Week 3: Saturday Swimming

Last updated at 11:49, Friday, 26 February 2010

Another valuable lesson has been learned on the swimming front this week - pick your times carefully.

Having tactfully avoided any swimming at all until last weekend, I decided I had procrastinated enough and needed to get back in the water.

Saturday was my chosen time as it was in fact the only day of the week I’d had more than about 20 minutes free to fit a swim in.

Sadly it seemed everyone else in the area wanted to swim then as well!

Although I work in Hexham, I actually live in County Durham and Consett baths was my pool of choice for the weekend.

It’s an old but pleasant setting and the staff are really friendly there.

When I got in the pool I was disconcerted to see that the far side seemed somewhat further away than it had on my last swim in Hexham.

One dash for the deep end and it was no longer just a suspicion - this was definitely a longer pool.

A quick chat with the lifeguard revealed Consett baths are in fact 33 and a third metres long.

My heart sank a little at the thought of getting my lungs to power me back and forth the longer distance but then I was buoyed by the thought that it actually meant fewer lengths, even if they were longer ones.

Following my instructor’s advice I was doing two lengths with a short rest of about 45 seconds rather than 30 due to the longer pool length.

At eight lengths I started to flag a little but I was spurred on by my boyfriend Ed who is training with me.

He had already done ten lengths, albeit in breaststroke, a much less tiring choice by any standards.

Training with someone is a really good way to keep up your motivation.

If they are still swimming, you are less likely to give in and hit the showers or stop for a lengthy rest at the shallow end.

And if you’re anything like me, having your boyfriend beating you is inspiration enough to keep going; there was no way I was getting out of the pool until I had at least equalled his effort!

However, what neither of us had bargained on was the introduction of a giant inflatable pirate ship to the pool.

Everyone knows that Saturday swimming equals kids and families but we had managed for about 25 minutes to still swim lengths.
However we had to reduce that to widths of the deep end when the inflatable came out.

While it is great for the youngsters at the pool who race along the ship trying to reach the end without slipping back into the water, it is not so hot for the more serious swimmer.

Even so we had no complaints - it was great to see so many youngsters away from the TV and in a swimming pool at the weekend and we still managed to hit our target doing the widths rather than lengths.

Although it wasn’t as testing on the stamina levels, it still kept the heart rate up and the arms and legs moving so we were both pretty tired by the time we got out.

So my hot tips this week are: firstly check out the timetable of your local pool carefully if you’re a swimmer who’s easily put off.

If you don’t like being splashed avoid the sessions where swimming lessons are taking place and if you want a clear pool go for the lane swimming times.

And secondly, swim with someone. It makes the whole experience more sociable and fun and it is great for motivation to push yourself that extra few lengths.