It's been a while since I posted ... are regular updates on regular training really very interesting? I'm not sure. Anyway, as I've just done an actual event, it seemed like time for a report.
A few months ago, a group of Wellington/Nelson swimmers thought that we really needed a challenge and a long swim to celebrate the start of summer and the end of a year that hasn't been easy for anybody. Of course, it's been a lot easier and less disrupted for us in New Zealand than for swimmers in most other parts of the world and I think that swimmers here - whether pool or open water - are really very grateful that we're able to train and be together every day. So, we were looking for an event, and the suggestion emerged that we should look at the Swimathon in Auckland on 28 November. This is a great initiative, and has a pool version and an open water version. In the open water version, the goal is to swim a mile on the hour, every hour, for twelve hours. The fundraising this year is for Starship Children's Hospital.
About an hour after deciding that a group of us would do the event, most of the six of us had booked our flights to Auckland. Our Nelson delegate also booked accommodation a few minutes' drive from Mairangi Bay on Auckland's North Shore. Then we just had to keep training and keep our fingers crossed that nothing Covid-related would cause the postponement/cancellation of the event. A few minor scares aside, by 20 November it looked more or less certain that we'd be able to travel and swim.
By 7.30pm on 27 November, our whole group had assembled at our accommodation. We'd done a hefty food shop in the afternoon, and had a little swim at Rothesay Bay, just down the road from the house. The sixth member of our group, who'd taken a later flight, had been retrieved from central Auckland, and we were ready for dinner. Slightly more food than planned had been assembled, with a variety of healthy carbs: carrot and beetroot salad; green salad (with a lot of spring onions); roast chicken; jacket potatoes; cheese; an unbaked pasta bake with either tuna or chickpeas ... fruit, or some of Whittaker's finest chocolate products for dessert.
After the feast, we spent some time getting our food and drink for the swim prepared and made some early preparations for breakfast.
My plan for eating during the course of the day involved some mini sandwiches with cream cheese and tomato, providing a nice combination of carbohydrate, protein, and animal fats, with some tomato to vitiate the salty seawater. I also had some of Tom and Luke's snack balls (peanut and cocoa) and some carefully cut up Natural Confectionary snakes. A banana or two, and plenty to drink (raspberry Pure) would complete my menu.
I set my alarm for 5.15am but warmth and excitement woke me up earlier than that. I had my porridge and a banana, filled my drink bottles, and contributed to the food mountain being added to the cool bag. Then it was time for sunscreen/zinc application.
The sight of the trees outside thrashing about in winds of not inconsiderable strength was concerning, but the forecast promised sun, and winds not stronger than 23kmh. Mairangi Bay is a sheltered beach, so depending on how far out the course took us, it didn't seem that the wind would be a problem.
We arrived at the beach shortly after 6am and set up our base camp under one of the gazebos kindly provided by the organisers. After collecting event packs, and getting our numbers, there was plenty of time to relax, apply more sunscreen, zinc, and surf mud, and catch up with some of the other swimmers before the 7am start.
Although the typical structure of the Swimathon is to swim one (mile-long) lap every hour, we had a more ambitious plan. Two laps in the hour, a few minutes' break, and then a third lap on the hour. Initial we'd only intended to do this once, but Rebecca skillfully twisted my arm into doing three cycles of this. Of course, she was totally right: it was a great feeling to have completed nine miles by 'lunchtime'. We always had time for a decent breather after the double laps as well, and I felt fairly lively! In each of these three-lap cycles, the second lap was always my favourite: my arms were warmed up, I had some rhythm, and there were pacey people to swim with.
However, my ninth lap was a low point, as I shall explain. We were requested from this time to wear tow floats as the lifeguards were finding it quite tricky to keep an eye on everybody, as the field spread out over the course. And, I should add, despite it not seeming very windy, the back stretch of the triangular course was seriously windy, a bumptious crosswind that pushed water into your mouth with every other breath, and made it tricky to see the turn buoy. The final side of the triangular course was directly into the headwind. I like to swim into a headwind, but this one was tricky: the chop hadn't reached white-cap proportions but was simply annoying in a buffety, bumptious, and irregular way. One my ninth lap, the belt on the tow float was too loose, and twice I had to stop to haul it up over my hips. The second turn buoy had also drifted a bit, thanks to the wind and the outgoing tide, and added a fair bit of distance to the lap. Finally, as I rounded the buoy, I swam into its tethering rope, which caught me between my right thumb and index finger: surprisingly painful, as the impact hurt my hand, and as I was moving at a good pace, jarred my entire arm up to the shoulder. Ouch. Furthermore, I should have drunk more before the ninth lap, and probably eaten a little more. A combination of hand pain, irritation with the tow float belt, and hunger (I can always know when my energy is ebbing because my legs tingle and feel funny), the third side of the triangle was a struggle. Still, what kept me going were the thoughts of FOOD FOOD FOOD, and a rest. I must have been hungry, because the cream cheese and tomato mini-sandwiches went down my gullet very easily, followed by a banana, and a peanut butter ball thingummy, and about 750ml of drink. Mmmmmmm. Then I had 30 minutes to sit down and relax.
From this point, though, the day really improved. After the double laps, the prospect of just swimming a lap on the hour for the next six hours was positively joyful. My tenth, eleventh, and twelfth laps went by uneventfully, swimming alongside either Rebecca, Bre, or Mike (who, I should add, had swum continuously for eight hours, as his goal was 20 laps total, achieved at a blistering pace). Reaching the twelve-mile mark felt great, especially because I had commissioned Alice to bring me some coffee at that point. A delicious cookie from Sarah O'Dwyer added to the joy of this moment and entirely compensated from the disappointment of missing the sausage sizzle.
The final three laps were, I have to say, a total riot. The wind had dropped, marginally, and made the second and third sides of the triangular course much more fun. I saw a couple of quite large fish (and also a largish jellyfish ...) and what was weirder is that with each of these three laps I felt fleeter (hello, caffeine ...) and jollier: a definite feeling of swimming downhill. During lap fourteen I sang a merry song, and when the organisers asked if we'd mind starting the final lap a little before 6pm I was in the water almost before he'd finished talking to us, waiting for the start whistle to blow. Amusingly, though, the starter's Instagram videos show me and Bre in the background looking far from enthusiastic, so perhaps I'd internalised all my euphoria 😏😎
The field had ebbed and grown in size throughout the day, as some people weren't going for all twelve laps/12 hours, and others dropped in during the day. I'd say that the final lap had about ten people in it. It felt like a romp (perhaps I was mildly delirious?) and emerging onto the beach to a small but enthusiastically clapping crowd was great. I put on a jumper and jacket and joined the crowd to applaud the rest of the field. Then it was time to pack up and head home, via the chip shop.
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