swimming lessons

If you read the blog about the Tadpole round and my somewhat abortive attempt to swim the length of Coniston, you might be aware that swimming has begun to take a bit of a place in my training. This is partially because Lynne has got into Open Water Swimming and I figured that it should be something I should be better at.

I bought a wetsuit and started thrashing around, could just about keep up with some friends who were swimming in the same place as us, and off I went. It is pretty obvious from videos of us swimming that my stroke is woefully inefficient and I'm expending massive amounts of energy to go at the same speed (or slower) than my friends. Not too much of a problem when we're just messing around in local water, but when it comes to- for example- swimming the length of Coniston, there is a big difference.

Having failed to get to the end of Coniston water, and being a lot slower than everyone else despite working twice as hard, I figured it was about time to get some lessons. I was taught to swim as a child, but it didn't really focus on Crawl at all. I could just about do it and not drown, but everything we looked at was Side-stroke- the favourite stroke for lifesaving in the British lifesaving syllabus.

My freestyle stroke was built on what I could remember from being taught about 3 decades ago. It was probably suboptimal to say the least. In the car on the way back from Coniston I sent an email to a swim coach I had been recommended by a friend. Dave Quartermain.

The lesson was in Nuffield health centre in the middle of Manchester and the general premise of the lesson was that I was going to swim a few lengths, I'd get videoed for 2 of them and then Dave was going to critically analyze my stroke.
Otherwise known as "take it apart bit by bit until there is nothing left".

That is pretty much what happened. Too many strokes per length, scrappy hand entry, total lack of anything resembling a catch, no follow through, no body roll, elbows dropping in the water, head position wrong... you name it, I was probably doing it wrong. At least I was in the water... that much was correct.

To be honest, this was what I was hoping for. A list of everything I was doing wrong, video evidence to show exactly what Dave was seeing, and a list of drills and ideas that I could go away and practice to start making things a bit more right.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not expecting to become a world class swimmer in a couple of weeks, nor am I expecting this to be easy, but I needed a focussed, specific session to work on what was going wrong and why I was so ridiculously inefficient in the water.
Dave Delivered.

As it is, I now have a monthly pass at the local pool and am going and just drilling. Had I just gone and got a pass and hammered my way up and down the pool for a few months, not a lot would have changed- seeing Dave was pretty much the best thing I could have done to become more efficient. I hope that I'm doing the stuff he told me to do... I'm far more efficient a swimmer than I ever have been, so something must be going right. Drills will continue for the next month or so and then we'll have another session to see just how much I'm actually getting wrong.

Having thought that swimming was boring (to be honest, I still kind of think it is)- at least I now have the added interest of trying to be more efficient. The amount of things to think about on each stroke is quite incredible... with time it should become more effective and more natural- but right now, I'm wavering between being consciously incompetent and consciously (nearly) competent. It's an interesting challenge.

Hodgson Brother Mountain Relay - 2019

Doesn't October come around quick? The Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relays is surely one of the highlights of the Fell Racing calendar. Well, it is for me seeing as I don't race a whole lot these days... but this is one event that I'll make an exception for every time.
A minor issue was that I'd twisted my ankle pretty severely a couple of weeks ago. So badly that I thought I'd broken it for a short time. (til I hardened up and walked off the hill- it was pretty impressively swollen for a while though). In the last couple of days it had begun to feel a bit better though- but there had been no hard training on it for a while... today could be interesting. 

My ankle 2 weeks ago.

 Once more I was on leg 4 along with serial running partner in crime- Chris Webb. There were a couple of minor issues getting to Patterdale- the first being a closed road JUST outside Chris's house which meant a 20 minute diversion for me to get there, followed by a bit of a smash on the M6 where an airambulance was landing on the road- meaning no traffic flow in either direction for a considerable amount of time.

It didn't get too fraught, even with my "wanting to be EVERYWHERE early" head on, and we arrived in Patterdale in plenty of time to get our numbers from Zoe and Immy (our lovely leg 1 runners), get changed, grab a cake for afterwards (rookie error from last year- finishing leg 4 and ALL the best cake was gone... we weren't about to make that mistake again), and a bit of a pootle over to the start of Leg 4 at Sykeside campsite.

Prior to the race I'd sat down with the times from previous years and had worked out a very very rough schedule based on the best/average times. As it was, underfoot was waaaay more wet than other years that I have raced it, and times were a bit slower than I anticipated... so we got to Sykeside for the best case scenario, and waited. Which was fine, because this year it was fairly still and relatively warm. We chatted with runners from Pennine, and wished them well as they headed off into the distance, wondering if we were going to be set off soon enough to catch up with them.

Soon enough we were joined by Matt Crompton- team captain, and Immy and Zoe turned up very vocally, just as Mark D and Dan S came crashing down the end of leg 3, Chris grabbed the dibber and off we went.
Fairly fast. Faster than I'm used to running at this point.  We passed a couple of teams, and before we even hit the first checkpoint I was saying to Chris "we might want to tone it down a bit"- to which he nodded. And then we went at exactly the same speed.

