Re-learning how to swim is like re-learning how to walk.

My quest is simple. Swim the length of my local loch - 10.5 miles. I can do this. Many years of silly challenges have taught me that anything is possible. Most of it is in the mind and if you can get your head into a place where you can do it, the rest will follow. However, at my current pace, this will take me around eight hours, and that is a really long time in a cold loch. So here starts the quest to make myself a faster and stronger swimmer. I have until August.

The internet is a fabulous tool for finding information, and it became rapidly apparent that I needed a boot in the right direction to sort out my technique and fitness with a view to getting faster. Wow! This was really hard. Finding people is easy, but getting anyone to answer me, point me in the right direction or even turn up to swim training meetings proved to be a real struggle. I contacted many official coaches and clubs with the remit of sorting me out. I'm happy to put in the training and time, and I really am committed. Really all I needed was someone who knows what they are talking about to watch me swim and point me in the right direction with a training plan. I was stood up so many times I started to lose heart until one day I was complaining to a SwimRun friend who is also a PT and she agreed to point me in the right direction.

And this is where I am now. Three months into a swim training programme that has so far taught me that a) I'm unfit, b) I'm weak and c) I can't swim. I'm really quite excited.

Fitness. My plan fits around my life, sort of. It involves skills and endurance in the pool or open water, cardio and a lot of strength. I am currently finding fitness easier than the other stuff. A combo of dog walking/ walky running and swimming is seeing my fitness getting better and I have to do it, so it gets done!

Strength. I loathe emojis (if I ever use them, call an ambulance, as something is going very wrong in my life), but if I did use them, here I would add lots of laughing emojis. You know, the ones with the crying faces. Dear lord. I don't think that any woman who has given birth should do any sort of anything involving their mid section. I am officially weak. Three months in and it is the section of my training plan that I avoid with every fibre of my being. It haunts me at night. And it hurts. And my children laugh at me as they find it easy. And I really hope that there are no hidden cameras.

Swimming. The real bummer is apparently I can not swim. I have recorded myself swimming in the past and I feel nice and elegant, it is smooth and relaxed. Admittedly it is all one pace. But no. Arm heights, catch and pull wrong, legs are 'flappy' (not too flabby and getting less so, I'll take that as a win), arms cross over etc etc. I can not swim. Big blow. I have slowed everything right down. Thinking about every stroke, arm entry, 'zipping' up my side, forming 'chicken wings', catching, pulling while kicking, and all the while remembering to breathe (twice in the past couple of months a life guard has asked me if I am alright?!), not to mention rotation, is all starting to have an effect. But not in the right direction. I am getting slower and slower. I am thinking about swimming so much that I am almost stopping in the pool. I have moved from the fast lane to the slow lane. I have lost my natural rhythm and I'm trying to get it back. Frustrating? You have no idea.

Re-learning to swim when I had thought that swimming was so natural to me has and is proving to be really difficult. I suppose a bit like learning to walk or run again. I find myself at night going through my stroke and style. I am trying to retain my fluid movement (not a fan of a splashy swimmer) as this must be more energy efficient. I am feeling that my catch and pull is starting to get there though and this can only mean a faster swim time eventually. It is still not natural and I am forcing myself to think all of this time to avoid lapsing back into what is natural. But I am hopeful. Another six months and I really hope to be a faster and stronger swimmer. I just need to keep to the programme.

I will keep blogging and updating. It is quite nice to keep a diary of it all, even if nobody else reads it!

In the mean time, I have signed up for the Coniston ChillSwim again in June. This will give me a good goal and show me where I am at. I then have uninterrupted access to open water through the Summer to train for the big event. I need to name it. Hmmmm......

#openwaterswimming #chillswim #breca #swimrun #thisgirlswims #swimscotland #coldwaterswimming #wildswimming #swimtraining