Four days to the Great North Swim!

Made the most of my last remaining day of Bannatynes Health Club membership (having switched to Total Fitness) to do 40 minutes weight training followed by a soak in the Hot Tub... The Hot Tub is definately better than swimming!

RNLI fund raising total today stands at £716 :-) Thanks everyone!

A swim at Porth Cerriad

Had a bit of a swim at Porth Cerriad off Abersoch this afternoon which turned out to be a beautiful sunny Bank holiday... About 600 metres swim, just enough for a stretch :-)

Had a major boost to the fundraising this week too with the folk at Gimblet Rock holiday park in Pwllheli donating £76 by way of sponsorship for my RNLI Great North Swim! Many thanks not only to the many folk who have donated but also Lynsay, Zoe, Kevin and Carl for organising this additional fundraising! Total today stands at £611! :-)

Nice Hat!

Got up at 6.30am this morning for a swim in Salford Docks... I was questioning the wisdom of this myself I must admit but good experience for next weeks Great North Swim as the water here is deeper that at Boundary Water Park (around 7mtrs) and about the same temperature as Windermere. Have to admit to being quite aprehensive intitally with the depth but settled down for an OK swim. Swam 1 mile in 46minutes. Not the best of times but have never been good at exercise this early in the morning! The Folks from Uswim have been fabulous support in helping me get ready for my challenge next week so all thanks to them!

My RNLI fundraising total as of today stands at £535 :-) ~ http://www.justgiving.com/daves-rnli-swim

A mile at Boundary Water Park

Swam another open water mile this evening at the Uswim training session. Water was considerably colder than last time I swam here (18'c as opposed to 24'c) but also considerably clearer being able to see the reeds and the odd school of small fish!
All went well completing the mile in 43 minutes :-)

Another Gym and swim session

Took my youngest daughter along to the Family zone at Total Fitness gym this evening and whilst she used treadmill, cross trainer, etc. I did 35 mins weight training. Both then had a swim... 500mtrs (20 x 25mtr)... Much more fun and felt a lot better than yesterday!

Gym and swim

35 minutes weight training followed by an 800 metre sloppy swim this evening (40 x 20mtr lengths) at Bannatynes gym... Wasn't the best ever session!

Back from holiday!

Just back from a fortnight family holiday :-) Managed a couple of sessions in the gym, some swimming, snorkelling and diving and too much food!

Back to the training... Did a 4 mile run today with Karen which didn't feel too bad.

Kicked off the RNLI Great North Swim fundraising in earnest just before I left and the fundraising total as of today stands at £500 already! A massive thankyou to all those who have already donated!

The swim is in just under two weeks time and the donation page can be found here if you'd like to contribute ~ http://www.justgiving.com/daves-rnli-swim

Open water swim

Swam 1600 metres open water at Boundary water park this evning in 44 minutes... Loving it!

Followed it up with a 'wash' and play in the pool at the Sub-aqua club training session with my daughters afterwards (Eau de lake is never a good smell!)... Underwater frisbee football is also fantastic fun!

D :-)

Out for a run

Managed to sneak a run in this evening, my first in almost a month! Down Middlewich rd to pick up the canal and then a loop around to Crewe rd Home again. Didn't have a puff on the inhaler and my hayfever related asthma played up a bit (excuses!)... 9km in 55mins.

A family affair

Whilst Karen went out for a run this evening, I took our two daughters for a gym and swim! 30 minutes weight training for me whilst the girls did the rowing, running and cycling machines and then 500 metres swimming in the pool for us all :-)

2000 metre open water swim!

Went along to the Uswim open water swimming training session again this evening. The coach Dave Quartermain was good enough to spend 15 minutes with me assessing my front crawl and giving me a few pointers to improve my stroke and efficiency which really helped!

Swam four circuits of the 500 metre bouyed route. Completing the mile in 45 minutes and the 2000 metres in 55 minutes. Really comfortable with front crawl now and felt like I could have swam on... Until I got out and felt light headed!

Also gave my new swimming wetsuit a go this evening... Very pleased! Accidentally bought it at Northern Diver last week... I only went in for air fills for the weekend diving!

D :-)

Gym and swim

Went down to Total Fitness Health Club this evening and after doing 35 minutes weight training in the gym stumbled upon the Total Fitness triathlon club on a training session in the pool and joined in for a half mile swim with them! Hoping to join them on their regular Tuesday training sessions... A very friendly bunch! :-)

My first open water mile!

Went for another open water swim again this evening at the Uswim training session at Boundary Water Park in Holmes Chappel.

I can't tell you what a good session this is, and still can't believe how many swimmers there are and how friendly the set-up is!

Swam four laps of the bouyed 400 metre route non stop, all front crawl in a very comfortable 45 minutes. Felt fantastic and as though I could have just kept on swimming!

I think I might have found another passion! The sense of freedom swimming in open water is amazing, really quite liberating!

I feel a triathlon coming on next year!

D :-)

Gym and Swim

Did 45 minutes weight training at Bannatynes gym this evening followed by 400 metres of very sloppy front crawl! Tired Arms!! ;0)

Half mile pool swim

Swam 32 x 25 metre lengths of front crawl at Total Fitness Health club this evening in 23 minutes. Didn't feel the best ever swim...

Open Water Swim :-)

Went along to a Tatton Triathlon Open Water swim training session this evening organised by Usiwm at Boundary water park in Holmes Chappel... What a Great set up! Must have been a couple of hundred swimmers, some just in speedo's !?! http://www.uswimopenwater.com

The water was shallow, murky but warm at around 20'c.

Swam 1,200 metres in total. Three laps of the 400 metre circuit with a few minutes break between each lap.

The coach that runs the sessions, Dave Quartermain was great and couldn't have been more helpfull and friendly! He gave me a few tips on technique and taught me how to 'spot' to help swim front crawl in a straight line when there's no sides or bottom to guide you... A great tip in itself!

The swim felt great! A lot more relaxed than my last open water swim in the sea but my front crawl is probably a lot better since then. Felt whacked and a bit light headed when I reached the bank at the end of the third lap and was glad of the BBQ and burgers being cooked up afterwards :-)

Great preparation and a huge morale booster for my Great North Swim! :-)

Half a mile in a wet suit

Did another half a mile front crawl at the sub-aqua club training session this evening and so was able to try out the wet suit swimming again... Very warm! Completed in 23 minutes :-)

Six and a half mile run

Went out for a gentle paced run with Karen tonight... Down Middlewich Rd picking up the canal in Moston and up towards Malkins bank to pick up the Wheelock Rail trail home. A round trip of 61 minutes but felt like I could have kept running all night!

Half mile swim

Swam 32 x 25 metre lengths of front crawl at Total Fitness' pool this evening in just under 25 minutes

Changing gyms

I'm in the process of moving from Bannatynes gym to Total Fitness, primarily as it allows my eldest daughter to also use the gym too (Bannatynes have an age restriction). So at the moment I have two gym memberships which must make me twice as fit!? :-)

Did 45 minutes weight training at Total Fitness tonight followed by half a mile swim (32 lengths of their 25 metre pool). Mixed front crawl with breast stroke and completed the half mile in 24 minutes. Rounded it off with steam room, plunge pool and 10 minutes in their hydrotherapy pool which was heaven! :-)