We called back a Todmorden pair who missed the dibber by the bridge and launched our assault on the hill. Chris Jackson and partner were somewhere up there with a huge lead on us, so it was a bit of a challenge to see if we could catch them. Up the hill and far in the distance we could see a number of brightly coloured vests scaling the steps and the steep part to Hart Crag.
There isn't a lot to say about this bit apart from redlining it all the way up and wondering if I was actually going to be able to run when we got to the top. Chris and I ran together- rarely more than 5 metres from each other- so a real team effort in terms of keeping each other going.

The stones were slippy on the way up, and as we got to the top of Hart Crag we finally begun to catch teams- overtaking another 2 or 3 near the top, with another just in sight. The clag on the top meant there was not a lot to see, and we really couldn't tell who was much more in front of us than a hundred metres or so. As the air was so still, despite the fog/mist it was still ridiculously warm, and I was glad to have only a vest on.

We came around Fairfield and took a good line, absolutely nailing the entry to the scree, and bashed straight onto Cofa Pike. I don't know the "borrowdale" line that everyone seems to take these days and was not about to have a go at a race/recce in wet, claggy conditions, bashing it as fast as possible over treacherous rock on Cofa seemed to be the best way forward.
I was a little concerned that we might catch up with a load of people on the Pike and be held up, but as we made our way across it, there was no-one... odd! really odd.
Down the steep part where I took a minor tumble (first of 3 of the day) there were some runners coming in from our lower left... from the "borrowdale" route... all the teams I had been expecting to come across on the Pike. Hah! We'd caught up and overtook quite a few teams on that section. Brilliant.
I nearly turned around and High-5'd Chris, except for the fact I was having issues keeping my legs going and lungs breathing.
A run/walk/run/walk up St.Sunday, and then, gathering ourselves, a plunge off into the mist on the other side, down to find the trod off the hill.
Despite the sweat stinging our eyes, and the fact that we were going eyeballs out, we could still see a couple of runners who were WAY off course down in the valley... is it Chris? No idea, I'm not slowing down to take a closer look.

Down the hill and across numerous bogs. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Rocks were slippery, the grass was slippery, the mud and bog was treacherous, there was just no way to really open up and go as hard as possible. Brain power was being used up by a bit of navigation and a lot of trying to run as fast as possible while staying rubberside down.

Mark D, Zoe, Me, Chris, AndyO and Jules. Immy and Dan had already dashed off.

Down some more and after a couple of minor falls, Chris was in front and stayed there to the final dib point as I begun to struggle slightly with a stitch. The final descent off to Patterdale showground was a horrorshow of slippery stone steps. If another team came screaming past us at that point, I'd have let them go. Losing a place or going at a speed where a broken something might result? I think I'll lose a place, thanks.
But no-one did, and we ran into the showground in 1:19:37. 16th fastest on the leg- 11 mins slower than the fastest- which was ridiculous if you ask me. We were 4mins slower than last year, but considering we were 17th fastest then and 9 minutes slower than the winners- I'll call that a fairly decent day out.

And the ankle was fine. It's a little tender today- it knows it was run hard yesterday, but nothing more than that. Excellent.

Tested to Destruction- Alpkit Lotic Wetsuit

It's been a while since I actually had some gear that I broke. All the running stuff that is being used at the moment has been in service since around 2016 when I ran the Spine Challenger. In fact, the only things that have changed have been the rucksack- which was replaced with exactly the same model, and the shoes, which have been replaced by some Arctic claws, which are still going strong.

Cycling-wise I have a new bike, and there has been a little blog about that, but otherwise, nothing got broke.
Til now.

Sorry- there aren't many photos of me in a wetsuit. I didn't realise this until I came to find some suitable photos... they simply don't exist.

This is about swimming, and you will not be surprised to learn that I'm about to talk about the wetsuit I have been using for the last year. The Alpkit Lotic.

Note- I'm not a triathlete. I'm not a swim racer. I'm not particularly fast- this is more of a review of a wetsuit for just getting out there and doing the outdoor swimming thing. 

Lynne got me into the whole swimming outdoors thing, and it was not until she bought a wetsuit (an Alpkit Silvertip) that I eventually headed along the same lines. Not really thinking that this was going to be something that was going to be a major sport, I was looking for a suit that was going to be hardy, good for swimming in, and not something that is particularly fast.

The wetsuits on the market tend to be focused a lot towards triathletes and competitive swimmers, looking to be the most hydrodynamically aligned versions of themselves, with panelling for speed and all kinds of exciting tech which, to be totally honest, I don't actually care about.
Something that keeps me warm - but something that is optimised for swimming, as opposed to a repurposed surf wetsuit... that was the brief.

