When in doubt, shop… (aka I bought a dryrobe!)

Yesterday evening I went to a different swimming session run by my tri club. I arrived a little early and couldn’t see anyone around, so I mentioned to the receptionist that I had arrived for the tri club swim. He told me that no-one else was there yet, and then directed me to the changing rooms.

On the way into the changing room, I could see that an aqua aerobics class was taking place. The changing room was tiny, and there didn’t seem to be a communal area, just cubicles. That’s not what I’m used to. I changed quickly and then carried my bags out to the communal locker room. Unfortunately, a special wristband is needed to use the lockers at a cost of £1 from the reception. This was problematic for two reasons: 1. I was only wearing a swimming costume 2. I had no money with me. Taking my bags poolside was the answer.

I’ve never been to this particular pool before and was surprised by how small it felt. It was 25m long but looked smaller. There was a flume that curled around the room and over the pool.

Waiting for swimmers

After a short while, a man arrived, so I asked him about the tri club session. He said that there are only usually 4 or 5 people there. Apparently, the coach often arrived late, so we should start warming up.

After 150m, the coach arrived. He explained that we would be doing a lot of drills.

The first set of drills involved wearing fins. Because of the flume, the coach and our kit were at the deep end. This meant that it was harder to put my fins on.

Drills

Partway through the set, another swimmer arrived. We did lots of drills to try to improve our front crawl, but I felt like I was swimming really badly. I don’t know what has happened since last week, but swimming suddenly feels really difficult.

As there were only three of us, the coach was able to give us a lot of individual help. At the end of the session, the coach asked me how long I had been swimming. I explained that I’ve been swimming for about 2 years. He then (in the nicest possible way) let me know that there are so many problems with my technique that he doesn’t know where to start. Oh dear 🙁

Throughout summer, I’ve been swimming in the lake on Thursday evenings, but that will come to an end soon so I think I’ll keep going to these sessions. It’s a little disappointing to feel like I’m back at the start again, but perhaps hearing some different criticisms will help me to improve in the long run.

Buying a dryrobe

Anyway, after feeling a little disappointed by how badly my swim had gone, I went online to do a bit of shopping when I got home. I’ve been considering buying a dryrobe ever since I entered the Scilly Swim Challenge but had been postponing it. In the end, I thought I should just spend the money as I know I will want something warm and cosy to put on between the swims. It’s possible to buy dryrobes in a wide range of colours. The black and ‘blue’ (turquoise) dryrobe matches my SOAS ambassador kit.

Amazingly, my dryrobe was delivered this afternoon 🙂

Scheduling a race in Germany

I’ve also been spending money elsewhere online today. I’m going to a conference in Germany at the end of September and have noticed* that there is a 10k race in the town on the day after the conference, so I’ve entered it. (*By ‘noticed’, there may have been a bit of Googling involved!) If there are any differences between races in Germany and elsewhere, please let me know!

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Here’s what I’ve been reading today:

• Different strokes: open-water swimming takes the UK by storm