Loch Earn Swim, September 13th 2008 - 6.5miles

Josh & Alex looking happy when I'd finished!

Josh pointing to Loch Earn on the map, while I try to enjoy a Magners!

Josh & Alex keeping Jason entertained!

Mark looking tired after 4hrs on 'lifesaver' duty without ONE cigarette!

Mark checking his lifejacket, me greasing up &......

Josh testing my cap & goggles!

Eventually making our way into the water, nearly an hour late!...

Josh in very capable hands? Jason that is a GUILTY look, what are you hiding?!

Danielle & Alex waving bye to Daddy on the boat!

Discussing tactics with the boat handler!

Okay. Sorry this is a little late... but better late than never....

After many weeks of preparation and nerves, we made our way up to sunny Scotland on Friday 12th. It was a long drive, nearly 5hrs after stopping half way to let the kids stretch their legs. Danielle & Jason had flown up and then hired a car.. we met them at the lovely cottage we'd rented for the weekend. Friday night was spent relaxing.... a good pub dinner (with no booze for me!) followed by a very early night.

I was really nervous on Saturday morning, mainly not knowing what to expect. Before now, as you will probably have read, my longest swim was the 4mile swim at Rivington Reservoir. When I used to swim for Zimbabwe, the longest I had ever spent in a pool was probably around 2.5hrs and the temperature was no where near the 14ish that I was about to attempt! I started the day with a huge bowl of cereal, topped with syrup & sugar. This was followed by a couple of energy bars! During the few weeks leading up to the swim I have never eaten so much, so continuously! - it was fun, but filling!.... amazingly enough I didn't put that much weight on because of all the exercise I was doing. The aim was to put on a lot of weight, so I am going to have try even harder before the Channel..... I have been told a good stone or two is very good insulation!

On arrival at the Loch, there were a couple of familiar faces, being some of the people I have spent the past few weeks swimming with in the Albert Dock, Liverpool.... so that was encouraging. A lot of time was spent hanging around, greasing up, loosening up etc etc. I have learnt a lot from this swim - first thing being, do not undress too soon. I was all ready and greased up about half an hour too early! I was chilly before even starting. Anyway.... at 10.50 we jumped in and got in a straight line. The rules are to swim out and your 'boat' will come and find you. Mark was my lifesaver & food & juice provider! I am SO grateful to have been able to have him on the boat otherwise I would NEVER have carried on... and so that is down to Danielle & Jason for making the effort to come all the way up to watch the boys, and me of course!!!

Mark was under strict instructions to give me energy juice (Maxim) every 30mins and then on every hour, to give me a 'Smart Gel' followed by another drink of Maxim. This went well and it was the first swim I'd ever done where I'd 'eaten' so I was grateful none of it came up! The water was icy, the wind was icy, and my body was icy! I found this REALLY hard and really mentally challenging. The wind was coming from the left and therefore I spent the entire swim breathing to my right.... this was nice as I could see Mark ALL the way..... whatever he did, I saw it! He has learnt a lot from this too - don't cross me when I'm swimming! Anything would have got to me during those few hours. When he yawned I felt angry, when he said 'you're doing really well, keep going' I felt angry! But most of all, when he pulled his hood up because he was cold.... I felt FURIOUS!!!

One main thing that came out of this swim was a lesson with regards to the feeds - .......do not use feeds as a break, it only discourages you when you have to start up again. Mark said I lost so much time during each feed, I never realised how much I was being pushed back. I think he was a bit scared this time to tell me to hurry up! I now know that we need to devise a feeding system - ie: a piece of string on a rod! - it took me ages to make my way to the boat and then get back on track again. I have also learnt that I need to do a LOT more mental preparation. The kids were with us right till the start, which I loved, but I think that my mind was not in the right setting before I got in! I thought it would have been good because it kept my mind off the nerves, but realistically, I need to prepare more.

The most distressing thing that has come out of this swim is my shoulder pains! About 1.5 / 2hrs into the swim, my left shoulder starting aching and I remembered that it had happened in my Rivington swim, but of course that was only a 1hr 53min swim so it was not sore for long. I carried on swimming, thinking that it must just be a natural ache from continuous swimming with the wind blowing onto it. But it didn't improve and at the end I was crying constantly under water. It was agonising. I don't know if I should have carried on but I just wanted to finish! - stubborn or stupid I don't know. I went to the doctor when we got home and he said to rest it for two weeks and then go to Physio. So I'm booked in for that next week and I just hope it goes away and doesn't disturb any future swims! The tears underwater brought back horrible memories of crying underwater, when I was about 10, during early morning swimming when Mr Mathieson was being horrible!!!!!!!!

So, all in all, it was a great experience and I'm so glad I finished. It took me 3hrs 54mins in the end. That is longer than I had hoped but everyone said afterwards that it was a tough swim so I was glad to have finished at least. I tried really hard to celebrate afterwards, but my throat was so sore from swallowing cold water, that cider didn't slide down well, I was in bed by 9.30! Saying that, Danielle was asleep BEFORE me. Now, does that prove that watching two kids under 4, and a 30yr old fiance, is more tiring than swimming 6.5miles. Maybe?!!

So. The plan for winter is to step up the training in the pool. I am in search of a 'squad' to join nearby home / work so that it is feasible for me to go as often as possible without putting too much strain on the family life. Mark has been amazing up to now and so THANK YOU to him! In summer I was going a couple of nights a week to the Manchester Aquatic Centre, straight after work, and then every Sunday to the Albert Dock - which meant at least half the week he was getting up at 5.30am - getting to work for 6.45, a long hard 10hrs at work... then straight home to fetch the kids, feed them, bath them & put them both to bed!.... a LONG day. So thank you again, I REALLY do appreciate it.

I'll update this soon & thank you all for your interest. Lets hope next summer is better than this one so that the Channel is WARM!

Cheers, Jacqui