Thursday 30 September 2010

Last training swim for the year at Boundary Water Park

The title says it all really! Uswim are shutting up shop for the season at Boundary Water Park so went along this evening for a last open water swim there for the year. Water was a very very chilly 14'c! and quite dark with the sun having already set. Hands, feet and ears felt cold all the way round but was entranced by the flashing lights on the marker buoys to help them stand out in the dark!

Having looked at some video of my Salford swim last Sunday and seeing my windmill arms and head too far out of the water when breathing, I tried to focus a bit more on the technique this evening. Felt better but turned out to be a lot slower, covering the mile in a surprising 44minutes! Gonna miss these sessions! Roll on Spring! :-)

Sunday 26 September 2010

Great Salford Swim... Done :-)


Had a fantastic day today at the inaugural Great Salford Swim with not a spot of Blue Green Algae in sight!

Home ground for me having trained here with Uswim and a great venue for spectators. Karen and the girls followed me around the course shouting encouragement which was fantastic although I couldn't really wave back to show how much it was appreciated!

At the begining of this year I struggled to swim more than a few lengths of front crawl. I can't believe I managed to complete the course today let alone in a new personal best of 37 minutes and 20 seconds (I'd been hoping to get under 40 mins)!

Most importantly though, another £1,365 has been raised for the RNLI!

Thanks everyone for both the moral and financial support! Both have equally been important and I couldn't have done it without you!

The donation page will remain open for a couple of months so not too late to make a donation if you would like to... http://www.justgiving.com/daves-rnli-swim

Cheers!

D :-)

Thursday 23 September 2010

Three days to my RNLI Great Salford Swim!


Completed my last training session this evening prior to my RNLI Great Salford Swim this Sunday, swimming a mile at the Uswim training session at Boundary water park in 39 minutes. Really pleased with the swimming which feels a lot smoother now than a few months ago!
Got an e-mail from the organisers today too confirming all is still on! The water was last tested on Wed 22nd Sep and is clear for swimming (No Blue-Green Algae) but dropped in temperature to a chilly 15'c!
Fundraising total stands just short of £1,350 which is fantastic and worth getting cold and wet for!... Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far and if anyone hasn't but would still like to it's not too late! ~ http://www.justgiving.com/daves-rnli-swim :-)

Monday 20 September 2010

Lunchtime swim

Only 6 days until the Great Salford Swim so wanted to get some training in early this week and taper towards the end of the week. So, went for a swim this lunchtime at the leisure centre near work... 32 x 25 metre lengths (so half a mile) in just over 21 minutes. Got an e-mail today from the Great Swim organisers who are 'pleased to announce that currently blue-green algae is not present at Salford Quays'... Fingers crossed!!!

Sunday 19 September 2010

Out on our Anniversary!

Went out for a run mid morning with Karen, dodging the rain but in quite a strong wind around Pwllheli marina. 4.5 miles in 40 minutes. Not the quickest run ever but not bad after the champagne the night before! 23 years deserves at least a couple of bottles :-)

Thursday 16 September 2010

Snook under 40 minutes!

Another open water swim this evening with Uswim at Boundary Water Park... These sessions have not only been invaluable training but also really enjoyable. Much prefer open water swimming to pacing up and down a pool! A colleague sent me a link to 'Swim Smooth http://www.swimsmooth.com/ ' which has also helped improve the swimming technique somewhat... Took heed of the advice to breath in the bow wake made by my head and keeping my head lower in the water, also rolling my body more in the process... Managed to squeeze just under 40 minutes for a 1 mile swim which I'm really pleased with. The nights are drawing in now and for the last 400 metre lap it was getting ditinctly darker, punctuated by swimmers leaving with car headlights brushing over me in the lake!

