A year can make all the difference....

I walked into the heated pool area had a 20 minute chat with Pete Frost my new swim coach, and after an attempt to swim a length of breast stroke, he uttered the now immortal words 'OKAY! Let's start with the basics, floating, rotating and breathing, before we even consider swimming frontstroke'. That was 22 March 2011.

Moralee and I walked into the heated pool area, said hello to the Gnarly Nutters tri club and joined them for a 1 hour swim including 15 x 100 meters off 2 minutes. A quick sauna and a break for 45 minutes and back into the pool for exactly an hour and 150 lengths. A quick banana break for 30 mins and then back in for a final half an hour of 15 x 100 meters. 2.5 hours nearly 7 kilometers. That was 17 March 2012.

Lemon and I walked into Hyde Park, as the sun peeked gently through wispy cloud, and we watch 2 men with pink hats and pink skin swimming past us in the serpentine, we spot the other two 'sea breezers' waiting by the club house (Moralee and Gisby) and squeal excitedly before stripping off to our swimsuits, giggling at our madness and heading for the steps.

That was today, 7.30am Saturday 14th April 2012, we lasted 20 minutes, in 10 degree water, (if you want to know how that feels, just dip your head in a big tub of ice cream...my twin Andi and our friend Dibs may recall doing that aged 13... )and then had the shakes so bad we could hardly drink our tea! (From the left:- Niki Lemon, Bridget Gisby, Sarah Moralee, Nikki Watkins)

One benefit of swimming in the river was we met some of the fantstic serpentine team, chatted about the channel and got additional ideas for how we're going to approach it, the naked men in the shared small changing hut were a little surprising (not much to see after the cold water though:) heh heh, but when you realise how cold your body is, your modesty leaves you and getting the wet swimsuit off is all that matters...thanks John for your old dressing gown, we'll all be looking for old heavy towelling robes now! Mum hand them over:)

Anyway, a year does make a difference, I've learnt to respect water with its variety of temperatures, flows, tastes, and buoyancy. I understand more than ever that the mind does matter, I've discovered proper fuel is required or my body doesn't work, and today I discovered the absolute pleasure of swimming parallel with my sea breezer team, able to see their bodies and faces and to feel the collective energy of this powerful group of women, I am so proud to be a part of it!

Roll on our shared sea training sessions, go large or go home.