IISA 5TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023 - Part 2

 

A snapshot of my IISA jumper (new)...

With the excitement of beling selected to represent Great Britain in the World Championships still in the front of my mind, I immediately went out and bought new stationery because, well lists... and thanks to my lists, within the day I had all the essentials sorted: flights and accommodation booked, transfers organised, a medical booked, insurance sorted and signed off as complete with a big highlighted tick with my highlighter pen... also new. 

In the interest of honesty, the above was achieved relatively quickly and seamlessly, which gave me plenty of time to move on to other essential items I would need to get, like a new swimming costume for starters. Something I felt the occasion warranted. This would no doubt take more time, as carefull consideration was required if I were to find one with a pattern that said, without words, that I was representing GB and I have done this by swimming in exceptionally cold water. I wasn't entirely sure that there was a costume out there that could say such a thing as it was quite a niche message really, however I felt that a huge Union flag emblazoned across it would, in part, achieve this AND it's not like I would never wear it again after the event... I can say with certainty that I will be wearing it at absolutely every opportunity, and probably not just for swimming - if it's at all possible to get away with it. It needed to firstly comply with the IISA rules, but also had to be zipless (once bitten, twice shy. I am refering to the horrid pool exit once when a costume with a zip spectacularly malfunctioned) and very importantly, that it covers everything it needs to - I would prefer neck to ankle, which would 100% rule out the possibility of a mid-swim exposure incident, however rules are rules, and above the knee was as long as was officially allowed. 

Time and thought also went into researching other important factors, such as new snow boots, new fleece lined hat, new, official IISA jumper, hand warmers, feet warmers (which are an actual thing), fleecy jumpers, skiing gloves that would not be used for skiing (I do not have the knees, or the inclination for it), but as they say, when in Rome... and a hot water bottle, also new... In addition to this, and something I honestly cannot believe that I will need to pack in my 'essential' list is an umbrella, after my research uncovered the rather unexpected, and completely unbelievable fact that it in January in Samoens it actually rains for 6.5 days a week! 

I confess, as I read this list back to myself, it did sound a bit over the top, as well as expensive, however, I should add that having spashed out on most of the aforementioned (I couldn't bring myself to buy feet warmers - a decision I hope I wouldn't regret), I did manage to absorb the cost of the new costume I was yet to purchase. I was able to achieve this with the multiple discounts I had been offered if I entered my e-mail for their mailing lists, and in return they also all promised to keep me updated with future new products and offers, which at first sounded very appealing, however 2 days in, and there seems to be a lot of them, and when I say a lot I am not exaggerating when I conservatively put the number in my inbox to be near eleventy billion notifications already. When my hunt for the perfect costume is over I will unsubscribe from them all, but in the meantime, I shall leave them there on the off chance that I don't miss that offer for that perfect costume. I feel I would regret not being inundated if I didn't... 

Thanks for reading. Next week's blog promises to include actual swimming and includes some of the concerns that my first 'meaningful' swim brought to light. There were a few, and for more frequent, and shorter updates, please follow me on Instagram. 

IISA 5TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023 here I come!!!

 

Earlier this week I found out, via a pretty offiial looking e-mail, that I had been offered a place on the GB squad at the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) 5TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS taking place in January in France (I must add, I had to qualify for this, and in some awfully cold water as well). My immediate jubilation and swiftly followed by feeling mostly overwhelmed, scared (actually more terrified than scared), apprehensive and completely out of my depth (no swim pun intended - but if one fits...).  I have no-one to blame but myself, after all, when you enter something, whether it's the Wimbledon ballot (still waiting for lady luck to shine on me after several long years of trying) or the North American Wife Carrying Championships (not entered for several reasons, including a motion sickness issue), there is a chance (Wimbledon being the exception), that you could get in. And so here I am, completely and utterly delighted and terrified at the same time.

The realty did not take long to sink in, and I realised I felt ill prepared for such an important event and needed to immediately formulate a training plan, after all, if I had been picked, I really needed to prove I was worth the place, but first I needed to call The Swim Buddy for some words of wisdom and sage advice. After congratulating me, she told me to pull myself together and start (and this is a direct quote) "getting my sh*t together," adding that to ensure that I did this, despite declaring that she would not be swimming through the winter on account that the water was "a bit too nippy" for her, she would accompany me to the lake, and on the days she couldn't she would be enlisting the eyes and ears of Leon Fryer as a stand in...We both agreed that the former option was the lesser of the two evils, and agreed to meet at the lake the following day for a team talk, take a couple of photos to document my journey and some serious planning. I informed her this would be a more productive discussion if proper refreshments were available, by which I inferred her delicious, and legendary, lemon drizzle cake. By all accounts - well hers actually - to make this happen, she had spent the whole of the evening driving round 3 supermarkets hunting down a particular brand of Sicilian lemon oil...well worth it I felt, after I decided that only eating the finest ingredients from now on in would be an essential part of my training - I should add that I consider ALL chocolate to be in the 'finest ingredients' category.

The swim buddy and I arrived at the lake all kitted out for a dip. Me with my hot water bottle, towel and CROCS (gws) and The Swim Buddy, meaning business, with massive note book, several coloured highlighters, clip board, cake tin and a Nikon Z9 round her neck. I was unsure whether David Bailey would miss this impressive, and I would have though essential, piece of kit, which The Swim Bud disguarded rather quickly, citing a severe neck strain, as well as the need to consult with her online camera instruction guru (Google) for ensuring she got the perfect shot... it was 25 minutes before she finally felt able to achieve this, during which time I had happily entertained myself with some extensive cake trials.

Finally, after much faffing whilst The Swim Buddy captured the moment, once in the water I realised that the milder autumn weather had also meant that the water would too be warmer than it would normally be. I was torn, on one hand it was lovely to get in for a refreshing, and dare I say long (well, 1,000 metre) swim, however this also meant that it was nowhere near the 2oc it would be in France in January. There was nothing I could do to change this. Once I was out I mentioned this concern to The Swim Buddy, imagine my surprise when she suggested I look at the notes she had made on several options for cold dips at home in case summer decided to extend into winter, including; an old bath, chest freezer (I hold Merthyr Mermaid responsible for this suggestion), a wheelie bin (cleaned) and several purpose built ice tubs. This much research lead me to suspect that The Swim Buddy had not spent as much time looking for lemon oil as she first said she had, however I was not complaining, she had a point. I needed as much cold exposure as I could get... 

and in the interest of losing anyone's attention by the blog being too long, there'll be more in the next blog. 

Always, there's more and frequent posts on Instagram if you care to follow... 🙏