From Gym to Swim – My Open Water Swimming Journey

by Georgie Pearce

My love for water

I had only ever swum in open water in the sea as a child on holiday. I remember fondly a boat trip in Greece and jumping off the boat and swimming with my dad. As an adult, I would take any opportunity to jump into the water! On our honeymoon in Lake Garda a few years ago, we went on a boat trip and when the captain dropped anchor, I was the only person onboard who couldn’t resist the urge to jump in and have a swim around in the clear blue water. – it was incredible!!

Fitness & Mindset

As someone who has always thrived on activity and revelled in the intensity of step aerobics, body pump, and spinning classes, life took an unexpected turn after a traffic accident left me with an open fracture of my lower leg and ankle.

Suddenly, I found myself unable to weight-bear, and my beloved high-impact workouts were completely off the table, so I was determined to find a way to maintain my fitness without jeopardising my recovery. I guess this gave me the opportunity to dip my toes into a new adventure – swimming, which until then, I had only done for leisurely breaststroke laps to cool down after intense gym sessions.

The journey to recovery began with the task of teaching myself front-crawl. I started with a simple plan, swimming one length of front-crawl for every length of breaststroke. Gradually, I increased the number of lengths, and not only did it help to rebuild my strength and stamina, it also gave me time out of my day to clear my mind and, without any other distractions, I found it to be almost meditative.

Stepping up a gear

When my leisure centre closed, I opted to swim at the 50m pool at Aldershot Garrison, a daunting leap from the familiar 25m pool. Adapting the same plan as before I was soon confidently swimming 4 times a week in the pool and loving the sense of peace and freedom it gave me.

Then a few of my friends convinced me to join them in open water swimming at a local lake near Reading as part of their triathlon training. I was clueless about the gear and what lurked beneath the water's surface. On my first attempt, I embarrassingly wore my wetsuit backward, struggled with weeds, and underestimated the cold water.

Despite these initial challenges, I kept returning with my friends and developed a deep love for the liberating feeling of swimming in natural surroundings.

My determination to improve never wavered.

The Quays

My first visit to The Quays left a lasting impression with Rob's warm welcome and infectious positivity, even in the early hours. The inclusive and welcoming community they've fostered is truly remarkable. Whether you're a seasoned front-crawler, a leisurely breaststroker, a brave cold-water enthusiast, or just testing the waters with a toe-dip, everyone is welcome.

My fitness from pool swimming allowed me to comfortably complete 2km swims, but as the cold weather set in, I had to reduce my distances and learned valuable post-swim warming techniques from fellow swimmers.

The Quays' community, both in person and on their Facebook group, is a goldmine of knowledge and camaraderie, where tips, experiences, and breathtaking sunrise photos are freely shared. I now divide my time between swimming regularly in the pool during the colder months but returning to The Quays on weekends in the early Summer.

My next goals

In July 2019 I entered the mile long Henley Swim with 2 friends. This was my first experience of an open water event, and I loved it! I had a real sense of achievement at the end and was very proud of my medal and decided that in the future I would love to do more events like these.

Then after a fantastic trip to the Lake District in July 2022 and seeing the immense beauty of Lake Windermere, I decided to look into any open water events that I could base a return visit around and landed upon the T2 Windermere One Way (WOW) 10.5 Mile event and, without too much hesitation, I signed up.

I thought that by giving myself just under a year, I would have plenty of time to train and prepare myself both mentally and physically. I also knew that I wanted to raise money for a local charity, Catalyst, which offers support to those struggling with addictions and mental health difficulties after someone I met only a few short months earlier, sadly lost their battle with alcohol addiction.

NICE 1 Coaching Support

I decided to book an Endless Pool Session with Martin to analysis my stroke to help me improve efficiency in the water.

I was quite nervous before my session but when I arrived, I was happy to see Rob there too with his big smile and the good-natured banter between him and Martin instantly puts you at ease. From that point I knew I was in good hands.

I spent about 45 minutes in the pool with Martin observing my swimming and then taking me through a series of drills to target specific areas in which I needed to adjust whilst Rob captured this on video which I would go through at a later stage.

The session proved invaluable, and Martin gave me some excellent advice whilst also giving me encouragement and acknowledgement of what I had achieved through my own efforts thus far.

Over the next few weeks, I implemented the drills into my training at the pool and noticed an improvement quickly in terms of my efficiency in the water.

On reviewing the video footage with Martin and Rob I could see for myself the adjustments I needed to make to become a better, more efficient swimmer, something that would be very important to swim the 10.5-mile length of Windermere in August!

Windermere

So, the day arrived and given all my training and preparation I felt ready to take on the challenge. Everything was going well until halfway through Mother Nature had other ideas, and the swim was aborted. With gusts of winds up to 30 -40 mph it was just too unsafe for us to continue. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement given all the training I had put in, but ultimately our safety was more important. That said it has given me even more determination to try again next year if I can get an entry place.

What’s next?

So, my training will continue so I am even more ready for next year but more importantly my next goal is to make a career change after 15 years working in the NHS to becoming a swimming coach myself. I would love for everyone who has the desire to learn to swim to have the opportunity to do so.

Swimming has given me so much and I think it has something positive to offer everybody. Open water swimming in particular puts us back in touch with nature and gives us a true sense of connection to the outdoors. It is also a wonderful and supportive community to be a part of.

If I can inspire others in the way that I have been inspired by people like Rob, Martin, and all of The Quay’s family then I will feel that I have taken another big step along my own swimming journey.