2 Weeks to 2 Way Windermere

With two weeks to go until Two Way Windermere, and an e-mail from Coach asked that I do two things.


1) Look after myself and stay well for the next two weeks.
2) Follow the training plan to the letter and do NOT over train.

Unfortunately, neither happened because the following morning I woke up feeling decidedly under the weather. I couldn't believe it. I'd been training for this swim since October of last year, and I had been so careful about staying healthy. I'd even given up sugar (yes, including my beloved Jaffa Cakes, and believe me, no-one was more shocked than I) and had been researching and trialing the best foods for my swim. The foods that would (hopefully) sustain me through my training and also throughout my swim. I had taken a Berocca daily, along with multivitamins and probiotics and some special vitamins that women of a certain age would find beneficial, I had invested in sports massages, monthly physio and an odd, very welcome medicinal (loosely, okay, not medical at all), sauna session. I couldn't believe that after all this time I was coming down with something. I missed training, on account that I couldn't be altogether a hundred percent certain that I wouldn't throw up in the pool, and whilst I myself have swum through some unidentifiable things, I could not bring myself to go and inflict the possibility on someone else. So instead I took to the sofa for a day of educational daytime television and an extended Nanna nap.  My family suggested that I heading to bed for an early night "just in case I was highly contagious," and I agreed, so left them to it, but not before I ensured they had listened to my comprehensive  'how to heat up a lasagne' instructions, and put some salad leaves into a bowl, before I headed up. The following morning I found several pizza boxes in the recycling, and the lasagne still in the fridge, proving how resourceful they actually were, and the silver lining was that I didn't need to think about cooking anything the following day!

I woke feeling a lot better, but decided I wouldn't go for a swim, better to be safe than sorry I thought,  and give it another day. Instead I spent the day writing a very long list of what I needed to take to Windermere for the swim, and then doubled the quantities. I then took a trip to the supermarket to spend lots and lots on all of the food I had written down! I honestly hadn't realised how much I had, and feeling slightly panicked that I may have to have a food cull due to its combined weight threatening the integrity of the support boat, I thought it best to check with Leon that there wasn't any kind of weight restriction in place! He said I should be fine, but did remind me that it was also not a cruise liner and that space was limited. He also pointed out that I would not need to pack anywhere near as many as the four boxes of Jaffa cakes that I planned to take. I told him I would rather forfeit any and all other food than risk running out. I also suggested that if the boat were to start taking on water, for any reason, that he should consider throwing other things overboard first. Obviously I meant 'stuff' and not people, but the Jaffa Cakes needed to stay dry!

The training plan did have on it one more final long swim at the lake, which was four hours long. A maintenance swim I'd done it many times before, but for this swim particular I had planned on trialling several chocolate bars and chocolate brownies, and of course I needed to re-trial the Jaffa cakes .. again! With it being my last long swim and all, it was my last chance, and I had been saving these as a treat.

I arrived at the lake to grey skies. I was used to swimming in the cold and the rain and the wind by now and basically, some not very pleasant conditions, so wasn't too bothered by them. My weather App informed me that it would be wet, but warm. I'd swum in worse, so continued to put my wetsuit on without worrying about the conditions. I was so busy getting ready that I hadn't noticed that the safety boat was not on the waters edge, and nor was Leon, or anyone else for that matter, in fact, there was absolutely nobody anywhere to be seen at all. I found Leon instead sitting under the cover of the cafe. As I approached him, there was a huge clap of thunder, meaning that I couldn't get into the lake now for another hour, and so rather than moping about, we sat watching the torrential rain, whilst drinking coffee and scoffing a good majority of the chocolate bars I had brought of the swim. Another hour, and another clap of thunder, and yet another coffee and this time the chocolate brownies, as we waited yet another hour. By this time other swimmers had begun to arrive, and Fiona, whose day job was as a sports masseur. Fiona had arrived with her (massage) bed and, as I had another hour to kill, offered to give me a massage. I was torn, I mean the choice between a massage or another coffee sitting waiting for the rain to clear... It was close, but as I was already more than caffeinated enough and had eaten my way through several too many chocolate treats, but what really swung it was that I was not prepared to share my Jaffa cakes with anyone, and that was all that I had left in my bag, and so the massage won... although there was a very high possibility that it wouldn't be as relaxing as I would have liked, as I wouldn't be able to lie still for any great length of time on the back of the amount of caffeine I had spent the last two hours drinking!

Very atmospheric, but not swimmable...

With three hours gone, finally we were allowed in, and as I was a little apprehensive, I allowed a couple of fellow swimmers to get in and 'test the water' first as it were, before I got in myself. Don't judge me. I had an important swim to do, and being electrocuted by lightning just before would seriously scupper my chances of getting it done! Suffice to say, the four hours swim didn't get done, on account that there weren't four hours of daylight left, but on the plus side, I had a lovely two hours chatting and catching up with Leon, ate most of the food I had planned to swim mid-swim and got myself a lovely massage, albeit in my wetsuit with an audience of about thirty people that were also waiting to go for a swim! 

Once again, thanks for reading, and for more regular updates on my swimming shenanigans, please follow me on social media. Just look for Open Water Woman.

Also, you can also find me on YouTube as Open Water Woman, where I do regular vlogs about my swims.