35 Swimming
Tri20 Centre, Reading
Enjoyment - 75%
Success - 50%
Will try again - Yes
First timer’s recommendation – Practice in open water first, or at the very least in a 50m outdoor pool and try swimming in a wetsuit beforehand as the same distance in a 25m pool feels very different in a lake.
Alongside running, swimming is my favourite sport, and I was fortunate to be taught at an early age by my mother who was a county-level swimmer, and I have practiced all through school, college, university and since then. While this has mainly been pool-based, I have ventured out into the open water a few times since; mainly as part of a triathlon, or also in the Great Swim Series that I tried in London and Norfolk a few years ago. Although the principlles are the same, the fact you will likely be swimming in a wetsuit and the water will be colder does take some getting used to initially, and add to the fact you don’t get the split second break and push off every 25 or 50m does make it a lot tougher than doing the same distance in a pool. The hardest type of open water swimming would be in the sea, especially when it is choppy as this adds another layer of difficulty, and another key factor is having the ability to look up every few strokes to check you are still going in a straight line.
The Tri20 Centre just outside Reading comprises a 750m lap of a medium-sized lake and is open all year round for swimmers of all abilities. This was the first time I had been there and my practice for the event was not as thorough as I would have liked, partyly due to the fact there is no open water swimming in Basingstoke, and I had spent the previous two weeks watching the Olympics. The event was the Big Dog Swim, running for its fifth year, and it consisted of a 3.8lkm swim, or just over five laps of the course. There was a 1500m swim running concurrently, but I had done this distance before and felt I needed to push myself a biit more for this challenge. The distance was chosen as it is the same as the Ironman swim distance, and I was curious to see what time I could do, with a long-term ambition to complete an Ironman before I turn 40.
There were about 40 competitors and I finished in exactly the time I had expected; 1 hour 16 minutes which works out at exactly 30 seconds per length in a pool. While not breaking any records (the winner finished in 51 minutes), it was a good marker to lay down for future swims over this distance, and I would look to eventually get this down to 1 hour if I can work on my technique more, increase my fitness and also learn how to swim in a straight line as I must have wasted five minutes in a total by swimming off course on the first couple of laps. The event was well-organised and had a very laid-back feel to it which was refreshing, and the weather conditions were perfect, so this is one event I will certainly be looking to try again.