Open Water Swimming Series: Plymouth Breakwater Swim & VLOG!

I DID IT! In case you hadn't been following my open water swimming series from the beginning, 2 weeks ago I took part in the 2.2 mile open water swim in Plymouth from the breakwater into Tinside beach, I was told it's only swimming in a straight line for 90 minutes, so it couldn't be that bad?! Since I began my training back at the start of the year I have been hindered by an ongoing shoulder injury, the flu and a diagnosis of asthma, so pretty much every obstacle possible tried to get in my way. The swim was initially meant to happen in August, but due to bad weather it was postponed to October which actually really worked in my favour as I hadn't been on my asthma medication for long and the sea was rife with jellyfish in August. Fast forward to two weekends ago and the weather literally could not have been any better, the sea was a mill pond and the conditions were perfect. It was the biggest challenge that I set myself for 2016 as it was 100% out of my comfort zone, but I can honestly say that although I had lots of obstacles and the 'fear' of the sea to overcome, the actual day of the breakwater swim was one of the best days of my life, and something that would never have happened if I didn't push myself.

I'd been awake since 6am with nerves and excitement on the day of the swim, so I was so ready to head down to register at 10:30am, as we approached the Barbican and went to sign up it all suddenly started to feel real, and I was damn scared! But seeing how still the sea was and how beautiful the day was definitely helped to calm my nerves. 

Number 197 will now forever be my lucky number. Each swimmer had to wear a Selkie cap and wristband along with the number written on our hand so we could easily be identified as we came into shore.

The CEO of my work and co-owner of House of Harris, one of our clients also took part in the swim, it was nice to see some familiar faces before the swim. For the record, yes I did beat them!

I owe everything that I did in the lead up and on the day to The Wild Swimming group that I stumbled upon on Facebook. They are the nicest community that I have ever encountered and they are a massive pool of advice about all things wild swimming. I wouldn't have had a clue about anything before meeting them, and I would never have gotten over my fear of sea swimming. Most of the all weather, all season wild swimmers wear skins in the sea all year round, because the boat trip over would be a bit breezy they had a bin bag fashion show, apparently bin bags are quite warm and it meant that it didn't matter if they got chucked away after the boat left us!

As the time drew closer I got changed into my wetsuit, it only took 15 minutes! This was going to be the longest time I'd ever swam with a wetsuit on, looking back it would have been a good idea to rub vaseline all over my neck to stop the wetsuit rubbing...

The waiting around was the worst bit, but it quickly approached 12pm and we all made our way down to the 2 boats that were taking 280 swimmers out into the sound, it finally started to get real as we boarded, and I was not scared one bit...

At 12:30pm we waved goodbye to our loved ones and hoped that we would all make it back in one piece. It took 20 minutes to reach the breakwater, and it wasn't until we arrived that I realised just how far away it was. It looks even further away once you even get into the water! We had to wait almost another 30 minutes for the damn brittany ferries boat to pull in which only fuelled my nerves more.

As usual I was worried about all the trivial things about the swim like 'what if I can't jump off?' 'what if my ear plus fall out?' or 'what if my swim cap falls off?'. I should have been worried about the distance itself, but nope. But of course, none of those worries actually came to fruition. After jumping off the boat and positioning ourselves in the sea, it was one of the most beautiful sights that I will never forget. In the middle of the sea, surrounded by a sea of blue hats, unfortuntaly I don't have any other pictures from this part of the swim for obvious reasons, but I'll always be able to remember that temporary moment before the swim of how I felt, the conditions and what my surroundings looked like. After counting down, the swim began, the start of races is always the worst, but it slowly filtered out after 5 minutes, and I was always one stroke closer to finishing this epic challenge.

Prior to the swim I was petrified of the sea, what was beneath me, and potentially what could hurt me or eat me.. I'd been in the sea before, but never for longer than 30 minutes and it was always a rushed thing that scared me if I was alone, I did 90% of my training in the pool with the idea that I would just get it out of the way on the day and it would be done. Everything I had worried about never bothered me on the day, I felt incredibly peaceful and tranquil swimming in the sea, there was few waves and there was even a period of time where there was no one near me for about 25 minutes, I did panic whether I was going the wrong way, but smeatons tower lighthouse led me in alongside the colourful beach huts!

