Great North Swim 2012

[OverWyreGrower]

So, I have somehow managed to sign myself up for the Great North Swim in June this year... I'll be swimming a mile in Lake Windermere on June 24th.

I'm raising money for The Christie Hospital in Manchester - as most of you will know, my sister has been under their care on and off for the last 10 years. Last year I donated my stem cells to my sister, to try and get rid of her cancer. One year on, and she is (so far) cancer free, with minial side effects from the stem cell transplant. She has even gone back to work part time.

The work the staff at Christies do is phenomenal, and I can't think of any way to pay them back for making my sister better.

I've set up a page for donations/sponsorship for my swim, which is the link below.

Shelley Watson is fundraising for The Christie

I'd ask that if you aren't able to donate any money, please could you share the link (on BookFace, Twitter etc), so I can get as much support as possible.

[OverWyreGrower]

Training Update

So, I got in the pool for the first time last Thursday, and swam a mile (64 lengths) in 50mins (breaststroke)... not bad, but on the slow side for doing it in open water...but at least I know I can swim a mile!

However, breaststroke isn't a good technique for open water swimming, and my crawl is slow and fairly sloppy, so I decided to start concentrating on stamina and technique.

This week, I've done 2 half-mile swims, and I've been alternating strokes, to try and build my stamina.

On Tuesday my half mile was 28mins (without goggles on, cos I'd lost them)
Last night, my half mile was 26mins - I'm attributing this to the magic goggles I bought. It's so much easier to swim with them on.

I'm hoping to do a couple more weeks of half-miles, with alternating strokes before trying a full mile whilst alternating.

I've even found somewhere to practise in open water, but I'm going to wait until at least April, as I'm a wuss!

[mothhawk]

Ooh! Midsummer's Day - isn't that usually one of the coldest days in summer?
Have you got a wet suit? Good luck!

[OverWyreGrower]

Not got my wetsuit yet! Am hoping to lose a bit of weight before I have to squish myself into one!!

[boosmummy]

Good luck!!

My mum did this last year and she really enjoyed it, she did it breast stroke and did struggle, in the sense, she just felt like she was going no where, so when she finished she went for swimming lessons to learn how to do crawl properly.

She isnt doing it this year because she has to have a knee operation, but probably will do it again nest year xx

[OverWyreGrower]

Did another half mile last night, and knocked another minute off my time, so down to 25mins for 32 lengths.

I really need to work on my breathing when I'm doing front crawl... I keep mis-timing, so I end up with a mouthful of water....d'oh!

[OverWyreGrower]

Just thought I'd update this!

Did my first open water training swim this weekend in Lake Windermere - practised sculling starts, turning, sighting and drafting - and also acclimatisation to the cold water!

I will never complain that a swimming pool isn't warm enough again!!

I'm hopefully on track for completing the full mile in under 50mins

Shelley Watson is fundraising for The Christie

[piskieinboots]

I think you need to up your target

[Mikey]

As a man I don't swim in open water, paddling upto the knees is more than enough.

Good luck OWG.

[Capsid]

Swimming is such great exercise and well done for having a go at this. My son who's 16 swims competitively and swims ~16 hours each week, I have to take him to the pool and two of those swims are at 5am. I don't think you need to go that far but he loves it.

He does a half mile (800m) in ~9 mins! But he won't do open water swimming like you. Much too cold.

ETA: big respect to you and best of luck.