Swimmers unite!

[aristocat]

Any swimmers still here?

There were quite a few of us last year, just wondered if you are still here. I still go 3 or 4 times a week and love it :)

I've just had a lane to myself for an hour - whoop whoop!! Saturday tea-time seems a good time to go. kaffeine - are you going with Swimtrek to Turkey? I'm off to Mallorca in April and Algarve in June - I luffs Swimtrek and want to spend my life hopping from holiday to holiday

Kaffiene - are you doing the Kas to Meis swim?

I would so like to get up to swim trek strandards - but as am approaching 60 I wonder if I can.

standards.

Fat fingers!

I am doing the Turkey Short Swim trip with my mum (totally outs herself!) She has just turned 59 and is just learning front crawl now so I don't see why not magimedi !
I did the Croatia trip years ago and loved it but life got in the way and this is the first chance to do it again. So jealous of your multiple trips kaisen

magimedi - Swimtrek are great with all standards of swimmers, because you can get in the safety boat any time and they have enough team to cope with anything. So they stagger the swims to cater for everyone (quicker swimmers have to swim further to catch the others for example)

I've been on trips with really slow swimmers who had just learnt to crawl a bit, and very quick ones too. My room mate last year was a 70 year old woman (I usually share but most rooms are single) and we had a blast - still keep in touch. They are very relaxed holidays and you won't hold anyone up - most folk are over 40 too. And I honestly don't work for them!!

kaffeine at the moment I don't have much of a life to get in the way of trips, hence why I am swimming or writing about swimming on Saturday night but for now, I'm making the most of it

I would second that kaisen on the trip to Croatia there was a mix of ages from early 30s to 60s. Some training for Triathlons and others who had only learnt to swim as adults. There is no pressure and it is one of my most favourite holidays ever.

Hello all you swimmers!

Relief kaizen and aristo- I did my ocean swim today and am still alive The swim was really out of my comfort zone though.
The wind was pretty strong (around 40 km/h) so the organisers shortened the long swim (3.3 km) to 2 km and I managed to finish it, which I am really pleased with. The swim was very hard - whitecaps crashing over our heads and like being in a washing machine. Some people got seasick !

Wow, I've never heard of Swimtrek. Sounds amazing kaizen and kaffiene. I guess the water would be reasonably warm and quite calm most of the time? Do you need wetsuits?

Back to the pool this week for me I think, have had enough of the sea for a bit Happy swimming everyone

Wow legspinner - sounds really tough- well done ! I bet you felt like you'd had a workout.

Most people don't wear wetsuits with Swimtrek, as the water is usually warm. They provide some tho, or you can bring your own. I did their intro to open water swimming in Mallorca, which has a sea swim in the morning and includes 2 hour pool sessions every evening - really good fun and people made huge gains in technique. We all became swim- geeks tho

So jealous of all you swimtrekers! I keep looking longingly at their website but with 3 small kids and a husband who doesn't really swim I think it will be years before I get to go

Aristocat I am the same in that I push on through the bad weather as I feel worse (ie guilty) if I don't go. It's more the constant coughs and colds that stop me going. This year has been particularly bad, we all sound like we are on 40 a day. Hopefully as the dc get older this will be less of an issue (until they are teens and are possibly actually on 40 a day. Hope not).

Forwent my morning swim today as dh not well at all, but kids have been on good form and have squeezed in some quiet time with a cuppa and the paper. This never happens, so am not feeling guilty at all! Will hopefully get to go later.

Exactly the same position here pootlebug re Swimtrek, but I would definitely be up for going alone in about 10 years time. Have just booked our family summer holiday and we are staying near Bordeaux a few minutes walk from the beach. Hoping to fit in some early morning lone swims then.

The dc do really enjoy swimming, but am I the only one who wishes that they could just get on with it themselves for a bit whilst I nip into the big pool for a few lengths? Or maybe I am just a selfish cow!

Well done legs amazing effort! Congrats . Hard to imagine that some swimmers were seasick bleurgh
Going yes it's my breathing that I struggle with if I have a cold. Fortunately I have only been ill once this winter, I can see how it interrupts your routine though.

I am a midweek swimmer when DCs are at school. Also take them once a week after school, they are good but don't enjoy it like I do. Must look at swim trek - had never heard of it either .