The distance itself was perfect, it wasn't a challenge for me in that sense as I swim long distances in the pool regularly, nor was it the conditions or the sea, but the worst thing was realising you'd only been swimming for 10 minutes and it didnt look like you'd made any progress. The first marker for me was 2 massive yellow buoys and every time I looked up I felt like I was close, when realistically I didn't reach it for another 20 minutes. I also didn't look directly at land to start with as it was too unsettling realising just how far I had left to go!

I didn't have a watch with me, so I had no sense of time and really didn't know how long I had been swimming for. The thoughts of a lush bath and pizza afterwards quickly increased my speed, and when I could start to make out all the people on land I knew I was on the home strecth, and it was the best feeling!

I wore a pink tow float for the swim mostly for identification purposes, as most people have orange ones and without this my family would never have been able to spot me as everone looks the same in wetsuits!

Reaching land for the first time was the best feeling ever, that I really had completed this huge challenge. I don't think there was one person that didn't fall or slip over when they got in as it's really strange to feel ground beneath your feet after swimming for so long.

I remarkably finished the swim in 53 minutes, although it's not a timed event as it was for charity, and most importantly raising money for The Chestnut Appeal. For someone who's always been competitive it was nice to know though that I made it in in under one hour which is what I was aiming for.

Coming into the crowds was just the best feeling.

Upon taking off my wetsuit I instantly regretted not using vaseline, my neck was red raw from the wetsuit rubbing and it took about a week to heal, never again!

10 minutes after having a series of pictures and posting one on instagram, my mum told me I had a dirt beard - it was literally disgusting!! If you zoom in on my instagram picture that I posted you'll be able to see it, how embarrassing. You'll also spot it if you watch my breakwater VLOG (linked below!). It just proves how incredibly dirty the sea is, and I'm just so happy it never made me ill, as again this was one of my main worries about sea swimming.

Did I enjoy it? 100%! I never in a million years thought I would ever take up open water swimming, do a challenge like this and partially enjoy it. It was my main goal for 2016, to really get out of my comfort zone and try something new, and you know what? It felt amazing! You don't realise what you can achieve until you put your mind to it, and this day will stay with me for the rest of my life. Now everytime I go down to Plymouth Hoe I have a smile on my face as I stare out to the breakwater and think, did I really do that?

This is the end of my wild swimming journey for now and I may not do it again, but I'll never say never. As my favourite wild swimming quote goes, 'Wild Swimming is like a metaphor for life, daunting to consider, the first step is the hardest, once youre in it feels fine, and afterwards you look back at it glowing, excited and proud'. 

If you want to see more from the breakwater swim, please have a look at my first EVER VLOG and subscribe if you want to see more! It will hopefully give you more of an insight into the whole day! 

What do you think of my first VLOG, eek?! What has your biggest challenge for 2016 been?

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Open Water Swimming Series: Training Update

It feels like it was months ago that I first posted about the Breakwater swim that I'm taking part in in August. Fast forward to June and its now just over 2 months until the event, now that really is a scary thought. The 2.2 mile across the Plymouth sound is slowly looming, the good news is I've come a long way since the start of the year and have already done a few sessions in the sea to get a feel for it. Contrary to what it comes across like on social media, as expected it has not been easy. When your first thought when you enter the sea for the first time is 'what have I let myself in for' you can imagine how tough this challenge has been for myself so far, both physically and mentally. Underneath the surface my life really isn't all pretty outfits, lush baths and delicious food, there's really nothing glamorous about wild swimming, but it's an escape from reality that I find so compelling about it. Despite the hurdles I've faced so far, I'm taking baby steps and seeing progression each week, so do you know what? I think I'll be okay. 

I literally couldn't have made the initial plunge without finding the Devon Wild Swimmers group on Facebook. They meet every Thursday night at 6pm in Plymouth (as well as many other days/times to suit), which is ideal for me, but it does means I spend my whole Thursday at work feeling sick with nerves. Wild swimming is something I have never tried before because it fills me with so many fears (polluted water, SHARKS, the cold to name a few), but the group are SO friendly and some of these wild swimmers have swum the channel, ice lakes and the like so they come armed with a lot of information that made my first step into wild swimming an easy one. I was so numb with cold the first time that I did a sea swim (without a wet suit might I add, I know, what was I thinking?) that I didn't have a chance to think about anything else, and I also didn't give myself a chance to try front crawl because I was too scared to put my head in the water. The thought that I'd have to do the whole 2.2 miles swim as breastroke filled me with horror, luckily I've persisted and have tried a bit more each week.

