1 Mile Timed Swim!

Tonight I went to the Open Water Training Session in Lake Windermere.  This has become a regular training session for me over the last 6 weeks but tonight was the first time that the focus has been on a 1 mile timed swim!

Usually it's a case of opting to swim as much or as little as you want!  This is just what I needed to push myself instead of wallowing in the shallows after each 200 metre circuit having an extended rest!

Although this wasn't a race I felt strangely nervous especially when I discovered that we would be doing a deep water mass start!  

Deep water start and a mass start are two of my greatest fears but I faced them tonight and did it!

I hung back at the start really not wanting to be swum over and half drowned.  Intially I felt very uncomfortable swimming and it felt too crowded but after all the other swimmers had got away from me I settled into my stroke and after the first circuit ended up feeling quite comfortable.  I even tried my hand at drafting which I managed more successfully than I have done in the past!  I wasn't as fearful of getting a kick in the face!

It was very different to the once around the large loop circuit I did at the Great North Swim Mile.  Tonight it was 8 times around a 200 Metre course which gave plenty of opportunity for sighting and turning practise!

Sighting was quite difficult going in one particular direction tonight as the sun was very low reflecting off the lake giving very limited visibility however I was pleased with how I did and feel that I have come on in my Open water confidence immensely in the past 6 weeks!  


I have transformed from a nervous jibbering wreck to actually enjoying myself in the water and feel determined to improve further before the season is out! My official time for the mile was 38:00:42 which is 2 minutes faster than my Great North Swim time.  

However, I am beginning to doubt my counting abilities and perhaps I didn't go around the circuit the correct number of times!   I am only doubting myself because people I know who are faster than me were slower than me in the results!  I can't even rely on my garmin as the satellite kept being lost for some reason!