11 June Great Swim Series - Alton Waters

Woke up at 4.30a.m. today to head off to Alton Waters for the 2nd in the Great Swim Series Events.  Alton Waters is a fantastic venue in Suffolk for open water swimming and as I eagerly awaited my lift from Dominic, I wondered if my last week in Spain with the girls, drinking far too much wine, was going to affect my swim today.  Ordinarily, I would normally think that a week off would do you good, but as you get older, I can't help but think that if I haven't trained for a week, it's obvious, I will have forgotten how to swim.  It's an age thing you know. How does frontcrawl go again??   I managed a quick dip in the Crouch the previous night and still felt 'hung-over' and lethargic from the previous weeks antics so promptly got out after just half hour firmly believing my swim is doomed to fail.

Before Spain, I was telling myself I would do lot of sprints on my open-water training sessions in order to pick the speed up a bit.  All this channel training has left me somewhat relaxed and a little too complacent.  But now, my only thoughts are completing the two miles without dying!  So once again, I am less prepared than I would like to be and am thinking of all sorts of excuses as to why I won't be happy with my swim before I even get there. With that said, I still have no nerves and am excited that I am a least a participator.  

And I am also in a particularly good mood today because I have just received a text from my little 'water slave' to say that she completed her 6 hour verification swim at Dover the day before.  I unfortunately, couldn't be with her due to work so am particularly thankful to Nick Burley for accompanying her on this epic swim.  6 hours in 13 degrees, non wet-suit.  What a star.  Only 3 weeks to go now to her channel slot so this was a fantastic boost for both of us and I am so happy that its done and dusted and she completed it, albeit I hear she threw up a few times at the end.  Poor Karen. 

The Great Swim Series is a fantastic event and the numbers of entrants are growing each year.  The atmosphere is brilliant and this one was especially good with the venue.  With the huge grounds, there was a market fare, all the grub vans, music, clowns and other fancy dress goings on, and not to mention the odd celebrity or too knocking around.

This is Steve Parry getting ready for another day of commentating for the BBC.  He is a familiar face with the Great Swim Series and has represented GB on many occasions.  A previous commonwealth record holder he also won Britain's first Olympic swimming medal in eight years at the Athens Summer Olympics at 200m butterfly.  And he has also just been announced as the next celebrity to be included in 'The Swim'  Check it out on facebook if you are unsure as to what 'The Swim' is.  Headed by Richard Branson and Ronan Keating, it's a celebrity crossing of the Irish Channel.  58 miles.  Wow.  And all for charity.

The organisation is fantastic.  From the security around the baggage area, the changing facilities, the registration of timing chips etc etc, it all runs like clockwork.

I went with my long time swimming buddy, Dominic and quickly found Colin and Annette Corby on arrival.  There has always been a bit of banter between me and Colin as to exactly when he is 'going to beat me' and today was no exception.  Dominic was in wave 1 which left Colin and I to discuss 'tactics' and try to outwit one-another just before the start.  He's looking in particularly good shape these days with all the extra training he is doing, and here I am, let's not forget, having forgotten how to swim after having one whole week-off.  He obviously cottoned on to this and picked my brain as to how I was gonna swim it - what my tactics were etc.  And that little devil in the back of my head gave an evil laugh - No chance - as if I was gonna let a boozy week in Spain let you beat me.........

Then I bumped into a huge crowd of Chalkwell Redcaps.  This was particularly good for me because I have been a member of this group for over a year now but with all the channel training, I have only managed to meet up with them a handful of times so haven't had a chance to get to know them as much as I would like.  It was lovely to see Helen, Iain, Tongie, Stuart, Cat, Barbara and several others so it all added to the fun day out.  We met later that evening for drinks in Southend so at last, I am finally feeling like 'one of the Redcap gang'.

So back to the race, a quick dip in the acclimatisation area, followed by the tradition aerobic work out (which kills me before I start), and we were off.  2 miles, twice round the block.  Fantastic.  Loved every minute of it.  My time - 53.33, not bad but I was hoping to go under 50mins.      And Colin..... 54.17.  Phew, that was a close shave.  

So a quick pick up of the goodie bag, photo shoot and another win for me.  Came 38th overall and was the first lady in my category so I'm a sort of happy bunny.  I keep telling myself, I'm doing it for enjoyment this time round, no rivals, no nerves, no stop watches, but then when I finish, this little man in my head wants to know where I came, what my time was and most importantly 'Did I win'.  Oh no, sorry - MOST IMPORTANTLY - DID I BEAT COLIN.  So I guess, my background means that I will always be competitive and will never be content to just swim it for the fun.  

So then came celebrity number two.  First Phelps and now Goodhew.  What a truly wonderful man he is.  There was me, looking slightly worse for wear with me goggle marks and frizzy 'lake green' hair when suddenly I turn to see Duncan Goodhew heading straight for me.  I waffled lots of stupid stuff expecting him to remember ME from the one time when I was about 15 years old when I sat at Leeds swimming pool at the nationals chatting to him and bless him, he smiled pretending to remember!!!!   So I waffled a bit more about him being my first hubby's rival in age group swimming (which he was) and he politely said, he vaguely remembered the name.  Well, whether he did or not, he was so obliging and friendly.  He asked me what event I did and how did I get on and then I wished him luck for his race.  A true gentlemen who could quite easily have just done a quick photo then rushed off but he talked to me for several minutes and made my day.  Thankyou Duncan.  

So next week.  The Great North Swim - Lake Windermere, here I come.  Another 2 miler.  It's hectic in our household at the moment.  We both work full time and with Chris being a professional golfer, our events and social calendars are always clashing.  Having spent several nights trying to find a hotel near the lake coz they are obviously all booked due to this huge event, we eventually went upmarket, found a real posh one just on the outskirts and thought it might be nice to have a little holiday while we are there.  4 days in the lake district with my little swim in the middle.  Lovely.   No.     Having booked it and spent a fortune, hubby has realised he has double-booked.  So just shortly after the credit card transaction goes through, he announces he is working in Switzerland next week.  So a bit of dajavou for us. As Eton saw him trying to change his flight from City Airport to Heathrow so he could then get a train over to Eton to join me which he eventually did, albeit exhausted.  And now we are working out how he can catch an early flight out of Switzerland into Manchester, then get across to Lake Windermere in time for my 4pm race.  You have to laugh.  So I will travel the 8 hours myself to Windermere and have a very expensive hotel and peace and quiet for a couple of days and hope he makes it in time.  Poor Chris. And I so need him there to help me into my wetsuit if nothing else.  As per previous blog, it ain't getting any easier.  Two ladies had to zip me in at Alton so if nothing else, I need him there to be on wetsuit duty.