Mass Start Swim Box End

So...this happened today...

A 3.8k swim at Box End lake where I have swum many times before.  This was a fairly last minute decision to enter after enjoying myself last weekend at Rutland.  It's a good venue if not spectacular and 3.8k is 3 laps.  Conditions were very bumpy on the return half of each loop so the overall time was pretty slow (1:04:32) but it's good to have a bit of a challenge.  During the first lap I had several other girls pretty close to me, but as the race carried on, I was able to put more and more space between myself and them.  My arms were still a little sore after PT on Wednesday (I don't know what the muscles are in one's elbow creases but they hurt!) and started to feel very heavy on the third lap but I felt that I finished strongly.  I feel like my technique is a little bit off though.  My Mum came to watch and hold my towel which was nice as Mr JKS is away cycling today.

So, next week is my big race of the season, the Fuschlsee Crossing in Austria.  I'm not expecting to come out very high up as the race is part of the Austrian cup so there will be lots of very fast swimmers there (the fastest times were about 52 minutes for women last year - for 4.2k!) but I'm hoping for beautiful scenery and a nice day :)

Personal Training

This isn't a post that I could have imagined writing!  I now have a personal trainer and am paid up for 20 sessions until Christmas!

As I've written recently, I have had problems with a wonky knee which probably stem back to a weak glute on the right hand side.  Rest and massage haven't fixed it so it is time for some more drastic measures - building up the glute and other asssociated muscles (adductors etc) - in the hope that I'll be able to get back to running longer distances again.  (It's a bit soul destroying after all the running earlier in the year - I am desperate to do a half marathon again).   I've also finally recieved a payout for my broken wrist of February 2014 and the "treat" portion of it is being used on the PT (ha!).  I asked around and got a recommendation for a girl at a local university gym which happens to be 5 minutes drive from work.  I went along for an initial session and we got on pretty well and I felt like she could help me to get the results that I need.  She has an endurance running background so although she doesn't know a thing about swimming, she is able to support me in my running goals.  So, to take advantage of a bulk discount I ended up booking 20 sessions for the incredibly reasonable price of £450.

Sessions have involved squats and lunges and using a bar and hand weights and all sorts of things I've never really done before.  The pilates style core moves are at least familiar, but most of it is new and fresh which so far makes it very interesting and enjoyable.  It's certainly hard work and my legs are wobbling by the end of it and the DOMS afterwards is really quite spectacular.  Ouch.

[I should note that my side goal is to get me some defined biceps and I am super excited about that #vain].

Swim Rutland 4K

Today saw me swimming in England's largest reservoir in the country's smallest county for a swim.  Rutland water!  It's about two hours away from JKS HQ so we went most of the way up last night via dinner with Mum JKS and then stayed in the Corby Premier Inn (such comfy bed, so hard to leave it at 5.30am!).

It's a shame that it wasn't more sunny as it all looked a bit grey but it was a lovely venue with lots of water! There was a 2k race and a 4k.  The 4k was an out and back and the 2k was just the back, which involved swimmers getting a boat to the other side.  Registration was quick and easy and instead of a t-shirt we were given a kit bag to put kit in during the swim.  There was a small delay in setting off as it had taken a long time for everyone to get on site but soon we were all in the water.  And there were a lot of people!  There must have been about 250-300 people.

Everyone set out very hard as is always the way and this is the bit of a race that I always hate, busting a gut to try to keep up.  After a bit it always settles down into a rhythym and for me I can start to try to pick people off a bit (as I don't have the top end speed).  It wasn't a straight across swim, we swam out to a headland and then across to the church following some buoys.  I was a little concerned as the 2K from the other side was due to set off 30 minutes after the 4k which was just before I was expecting to reach the other side.  As we approached, I could see all of the 2k swimmers in the water waiting.  But luckily, it must have been slightly delayed as we got around the corner before they set off.  Slight technical hitch for me as I tried to do a corkscrew turn around the buoy, getting tangled up in the compulsory towfloat.  As we approached the last quarter of the swim, it got very choppy indeed which was both fun and annoying at the same time.

Out of the water and I had no idea what time I had done as I hadn't bothered to look at my watch or start the timer.  I was hoping to be under 1h10 (I could probably comfortably swim 1h6 or 7 in the pool but OW conditions can often slow down) and Mr JKS says that  it was ~63 minutes on the watch.  The woman at the finish said that I was 5th lady back which is good given the size of the field (I checked the start list and 156 women had entered).  So all in all very pleasing.  I've decided to swim next weekend at Box End (3.8k) to practice the pace again ahead of the Fuschlsee Crossing the following weekend.