For our money, Alpkit was the way forward. We have had a lot of years of buying stuff from Alpkit, and they have a strong pedigree in creating inexpensive, yet good quality stuff. They started doing wetsuits about a year before and were marketed as a wildswimming wetsuit. There were areas of glide skin so that you had a bit of glide in the water, but there were also bits of "normal" neoprene around the arms and legs so that if you were walking through undergrowth (as you may well do, doing the whole wildswimming thing) then you would not shred the skin.
Cunning plan. Lynne already had the Silvertip- the warmer version, so I was going to have a look at a Lotic.

So I went and got fitted out for a Lotic- coming out as a fairly normal Medium. Brill. Along with the suit, I also picked up a tube of Black Witch, which is neoprene repair glue, which I was absolutely expecting to use in case I put fingernail tears in the skin. I know what I'm like- it wasn't like this was going to be a wetsuit that was going to be gliding me into the record books, or even into a triathlon. It was going to be used, accidents were likely to happen, and we wanted to make sure that we had the right stuff to fix it with.

The Lotic: What was it like?

Yep- comfy, the sizing was good, the zip worked every time. I could get it on and off easily. We dried it out everytime it got used, inside and out, and it never stunk. Brilliant.
Yes, I put a few half-moon cuts in the skin as I was putting it on, but hey, that was always going to happen, Black witch was there to make it good, and so we went on.

(sorry, I don't have any photos of the normal cuts- you just don't when it's normal, do you?!). 

Most of the swimming (as in every single time except twice) was done in fresh water. Reservoirs or lakes. I have 2 friends with whom I tend to swim- they wear Lotics as well- they are also much much faster than me- so no, the wetsuit was not about to give me super powers and enable me to keep up with them. (this was not a reason for buying it anyway, so that was fine).
However, as the year progressed, I noticed that the neoprene under the right arm was degrading and tearing with alarming regularity.

I put my suit on the same way each time, and occasionally I have got a fingernail hole in the skin - never in the same place twice- yet the right armpit was tearing again and again- in pretty much the same area. So I Black Witched it, and then, a couple of mm away, it would tear. I'd repair it, and so on and so forth.
Now, you might think- ah yes, it's because that is the side you breathe... nope. I breathe every 3 strokes- yet the left arm pit is nowhere near as scarred. Odd.

As for the other 2 swimmers in Lotics- one of them had much the same problem. The other- none at all! Interesting. The one who was having an arm pretty much fall off, got his replaced. Now, I wasn't totally cool with getting a replacement, after all, wetsuits are made with neoprene, which I *think* I'm right in saying is made of oil, so getting a new one is not high on my agenda. That being said, if there is something faulty going on with this suit, maybe Alpkit should know.

Ah man. These are NOT gouges.

By this time, I've had the wetsuit for about a year and 4 months. I've swum in it less than 40 times and have swum just over 40km. I don't know if this is standard "lifespan" for a wetsuit, but I would really hope not. Buying a new suit every year is not only going to be quite hard on the wallet- but also hard on the environment. Not cool.
So I sent a few photos to Alpkit.

Who promptly said that these are gouge marks from fingernails.

Unfortunately they are not. I know what gouge marks look like. I make enough of them. These are stress marks that seem to be gradually creeping down through the armpit of the suit as I fix each one.
So I told them that.

The response was to ask if I have used adhesive on it (I had- Black Witch- the recommended one)- and where I had swum...(fresh water).
The response was to say yes, there appeared to be degradation of the skin below where the breaks were, and maybe that was the issue, could I send it in... but then there was a comment that kind of stopped me in my tracks-

" i have a Silvertip wetsuit and i must say having used it maybe 20 times in lakes and a handful of times in the Sea mine looks pretty much the same as yours".

Ah shit.
So the customer service reps don't expect *their* suits to last long either?
That puts a whole new complexion on things.

So the long story in a short amount of time:

Loved the Lotic, it was a great suit- but after about 8 months the skin under the armpit started to degrade, ultimately meaning that the arm/body interface developed consistent tears, despite being used perfectly normally.
It appears that not all Lotics have done this- but some customer service members appear to see this as normal wear and tear, and have seen it in their own suits, even after only 20 wears.
To me, this indicates that there might be something wrong with the skin of the suit, or the way it is worn, or something... to get only a year, or even less than that much wear from a wetsuit is surely not right?
I don't think that 40 swims in a year is a lot. In fact, for a regular outdoors swimmer it is not a lot at all- (I daren't think how many times my Dad swims in the sea every year).

So the question is this... do I go ahead and get another Lotic (as and when they come into stock- which might not be a while)- or do I go for a more expensive wetsuit made by either the company that *makes* the Lotic for Alpkit (Huub), or someone else- like Orca, 2XU, or someone else?
Ideally I want to swim through the winter, so I'm going to need *something*, but there aren't a whole lot of options for wildswimming wetsuits at this pricepoint in the market.

Am I a klutz? Do I simply break wetsuits for no apparent reason after I've had them for a year? No idea.