Windermere Training Week 6

Well, what a week! After a great week last week I stepped up the training again covering even more distance. The week started with a beautiful and VERY hot swim at Peterborough Lido, having only recently started using the Lido I didn’t know how busy it gets but it was packed and I freely admit I had some major swimmers rage when people that could only swim one length at a time started swimming breaststroke in the fast lane! I still managed to get my 5km done in just under 2 hours though.

On Tuesday I woke up feeling rubbish, but I had a pool swim planned and somehow, I managed to force myself to go. I just did a gentle and steady swim in the end, it ended up having no real purpose other than the fact I was doing exercise! Wednesday was my normal mid-week session at Lake Ashmore and I absolutely loved it. The sun was shining and the water was around 20 degrees! It was a beautiful swim and I felt strong, so since I still wasn’t feeling 100% I was pleased with managing just over 3km. After my swim my pain increased further and I struggled with getting to sleep on Wednesday night so woke up on Thursday as tired as I was the night before.

Thursday was quite an exciting day for me, after my PT session I had chance for a bit of rest before going to the river to deliver my first coaching session! It was an introduction to open water swimming session and went really well, the main focus was on acclimatisation, but we did also swim about 200m. I really enjoyed it, as did the student! However, I did make one error, a school girl error – I forgot my underwear. Thankfully it was warm enough for me to just wear my swimming costume under my clothes on the way home.

Friday was a day to rest, I had a lay in and caught up on some sleep. My pain was high and I was unsure if I should go to the evening lake session. The weather was rubbish, it was raining and I worried that round the lake may be muddy. Eventually I managed to convince myself to get up and go, I got to the lake and got as close as I could without getting stuck in the mud! I was soaking wet and covered in mud from my wheelchair wheels and was tempted to go home as I didn’t like the idea of getting out and getting dressed into cold, wet clothes.

In the end I figured that I was wet anyway so might as well swim! It ended up being a lovely swim with a beautiful sunset, thankfully the air temperature was high so I didn’t get cold, even with having to put wet clothes on.

My final swim of the week was on Saturday morning; It was the polar opposite weather wise with blue skies and little wind. I was at Lake Ashmore for 8.45am!

For those who don’t know – I don’t do mornings, but I some-how managed to get there on time and got just under 2 hours in the water, swimming just under 5km. A good end to a great week of swimming before heading to my parents for the weekend!