Swim Trek Slovenia

I didn't blog about my annual trip to Tenerife this year but I did have a lot of fun with my two friends H and F whilst I was there.  So much so, that by the Monday after we had got back, H and I had booked a swimming trip to Slovenia.  We went last weekend and had a great time.

The trip was with SwimTrek and you can see the itinerary here which I'm not going to rehash in this blog post, just share a few thoughts.

Slovenia was an incredibly beautiful and unspoilt country.  Fabulous mountains and astounding lakes.   I got to see a good amount of the country and I definitely want to go back there with Mr JKS for a more relaxing break.  I found that the trip itself was quite full on - not so much in terms of the swimming, which was around 4k a day - there was a lot packed in, and as an introvert I struggled with the large amount of time spent in a group.  I don't think that totally puts me off going on another SwimTrek as the advantage is that you are able to do things which would be difficult to organise on your own.  The Slovenian Guides in particular were fantastic, both in the kayaks and driving the vans and telling us about the things that we were passing.  It was fab spending time with Super H and we had a good laugh!

Here are some photos of the places that we went to.

On a very hot day, spent mostly travelling around in a mini bus, we did a 20 minute walk to this amazing waterfall.  The water was so cold but it was really refreshing!  That's me to the bottom left of the picture, to give you an idea of scale.

Malcolm the bear by Lake Bohinj

Lake Bohinj.  We stayed adjacent to this lake and swam the length of it on the last day - 4k.

This is Lago Del Predil, a lake just over the border in Italy.  It was incredible swimming in such a beautiful place.

This is Lake Bled where we swam on the first day.  Lovely and warm.

Anda view over Lake Bled.

Lock to Lock Swims

The other swim events that I have done this year have been the Swim Oxford Lock to Lock Swims.  They are a new company who launched with a 4k swim last year which Super H did and really enjoyed.  This year they are running a 4k, 6k and 10k event.  As the events start less than 10 minutes drive from JKS HQ, it seems silly not to enter!

The first event was the 4k in mid June.  This involved swimming from Eynsham Lock down to Kings Lock. I felt a bit frustrated as I couldn't keep up with the front pack and was quite some way from the second pack so it was quite a lonely swim.  I was also still suffering from a chest infection and had to stop to cough my lungs up a couple of times.  On the plus side, armed with my prescription swimming goggles, I was able to sight around the bends of the river very easily.  There had been an enormous amount of rain in the week prior to the event and the river was flowing incredibly fast.  So much so that I was actually surprised to be being ushered out at the finish!  I doubt very much I'll ever swim 4k in under 52 minutes again...  I was pleased to discover later that I was the 3rd woman to finish (although there was only a prize for first).

In mid July it was back for the 6k event.  This time we started in the same place at Eynsham Lock and began with the same 4k stretch of the river.  I felt incredibly lethargic on this swim and found it hard to feel like I was going at the pace I wanted to.  There were more faster swimmers than on the previous 4k and it was hard not to feel disheartened.  As the river wasn't flowing quite so fast, it took a little longer to reach Kings Lock, but only a couple of minutes.  Then it was out of the river for about 200m walk past the lock to get back in and finish off.  On the walk, I was able to catch up with the group of swimmers that I'd been trying to catch up with all swim, and then had some company for the last leg, which really helped.  The final leg was *very* short, there was absolutely no way that that was another 2k.  The swimmer who got out ahead of me had 5.25k on her watch which sounded more realistic.  (Super H did manage to achieve 6k on her watch, but she's not always the best at sighting!).  This time I was 6th back.

All in all very well organised and friendly.  The organiser recognised me (presumably from facebook) before the 6k and said hello and then remembered my name when I got out at the 4k mark.  I don't really eat cake (Mr JKS ate mine) but there is a huge array of amazing looking cake at the finish and very cheerful ladies serving it who give everyone a cheer as they finish.  There was also peppermint tea and bananas and I got a jelly baby at the get out point of the 6k.

I really need to get some longer swims in ahead of the 10k.  Obviously I'm totally capable of 10k but I have not really been swimming further than 4k recently and I'd like to have the stamina so that I can properly enjoy it!

Seahorse Swim Dorset

You wait for ages for a blog post and then three come along at once.  At least, that's the plan as I have three that need to be written!  I have a shiny new laptop on loan so there is no excuse.

First up is a swim that I did at the start of July, the 3.8k Seahorse Swim from Studland beach in Dorset.  Mr JKS and I decided to make a mini break out of it and had a lovely afternoon in Dorchester (where we visited the Teddy Bear Museum, the Dinosaur Museum and bought some Dorset Knobs), and a night in Weymouth before getting to Studland on the Sunday morning.