Saturday 11 September 2010

A mile at Salford Quays

Another openwater training swim this morning at the Uswim session at Salford Quays. Swam a mile in just under 42 minutes. Once again the coaches couldn't have been more helpful! Jane who swims marathon distance (26 mile!) swims and has swam the channel gave me some pointers on stroke and leg kick. Makes my mile attempt seem a bit puny! :0)

Thursday 9 September 2010

Another mile at Boundary Water Park

Went along to the Uswim training session at Boundary Water Park again this evening. Session went really well, swam a mile with the sun setting in 41 minutes... Felt Good :0)

Tuesday 7 September 2010

Focus on the Great Salford Swim

The Great Swim organisers confirmed today that they wouldn't be able to reorganise the Great North Swim this year and so have cancelled it. Unbelievably they'd been considering trying to rearrange it for this weekend?! What planet are they on? How on Earth would 9,000 swimmers and 15,000 spectators have gotten themselves sorted with transport and accomdation in only 3 days!?... Anyway, onwards and upwards! Focusing now on the Great Salford Swim on Sunday 26th Sep and switching the RNLI fundraising to that.

The Dress down day at work last Friday has raised another £249! Fundraising total today stands at a whopping £1,329!! Thanks everyone!!!

Some training too this evening. 45 minutes weight training and 400 metres swimming at Total Fitness this evening

Sunday 5 September 2010

Out for a run

It's been a couple of weeks since my last run but managed to catch a quick loop around Sandbach this morning. Not the best ever run but not bad considering... 5.5 miles in 54minutes 30 seconds

Saturday 4 September 2010

Early morning swim in Salford Quays

Up at 6.30 this morning for a training swim at Salford Quays with Uswim. Arrived a bit too early so had a walk around the quays following the route being considered for the Great Salford Swim from dock 9, through the adjoining canal to dock 8. Whilst dock 8 was being used by a rowing club, the adjoining canal had a worrying amount of weed and algae growing in it! Here's hoping it clears within the next couple of weeks!

Dock 9 was open and with very clear water had a great session covering a mile in 42 minutes feeling much better than my first swim here last week. Also had my first swim with ear plugs... What a difference! I had been getting quite light headed at the end of these swims but a friend told me he'd had the same problem and had been told it was vertigo caused by water sloshing around his ears and that ear plugs had erradicated it... Well, they work! Thanks Martin!

Friday 3 September 2010

A pick me up!


After the disappointment of learning last night that the Great North Swim has been postponed had a great 'pick me up' with the fundraising today at work!
A cake bake sale organised by Julie, assisted by Catherine and Pauline and supplied by many keen and talented bakers raised a massive £158.57!
We've also had an RNLI dress down day today with funds being collected over the weekend and totals being announced Monday.
This has helped break the £1,000 target with totals today standing at £1,075 :-) Nice one!

Thursday 2 September 2010

Good News and Bad News...

The Bad News: Great North Swim postponed :o(
After finishing what I thought was my last open water training swim before the Great North Swim this evening (800mtrs at Boundary Water Park) I got an e-mail from the Great Swim organisers to say the Great North Swim scheduled for this weekend has been postponed due to health concerns regarding a blue-green Algae bloom... Gutted!

The Good News: Entered the Great Salford Swim :o)
They're hoping to rearrange the Great North Swim for another date in 2010 but just in case, I've entered the Great Salford Swim too (or instead)! It's a mile in Salford Quays at 1pm on Sunday 26th September!

So... You can still sponsor me via the same RNLI Just giving link, and hopefully this will be acceptable for all those who have already supported me... You may even get a '2 for 1' deal if they do rearrange the Great North Swim!

Every cloud has a silver lining and all that!

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Three days to the Great North swim!


No training today but plenty of fundraising! Donations of £125 since yesterday from family, friends and colleagues bring the fund raising total to a staggering £841 today! Thank you so so much!
The girls at work are organising a "cakey bakey" stall this Friday to bolster the funds! My younger daughter has spent the last day of her summer holidays making cakes for this. I'm not sure what the biggest test will be... The swim on Saturday or not eating these cakes before Friday morning! :o)