Windermere End to End

Argh......only 2 days left until we do the swim!!  A humongous thank you to everyone who has donated, and those who have given us good swimming vibes - they make so much difference!!!  Training has gone pretty well, managed to not injure myself, so that is a good start! This month I have swum over 55km with all but 5km of this outside, with a couple of weeks over 20km.  I have been glad over a taper this week - although you do worry that I am going to lose fitness, but I'd prefer that than starting the swim aching!
Our safety boaters are all organised (thanks Dad/Pete!), and I have a pile of food that I need to sort. We "plan" on being in the water for about 10 hours, so need to have a fair amount of snacks/gels to keep us going.  Spare goggles, spare swimming hat and spare ear plugs have all been located, waterproof mp3 player is charged up.......think we are ready for the swim now!!!

Just 3 weeks to go now until the crazy swim....did 16km last week, and so far done 8km this week, with a planned 8km tomorrow, and 2km on Sunday - to wetsuit or not though, sunburn or over-heating?!! Trying to get my "feeding" sorted now as well, I use Kendal Mint Co gels, stored in little laundry bags on my tow-float so can easily get those out, but more of a logistical challenge hydrating (apart from drinking lake water, not advised!) as I have to stumble out of the water to get a drink. Got a pretty challenging couple of weeks of training left.......I used the mantra "the more you bleed in training, the less you bleed in battle" when I was competing as a canoeist, I keep having to say it now as well!!! Please share, the more donations we get, the more people we can help 🥰

I did my first swim in Windermere at the start of the week....went pretty well, but I did feel a little lonely in the big lake without any safety cover - there were lots of speed boats pottering around, and coming too close for comfort! Life has got in the way of training this last week.  Long swim day 1 - the dogs haircut didn't take as long as I thought it would! Long swim day 2 - turns out my tow float leaks and the "waterproof" storage compartment was full of water, it was hard work (and very hot!). Long swim day 3 - so so windy and wavy, had a good 500m loop I felt comfortable doing where I was relatively close to shore if I took on too much water - but then sailing boats arrived, didn't trust they wouldn't run me over, so another short one.  This week looks more promising!!!  But, I haven't injured myself yet - so that is a huge positive!!!

Training has been going ok so far - have to trust that low mileage at the moment is OK, trying really hard to not break myself!! Did a "speed" session today in the lake - going between a buoy in the water and a rock on the shore was a little tricky, but my muscles feel like it did something - so guess it worked?!!  All my training this week has been in Semerwater (8km so far)