I am truly terrible at swimming. I learnt as an adult and my lack of technique combined with my nervousness in the water is a pretty lethal combo to being a superstar swimmer. It never really bothered me - you can’t be good at everything - but recently I’ve started to think of swimming as more of a life skill that I really should have. I can breaststroke my way across a pool, but otherwise I am completely useless in the water. That’s something I really want to change. When I was invited to join the Swimathon BlogSquad, it seemed like the perfect chance to finally get to grips with being in the water and face my swimming fear!
I’ll be participating in the 1.5km swim at the London Aquatics Centre (aka Olympic pool!) in April and I am honestly terrified - how will I ever swim 1500m?! - but also really excited to take on a new challenge like this and mix up my training a bit. Swimming is pretty much the perfect exercise (low impact, full body, resistance and cardio) so I think this challenge will pay dividends with my fitness generally.
Having spoken to a few people about my challenge and my lack of swimming skills, it’s apparent to me that there are quite a few people in the same boat as me. In response to this, I have decided to set up my own Swimming Club for Swimmers and Non-Swimmers. It’s called the Mermaid Babes Swimming Club and it’s open to everyone! There’s only one rule and that is that your practise your swimming. Swimming is hard in the winter. The idea of taking your clothes off and getting wet is not appealing when it’s dark and freezing and bed beckons, but once you’re there it’s great.
This super awesome logo was designed by the super talented Michelle Allen
If you want to join I am going to use the hashtag #MermaidBabesSC on twitter and on instagram and I would love to hear about your updates too! Swimathon places are currently half price at a bargain price of £6 for individual entry so I would totally recommend entering to give yourself something to aim for. There are 1.5km, 2.5km and 5km distances to choose from and you can select your speed too! I am ‘slow’ all the way.
Happy swimming!
Yeah! Fab idea Sophie. I’ve entered my first standard triathlon and am currently in denial about the fact that I’ve opted to swim 1500m outside in a muddy lake (eurgh, typing it makes me feel a bit sicky).
I’m going to link to this in my next post, when I get my butt in gear and type it.
MERMAIDS4LYFE
Hi Sophie! That’s a brilliant idea 🙂 Will you be training anywhere or organising some kind of meet up to train? I love swimming but i’m really not very good at it and lack confidence to do anything else than breaststroke
Hey Celine! Yes I lack a lot of confidence too, and will be completing my challenge doing breaststroke! I am thinking of organising a swim at the Olympic pool some time!