Eton 10k, 28 May 2011

Realising I need to get my speed going again, I have spent the last two weeks doing sudden bursts in the open-water, peeking under my arm every minute or so to make sure Karen is still in sight.  As a newcomer to open water, I am learning the hard way how hard it is to sprint in wavy windy conditions.  But, after Salford, I know I need to train more at speed.  Thank god Salford was only 1 mile, as my giddy spell at the end was an early indicator that I need to do the right training.  Karen is confident now to be left on her own for a few minutes and is so understanding at my needs to swim a bit faster, not only from the point of view that I need to gain some race experience, but also, I do get rather cold out there when we stick together.  So I sprint off for 100metres or so, then sprint back to her, and then relax a little to check on her condition before I repeat it - for several hours !!!!

Tide's permitting we stick to Southend on Sea or the River Crouch but failing that the River Chelmer always offers icy cold water at all times.  Heybridge Basin on the odd Saturday morning when we can't get to Dover offers little more than distance work.  It's far too warm in that lake for Karen, but she turned the tables on me last Saturday and asked me to do a timed lap, so we could roughly work out the distance round the lake.  I'm guessing it was only about 450metres judging by my time, but again, judging by how knackered I was at the end of it, I have a lot of work to do to get my distance open water going again.  This is the tranquil Heybridge Basin and it offers a staggering 19+ degrees most of the time, so not good.

Friday I headed off to Slough by myself as Chris was in Switzerland on business all week.  He flew into City Airport then struggled to get across to Eton by train to join me ready for my early 10k race Saturday morning.   Once again, I had no nerves, just excitement.

My only worry for this race was my shoulder.  It had been steadily getting worse over the last two weeks, not sure why, don't remember injuring myself but I am putting it down to doing sprints in the sea with high waves. Last week, we couldn't swim back to our car due to the tide being too strong and I remember saying to Karen when we were embarrassingly walking the promenade in our suits to all sorts of 'idiots' remarks from passersby, that a few times when I lifted my arm out of the water, a strong wave took it from me.  So, I guess this is where it stemmed from.  I tried to rest it for a few days but as soon as I got back in the water on Wednesday, the pain kicked in again.  So now I have to do a 10k race, have rested the arm again since Wednesday and I am not sure what to expect.

I love everything about racing, and although I keep telling myself  'I am retired from competitive racing', there's still that little man in my head that tells me I need to win my category.  And, because of this 'little man', this is why I get frustrated and angry when things go wrong.

Only 3 laps !

Final moments of preparation.

As usual, I held back at the beginning - let the big boys get out of the way otherwise they will be responsible for drowning an old lady that can't fight back!  But the mass start, still left me with bruises.

I'm sort off in the middle with the blue back !

So, three times round the lake and I'm done.  From all the pool training Ive done during the winter, I set myself a goal of 2hrs 45 or under and I would be pleased.  First lap was 52mins so I was on target to come in somewhere between 2hrs 30 and 2hrs 45.  Perfect.  But, never take for granted the open-water, things can go wrong in an instance.  My shoulder was hurting and the pain had travelled down my arm and now every pull was pain in my elbow.  I was singing to take my mind off of it, which seemed to work but as soon as I told myself, "my arm's not hurting", so I realised it was hurting more than ever!  Those mind games again!   I wanted to just race the 10k without stopping as the nutrition stations were slightly off course.  There I go again, not wanting to waste a minute as it's all adding to my time.  But never having raced a 10k before, I thought I had better be sensible just in case I passed out before the next station.

Cheese Burger & Chips please - Oh, OK, I will settle for a gel and electrolytes!  And the reason no other swimmers are in sight, because you have to swim aside the racing line to get to the station.  So valuable time being lost.

Great picture Chris!  Took advantage of the stop and had a wee too........  But now, I am already getting agitated because I have added a couple of mins to that 52 by swimming across to the platoon.  The next lap I was in agony with my shoulder and settled on a nice chaps feet that was swimming at the same pace as me.  Then stupidly, after 20mins or so, I'm thinking, "am I too relaxed behind this man", it's time I did my own race and swum past him.  I pulled out to the side, excelerated my leg kick and then "@*@*@" the cramp that shot through my legs was unbearable.  I cried out in agony which brought a kayak zooming over to me and then had to get out of the way while at least 20 swimmers went past.  Don't think I have ever sworn so much in a couple of minutes before.  Why the hell did I do that.  If only I had stayed where I was, this wouldn't have happened, I kept telling myself.  So, kayak man is telling me to hold onto the boat and try to stretch my legs out, then I got cramp in my right thigh too and I had lost so much time so now I am rather cross!

Once I sorted myself out, I was well p*****d off!   Seeing all those swimmers go past me, left me feeling so sorry for myself.  What an idiot.  I had a lot of work to do to get back to my 'man', my cramp kept kicking back in, in my calf and toes, I had lost my time completely and my shoulder and elbow were killing me.  I couldn't be asked to do the next lap.

But I am not a quitter.  When I think back to Lakeside last year when a cried in agony into my goggles all the way round 6 laps because my neck was ripped through the amount of wetsuit training I had done through the week, when I think back to Guildford 24/7 when I cried through the night in the 24 hour challenge, I knew that despite ruining my chance of meeting my 2hrs 45min goal, that I would have to continue.  A statement that I took great delight on underlining to Karen when I spoke to her when I got home.  Don't you ever, for one tiny minute, think about quitting when you are attempting your solo crossing, coz I will be throwing all my experiences of 'not quitting' to you.  Yes Boss !

Final time, 2hrs 56mins.  Position : 1st lady over 50 home.  Lessons learnt : Drink more before I start, it may help delay the cramp; if you are in pain before you start, take pain killers; don't change your stroke rhythm when you are cold; and as far as do I need to stop at the nutrition stations for a 10k, more research needed.

Next race, two weeks time.  Salford Great Swim Series, 2 miles.  Need to take it easy this week because of the shoulder and hopefully, I am gonna get it right for Salford.