If ever there was an event that ought to have been given some thought, it was this one. I can usually get by with the one or two milers or even a 5k, but 16k - hell no. This one requires some training. Things have been pretty hectic in the Rate household this year. I've been busy coaching some ironmen and a solo channel swimmer and I have also offered the service of writing training programmes which are extremely time consuming and somewhat stressful. To be held responsible for someone elses dream challenge is quite a task. One that I love getting involved in, but if I get it wrong, I would feel bloomin awful.
So, combined with a few school teaching jobs, working at Trifarm, coaching at the club, continuing to provide an occasional secretarial service to my old firm AND trying to get a Herbalife nutritional business off the ground, when was I ever going to find time to train for my little trip up the length of Windermere!
I popped a few dates in my diary to leave free for myself, but then as usual the inevitable happens. A shift needs covering, or a swimmer wants some help, so my training days were very soon becoming a write off.
I did manage to squeeze in a straight 5k at the pool - woopie, and then with just 3 weeks to go until my Windermere challeng, a free Saturday popped up in my diary. Right, I thought, I am just going to get in at Trifarm and swim round and round in circles until I have swum 10 miles. 20 x 800m loops. Doesn't get much more boring than that. I think the record at Trifarm for the most amount of laps in one shift was about 16, so there was another reason for me to consider doing this. I love a challenge and if it means holding a record along the way, then I'm up for it. And it was the only chance I was going to get before the big day to actually see if I was capable of this distance.
So armed with 3 bottles of Herbalife H30 carb/electrolyte mix and a Prolong bottle in case of emergencies, I headed off to the farm. If nothing else, it would be a great 'mind' training experience. All swimmers know that its far easier to swim one length (i.e. windermere), than to swim in circles 20x.
The course at the farm is marked out with 100m buoys, so I decided that I would divide the lap into four. Swim the first 200m concentrating on my spear action, the second quarter on quadrant timing, the third quarter on the recovery phase, in specific my rubbish high elbow, and the last 200m on my propulsive phase. This worked a treat. All I focused on was the next 200m and what drill it was and then I gave myself a 1 min nutritional break every mile. Can't believe how easy I found it. Just swim to the feed as Tony would say, or in my case swim to the next drill and then the feed was a bonus.
So I did it. A glorious sunny day and the wind kicked up and made it hard for the final hour but a very comfortable 4hrs 54 minutes of complete drills. So, that was it, Windermere distance now achievable, so just pray for good weather and a warm lake on the day.
We stayed in a beautiful B&B just a few kilometres from the start at Low Wray. We travelled up on the Saturday, I was swimming on the Sunday and then rushing back home Monday to pick up Millie. Dogs !!!!! Holidays have never been the same.
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| B&B welcome. Sweet. |
On arrival, we had a lot of rushing about to do. There was no way Chris would manage rowing 10 miles with his bad back so we hired an electric boat. The boat company was 5 miles up the lake so I dropped him off there so he could steer the boat up to the start line whilst I took the car back to meet him. We moored up for the night and headed off for a quick bite to eat then an early night as the alarm was going to be set for 5.30am.
The event was fabulously organised. One kayak/boat to every swimmer. They called us down 15/20 swimmers at a time and the swimmers were led into the water one at a time to be hooked up with their support vessel.
I was in the last wave which was worrying as it appeared to be the fastest. I decided to pace myself from the start and just plodded off messing about, pulling faces at Chris on every breath. Being in the last wave with about 12 other swimmers, I soon realised that there were some elites in there. I slipped behind and had to really focus on not worry about it. I later learnt that the winner was sub 4 hours! Elites indeed. Chris re-assured me at every 1/2 hr feed that I was making ground on the previous wave, but it didnt seem to help. I knew I needed to hold it together, dont worry, don't pick up the pace, just keep it relaxed and simple.
I think it was about 4 miles in that I found myself amongst loads of other swimmers. What a relief. Now I happy to have the company and now had something to focus on. Just keep looking at the next swimmer in front of you and tick them off one at a time.
Chris had strict instructions to stop me every 1/2 hour for a feed and this didn't always go to plan. The string that my bottle was attached too kept getting tangled in the boat window. So, one minute I was drinking and the next the bottle was catapulted out of my hand. Somewhat frustrating and a few explitives were exchanged from time to time, but on the whole, considering my pilot was having to steer a very slow boat against a current and waves, he did a grand job really.
I still can't understand the logic of stopping all swimmers after 4 miles to ask them to hand a rubber band in which was around my wrist. We had to swim to the side and of course, the conjestion there with so many kayaks all waiting for their swimmer to return after hot chocolate and all sorts of other rubbish, made it a time consuming rule. Why? Swimmers were allowed to abandon ship at any time on the course, so I am not sure what relevance there was of knowing whether they had made it to the 4 mile stage. Oh well, better do as I was told. Swam in, pushed on past the crowd and eventually found myself a fishing net to drop my band in whilst shouting out my race number to the marshall. That was it?? weird.
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| Queing up for the wrist band saga |
So, I finished it. 5hrs 7 mins later and this short video sums up the day. Came 12th out of 117 swimmers and am pretty chuffed that I didn't get bored or lose focus. If anything, I just wanted it finished so I could move off to the pub.
And that folks is another story. Despite finishing it around 12pm, I had stupidly left my phone in the car way back at the start thinking I wouldn't need it. The car keys were with Chris who was stranded out in the middle of the lake because there was no mooring at Low Wray.
Mmmm. Now what? We were yelling at one another across the water with different ideas as to how I could get to the boat, including I wade out and he'll try to bring the boat in as close as possible. Bad move, now he was stuck on some rocks !!! Ooops. That won't go down too well with Bowness Marina ! So, with the help of some kayakers they managed to heave him off the rocks and push him back out again but how could I swim to him and climb on a boat with no ladder and all my gear. Another Mmmmmmm. So, we hijacked a kayak to go out to Chris to retrieve his car keys. I yelled across the lake "TAKE THE BOAT BACK TO BOWNESS". I'll get a taxi and meet you there. Famous last words. With no phone communication, it took me over 2 hours to get a lift to Fell Foot, then another half hour to fight the traffic back to Bowness where I eventually found him. So, another little adventure for the Rate household. Thank you Chris for being the perfect Captain, the video says it all. xxxx
One Length of Windermere
The event was fabulously organised. One kayak/boat to every swimmer. They called us down 15/20 swimmers at a time and the swimmers were led into the water one at a time to be hooked up with their support vessel.
I was in the last wave which was worrying as it appeared to be the fastest. I decided to pace myself from the start and just plodded off messing about, pulling faces at Chris on every breath. Being in the last wave with about 12 other swimmers, I soon realised that there were some elites in there. I slipped behind and had to really focus on not worry about it. I later learnt that the winner was sub 4 hours! Elites indeed. Chris re-assured me at every 1/2 hr feed that I was making ground on the previous wave, but it didnt seem to help. I knew I needed to hold it together, dont worry, don't pick up the pace, just keep it relaxed and simple.
Chris had strict instructions to stop me every 1/2 hour for a feed and this didn't always go to plan. The string that my bottle was attached too kept getting tangled in the boat window. So, one minute I was drinking and the next the bottle was catapulted out of my hand. Somewhat frustrating and a few explitives were exchanged from time to time, but on the whole, considering my pilot was having to steer a very slow boat against a current and waves, he did a grand job really.
