Today was my last training swim before Windermere. So on a rainy bank holiday in the UK I went up to Activities Away to do a few more laps of the lake. It would seem that the rain kept a few people away (that or the the prospect of cooler water) as there were only about 20 of us today.
As usual I was one of the first in and the last one out. I was also the only skins swimmer that I could see doing laps (I saw a couple go round the 200m lap – the woman was wearing some very bright orange shoes to swim, I think I saw her feet about 100m away!).
Anyway I did 7 laps – which in a straight line would be 5.6km, however my GPS told me that it was just over 6.7km – I clearly don’t swim in a straight line! However, even more remarkably is that, according to my GPS watch, I did 6.7km in just over 2 hours or at an average pace of 1:54 per 100m.
Over 6.7km swum
At an average pace of 1:54 per 100m
Although I have no reason to doubt my smart new watch I can’t quite believe that pace.
My original plan was to do about 1/3 the Windermere distance (3.5 miles) in 2 hours – mainly because the lake was only open for 2 hours for swimmers. Instead I did about 40% of the distance. On that pace I’d complete Windermere in less than 5 1/2 hours!
Even if we assume that I’ll swim as ‘wobbly’ as I swam today and I did actually do 1/3 the distance, then I’m still on for a 6 hour 20 minute Windermere!
I’m sure I won’t get anywhere near either of those times, but it has given me confidence and in particular the confidence to get on with the swim and set off at a decent pace and not try to swim so that I conserve energy – which is what I did last time. My goal is to break 7 hours (I was 7 hours and 42 minutes last time). Wish me luck!
1000kmstowindermere 
Good luck Patrick
Sue and Tony