Loch Ard 5k swim

If you had said to me 6 years ago that I would have swam 5km in open water I'd have thought you were off your head.  Running that distance  back then was hard enough.  But yesterday I was standing with my fellow ATHelite members getting ready to swim the longest I have ever swam.  Was I nervous? No.  I was excited.  What my training and being involved in endurance events over the last 6 years has taught me is that worrying unnecessarily just uses up valuable energy which you will need.  6 years ago I took on a white collar boxing challenge and paced the dressing room for 4 hours.  As I stepped into the ring I remember wondering where all my energy had gone - valuable lesson.
My plan was simple, I was treating this like a training session where all that mattered was an even pace and having an economical style.  Let's face it my swim style isn't pretty and although it's improved over the years, I still think a real swimmer isn't going to be worried that I'll be challenging them.  I entered the water to warm up perhaps a little early as my feet began to lose sensation after 5 minute (lesson #256).  This was a nice, friendly, safe race run by Robert Hamilton of Vigour Events. The 5k race involved about 25 people and Robert gave us our instructions before we set off - no punching, kicking, being swam over or any of that crap.  I quickly got into a rhythm and kept telling myself not to go off too fast.  Sighting at the beginning wasn't easy as you were heading into the sun so spotting the first buoy was a bit of a hit or miss.  Once of my team mates certainly made it a miss as on two of the five laps he swam into a 25 foot high inflatable Iceberg that was 30 metres off the racing line - he won't live that one down in a hurry will you Graeme Scott!
As I turned for home on the first lap I panicked as I couldn't see any swimmers or the next buoy.  That's because I was looking at the wrong angle back down the loch but it made me realise how essential it was that I was wearing my contact lenses, which I don't normally do.  Without them I'd have been blind due to the distance between the buoys so when my goggles started letting water in you can imagine what I was thinking - Sh1t, I can't lose a lens or my swim is over. I took a minute out to sort my goggles and this lost me time with the pack which left me swimming the rest of the race on my own.  But having the security of the marshals in canoes meant I could just concentrate on my stroke and get on with it.
At one stage I thought a fish had locked onto my big toe so I started kicking that toe with my other foot but quickly realised it was just the loss of feeling in my feet combined with an over active mind about what was below the water surface that was making me think this nonsense.  I cruised around the course and kept reminding myself how lucky I was to be doing this.  Loch Ard is stunning and the weather couldn't have been better.
As always I staggered out of the water as lying prone and not using my legs (consultants orders) for 1hr 54 mins (official time) causes you these problems.  I wasn't out of breath or tired but my shoulders were telling me they'd had a decent work out.  After some food and a hot drink I felt great and started to think about next week.
It will be a very different experience for a number of reasons; it's a river so I am hoping that will help although I don't think it's a case of floating down stream; there will be 800 people in the water with me; the water is brown due to the peat so you won't be able to see your fingers; it's double the distance.  Not that it's comparable but I did ask myself the question as I got out the water could I go and repeat it and the answer was yes.  I'm not going to waste any nervous energy worrying about it but feel luck to be taking part.  My main learning point from all of these activities is that you can achieve what you tell your brain you want to do as long as you repeat this behaviour in training.  The human body (and brain) are capable of so much more and next week will be a good test of my belief.  See you on the other side!