Category: chronic illness

Its Not All in The Numbers

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, challenge, chronic illness, chronic pain, coaching, Disability Swimming, Disabled, English Channel, friends, Life in a wheelchair, Living with a Disability, marathon swim, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimming, psychology, teaching, Training, Wheelchair User

If you read the latest article/blog on the STA website you will recognise most of this content, if you haven't - enjoy my training from last month and see what I achieved!

Spoons, Sacrifice and Channel Training

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disability Swimming, Disabled, English Channel, Open Water Swimming, Training

Training for a channel swim, no matter which channel it is, is tough. Its mentally and physically hard and involves multiple sacrifices and as odd as it may sound, my biggest sacrifice so far have been my river swims and dips. Now, that may seem bizarre, given that I'm training for a swim in open … Continue reading Spoons, Sacrifice and Channel Training

2023 Channel Swim Introduction

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, challenge, chronic illness, chronic pain, coaching, Disability Swimming, Disabled, English Channel, Events, Lake Windermere, Life in a wheelchair, Living with a Disability, marathon swim, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, Outdoor Swimming, psychology, Races, teaching, Training, Wheelchair User

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity" Albert Einstein The beginning of the new year is always something to celebrate, we look back on all we have achieved the previous year and, perhaps, most importantly we look forwards and plan for the new year. For me, the plan is simple; to be the first person … Continue reading 2023 Channel Swim Introduction

Reflections

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, challenge, chronic illness, chronic pain, coaching, Disability Swimming, Disabled, Events, Family, friends, Living with a Disability, Mental Health, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimming, Training, Wheelchair User, winter swimming

New Years Eve is typically when everyone looks back on the previous year but for me, this year, I am not looking back just one year. Instead, I am looking at how far I have come over the past few years and I have to say, if I hadn't lived it, I'm not sure I … Continue reading Reflections

The end is in sight – Dover Part 3

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, challenge, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disabled, Events, friends, fundraising, marathon swim, Mental Health, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, Outdoor Swimming, psychology, safety, Wheelchair User

Everyone (that was awake) was excited. We were pretty sure the 3rd swim would be our final swim and I think as a result, subconsciously, we had all decided to give it absolutely everything we had.  Dean was up and went in smiling, had an amazing swim and came out looking like the Cheshire cat and … Continue reading The end is in sight – Dover Part 3

The Channel Relay Begins

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, challenge, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disability Swimming, Events, friends, fundraising, marathon swim, Mental Health, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimming, psychology

The boats engine started, and we were off. My first thought “make it to Shakespeare Bay without being sick”. Then it was “please, please just make it to Shakespeare Bay before being sick” and then “please, please, please just make it to Shakespeare Bay before being sick” and by that time we were at Shakespeare … Continue reading The Channel Relay Begins

Dover – A waiting game

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, challenge, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disabled, Events, friends, fundraising, marathon swim, Mental Health, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimming, psychology, safety, teaching, Wheelchair User

Once we were all organised and settled we shouted goodbye to the people onshore and we were off! After 14 years of unfinished buisness with the English Channel it was time to finish it.

Training Diary – Hastings

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disability Swimming, Disabled, Family, friends, Life in a wheelchair, Living with a Disability, marathon swim, Mental Health, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, Outdoor Swimming, psychology, safety, Training, Wheelchair User

Day 1 On Monday morning we packed the car up with mine, my parents and Regies bags and a few food items before heading off on the road. We got away by about 11am and although I was looking forwards to an intense week of training, I was quite anxious about simply going to Hastings. … Continue reading Training Diary – Hastings

2022 Training Blog is a go!

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disability Swimming, Disabled, Family, friends, Living with a Disability, marathon swim, Mental Health, open water, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, Outdoor Swimming, Training, Wheelchair User

  Training has finally kicked in full pelt and from now on I will do weekly training blogs! Over the past few weeks I have slowly been building up the number of swims I am doing, the distance I have covered and also how many outdoor swims I get each week too. This week I … Continue reading 2022 Training Blog is a go!

Training Update

by Sophie, posted in Adaptive Swimming, chronic illness, chronic pain, Disability Swimming, friends, Living with a Disability, Mental Health, Open Water Swimming, outdoor swimmer, Outdoor Swimming, safety, Training

I haven’t written a training update for several weeks now because I’ve got a bit stuck with what to write and where to start. I think every blogger and writer gets ‘writers block’ sometimes, but the key is to find out why and figure out how to fix it. For me, I think I just … Continue reading Training Update