The event was fairly well organised with good signage and a basic but functional changing facilities. My husband was also swimming so once we were in our wetsuits, we headed over to the start. I did feel a bit of an idiot in my boots, but having taped them on (and taped extensively underneath) I hoped that they would just help protect my bite. After a short warm up and a slight delay as people made their way to the start, we were allowed into the fairly warm water and then we were off.
It was hard. Quite a bit harder than I had anticipated. I had taken four days off training (and two days off work - this was enforced...) after being bitten when running but there was a really strong headwind so once I felt happy in the water (swimming a kind of freestyle breaststroke), it was really difficult to make any head way. The buoys marking the course looked MILES away, and I just didn’t seem to be going anywhere…This was slightly disheartening as the field kept narrowing out as other swimmers found their rhythm are moved away from me, but I kept on plugging away and eventually started making s-l-o-w progress towards the halfway mark. The event was billed as “open to everyone, regardless of ability” so whilst most of the field tore away, there was a small group at the back. I alternated between trying to do a decent breaststroke, realizing that I was unbelievably slow in the headwind (I had been warned by a very good open water swimmer that breaststroke is often a problem because you actually stop at the end of every stroke), and then attempting a dogged front crawl. The wind meant that the water was quite choppy so I found the front crawl uncomfortable because I kept breathing in water as it hit my face. I panicked quite a bit throughout and was worried that I would be in the water forever (ever the realist...) so in end, I developed a meerkat-front crawl keeping my head out of the water and front crawling with my arms in an attempt to just get it over with as soon as possible. And then the fastest swimmers of the second wave began to overtake us….life affirming….and as the much-faster swimmers tore past, it was slightly more difficult to concentrate on my own pace. I kept paddling slowly ahead, trying to concentrate on putting one arm in front of the other, and eventually the finish was in sight. A bit more splashing about and I was done.
I felt like I’d been in the water for HOURS and couldn’t work out my time using the finish clock as our wave hadn’t started on time, but I didn’t care; all I wanted was my medal, and to get out of my wetsuit. I stumbled through the “end zone”, picked up my water, tshirt, bag, medal, posed for the obligatory photo in my suit and swim cap (so attractive….) and finally got changed. After a quick change and a bottle of coke to try to kill any water-based nasties, we headed out to Oxford for a day of lazing beside the river watching Summer Eights (code for manic cheering, lots of Pimms and watching nine girls jump over a wooden boat on fire….whilst being filmed by Steve Redgrave….)
In short, I made the right decision to do it; it was good experience of fairly difficult wind conditions, and it gave me a time to build on. The event itself was fairly well organized and I liked that there was a real range of abilities to encourage more people to give open-water swimming a try. The swim highlighted (to me) that front crawl really IS the way to go for speed, and that I definitely needed to practice more ahead of my triathlon and 2.1k swim at the end of June…
I swam a mile before 10.30am on a Saturday morning and I got a medal; both of these facts made me happy. Would I do it again? Probably, but I’d prefer the water a little calmer…
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