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Andrew
Wells - Winter 2020 |
In some ways swimming is a strange sport, it can be gentle, relaxing, but it can also leave you breathless after a couple of minutes. Whatever your aim is for that day adapting your approach to the task at hand will help you reach the best outcome. The idea of pacing is something we’re all familiar with, for a 100m sprint we can (if we wish) swim faster than when covering 1000m but by how much? Going further still and there will be more factors, feeding/ energy supply, maintaining focus, fatigue/recovery; just how do we find our forever pace? In the UK most events (with a few exceptions) lie in the range of 1500m to 10km; with all sorts of distances in between. These give stepping stones to increase distance or alternatively allows a swimmer to specialise and work on improving speed. If focusing on speed you will select your pace to use all your energy during the swim, leaving just enough to flop over the finish line and collapse in a heap (although it’s always best to save something at least until you get to the final sprint). Going down the distance track things are different, the focus is all about reaching the end, time is largely irrelevant. However, it is still important to get the pace right, too fast and reaching the end may not be possible, too slow and you could be vulnerable to environmental issues or loss of focus. Building through these distances is an essential part of any swimming journey, they enable you to learn about how you respond to different conditions, what to do and what not to do. Over time you can experience, huge temperature ranges, wind, rain, waves, days when you feel great and days when you don’t. If you swim enough there may come a point when the feeling of achievement at finishing these events diminishes, tougher conditions perk things up but generally you either need to focus on faster or that little bit further. That step up from 10k is both similar and different. A few stepping stones remain, Windermere and possibly a couple of others at around 10miles but beyond that the influence of triathlon falls away and most events are traditional only. In this world you can pick the channel, a loch or a trip down a river but whatever you pick it’s going to take a long time. Apart from the prevalence of tiny speedos, the biggest differences to adapt to are: Support.
Pacing.
And then there’s the biggest factor, the mind; you need to stay motivated, positive but ideally also relaxed and able to let the time fly by. For me that first stint always feels long but after that some are long others are like lightning. Some will feel great and others less so but that’s to be expected. Similarly, sometimes you can let your thoughts wander, enjoy the moment, relax, but others you need to dig deep and focus on that dream. Clearly, if you are taking on a true challenge you can’t guarantee success, there are some dangers to consider, but if you are truly ready you will know you can overcome them.
Of course, this is all a fantasy, nothing lasts forever and swims are likely to be significantly shorter still. Given suitable conditions and training it is possible to swim for 10hours, 14 hours or longer; at the extremes 24 hrs, even 48. In the end your brain would have to call a stop, there is only so long you can go before needing some sleep. But when you are ready you know you are going to reach the target first, you can just keep swimming and swimming all day. Losing Forever So, you are ready, you know you can achieve your goals, all the plans are in place and the training is done. What about the future, how do you keep things going forward after the first one, two three… ten swims? Fatigue can be a factor; after months of winter training leading into a string of summer swims you can reach that point where you can’t take more and recovery must be the main focus, maybe a few days will be enough but sometimes longer is required. Life events can also give periods where you focus levels swimming for a while and levels of training have to reduce, after a quiet month or two you will notice a difference in the water. For me confidence is a tricky beast, if you know you are going to finish, then finishing doesn’t always feel like an achievement. If you know you could have done better, it’s hard to focus on the positives. Then there are the worse days, cancellations due to weather, a DNF or something more tragic, maybe that’s my chance gone. Going long is also rather niche, sometimes you need to feel like you’re the elite otherwise how can you belong in this world, but that has its own risks. It’s hard to cope with meeting other swimmers who say those swims you're planning are amazing, I could never do that, but then go on to swim laps round you in the training session or disappear into the distance over 10k. It’s so easy to feel like an imposter, just an imposter than knows a secret… The secret that so many more could go long if they tried. Rebuilding The mind is so important in marathon swimming, if you're confident you want to do the training, you can see those future achievements; they will happen. When things are going badly it’s the opposite you know what is needed but its in the past and moving further away every time you’re in the water. This is the cycle that needs breaking, the need to forget the past for a while. Take a break, try another form of exercise then rediscover the water; see an improvement from last week rather than comparing to last year. Work is needed, but anything is possible when you’re going in the right way. Let’s see how far forever is this year. |
AS YOU'RE HERE: The HOWSC website is maintained and run by HOWSC members and relies on voluntary contribtutions. Do you have something you'd like to share? Maybe reflections on a recent swim, tales of adventures in far flung places, an account of your watery accomplishments? Photographs, videos, poetry, prose, art and more will all be gratefully received and published on the website for all to admire. Contact Mark Reed to discuss or submit your contribution. We look forward to hearing from you. |
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