Training for my Polar Swim on New Year's Day is well underway. I could feel the difference mentally very early on in training. After joining a new gym I quickly felt my confidence returning and my fitness wasn't quite as low as I had expected. Not as good as it had been - but not as bad as when I first started either. My new gym is very friendly and welcoming and I am enjoying being back in training!
My main worries for the swim are the effects of the cold water which could cause cramp (my recurring nightmare when swimming in open water) and the pain the cold will cause to my arthritic fingers. I have bought wetsuit gloves to help combat the inevitable pain I will feel in my hands when I plunge (ok maybe not plunge; perhaps more stepping gingerly) into the icy waters of Salford Quays. I have swam once before wearing wetsuit gloves so I knew it would alter my stroke and that I would need to train with them to get used to it. I was also hoping that the gloves would increase my speed due to the greater water resistance! I have always been a distance swimmer rather than a sprinter and this has never bothered me but I figure that the quicker I go on this swim, the less time I will be in the water = less time in the cold! My theory of the gloves' adding more water resistance proved to be correct and I was definitely quicker. Unfortunately I hadn't allowed for the greater resistance putting more pressure on my rotator cuff during the pull and soon I could feel my shoulders aching. So I did what all great athletes do when they reach the pain barrier - I pushed through it and pretended I was ok! The next morning I could feel the old, familiar shooting pains in my shoulders and chest. The last time I injured my rotator cuff whilst training in India, I had to take 5 weeks out of training. Luckily this time I work in a Therapy Centre with a fantastic team of Sports Therapists who quickly came to the rescue and gave me a sports massage and advice (aka a telling off for not stretching properly!) and so I was back in the pool in a couple of days! When I next entered the pool I left the wetsuit gloves at home and decided to concentrate instead on increasing my speed so that I would be in and out of the water as quickly as possible. My current 250 metre speed is 6.58 minutes - so this is obviously going to be a slow and painful swim. As I ploughed up and down the pool I was very aware of every time my muscles pulled and I began to tell myself it was my own fault for not training properly in the last year. The more laps I swam, the more my shoulders ached and the more I berated myself......."it's hardly surprising you are so slow when you haven't trained hard enough"..............."you are never going to be a fast swimmer; slow and fat is what you will always be"........................"how stupid are you to even imagine you could do this swim you stupid woman"................and on............and on.............until my thoughts turned from self loathing to self pity..........."my poor shoulders really ache"................"this training is too hard and painful"................"why am I subjecting myself to this when I could be warm and cosy at home"................"I'm tired and I want to stop now"................. Those voices that I was hearing pushed me out of the pool and into my car and followed me all the way home!!! When I got home I had my usual post training shot of protein and a big cup of coffee and my thoughts drifted to my niece, Lizzie, and another family member who are both battling cancer. I felt so embarrassed at myself for being weak and allowing the voicesin my head to win when these two people, who have supported my challenges unstintingly, were facing far scarier things than achy shoulders and cold water! When someone we love is ill it’s natural to want to do something to help make them better. Coming to terms with the fact that you have to trust in the medical professionals to do this instead can be difficult. So after yet another of my amazing friends asked me if I wanted sponsorship for my New Year’s swim I consulted with Lizzie and I have set up a Just Giving page. I will be completing a number of challenges during 2017 to raise money for Maggie’s Centres which is a charity that helps cancer patients and their families. My aim is to raise £2,017 in 2017 so that Maggie’s Centres can continue helping Lizzie, her family and other cancer patients with invaluable support at a difficult time. So my friends and supporters, I pledge regular blog updates of my escapades throughout training and during the challenges and am really hoping for your continued encouragement. If you would like donate my Just Giving page is www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Gill-Thomas2017
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