Training

I have to thank Jolyon Finck on the Swimathon website www.swimathon.org for the training plan. I followed it last year, and it worked. This plan can be found once registered and logged in for the Swimathon.

I found a couple of other training plans online, a 6 week plan by Duncan Goodhew (Duncan Goodhew’s Six Week Training Programme – Swimathon) and a 10 week plan by Keri–Anne Payne (Swimathon Training Plans)

Today there was time to swim, so I memorised the set and went down to the pool. This is excellent exercise for mind and body, as reading glasses become more a part of everyday life, it also saves the paper from getting wet.

One of the great joys is leaving the confines of the changing rooms and entering the vast hall of water and light. Awesome is a word that springs to mind when the water is calm. Today was one of those days, as again the pool was quiet.

There were swimmers, but the pool is big enough for everyone; fast, slow, enjoying the water, learning to swim, with lanes and without. One of the most difficult things to do is to get in the water. There is the choice of lane can be a problem – as it can be difficult to tell how fast or slowly people are swimming. There are many different styles of swimming, some are shown on the Swimsmooth website at www.swimsmooth.com. The site is worth a look. It describes the swim characteristics of Mr Smooth, with tips on how to improve front crawl stroke.

In the fast lane there was a very smooth swimmer with a long steady stroke. Mr Smooth, I think. In the medium lane was a fast swimmer, then some older swimmers were swimming steady breaststroke in the slow lane.

Luckily I didn’t need to choose as there was an empty unmarked lane; and somebody joined me later which helps with motivation in a long session.