Challenge Windermere

Part 1 – How not to make a decision

Lancaster in Winter – darkness and dreams dashed

To begin I need to to take you back to January. Its grim and dark. I am overweight and relatively unfit as a result of neglecting my athletic journey. This neglect of endurance activity extends to my mindset. It is easy to forget the role this plays in the balance of body, mind and spirit. Twenty twenty three was a difficult year to put it mildly and things don’t look great. At this point running seems to be the best remedy. Put on a pair if trainers and get out the door. But as I said I am heavy and out of condition, I am 20% off my parkrun PB set only months before, and the notion of running any real distance seems a far off hope. True to my most determined self I get out every day and distance and times and spirit improve.

By Mid-march I can reasonably keep up with my trail running group 10k without holding anybody up too much and I begin to think about structured training. Weekly distance goals, speed and endurance sessions emerge and I even race a couple of times. I begin to dare to dream of completing a marathon and an ultra in the summer and autumn. After 4 weeks I take a well deserved easy week. Then, I am standing at the bottom of the stairs and my calf locks up. I treat it gently and in a week its looking better and I begin to run again. Then 7km into my weekly long run I get a stabbing pain in my groin. I make it home but the injury while not constantly painful flares up when I run. Similarly cycling is off the table.

A new goal emerges

Luckily as a multi-sport athlete, I have another option. Unfortunately, although I have spent a lot of time bashing up and down swimming pools and with the awareness that for most distance swimmers in the UK it is the only option, it is not my favourite environment. Happily, it is now April 27th and although only 10 degrees in Mallows Bay Morecambe, open water has become a reasonable option again.

Throughout June I start to swim daily but without a specific focus beyond being with the water, wildlife and the elements, oh and myself. This is where I came into endurance sport and will always be the most important thing. To be, holistically, with the experience, is most important thing and goals and aspirations inform that. I am though surprised how far I can swim. From an initial 800m in the bay I am soon enjoying upwards of 5 km swims mostly in the River Lune. I begin to reflect on different aspects of my swimming.

Things to think about – approach, learning and nutrition

I have never been an athlete who trains in the mushy middle of the day when light if strong and temperatures ambient. I train, usually in the rarefied light of early morning, and when temperatures are sufficiently extreme to impact body and mind – yes its often cold. I have always enjoyed engaging with my body, its surroundings and how I feel within that. It is in a way an encounter with the sublime or realistically do I just like suffering and doing hard things? I’ll just say, as ice crystals form in freezing night air as you run, you can learn to love the cold and as salmon jumps in the river and only you see it the break of day is magical.

I find it quite easy to enter the mental space to cope with swimming distance (although this may be a different story). Adapting to the endless repetitive motion and the change of sensory stimulus from visual and aural to sense of touch and feeling as I engage with all but opaque water and my body moving through the it. This focus on feel, however, tells me my skills need work. I do not feel the full unity of my stroke and so am quite slow compared with the last time I did a lot of open water swimming. I decide to sign up for a class. I go for an old favourite Aquatic Body’s Wednesday evening class at Capernwray, although by the end of the summer, night will be drawing in as we exit the water.

I also reflected on nutrition. Up to 2500m I am fine. My natural, high carb diet, glycogen levels are sufficient. Beyond that I am coming close to bonking* and I am aware of the amount of liquid I need to replace. Most of my knowledge here is based on distance running and cycling. The former is more relevant as the ability to carry enough liquid while doing it limited. I suspect that running and swimming don’t exactly map over each other because of the greater intensity of running. What is surprising is the lack of published research done on distance swimming compared with the other two sports. Perhaps this is because it is held anecdotally by swimmers and coaches and is experience based or because there is less of an industry attached to the community. So I begin to experiment based on the limited research available and my experience. *a cycling term to describe when glycogen levels are so low that physical and mental capacity is impaired

I need a goal – but which one?

It is at this point that I decide that I need an endurance goal. I scan the webpages of the main event organisers. Many of the events are sold out by now but I want to do a recognised event rather than just a personal adventure. I had spent a couple of seasons in that mode and I felt it would be good to do something organised. Then a Facebook friend posted that the Windermere End to End event had opened extra places. At first I disregarded it as an option – 17km of cold open water swimming the length of England’s longest lake – really! I had done the 11km of the swimmable length of the River Lune, but this?

The lake is enormous, a 17km/11mile ribbon of water more than a mile wide, emerging from close to the core of the English lakes and stretching almost to the sea. Over-shadowed by the high fells, it is deep, dark and can be very, very cold. The chop even in relatively calm periods can kick up high and in a storm it is like a wild ocean.

As I thought about the view of just the north end of the lake from my old Bowness flat and the time I spent sailing its waters and working the ferry, I felt a wave of trepidation. It would be long – at least 8 hours. It would be cold – despite my trusty Zone 3 wetsuit. Could my mind manage the magnitude of the experience? Would my body be strong enough? And most important could I get ready in time – what would it take to get me in shape for this madness?

This blog will track these as it develops – my training plan, how I created it, how my body and mind are responding, how I feel as the event approaches, and finally the event and other events I did to prepare. You will also learn more about me my changing mindset and what it is like to go on an endurance journey – buckle up! But I’ve spoilt the story… did I book on to pay to enter into this crazy undertaking and moreover why…

Well its all down to David Moyes (former West Ham manager)

It was Saturday afternoon, I had just listened to West Ham getting beat again! on the radio. No European football next season. While surviving that inevitable saga, I was randomly scrolling the web. Races, research, experiences of endurance sport. I opened the Epic Events site. It is they who were organising the event. Could I do 17km, would I meet the cut off time? I knew my training would need to to be rigorous with 11 weeks to go but I thought I could just do it… and I had a voucher from volunteering for them previously that I needed to use up.

Two hundred and fifteen pounds seems like a lot of money but it is a big event and would be a fantastic achievement. With the voucher it would be doable. I decided to go for it. I get to checkout and the voucher doesn’t work. Is this the universe telling me it is a bad idea or a computer error. Sod it! I go for it regardless (I use the voucher later for a training event). This is part of a not always beneficial character trait but which has enabled my life to often be one that has been properly lived for better or worse. So I’m in…

Windermere End to End here we come!

NEXT INSTALMENT:-

FEAR AND LOATHING UP THE RIVER

BUILDING A TRAINING PLAN AND STICKING TO IT