One hundred years ago today, on 6 August 1926, a 19‑year‑old woman stepped into the cold water at Cape Gris‑Nez with a fire in her chest that no tide could extinguish. Her name was Gertrude Ederle, and by the time she reached Kingsdown in Deal, she had not only become the first woman to swim … Continue reading 100 Years of Courage
One of the most common questions I get asked is why I continue to swim in open water throughout the winter when what I actually train for is ultra-distance and marathon swims. The simplest answer? Because I love it. 💙 There is nothing quite like slipping into freezing cold water and feeling the noise of … Continue reading How Winter & Ice Swimming Impacts My Ultra-Marathon Swims
I'm not sure how it's already week 3 of my channel training but it is and I'm making great progress compared to my level of fitness and activity just a month ago. I started the week tired and in a bit of a Fibro flare after pushing harder than I should have over the weekend. … Continue reading Bristol Channel Training Week 3
It was time to set off back to Ambleside, just another 10.5 miles to go and I would have finally completed my 2 way Windermere swim. It had been postponed due to Covid19, I had had emergency surgery 4 weeks before and only 2 weeks before I wasn’t even sure if I would be … Continue reading Windermere Part Two – Fell Foot to Ambleside
The week started as normal, with a BRJ coached pool session. It was a pretty tough session which covered all elements of swimming from technique drills, endurance and finally sprints. I led the lane and surprised myself, especially during the sprint set. I figured I would be in a lot of pain when I … Continue reading Windermere Training Week 11
Its been a bit of an odd week, both physically and mentally as it has been my first ‘recovery’ week. My swim was delayed by a year due to Covid but back in 2019 when I first decided to set myself the challenge of swimming lake Windermere two way I knew it would be one … Continue reading Windermere Training Week 4
How is it already week 3 of my training?! I am continuing to increase the distance that I cover over the week by increasing the distances I swim in each session. This is proving pretty difficult as very few sessions are actually long enough to swim more than about 2.5km; I am a long-distance consistent … Continue reading Windermere Training Week 3
Training has been going really well over the past week, I managed to reach almost all of my target distances and even exceed in some of them. The main aims have still been to increase the distances and times I am swimming for and to train and swim consistently. Just like last week I am … Continue reading Windermere Training Week 2