Wearing a wetsuit has dramatically improved my time in the sea, as I literally don't feel the cold anymore, and I don't feel so exposed to the elements and whatever else is lurking in the sea (*gulps*). Although, I still need to invest in a swimming wetsuit as it feels like resistance training in my current surfing wetsuit! I've been doing one sea swim a week, with a couple of long pool swims each week too. Whilst having to juggle this with work, blogging and a life, it's really not been easy. But the end goal is in sight, and the thought of how I'm going to feel after the swim is keeping me going. Although I can't say I love it just yet, there is something about wild swimming that fills me with excitement, and there's never a time I don't feel proud when I get out.

5 Things I've Learnt from Wild Swimming so far:

#1. Training in the pool does NOT prepare you for swimming in the sea.

#2. The sea is cold, really cold!

#3. If you don't get changed within 10 minutes of getting out of the sea you're heading for dangerous territory (hypothermia!)

#4. You can feel sea sick from swimming in the sea (urgh)

#5. Wild swimming isn't actually that bad.

Like I always say to myself, what's the worst thing that could actually happen when I'm swimming in the sea? The most important thing for me over the next 2 months is to gain more confidence in the sea and keep my mind from wandering off from the task ahead. I'll probably do one more training update before the big event to let you all know how I'm getting on. Like I mentioned in my initial post, the Breakwater Swim is a charity event to help raise money for the Chestnut Appeal which supports men with prostate cancer, it's a great cause and any donations would be greatly appreciated. If you'd like to donate to this great cause you can find my Just Giving page here. 

Would you want to try wild swimming? Are you a wild swimmer? Are you training for any challenges at the moment?

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Open Water Swimming Series: Plymouth Breakwater Swim

(Photo credit: Atwell Martin Plymouth) 

After I watched 200 swimmers do a grueling 2.2 miles swim across the Plymouth sound last year I knew it had to be my challenge for 2016. I love to push and challenge myself in life, and I firmly believe that amazing things happen when you get out of your comfort zone, and I will truly be doing that with my open water swimming journey. A few weeks ago I set things in stone, and I'm now officially signed up for the 2.2 miles breakwater swim (roughly 160 lengths of a 25m pool) which takes place in August, so there really is no going back now *gulps*. So you can grasp just how far that is, the above picture shows the breakwater at the far right in the distance (a short line), and I will be swimming in to the shoreline on the left - so basically straight across. Pretty far huh? I'm also setting myself a personal target of finishing it in under an hour, so the pressure really is on! Whilst I'm never gong to lose my competitive streak, the breakwater swim is in aid of The Chesnut Appeal who run this event and many other sporting events like this in the South West to raise lots of money for prostate cancer. So it's a great opportunity to give to such a good cause, and to also achieve something for myself at the same time! 

Whilst I've been a competitive swimmer for most of my life, the sea has been one territory that I have always been too scared to venture in for more than a paddle - the sea truly does terrify me. It's a mixture of fearing the unknown, the thought of what's beneath me, and undoubtedly from watching too many shark films! The sea opens you up to all of the elements, and it's the unpredictability that scares me, as even the strongest swimmer can't compete with the power that the sea can hold over you. It's a massive understatement that it will be a huge difference from the tame environment of a chlorinated swimming pool and the warm poolside. Realistically I have 6 months to train for this, and as they say there's nothing to fear apart from fear itself. It's definitely a mind over matter thing, and it's going to be a pretty big thing for me to overcome. 

I train in the pool a few times a week anyway doing a long distance, so my training programme is going to be more about sustaining that, and of course challenging myself to start training in the sea... Due to my stint of crossfit I've unfortunately been laid up with a shoulder injury since the start of the year now, it's so frustrating when you finally start getting into a good routine and an injury strikes. Shoulders are the integral driving force when you're swimming so I'm trying to take it easy at the moment and I'm still undergoing physio, so I will hopefully be back to proper training in a couple of weeks time! 

Because this is going to be such a huge challenge for myself I've decided to document this through an open water swimming series, my way of showing people what open water swimming is really like, and as something for myself to look back over, and hopefully to see how far I have come! I'm also part of a Devon wild swimming group on Facebook which is a pool full of information and motivation about open water swimming, some of these hardy swimmers have been braving the sea all winter, even during the height of the storms! Whilst I definitely won't be going in the sea until the weather starts heading in the right direction, I will be updating my series monthly starting with training updates, the trials and tribulations of open water swimming, all leading up to the event. I hope you'll all stick around and join me on this terrifying journey. I'm filled with trepidation, fear and dread, but who knows, I might actually enjoy it?

Have you tried open water swimming before?

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