I genuinely had no goals for this season apart from to get back to running half marathons in the Autumn. It was way too risky to book anything not knowing how my delivery would go or how I would be coping afterwards. However, shortly after I got back in the pool post-G, Keri-Anne asked me if I was planning to get back in the openwater this season. I wasn’t - since two way Windermere in 2015 I’ve really got over long swimming. But it did get me thinking. Goals have always been helpful with helping me cope with the day to day. Ullswater has long been on my “list” as the second longest lake in the Lake District. I contacted Colin (who took my first one way Windermere and my two way Windermere and who I can rely on to make me feel safe and to get the best swim out of me) to see if he had any availability and he had one date free! Hooray! So I booked some accommodation, Ken booked a day off work and that was that. I’ve been struggling quite a bit with my mental health in the last month but this swim has really given me something to focus my thoughts on and keep me going much to the utter delight/total bewilderment of the various people from the mental health team.
In terms of training, I did not manage to train in any sort of way like I used to. I swam 5-6 mornings a week before Ken left for work or with Monday creche managing about 4K a time. But I felt confident that with back to back swims I had the 7 mile distance in me. I did that Lock to Lock 10k in mid July which was a bit of a confidence booster although it’s not the same as swimming a straight 10k in a lake as you get out and there is assistance from the flow. I managed to get to the lake on a Sunday morning 3 times (2x7k, 1x8k) and I wore my thinswim there rather than my actual wetsuit because the lake is a lot warmer than Ullswater. The temperature was the one thing making me worry, especially when four days before my swim I found out that it was going to be 15-16C. I lost a lot of weight in the first trimester which didn’t seem to be compensated for by baby weight as a week after giving birth I was still a couple of kg lighter than I was before getting pregnant and I am 5kg less than when I did 2 way Windermere. There was some panic eating of Emmental in the last week and I could not decide whether to post the tracker on social media or not.
The one thing I did notice being different with regards to training was about fuelling. Previously I have done a ton of fasted training and done really well with that - this time I noticed that I started to run out of energy a lot quicker. I think this is because I was not able to do fasted training whilst pregnant so my body is not used to it anymore. This didn’t really worry me as I stocked up the boat supplies with lots of sugar (orange squash, gingerbread biscuits, dolly mixtures, hot chocolate - all tried and tested on past swims, although in the end I only had the drinks)
Support crew. Clearly Ken was going to need to take care of G who is too small to wear a bouyancy aid (and it’s jjst not fair to subject a tiny baby to the extreme weather conditions on a boat). Luckily Katie lives 45 minutes from Ullswater and likes boat trips and was free so kindly agreed to come and throw bananas at me. She’d not done anything like this before but is a scientist so I wrote a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), she asked some sensible questions and we were sorted.
The two previous swims with Colin had their date changed at last minute due to the weather so I have anxiously been watching Wind guru all week and haven’t been able to believe the predicted forecast - barely any wind at all. You can see this from the photos - the water was like a mirror. Absolutely perfect conditions.
Getting into the water felt cold. The Glenridding end of the lake is much colder as fed by a river but Colin promised me that I would be swimming into warmer water (ha 16C)(no, not really THAT cold in swimmy terms but cold when you have not been able to acclimitise and are a bit low on body fat). The first hour was very tough with cold - my feet were like little blocks of ice. But I made good progress.The sun was also rising and once that came up from behind the hills that started to warm my back.
The swim itself was stunningly beautiful. Since Windermere in 2015 I have moved to prescription goggles which meant I could see a lot of the east side of the lake (the west side being obscured by the boat). The lake seemed very quiet apart from a few steamers and some paddleboarders (quite a contrast with how busy the villages at each end were on a bank holiday Saturday).
I fed three times, on each hour. Two lots of warm orange squash which gave me a much needed carb boost and one warm chocolate which I kind of regretted even though I had been looking forward to it. The swim went by very fast with these “breaks” and Katie showed me signs for each km.
Ken and G had gone off for breakfast at a lakeside hotel about a mile from the finish. Katie was able to spot them from the boat and held up a sign but i couldn’t quite see them. Shortly after this as we approached the finish, I could see Katie and Colin being greatly entertained by something, and I looked up to see Katia (a friend from the lake in Oxford) on her paddle board on the other side of the boat! She had business to do up here and I knew she was hoping to get there for the end of the swim but I did not expect to see her on a paddle board! This was fab as I was accompanied in for the last half hour by a flotilla! It made for a lovely atmosphere. When we got to the jetty, Ken and the pram were on the side and there was a whole queue of people waiting for the steamer who gave me a round of applause. It was an excellent finish. G woke up for me to be able to pick her up and give her a damp cuddle.
My arms were pretty tired afterwards but not too bad. I was a little disappointed with my time given that the conditions were so good but reviewing the footage of the swim I can clearly see that my stroke needs some work on it. I suspect the cold also did not help.
Katie, Katia, Ken and I were all able to regroup afterwards in a cafe at the starting end of the lake for lunch which was lovely. Especially as Katia held G so that Ken and I both got to eat our lunch whilst it was hot! We can’t remember when we both ate a meal at the same time.
I’ve always felt very lucky to be supported by lots of people when I swim but I felt especially lucky yesterday as I really did need a whole team of people to make it happen. Colin continues to be an excellent guide who can manage to look encouraging and smiley for hours on end. Katie did an amazing job on the feeds and communication and also taking some spectacular photos (the bonus was that my phone has a picture of G on the back which I could see every time she held it up for a photo!). Ken looked after G (which I would expect him to do as he is also her parent...but he has been AMAZING on the early mornings when I go out for my swim which is not his favourite time of day). Seeing Katia who was the first person to know about my Ullswater plans and having her get some brilliant photos too was just the icing on the cake.
