Having recently completed the longest swim of my life, I thought I’d write about that in this article. I will return to my series on how Pilates helps us in daily life next month with an article about hip stability. But for now, let’s talk about swimming!

In May my family and I decided to enter the Eton Dorney Long Swim event, which was scheduled for September 20th. Since then, I’ve been training in a wetsuit and gradually increasing the distance I can manage. To begin with I could barely swim 2 or 3 hundred metres of continuous front crawl. However, I was aware that with a cut-off time of 2 1/2 hours for my 3.8-kilometre event, I would need to swim continuous front crawl to complete it in time.

As many of you already know, I was sadly unable to participate in the mass event due to ill health on the day. This was hugely disappointing, especially after all that training and having fundraised over £1000 for Dementia UK. So, I made a commitment to complete the 3.8 km as soon as possible at Mytchett lake, where I’ve been doing my training.

On Saturday 3rd October, on a beautiful morning at 8 am, I got into the 17.8-degree lake to do my challenge on my own!  I was thankfully not completely alone as my husband swam alongside me, having completed his own 5 km Eton Dorney Swim in September. And of course, there were other swimmers in the lake too.

I had a few realisations both during my swim and on reflection having missed the event in September. I came to realise that I really enjoyed having a target event to train for because I’m quite sure I would not have built my swimming up to such a level if we hadn’t committed to enter an event. Having said that although I was disappointed not to be able to compete, I was not as deflated about it as I thought. I think this was because I knew I could still complete the challenge even if it was by myself, but also because I felt I had benefitted from all the training regardless of whether I completed the event. I know it’s a cliche we often hear, but it really was the journey and not the destination that I enjoyed.

The only real negative of having to do the swim essentially on my own, is that I didn’t get a boost of adrenaline that often accompanies participation in organised events. There were however plenty of positives to this new situation, which included not having to start the swim surrounded by 50 other competitors all swimming around and on top of me! No pressure, or a feeling of being left behind or being chased by people behind me, and no concern about a rescue boat retrieving from the water me if I swam too slowly! 

Two hours of continuous swimming is a long time, but I actually found myself getting into a peaceful flow state on a few occasions. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was coming up and the water at the lake was as clear as I’ve ever seen it. This was both a blessing and a curse because at one point I saw some huge fish swimming near the bottom of the lake which sent my already fast-paced heart racing even faster for a few moments as I went into a mild panic!! Thankfully this was balanced out by a serene moment of watching a group of seagulls gracefully circling, low over the water before flying off.

I now feel relieved that I got it done as the lake temperature is already too low for a head-in swim (for me anyway!). I’m also looking forward to hanging up my wetsuit for a while and enjoying some lovely gentle breaststroke again! I don’t have any immediate plans to book another physical challenge, but I do feel it helps me to train harder when I have a goal in mind, even if that goal might be something I do independently rather than an organised event. 

I'll resume my articles on the functional benefits of Pilates exercises next month but do contact me sooner if you are interested in joining a regular weekly warm and welcoming Pilates class in Hook. All adults are welcome from beginners and beyond and my next block starts on November 4th, I’d love to hear from you if you’re interested. Booking is required in all classes. Simply open the contact me page from the menu and send me an email to get started. Looking forward to hearing from you.