The Reward is the Journey

And the summer season is underway... With a delicious 4 loops of a kilometer course* in the sunshine with the majestic swans in a reservoir in a beautiful spot in South Yorkshire. How happy I was, enjoying the sun on my back, and spotting an elegant pike in the depths, just before cramp cruelly caught me out (rendering both legs next to useless). Sometimes the most important thing to know is when you've reached your limits. And so to surrender... After a brief exchange with a friendly kayaker out on the water for exactly this purpose, and paddling close by me at precisely the moment cramp struck, the safety boat was summoned and I was 'rewarded' with a scenic boat trip and an exit from the water far less serene than my entrance 1h 45mins earlier... An instructive event (note to Self: don't scrimp on brekkie) made possible by a wonderful team of volunteers whose work in putting on events such as this one mean a very great deal to me. Whilst recorded as a DNF, I'll ta...

I am an outdoor swim enthusiast.  I swim year-round.  Without a wetsuit.  My second home is the water.  I spend a lot of time in its wonderful embrace, be it the English Channel or a vast outdoor (and, importantly, unheated) pool in South London. Swimming is a passion.  But why I swim is about so much more than exercise.  Fresh air and daylight are vital to my wellbeing. A holiday some time ago 'down under' was a swim fest.  Beyond my wildest dreams.  I had read about the beaches, and the pools.  But I got so much more than I bargained for.  I found lakes and reservoirs.  I found peaceful private swimming.  It was joyful.  In the extreme.   A swim is capable of curing so much.  Jet lag for starters.  Fatigue.  Heartbreak.  Disappointment.   The water has yet to let me down.  I take myself to the water.  I find my self in the water. I am a creature of habit. ...

And so, she is gone.  We have said goodbye to one another in this life.  Sitting beside her in hospital with lines trailing from both her hands, I realised that all that needed to be said had been said.   Death gives clarity to life.  Suddenly all is so wonderfully clear.  Meaning, purpose and passion are everything. Charlotte has always shown me what it is that really matters.  These are the lessons I get to keep for life:  Do what matters.  Every day.  Forget everything else. Life's too short to rush through it.  Pause awhile to stand in the awe of its beauty and get to know those spirits who make the world a beautiful place. I have had the great privilege of getting to know one such woman. Hours after she passed away, swimming came naturally.  Her effortless grace got me to the poolside far earlier that morning than normal.  The water was peaceful and calm.  Those within it, perhaps less so. ...

The sun had put its hat on. And it was as though everyone came out to play. The Lido was hectic. I'm not sure why this took me by surprise. It was the first Saturday morning that the temperature could lure out even the most part time of swimmers. I am anything but a part time aquatic enthusiast. But I mistimed this swim by a mile. As I surveyed the chaos, two other regulars (already sensibly swum out) greeted me and we remarked upon the influx of wetsuit clad 'seals' who have most likely only now emerged from warmer climes (indoor heated pools).  I almost talked myself out of the swim. I'm so glad I didn't; I exited the chatter rather abruptly and quickly got changed. Before getting in, I checked in with a friendly lifeguard I have come to know over the less clement months during which I've swum length after length, week in week out. She observed how little 'etiquette' was on display in the water, and I resolved to simply see how it wen...

Time is a strange thing.  We know how long a minute is, and how many minutes are in an hour, and how many hours make up a day, and yet a moment is so intangible.  Time is but a series of moments.  And moments pass at different speeds.  This year feels in some ways to have flown by.  And yet, when I survey it as I have done recently, I can acknowledge how much has happened.  How much has been achieved, and how much growth has occurred.  I wanted to be present with myself and to mark the day in a way that felt right for me, right now.  My feelings showed me the way and guided me as I allowed more moments to unfold, and to envelop and hold me.  I felt peaceful with the reality that it was a whole year ago that we finally said goodbye.  It was a long goodbye and, in many ways, it was last year that I was faced with the biggest loss:  the gap between the mother had known, and the woman I went to visit in those final months. ...

It's gotten colder. Quite a bit colder, actually. I woke up to a fluttering of snow on Saturday. It was crisp and bright. Winter made her long awaited appearance. It was the most beautiful day to give my long winter coat (something of a favourite that rarely fails to attract remark amongst my generously complimentary friends) it's first outing of the season.  I was attending a Study Day in central London meaning that I didn't manage to really greet the elements until Sunday.  The pool beckoned mid morning, after the Club races had concluded, at which time I swam mostly toute seule. My swims follow something of a predictable routine: creature of habit that I am... I get changed quickly and sit on the edge at the deep end, legs dangling, gauging the temperature whilst I adjust my swimming caps (I have been wearing two since the end of September; silicone for now, to be replaced with neoprene shortly).  My toes alerted me to the fact that the te...

