myself a promise the last time I was at Fordingbridge that I would attempt a 5k swim...just so that I would know that I could do it. Now I know I can, as I have done it in the pool...but I needed to be sure that I could do it in open water in a wetsuit :)

Today I received the lovely gift of a pink poolmate:

Another Gadget to learn how to work!!

Now although the name does imply that it is for use in the pool you can time your laps in open water too....!!

Fordingbridge is a 650m circuit so I worked out I needed to do 8 laps plus another 100m .......and now I am writing this and questioning my maths...and the maths of my Oxford graduate in mathematics, swim buddy :)....or perhaps I am tired or my brain is just not functioning...anyway I am off to ask Mr Google the size of the lake..lol 

Well back now and it's definitely 650m...so 5k would have been 7 laps plus another 450m. But Mark and I actually did 8 laps and another 100m..lol Oh dear, we are not very clever are we???

The uspide to the miscalculation is that we did it in 2hours...so our time would have been under 2 hours if we had worked it out correctly...so there is always a bonus!!

Here is a panoramic view of the lake:

Each lap was completed in under 15 minutes, and there was a bit of rest time to add in too, but in all it was 2 hours with the rests included...so happy with that and of course it means that in my head I now know I can do it....thank you Mark !!

An evening at the New Forest Water Park ~ Monday 23rd June

Tonight I spent the evening at the New Forest Water Park at Fordingbridge. I have to say this is probably the best one around! The setting is beautiful and the facilities are good...nice hot showers and somewhere to buy a drink (alcoholic or otherwise) and have a cooked meal! The large lake tonight was closed, which was a bit disappointing, and we had to swim in the smaller lake. It wasn't very pleasant getting in...I'm always afraid of falling in or slipping up. But there was a friendly helping hand from a fellow swimmer to aid the entry...very gallant I must say!!

This has to have been the best swim I have done in open water this year, although less than a month since my visit to Eastleigh Lake...I feel I have improved immensely. There was some discussion as to how distance of a circuit of this smaller lake, but in the end the general opinion was 250m. I did do about 12 circuits, one in skins! (not allowed but hey it was a beautifully hot evening!)

Mark was trying to teach me to sight...but I can't get the hang of it...I will just have to practice, practice, practice!! As with all things eventually it all falls into place and you wonder how you ever couldn't do them in the first place. I have 3 weeks until my first event..The Bournemouth Pier to Pier which is 1.4 miles in the sea. 2.25km. I am hoping to do it in around an hour. I am trying to get as much sea swimming in as possible, in order to cope with waves, tides etc.

But tonights training was excellent...beautiful surroundings...next time...CAMPING!!!

Petersfield Lido Thursday 5th June

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day and in the evening I travelled to Petersfield Lido and enjoyed an evening outdoor swim with my friend Mark...who is also an inspirational 10k swimmer! I managed to do approximately 70 lengths before getting the most awful cramp in my thigh....it has to be the most painful I've had as I couldn't relieve it by standing up...the swim was very restful actually as there is just something about swimming outdoors but in a heated pool!! Lovely, beautiful and very very pleasant...so was the company and the ladies running it were a fantastic duo too. Very friendly place..Well worth a visit!