I just thought I’d post an update about my swimming…. I’m currently swimming three times a week in a desperate attempt to improve before the 18th March when I take part in a Swimathon for Sports Relief ! This will involve me swimming 1.5k (this is the equivalent of 60 lengths of the swimming pool….)
I think it is fair to say I still have a long way to go. I still struggle with my fear of water when I’m swimming and have sudden moments of panic and feel like I’m drowning. When this happens I find it quite difficult to breath and have to make a real effort to try and calm myself down again. This morning I was swimming with a pull buoy. This is a shaped float that you hold between your legs, it helps to hold you in the correct position in the water and it does make it easier. The other side of it is that because you are gripping this thing with your legs you can’t grip much so your arms do most of the work. Using this I was able to swim 20 lengths non-stop. Because I have some sort of float with me it seems to take away a lot of the fear that I might drown. I now need to work on weaning myself off of this and making sure that I can swim the same without it. In theory there is no reason why not, it is just my fear of water and the panic that stops me…I know I just need to relax but sometimes this is much easier said than done.
So between now and the 18th March I need to improve my swimming to such a degree that I can swim 60 lengths, for me this really is quite a challenge ! If you would like to sponsor me then please pop along to http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/lisabeaney If you look at the work that Sport Relief does then you will know that it is money well spent 🙂