This week served as a good reminded as to why I do what I do. I do what I do because I love it:  It really is as simple as that. On speaking to someone (the thought of whose own exercise regimen makes me wince) I was slightly taken aback when he remarked upon my 'commitment' (in a respectful, slightly concerned manner) in response to my cold water swimming disclosure. I don't swim because I have to...  I'm not 'training' for anything per se.  There are no upcoming events.  I'm not seeking to improve my time.  Or my endurance.   I swim because I love it. The only commitment I have made is to myself:  to do something everyday that makes me smile (whilst shivering). Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.   It will not lead you astray.   ~ Rumi

Another swim inspired post...  Swimming:  it shifts my mood like nothing else.  And only for the better.  It is the best mood enhancer I know.  I have resolved to continue swimming outdoors as long as possible.  I am still without wetsuit.  Much to the confusion and concern of those that never remove theirs.  Mine, I have decided, is to be kept for when the temperature drops to single figures.  It was a lovely 13.5° today.  Fresh, but not yet cold.  The sunshine helps. Sunshine always helps.  But, from the water, there is so much more sky to behold.  It is the expansive sky that shifts and lifts my mood, and allows my soul to soar.   Staying indoors when I could be in the pool achieves very little.  Opportunity presents itself, and asks to be taken.  Hence the renewed resolve.  Bring on the cooler weather, the leaves, and the endorphins!  You may be whatever you res...

It was a most peculiar sensation. On getting out of the water, exiting the pool using the gently graduated steps, to re occupy my body and meet gravity. The transition was, just for a few moments, unmistakable and impossible to ignore. One moment, my body had felt weightless. The next, I met myself, and my (healthy) weight once more... Physics was never my strong point. But I've spent enough time in the water, to have gleaned a few nuggets. Whilst the electromagnetic spectrum and I never gotten to be chums, buoyancy is something of a dear friend, and one I try to connect with as much as possible... What neither myself nor my swimming student could quite believe was the degree of weightlessness we had just been enjoying, without even realising it.  I recognise now a little better why it is that sometimes when I swim, I feel as though I'm flying:  Buoyancy, or upthrust, is described as the force on a body when displaced in a volume of fluid and is in t...

To learn how to teach is to re learn completely, and entirely.   You must first forget what you have assumed and let go of all that you think you understand.   To ask the right question you need to reconsider where it is that you stand.   As only from the correct angle, will your perspective show you that which you must surely grasp. A beginner's mind is a pre requisite... Just as one can compose colours, or forms,  so one can compose motions. Alexander Calder I am delighted to be spending time thinking about how best to share my passion and pass on to others the skills I have been lucky enough to develop.   Swimming is to me far more than an activity that keeps me fit.  To swim is to feel alive, and well.  For it is in the water that I feel best able to bring mind and body together.     I use the water to alter my mind, and swimming to enhance my mood.  It is, through movement in the wate...

I stood there for what felt like ages.  The length of the pool stretched out in front of me, seemingly without end.   "Why am I here at 6pm on a Bank Holiday?" is not a question you should ask yourself whilst standing at the shallow end.   There are some things that it is really better not to think too much about.  Like taking the plunge into water that you know will be so cold it will bite and swimming those first two lengths whilst you acclimatise. It felt cold.  Too cold.  The pool suddenly felt too long.  The other end too far away.   Sometimes it really is best just to get on with it.  Starting is always the hardest part.

The swimming lesson I attended this afternoon took me right back to basics, on my back.  In breaking down my 'technique', I was able to feel, immediately, how much more difficult I have been making it for myself.   I swim, firstly, to relax.  This afternoon, I learnt how much tension I take with me into the pool.  I carry it (like most people, I was reassured to be told) in my neck and, as a direct consequence, swimming has become (I now realise) something of a battle, whether I'm swimming on my front, or my back. There is something different about re-learning backstroke:  it highlights the bad habits I have gotten into very clearly.  You cannot help but notice when you're head is submerged, and you're gulping pool water. The mis-alignment is particularly pronounced when you're on your back, meaning that I came away from the 3.5 hour workshop with some key learning points I will be packing to take with me down to the pool tomorrow.   ...

Enjoying lunch overlooking the Lido was delicious confirmation that the summer months are on their way. I'm only ever one swim away from a good mood...  Swimming feeds my soul.  I left not only feeling full of the joys of spring (and my halloumi burger), but inspired to take the plunge and return to outdoor swimming after a break that now feels to have been too long.   Even knowing the beautiful azure water, whilst beautiful will be deceptive, I have come to the resolve that I will make it in before the end of March!  

Swimming is my medicine.  It's as simple as that.  I got back in the pool following a traumatic incident that sent my body into shock in 2010.  The pool became far more than a body of water:  it was the site of healing at a physical, mental and emotional level. I didn't think about it:  I couldn't.  I just swam.  I wasn't counting laps, or even time; I made my way to the pool and felt my way through the water. Nearly 5 years on, I'm still swimming.  I try to prioritise time spent in the pool.  It is part of my essential maintenance.  Last week I swam three times.  Each swim was different.  No two swims are ever the same but some are more memorable than others.  These days, a great many of my swims are 'good':  they enable me to switch gears, and let go of whatever I might need to. Just occasionally, I get into the pool and, within the first 3 or 4 lengths know it's going to be a 'great' swim.  These...