I'd had a slightly mixed run up to the event.  I was swimming incredibly well on the Wednesday before.  Then on Wednesday afternoon I went KneeBoarding for the first time.  This was great fun but after only 3 goes, my arms felt like they were about to fall out of their sockets, so I sat and watched for the rest of the session.  Unfortunately, the day after, my arms were totally shot to pieces.  I'd been looking forward to a tuning up massage but instead, Jo had to try to make my arms move even a little bit.  I got grumpier and grumpier as Sunday approached and even the morning of the race saw Mr JKS trying to ease my triceps.

I got into the water not having particularly high hopes for success.  I'm never especially fast in the sea and with arms that didn't quite pull properly I felt especially underwhelmed.  However, I wanted to give it my best shot and I did.  There were 2 diamond shaped laps, with pretty equal legs for each side of the diamond, although there was obviously a bit of current/wind in one direction.  I swam as hard as I could and really put my head down for the final leg in.  I exited the water in around 1h5 feeling pretty pleased with myself as I had given it my best shot.

There were lots of very fast and experienced sea swimmers there, mostly swimming without wetsuits, so it was difficult to know where I had finished.  We were in a hurry to get off as Mr JKS needed to do a long run in the afternoon.

The next day I was looking online to see if the finish times were available to confirm the time that I thought that I had done.  As I scanned through the race report here to get to the bit with the results on, I suddenly to my surprise spotted my name!  Although I had been slow by some standards, it turned out that I was actually the fastest westsuit female!  (I would like to note that my time was TWELVE minutes slower than the fastest non wetsuit female).  I emailed and apologised profusely to the organisers and it turned out that I had won a crystal trophy.  Luckily I have an amazing friend who is a courier and he happened to be in Dorset the following week and very kindly picked it up for me.

A catch up on swimming

Well, this is supposed to be a swimming blog...so as promised a post to catch up a bit on my swimming.  Swimming was rather neglected earlier in the year - there were weeks when I wasn't even hitting 20km in the water - and I definitely felt a bit off my game.  Not surprising when my body was so tired from the marathon training!

Masters swimming
After the marathon, I joined the local masters club.  I'd wanted to join them before but they only had one session a week, which was 8-9pm on a weeknight, which just didn't work for me.  There is no way I would sleep after swimming that late at night!  However, this year they introduced a second session on a Sunday 6-7pm.  It happens 3-4 times a month (the other session in the month, the pool is used for lifeguard training) and in general I'm making it along 2-3 times a month.  It is a very quiet session, so plenty of coach attention.  We generally do a mixed strokes warm up of about 1k which is fun and different for me, and then we either do some stroke development (I totally loved the 2 weeks that we spent practising backstroke) or some front crawl fitness work.  I love having a bit of sociable swimming and even though I never feel like going out at 6pm on a Sunday night, I always come back having enjoyed it.  I think just a little bit of fitness work reminds me to swim faster and I feel like I'm noticing some improvements.

Start of the openwater swimming season
I haven't really done so much openwater swimming this season because there hasn't been a huge imperative for me to get in and get on with it.  I've been very busy and tired and so lie ins on Sunday mornings have been more important! I started my season by attempting a 3.8k swim at Box End at the end of April.  It was very cold and I decided to get out after 1.2k as it was just not sensible to continue and this year I have no need to absolutely push myself.  I was a bit grumpy because I am pretty sure that I could have completed a 1500m and I was overly cocky choosing the 3.8k!

Lake District swimming
In the lakes twice in the space of just over a fortnight and I was lucky enough to get in 3 amazing swims.  I had a lovely swim in Rydal Water in May. I'd never swum there before and it was simply incredible to be swimming in this lake all by myself surrounded by wonderful scenery (Mr JKS watched from the bank with the binoculars).  In June, Mr JKS and I did a nice swim in Coniston, crossing the lake and swimming to "Wild Cat Island" and back (probably about a mile in total).  The next day, I abandoned paddleboarding half way through the session to have a swim in Derwentwater which was also pretty good.  I'd like to swim the length of that at some point.

Lock to Lock 4k
Finally, I took part in this very local swim ten days ago.  It was pretty well organised and the fastest 4k I've ever swum, thanks to the gallons and gallons of water rushing down the river after all of the rain in the preceding week!  I came in at under 52 minutes and was very surprised to get to the end so fast, it didn't seem like nearly enough swimming.  I was 3rd woman back which was nice although a shame that there were only prizes for 1st!  I'm signed up to do the 6k in a couple of weeks and the 10k in September.