1) Why did you decide to enter the British Gas Great London Swim?
I decided to enter the Great London Swim as I felt it was an excellent setting and I just couldn’t resist the chance to swim in the Thames. I saw the swim as a personal challenge and a great reason to improve my fitness. I also wanted to promote the Jamie Saunders Leukaemia Awareness Group and swam on behalf of the charity Children with Leukaemia and raised approximately £700.
2) What is your previous experience of open water swimming?
I had no experience of open water swimming prior to starting training. I had only ever swum in chlorinated pools and hadn’t even swum in the sea as I don’t like the cold or any sign of dirt.
3) Are you a keen swimmer?
I was a keen swimmer and swam a few times a week although I was mainly chatting and swimming breaststroke with a few other ladies and the swimming got in the way of a good chat.
4) What type and how much training did you do?
I took the whole thing very seriously and started a training blog and also visited the gym three times a week. I was doing things like the cross trainer, walking uphill on the treadmill, sometimes cycling and using the stair master. I did a few weights for some arm strength and some work on the power plates but I wasn’t overdoing it and although sweating wasn’t red faced and puffing and panting. I also swam in open water once or twice a week in my wetsuit as it was so different to swimming in the pool and also gradually increased my pool swimming from 30 minutes to an hour. As it came time for the swim I was doing some sort of physical exercise for about an hour a day, up to 6 days a week.
5) How did the Great London Swim compare to the Great East Swim?
When the day came I was physically prepared but when we arrived at the Royal Victoria Docks I burst into tears. I am unsure if it was seeing the distance marked out or just the emotion of being part of the day. The Great London Swim was just amazing, we arrived early to watch the elite swimmers go and to cheer them on, although this did have the adverse effect and made me think, “Wow 16 minutes, I’ll be lucky to be out in 50 minutes!” For the Great East Swim I was equally as nervous as I had set the goal to improve my time by seven minutes and felt I had to do well, especially as I had been lucky enough to do some training with Olympic medal winner Cassie Patten. The distance looked much further in Suffolk as the course was set in open ground, trees, fields and such like and somehow the backdrop of Canary Wharf and dock walls made the course look a shorter distance and more enclosed in London.
6) Did you have friends or family supporting you?
My husband Mike also swam both events with me. For London my good friends Jane and Martin came to cheer us on. As I entered the Thames in the warm up area Martin offered me his coat to swim in as I looked cold! For the Great East Swim my mum and youngest daughter Amber came to cheer us on.
"...I just couldn't resist the chance to swim in the Thames. I saw the swim as a personal challenge and a great reason to improve my fitness"
7) What did you enjoy most about the events?
The most enjoyable part of the event was the medal at the end! I enjoyed the whole ambiance and the crowds followed us around the docks, you could feel and hear the encouragement from the water. I felt like I was an Olympic athlete and not a middle aged mother!
8) Was the cold water as bad as everyone thinks?
The water at London was no way as cold as I was expecting, I had the sun on my face and I didn’t feel the cold at all. I will say the water temperature had dropped in six weeks and the Great East Swim was a real shock but once in and going the wetsuit worked wonders and you become totally oblivious to the cold.
9) What is the best piece of advice you could give to someone doing it in 2010?
The best pieces of advice I can give anyone is go for it, the pride at wearing my medal and finisher’s tee-shirt is unbelievable. I swam the mile in breaststroke as I couldn’t put my face in the water but I was proud of my achievement. I would say buy your wetsuit early and try it out at one of the training sessions or with a local triathlon group before the big day to check the fit and also you are more buoyant and swim differently in it. Keeley and Dan at www.swimfortri.com were superb. They also ran the training session at the Serpentine in Hyde Park, which was delightful.
10) What is the one item you can’t do without on the day?
I would say coco butter was a must as it stopped any chaffing from the wetsuit.