For me its like Fight Club:
Rule one - No-one talks about Bedford Olympic
Rule two - No-one talks about Bedford Olympic
Friday, August 29, 2008
Walberswick Chronicles
So most of my swim training is done in a pool. Some of it in a lake, but mostly in a pool. The pool is warm. The lake is cold. Neither is salty, neither have waves. So rather than wing it I thought I’d get myself down to the seaside for a dip to test it out. It was also an excuse to stay at a nice hotel and take the family.
We decided, eventually, to stay at the Westleton Crown (http://www.westletoncrown.co.uk/) which was superb, food and staff were excellent. There was even the annual “Barrel Rolling” festival on on the Sunday. Which provided some rather wet entertainment.
ANYWAY…early on the Saturday morning we packed Roxie and Teena into the car and we drove to Walberswick. There was what you might call a ‘stiff’ breeze, the clouds were grey, the girls had their coats on, but I HAD to go in. I was going to start with the wetsuit on, but that idea was dumped when I saw the group of people already in the water (bear in mind this was a little after 8am). So it had to be speedos, hat and goggles. That’s it. Getting in was fine. Acclimatising was fine. Swimming was fine. I managed about 50 minutes with no dramas. It was supposed to be 45, but the tide had other ideas and kept pushing me down the shore and back out to sea. Those tides can be a little on the strong side. Uncontrollable shivering ensued for the next few hours as expected.
Session one (of four) Done. Tick.
So then it’s a play about all day, watch some limpics and wait until session 2 scheduled for 4pm. That also goes without a hitch. Swimming about around the pier in Southwold. Although it was a bit more ‘choppy’. My untrained eye put the swell at about 3feet or so, could have been 4. It actually wasn’t that bad. It destroys your rhythm, and plays havoc with your technique, but accept that and move on. Its fine it really is. I was in there for just shy of 40 minutes this time. I could see lots of people on the pier pointing at me as I swam out towards France, I got a bit self conscious and called it a day. Uncontrollable shivering ensued for the next few hours as expected.
Session two (of four) Done. Tick.
Session 3 was a little more tricky. It was 8am, in Dunston (just to utilise as much of the coastline as possible) and it was not only very windy, but the swell looked (again to my untrained) to be about 4+ feet, oh and I had consumed about 1.5 bottles of red the previous evening. I was very, very scared. I didn’t let on to Dave (who had kindly agreed to accompany me and leave T at the hotel). I just got in. Once you are going though you don’t really notice the waves. I managed about 45minutes before the tide had other ideas of me swimming parallel to the shoreline and unceremoniously dumped be back ashore. Yes I could have gone further out, but I was hungry anyway and there were pancakes to be had. Uncontrollable shivering ensued for the next few hours as expected.
Session three (of four) Done. Tick.
So Sunday afternoon rolls in and at the allotted time of 4pm the sun came out and I decided that a fourth session was fruitless and decided to make a boat in the sand for Roxie instead. Much more fun and meant that I didn’t spend any of the journey home feeling slightly sick and uncontrollably shivering.
Overall though I won. I reckon the temperature was of 16+ degrees and I feel happier about the day.
However I have injured my foot and have not run for two weeks. I am still limping and am somewhat concerned about it. However both Woody and Si have the same injury. So maybe I’ll be OK.
We decided, eventually, to stay at the Westleton Crown (http://www.westletoncrown.co.uk/) which was superb, food and staff were excellent. There was even the annual “Barrel Rolling” festival on on the Sunday. Which provided some rather wet entertainment.
ANYWAY…early on the Saturday morning we packed Roxie and Teena into the car and we drove to Walberswick. There was what you might call a ‘stiff’ breeze, the clouds were grey, the girls had their coats on, but I HAD to go in. I was going to start with the wetsuit on, but that idea was dumped when I saw the group of people already in the water (bear in mind this was a little after 8am). So it had to be speedos, hat and goggles. That’s it. Getting in was fine. Acclimatising was fine. Swimming was fine. I managed about 50 minutes with no dramas. It was supposed to be 45, but the tide had other ideas and kept pushing me down the shore and back out to sea. Those tides can be a little on the strong side. Uncontrollable shivering ensued for the next few hours as expected.
Session one (of four) Done. Tick.
So then it’s a play about all day, watch some limpics and wait until session 2 scheduled for 4pm. That also goes without a hitch. Swimming about around the pier in Southwold. Although it was a bit more ‘choppy’. My untrained eye put the swell at about 3feet or so, could have been 4. It actually wasn’t that bad. It destroys your rhythm, and plays havoc with your technique, but accept that and move on. Its fine it really is. I was in there for just shy of 40 minutes this time. I could see lots of people on the pier pointing at me as I swam out towards France, I got a bit self conscious and called it a day. Uncontrollable shivering ensued for the next few hours as expected.
Session two (of four) Done. Tick.
Session 3 was a little more tricky. It was 8am, in Dunston (just to utilise as much of the coastline as possible) and it was not only very windy, but the swell looked (again to my untrained) to be about 4+ feet, oh and I had consumed about 1.5 bottles of red the previous evening. I was very, very scared. I didn’t let on to Dave (who had kindly agreed to accompany me and leave T at the hotel). I just got in. Once you are going though you don’t really notice the waves. I managed about 45minutes before the tide had other ideas of me swimming parallel to the shoreline and unceremoniously dumped be back ashore. Yes I could have gone further out, but I was hungry anyway and there were pancakes to be had. Uncontrollable shivering ensued for the next few hours as expected.
Session three (of four) Done. Tick.
So Sunday afternoon rolls in and at the allotted time of 4pm the sun came out and I decided that a fourth session was fruitless and decided to make a boat in the sand for Roxie instead. Much more fun and meant that I didn’t spend any of the journey home feeling slightly sick and uncontrollably shivering.
Overall though I won. I reckon the temperature was of 16+ degrees and I feel happier about the day.
However I have injured my foot and have not run for two weeks. I am still limping and am somewhat concerned about it. However both Woody and Si have the same injury. So maybe I’ll be OK.
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