Every week for the last month I had planned to swim a mile in the open water, and every week for the last month, for one reason or another, I still hadn’t managed it. I was all too aware that the six hour qualifying swim Coach had entered me for was coming up in a matter of weeks, and what little time I actually had spent in the open water swimming so far, was not enough, to put my mind at rest, that I would manage to stay in anywhere near as long as I needed to (I had planned on four hours). Regardless of any reasons why I hadn't achieved any great distance, or time in the open water so far, Coach told me it was really important to swim the qualifier as part of my training plan. Basically, I would be swimming. He also warned me in advance that excuses I may think of coming up with to not do it, like an inland lake sea fret, freshwater shark sighting or a bad CBA attitude were not going to be accepted! As if I would think of any so far in advance, I've just never been that organised!
As fortune had it, the forecast today (and the whole weekend as it went) was hot, hot, hot! The sun was out, and the water temperature was improving. I did have some very high hopes of it reaching tropical temperatures in time for my swim, but unfortunately wishful thinking alone did not help to elevate the temperatures into the twenties, it was a good way off at 12.1oc. Nonetheless, it was a good 2oc warmer than last week. It was warming nicely, which at this rate, by my calculation, meant by the time the qualifying swim came around, I probably would be better dressed in a bikini rather than a wetsuit. I would have everything crossed for this to actually be the case. As this unfortunately wasn't the case today, I opted to wear everything I could to give me some extra insulation, including rash vest and socks, because after a chat with Leon (SYS), it was decided that I really needed to be staying in the lake and swimming for a full hour, and would benefit from the bit of extra insulation they would offer... which also happened to take forever to get everything on, so at least doing a longer swim would make all the effort worth while.
As fortune had it, the forecast today (and the whole weekend as it went) was hot, hot, hot! The sun was out, and the water temperature was improving. I did have some very high hopes of it reaching tropical temperatures in time for my swim, but unfortunately wishful thinking alone did not help to elevate the temperatures into the twenties, it was a good way off at 12.1oc. Nonetheless, it was a good 2oc warmer than last week. It was warming nicely, which at this rate, by my calculation, meant by the time the qualifying swim came around, I probably would be better dressed in a bikini rather than a wetsuit. I would have everything crossed for this to actually be the case. As this unfortunately wasn't the case today, I opted to wear everything I could to give me some extra insulation, including rash vest and socks, because after a chat with Leon (SYS), it was decided that I really needed to be staying in the lake and swimming for a full hour, and would benefit from the bit of extra insulation they would offer... which also happened to take forever to get everything on, so at least doing a longer swim would make all the effort worth while.
I asked Leon to not let me out before the hour was up unless I was either showing sign of hypothermia, or he saw me approaching the shoreline at neck breaking speed, which was the sign that I was being pursued by a huge shoal of giant limb eating fish, or my nemesis swan, and in either case, he was not only to let me out (and quickly), but he was to actually throw himself in the path of the pursuing wildlife, selflessly sparing his own life for me, if it came to it.
The swim wasn’t about speed, it was about time spent in the water, and so had planned to swim very much at a more stately pace than usual around the larger lap (800m), which was open for the first time this year. I admit I was feeling a little nervous. Don’t get me wrong, I was perfectly capable of swimming the distance, but as of yet hadn’t actually swam more than 1,000m in the lake this year due to the lower water temperatures (and partly due to an over active imagination), and I’ll be honest, the thought of swimming round the large lap on my own, despite the several other swimmers already being in, was worrying me. Not from a safety point of view, as I could see the several spotters on the side, and the safety boat was on the water, but more because there was some debris on and in the water from the recent rain, and usually I would be swimming with my swim buddy Shark – really, really closely, and she usually calmed me down during swims where I may encounter objects during our swims, and if there was an actual real fish of any significant size (by which I mean bigger than a finger nail), Shark would too swim at neck breaking speed to get away. If she did this, that was my cue, and I was right with her, or slightly ahead, if she wasn’t too fast in her getaway! Unfortunately, Shark was unable to make it today, as she had (yet another) prior engagement that was happening between 8 and 10 on a Saturday morning, the exact same time that the lake was open for swimming… I called B.S, and told her that I thought it was all very coincidental that when I’ve asked her to come to the lake (every Saturday morning since February), her diary happened to be busier than our Prime Ministers. Whilst she claimed this was sheer fluke, she assured me that her diary would definitely be much quieter once the water temperature started with a number 2 and was in double figures…
It was unusual for me to get in without something happening. Getting in usually involved endless faffing about, stubbing a toe, seeing a tadpole blocking my entry or tripping up (followed by falling in), but today I was unexpectedly seamless. I felt rather smug and set off on my first big loop of the year feeling hopeful that it would be incident free… and it was, and despite my hands being a bit chilly, I opted to do a second loop, followed by a third, and then a small lap. It was on the third lap that I had a small panic moment when I swam face first (obviously) into a brown leafy looking object, and in the frenzy that followed, managed to dislodge my goggles and swallow a nasty mouthful of cold water. Once I had repositioned them and calmed down, on closer inspection, the brown leafy looking object turned out to be an actual brown leaf. In my defence, it was huge and very close up, it was sort of fish shaped…
As I approached the shoreline, I felt quite jubilant, because despite the leaf incident, the upshot was that I had swam 3 big loops and 1 small one, without my swim buddy, and without needing to use the safety boat. I’d like to add here, in the interest of honesty, I noticed that the safety boat did suddenly appear in the very near vicinity mid leaf attack, but obviously realised I wasn’t in any immediate danger from it, and left me to it, for which I was quite grateful really. I’d have felt like a bit of a berk if I’d been rescued! Anyhow, I did indeed swim a mile and some, in fact I swam a total of 2,706 metres in a time of 58 minutes and 24 seconds, and although Leon didn’t check on how long I had been in, I took the liberty of rounding it up to an hour regardless.
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| The lake at Hatfield looking its best |
My elevated spirits lasted right up until I got into the shower. I felt less elevated when the warm water hit my neck and I realised that a lot of my neck and jaw were very sore and very, very red, and all thanks to my wetsuit, because although I had prepared for the cold, I hadn't prepared for my wetsuit to rub (This was not a new thing for me. Happened a lot). For some unknown reason I hadn't put on some essential Glide, which some, and I include myself in this, may consider a rookie error, and completely stupid, because as a result of it, now I would need to spend the rest of this scorching hot weekend wearing a scarf, to cover up the marks that could so easily be mistaken for something else…
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