Swimming

I've always enjoyed swimming and took up regular distance swimming for fitness about 15 years ago. I got really bored of trawling  backwards and forwards in a chorlinated pool so for about the last 4 years I like to go open water swimming whenever I can.

Royal Victoria Docks London
my favourite

My usual swim setting is the Royal Victoria Docks in London, followed by Charlton Lido and Brookwell Lido also all in London.

When I swim in the Royal Victoria Docks in London there is a distinct oddness of sensation since its deep, you have no visual clues as to what's beneath you and you are swimming quite close to some huge (from the perspective of being a swimmer) objects. I also love to watch the planes coming into land at London City Airport overhead, the runway is about 1000m from the swimming area.

Another great local swim venue,
Whitstable

I enjoy the feeling of the cold air  and occasionally when I manage to get into a smooth rhythm to glide gently with as little apparent effort as possible. I try meditate at the same time as stretching out at each stroke to extend tendons and muscles.

You can truly loose yourself on a long open swim, something I find really useful for my thought processes especially if I have a specific problem to solve. I don't swim very quickly, I just plod around pretty slowly keeping out of the way of the speedsters, I swim for the sensation rather than beating times.

Charlton Lido (heated throughout the year)
50m

The cold can be something you have to just contend with, I like everyone else stand at the top of the step knowing its likely to be blooming cold but I know that after about 200m or so I won't notice the cold anymore. It is partly mind over matter but most of all experience. The docks can be bitingly cold, it hits you like a sledgehammer when you dive in especially in the early spring, but it slowly gets better and better until the cold returns in late October, when its gets sub 10c or just too dark thats when I defer back to a lido, usually at Charlton.

Hermosa Beach LA, really easy to get to
from LAX

I'm not a 'skins' swimmer some consider it a bit wimpy to wear a wet suit, but I find I can swim far longer in the cold in my wet suit, hypothermia sets in much more quickly without that additional layer.

I use an i-watch to measure swims and performance which is pretty accurate usually around 3.5-4k. I do occasionally sign up for organised swims such as the Dock-to Dock (5K) or the Great London swim (3K).  In the months when the water is sub 15c I resort to wearing all the wet suit kit I can get! so for me that's wetsuit, gloves, boots, hat.....but some people have an amazing tolerance for cold and just carry on without anything.

Chicago Lake Michigan, a bit chilly!
but swum the marked mile

Swimming for me started when I was 4 or 5, when we moved to Cromer on the North Norfolk coast.  I remember once when I was around age 7  getting cut off by the tide on Cromer beach and having to cross the very sharp flint rock pools at neck depth. It was then that I decided to really learn how to swim, and so in the manner of many before me used a handy tractor tyre tube to get some confidence in the water and at least be able to swim a few strokes. My Grandfather was also a great sea swimmer and I still remember the times I went with him, the distinctive smell of a meths stove and tea along with salty sea water still invokes strong memories.

Lake Swimming New Hampshire
lovely clear water.

Learning to swim properly came later when I reached High School I took all my Amateur Swimming Association awards in a barley heated indoor pool at a local private girls school. The training I had then served me well and its something I encouraged my own children to do.

I certainly intend to continue swimming for as long as I possibly can, and hopefully emulate my Grandfather and keep going into my 80's.... I just wish I had more time to swim more and in more exotic locations.

Narragansett Bay Rhode Island kept thinking.... Shark!