I've considered Swimtrek before, but it sounded a bit high-powered to me, and I was worried I wouldn't be fit enough, so I'm glad to hear it's actually more relaxed than I thought.

It is on my list of things to do at some point, but I just can't afford it this year.

Ebear, how about the one in s devon, it's 800 m, I am really tempted!

The Burgh island swim is about a mile - it's my local swim but conditions are not usually like on the Swimtrek video. I'm on the video in a yellow hat (only claim to fame ever) and it was a fantastic day - absolutely flat and we swam in and out of the rocks - it was like swimming in the Med.

I did it the swim again in September, and it got a very 'lively' round the back of the island. They pulled quite a few people out for safety as there was swell and chop, but it's just luck on the day really about conditions. It can look ok on the beach and then it picks up. I think a few of us gave feedback that they added to the site about it being a bit challenging, as folk were peed off at having paid and being pulled out.

Having said that, it's a great short sea swim, but I'd say you sometimes need a bit of 'oomph' to get round the corner (technical speak) if there's swell.

That sounds fun, but it's only one day, not a whole holiday. I do try to go in at least once every year in British seas - I do miss living by the sea and being able to go down for a swim after school/work.

But the ones I particularly covet are the ones round the Adriatic and Dalmatia. Next year, maybe.

kaizen, hehe, small world then, no?
I must admit I am really really tempted!!!!
I don't do panic, but then again, I don't do 'out of comfort zone' either. And something like Burgh island would be out of my comfort zone but somewhat controlled, I'm happy to be pulled out if it's stupid, £60 or not £60.

dili - let me know if you chose a date, I'd love to do it again and it's a bit scary going round without the trusty lifeguards on their paddle-boards.

Deal :)

re. swimming with the kids and nipping into the big pool. We went as a family to our local leisure pool last weekend (slides, waves and too much noise) and when I announced I was off to the competition pool to do a few lengths both my DDs wanted to come with me. DD1 who's 8 is a pretty strong swimmer, but DD2 who's 6 had never been out of her depth before and I was so impressed that she managed 4 lengths. Maybe one day they'll come with me on a swimtrek holiday...? I can dream, anyway.

my class times have changed so I do 3/4 mile most morning and my full mile once a week, occasionally finishing off the mile later in the day when my kids go swimming

try to keep to 4 miles a week ....
I write all of my emails and reports while pootling up and down as the sun shines

Anyone else fancy a Swimtrek 'round Burgh island swim'? We could have a mumsnetters swimmers meet up in the summer - would be cool and it's a beautiful swim

Pm me if you fancy it, as this thread is getting Swimtrek-hijacked (and i will have to demand a free hat for publicity)

All this talk of swim trek has made me think about bi lateral breathing for front crawl.

I was taught front crawl nearly 50 years ago (eeeek!) & was taught using breathing on one side only. I have always turned my head to the left.

A couple of years ago I had the chance to have a couple of lessons to tune up my front crawl. I was told that bi lateral breathing would improve it & obviously, if swimming in anything other than a flat sea it would be vital.

The trouble is I just could not cope with turning my head the other way & breathing from that side. I nearly drowned myself & the rest of my stroke went away totally.

Have any of you got any suggestions as to how I could learn to breathe using the other side, as it were?

Dotty that sounds great with your dcs. Are they interested in joining a swim club? Dd1 swam with a club for about 2 years when she was 7/8 and her swimming is now WAY better than mine. She's 14 now and if we were to go swimming together there is no way I'd be able to swim as far or as fast as she does, and yet in school lessons they still get them swimming widths with floats .

I'd love to go on a swimming holiday, but the only other member of my family who would be even vaguely interested in coming with me would be dd1. Dp doesn't swim, I think he can but he has only been once in the 9 years we have been together because I bought him some trunks and told him he was doing a baby swimming class with dd2. Dd2 is still only 3 so hasn't even started lessons yet (other than the baby lessons which stopped when she was 18 months); she's nearly ready to ditch the arm-bands but isn't quite ready for a swimming holiday yet

I can only breathe to the right magimedi. I don't have a brilliant stroke though, I never really did much front crawl when I was learning and my stroke is self-taught from watching dd1's swimming lessons and swimming club.