Swimming

holy shit. just clicked on that as she's literally arriving.

about 100m to go in waist deep water.

...and straight into the amber lamps

Wow. Mental. Nuff respect. She needed an IV drip when she got out apparently.

The persistence of trying five times in three years is pretty amazing in itself, the achievement and the fact she's 64 aside...

Just swam 3.75km in a lovely calm lake with nothing worse than minnows to nibble on my toes...

I'm so glad she made it. What an incredible, incredible achievement. Awestruck.

amazing footage of the final bit of her swim
What an incredible journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mcvjiw582G0

^ Good lord! There's something vaguely biblical about that!

I think it transcends the bible

I have just been to the seaside, a campsite above the sea in Dorset. Each morning I went to Chapmans pool,

swam out beyond the moored boats and walked back to camp, about 1/2 mile swimming and a four mile round trip to get there and back. Mostly I was back before anyone else was up. I had the beach to myself, so didn't even bother getting my trunks wet.
Blissful start to the day.

Is this down by Swanage?

yep, just below Worth Matravers

Brockwell Lido was perfect tonight. Cool water, late summer sun, plenty of space. Lovely swim. They even let me in free apparently on a whim. Could easily have kept going a while longer than the 2000m I did. Can feel the pull of regular training calling me back. When it's good like today I do miss it. I just don't think I'm cut out for structured club training. I like to set my own pace and push against it. Wonder how long unheated Brockers will appear as Autumn encroaches...

As a tribute to Diana Nyad I did 110 lengths of the work pool tonight, one 20m length for every mile she did. LOL. Did a mile without stopping, had 20 seconds breather after a mile then carried on till the end.

So 2240m all in (I did a few extra) which is more than I've done for a long time. Slow but consistent. Really need to get someone to teach me how to do tumble turns, my turns are terrible and I lose a lot of time when I'm doing them.

Like you dooks I really enjoyed it and am definitely wanting to do more at the moment...

tumble turns aren't hard to learn
Just practice them when not actually swimming, like when you get in the pool and mess about for a few minutes, swimming at the wall, tucking you head down and folding yourself double. This is a great guide to work from:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/swimming/skills/newsid_2119000/2119056.stm
Now can anyone teach me to track stand?

don't lean.

I don't bother with tumble turns in public sessions. Unless it's really empty and I feel like practicing. I still totally cock it up about once in every twenty attempts and either shoot off into another lane or lose my bearings halfway round and do a load of frantic underwater arm waving. Top tip for tumble turns: wear a nose-clip.

Still lovely in sea at moment.last 4 days running

Jubilee river tomorrow despite my resolution to focus on running untill the marathon but as I'm working from home my plan is for an hour or so swim then go home, get the dog and run with her for 30 minutes or so!

Got over various long-standing bodily issues in Switzerland the other week by swimming for the first time in at least 20 years by deciding the opportunity to do so in crystal clear, open water enveloped in gob-smacking surroundings was too good to pass up. First dip in a Zurich river sporting a strong current made me afraid initially, given that my most recent swim before that was in a calm pool somewhere. It's so easy to forget how glorious being submerged in water is. A later swim in the expanse of Lausanne lake had me in raptures.

We followed it up with a couple of lengths of the segregated Serpentine area this weekend, although that made it clearer how much of a travesty public water is over here. Still loved it, but felt as if I was barely moving. There's lots to admire in anyone who clearly has a strong stroke, which nobody remarked about mine.

.

Got over various long-standing bodily issues in Switzerland the other week by swimming for the first time in at least 20 years by deciding the opportunity to do so in crystal clear, open water enveloped in gob-smacking surroundings was too good to pass up. First dip in a Zurich river sporting a strong current made me afraid initially, given that my most recent swim before that was in a calm pool somewhere. It's so easy to forget how glorious being submerged in water is. A later swim in the expanse of Lausanne lake had me in raptures.

We followed it up with a couple of lengths of the segregated Serpentine area this weekend, although that made it clearer how much of a travesty public water is over here. Still loved it, but felt as if I was barely moving. There's lots to admire in anyone who clearly has a strong stroke, which nobody remarked about mine.
Well you know, different strokes...

I can't get my head around the idea of swimming in the Serpentine. Why did you feel static in it? Too much bird poo?

That was awesome, a light mist on the water as we set off, and swum the km or so to the bridge, stopped for a chat and then swum back to our starting point.

the only downer was that someone had nicked our shoes when we got back, but id left a 2 year old stinky pair of trainers there, so good luck to them tbh...

I'm guessing they hadn't nicked them, they'd probably thrown them in the water. Kids being twats, rather than skanky second-hand shoe thieves.

Maybe someone was out picking litter on the riverbank.

Always the optimist.

There were 3 pairs of shoes by the bank, my Fluoro yellow trainers and tww sets of flip flops, one was left, I've just been for a run and a good look and there's no sign for about a mile in either direction, so if they have been thrown in or moved they've done a good job and its unlikely they were tidying up as the bins nearby are clear of missing shoes...

Slightly annoying but lesson learnt...