So, myself and fellow Guildford City Swimming Club (GCSC) Masters Squad member Kieron Taylor have entered a swimming event - the more we've discussed it, the more we realise how hard it will be to complete, and from reading previous participants comments, mental strength is going to play a huge part in it.
You see, for swimmers, there aren't many high profile / well organised challenges to test you, unlike Running or Cycling. Take running. Anyone can do it, at anytime, anywhere - from a simple jog around the block, to entering a 5k / 10k, or even a Half Marathon (Never EVER again) or full Marathon. Other than swimming club competitions and meets, there isn't much for swimmers - triathlons (tick), BT Swimathons (tick) and British Gas's Great Swim Series (tick). Then there's the English Channel - more people have climbed Mount Everest than successfully swum to France. Maybe one day.
Anyway, we've entered 2Swim4Life. It's a 24 mile swim, in 24 hours, in the Guildford Lido, taking place on Saturday 30th April. The basic challenge is to swim one mile on the hour, every hour, starting at 9.30am in aid of Help For Heroes.
Other than my GCSC training (up to 9 hours a week, mostly starting at 6am) I'm going to have to start getting fit for swimming a mile at a consistant and comfortable pace. A mile in a 50m pool is 32 lengths. A mile in a 25m pool is 64 lengths. Ideally, I want to be swimming the mile in under 30mins, so on the day, I'll have time to get out of the pool, warm up, stretch out, eat, refuel, rest before getting back in for the next mile.
Training started this morning. My first thought was "32 lengths is a bloody long way", followed shortly afterwards by "what the hell have I entered this for", along with "I've lost count already, how many lengths was that" and "I've not actually posted that entry form yet.. maybe I won't get a stamp for it"
Managed the first mile in around 25mins, had a 3minute break, and did another mile in around 28mins. That's 2 down, 22 to go then. Ouch.
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