Swim like a Pilchard !

If I can do it – so can you! I remember my first forays in Tod pool after I’d foolishly signed up for my Ironman. I was advised by JP to buy a pair of roller castors, “To help your toes roll along the bottom of the pool”, such was my non-streamlined profile as I ploughed through the water rather than gliding over it. Over a year later I still haven’t got my legs up, so to speak but ... I can now swim 2.2 miles. Skinz was very impressed that I was now able to swim like a fish and described me as “just like a pilchard”, if I recall correctly.

Front crawl has to be the most technical sport ever devised. It’s not really about strength, it’s much more about technique. (For technical guidance you should visit swimsmooth.com). I got, and am still getting, a great buzz out of learning a new skill, and an even bigger buzz from wild swimming in the tarns and meres of the Lake District (although perhaps slightly less from the peat water reservoirs of the West Yorkshire moors, but they’re still worth a visit to get a fish’s eye view of the Pennines)

The pool is the place to start, but wild swimming has to be your aspiration. Did you see Robson Green swim the coldest lake in Wales, and the Corryvrechan whirlpool off Jura, and out to Holy Island ... wild swimming opens up new horizons, and new challenges: the Frog Graham, the Fish Witton... to name but a couple. The world’s your paddling pool. No more moaning, “What can we do”, when it’s raining. So what’s stopping you? Dig out your goggles, wriggle into your cossies and budgie smugglers, and get down to the pool.

Why do it? – the benefits of swimming :

Something to do on a rainy day

Low impact – you can still swim when the running injury plays up

Improves your breath holding prowess

You’ll acquire an even more sports jargon filled vocabulary

You can buy lots of pool toys and gadgets

You too can enter crazy events involving near drowning experiences

Another reason for needing 8 days in a week

Impress the boys/girls with your fish impressions (including bulging eyes from excessive goggle wear)

You can compete in the Krypton Challenge (as long as you own a spacehopper)

Food for free – all you need is a speargun

You can join in the arm waving gesticulations down the pub there’s swimtalk

No more expensive ferry fares

You’ll look great in a rubber suit