2 days to go and one last ditch attempt!

I didn't know whether to go training in Lake Windermere tonight or not but it was such a beautiful warm evening I couldn't resist and Emma, the swimming coach seemed to think it would be more beneficial for me to gain more open water confidence and experience at this stage than it would be detrimental to my tired body!

So off I set with my main focus being on getting my breathing under control quickly and swimming front crawl from the off.

I arrived just after 6pm to register and struggled into my wetsuit! 

Despite it being a fantastic evening it didn't seem as busy as previous weeks, but maybe everyone was saving themselves for The Great North Swim!

Anyhow I held back until the main scrum had gone before setting off and the lake appeared positively tropical compared with how cold it's been in previous weeks!  

I set off with my new mantra "Bubble, bubble breathe" circulating in my head and I felt relaxed from the off!  

Just to confuse us we were swimming around the course clockwise tonight whereas in previous weeks we have swum anticlockwise.  

Apparently in the Great North Swim we have to swim the course clockwise with keeping the buoys always on the right so she was getting us familiar with that tonight!

I can honestly say that for the first time I LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!

I was disappointed that I couldn't just go for it and keep swimming but I was very conscious about wearing myself out so didn't want to push too hard despite feeling incredibly confident in the water! 

 

I only did 600 metres which is 0.37 miles so I should fresh for Saturday!

Here's hoping I haven't peaked too soon and I have the same calm confidence on Saturday!


I feel so much better about Saturday after tonight's positive experience!  

I truly believe I can do this now!  

I just need to keep the nerves in check!