Swimming

Same. Charlton Lido reopened on Monday and have managed to nip up at lunchtime for 20mins/1k yesterday and today.
Bloody marvellous indeed

pah, cant be feeling that bad if you think you can swim 100s...

my last swim was sept last year, im targeting 25 non stop...

Did 1k in total. Didn't die. 6 x 100m sets (eagerly started out at 1:38 but that soon dropped to 1:50 for the rest of the session) and a couple of 200m efforts just to pile on the discomfort on top of the lack of swim fitness.

Only 3 others in the lane at most, the pre-9am sessions are long booked up but the ones during the day are sparsely booked. Which is nice.

Have more sessions booked for the rest of the week. Aiming to squeeze in 20k in the remains of April by doing 1600m each weekday.

I'm a long way off a CSS of 1:30.

Aiming to squeeze in 20k in the remains of April by doing 1600m each weekday.

Stupid Strava 20km April Swim Challenge. I'm a sucker for a challenge like that, despite only being able to start it on the 12th April.

1250m yesterday and 1500m today (including a solid 1000m block, albeit slowly at 1:56/100m).

With a 45 minute session and a bit of time lost of faffing to get to and in the pool at the start I reckon I can do 1750-2000m in each session from now on, so I've booked myself in most weekdays until the end of the month.

I'll then drop back to 3 sessions a week (still good for ~27km/month) and introduce some cycling, whilst keeping the running going steadily.

I'll worry about speed when I've got the miles back into my shoulders.

With a 45 minute session and a bit of time lost of faffing to get to and in the pool at the start I reckon I can do 1750-2000m in each session from now on

2000m exactly today, was a bit late getting to the pool so missed a minute or two there but I swam right up until the whistle (which came a few strokes from the last length of my 2000m) for a 39:17 moving time and 40:57 elapsed time swim. 100m warm up, 1600m block, 300m cool down.

All pull (legs are toast from running and 5-a-side) so I need to slowly work the legs back in, will probably go for the odd couple of lengths without the pull buoy every so often, say 350m pull and then 50m free, and then build up from there.

I got a lomo one about £15 I think , it does the job

8 x 45 minute sessions that the local pool since 12th April, 12,400m done so far.

Have 6 sessions left booked before the end of the month to do the remaining 7,600m for the Strava 20k April swim challenge. All looking good.

Lanes back to 33+1/3m orientation today, definitely feeling the extra distance between rests/turns/glides.

5 people in a double width lane is lovely though, no problems with passing (or being passed) during a length.

Looking forward to a couple of days off after tomorrow though, shoulders feeling it.

Felt good this morning (hangovers are motivational) and cracked out the first 400m of pull in 7:07, which is a recent record for me it seems.

14.2km done so far. 5 more sessions booked M-F next week but next week is back to a 'recovery' week. I plan on doing 3 days of 1600m to 1800m and then taking Thursday off and finishing off the remains of the 20k on the Friday.

Then I can get back to working on legs (I do pretty much all pull), sorting out my breathing, and then drills/technique to improve speed.

I’ve recorded 21,500 in the pool but not recorded my open water swims.
I stopped short last night at the pool with cramp in my calf after 1500m which was a shame as I still had 20 minutes left in the session.
I had a lovely moon lit unplanned swim the other night. Went to the lake with the dog and without swimming gear then couldn’t resist the temptation to get in.
Bloody marvellous, bats zooming about, swam among sleeping geese without disturbing them.
I was planning on a lake swim tonight but for a cancellation at the lido just now so I’ll head there for the exercise.

2 swims back and beginning to feel like i can almost swim again, had the awful moment when you tumble turn too early and have nothing to push off today though jus to keep me in check!

The sea is still cold, around 10 degrees here. For added pleasure was some nice waves today! Lasted about 5 minutes...

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On Saturday afternoon I met a chap from the local cycling club, and a more seasoned swimmer down at the pier and he offered to take me beyond my comfort zone of the pier. It was a beautiful calm day so it was perfect for a first time. With my new found confidence I decided to try again yesterday, and although it was a bit choppier, there were a couple of small groups ahead of me so I went again, absolutely loved it!

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I tried Frensham pond yesterday .
Lovely spot

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TRI UK are doing buoyancy shorts for £12

I use these ( different make) and really help

Did 700m today to finish off my 20k in April Strava Swim Challenge. Alternating 100m at 1:40 pace and then 50m at sub 1:30 pace (all pull again as my legs are too tired).

Ouch. Shoulders ache after doing that in 18 days (and not using weekends) although left slightly more than right as I had my Covid vaccine in that arm yesterday.

20k in a month would be fine normally (and I want to push up to ~8k/week) but I'd usually do that over 3 sessions a week, and longer than the 45 minute sessions that we currently get at the local pool. Also I was starting from no swimming in 4 months.

https://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/kinder-mass-trespass/

"The request is not for organised sport, it’s for access to our blue spaces."

Nice campaign. We need more places to swim, walk, ride - anything active.

Settling into a nice a routine of three 45 minute swims a week.

One focused on speed work (100m sets of pull at a faster pace than I'd like).

One focused on distance (just plodding out 2000m+).

One doing a reverse pyramid (400m easy, 300m moderate, 200m fast, 100m sprint, 200m fast, 300m moderate, 400m easy) and then either fill the rest of the 45 minutes with recovery or see how far I can get back down/up the ladder again until the whistle blows.

Getting there slowly. Did a 1:27 100m of pull today and a 7:01 400m of pull last week, so the times are starting to come back down. Also did a good 300m with legs and need to do more each time.

So, trying to book swimming sessions in Tower Hamlets, and it makes no sense - they have 10-minute slots and you are only allowed to book one. Even if you could book 3 or 4, it's £6 for each 10-minute slot. Weird.

It's a 10 minute arrival window, you get 60 minutes in the centre for swimming/showering/changing.

Disgusting how they're trying to squeeze money out of Shadwell Lido.

If anyone swims at Stoke Newington West Reservoir (beaut!) they're soliciting views on what they can do better and what next after Lockdown. Guess trying to see whether demand will stay as high as it has been! If you swim there and can spare 2mins.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7qS_48DuZAwwKC6wTlHb-GnJQYhfbXvWqKfiQ_u6WXoSbsA/viewform

Ah, thank you, that makes a lot more sense, though it's not explained anywhere on the website. I'm going swimming tonight.

@Oliver Schick - really missing Shadwell, but had respiratory issues with the long Covid, so been putting off diving into unguarded cold water for a while. Feels like it's almost resolved itself, so fingers crossed it's soon...

Thanks, submitted.

Today's suggested set was:-

200m warm up
400m easy
400m moderate
400m hard
400m moderate
100m cool down

With as short a break between them as possible.

But I wasn't able to go too easy due to the others in the lanes so they were more "moderate/fast" but still managed 3 consecutive (in recent times anyway) 400m PBs. Rests between sets were mainly to time it with the others in the lane, but kept them mostly under 40s so it was a good hard workout in the end (I also snuck in another 200m set before the cool down).