Guest post: Ten things I learnt when swimming Lake Taupō

She doesn't have a blog, but having added the 40.2km Lake Taupō swim to a phenomenal swim resume that includes the English Channel and Cook Strait, here are Gráinne's reflections on her 1 April south-north crossing of the largest lake in New Zealand.

Ten things I learnt when swimming Lake Taupō

I started my open-water swimming aged ten in Pickie Pool, an unheated outdoor saltwater pool fed by the sea in Bangor, Ireland; I loved the fun swims which grew in length as I did. At 16 I represented Ireland at the inaugural World Open Water Swimming Championships completing the 25km swim. The following year I became the first Irish female to swim the English Channel, and I swam at a high level for years winning the 17km Ladies Irish Open Water Swimming Championship seven times between 1991 and 2001. In 1998 I emigrated to NZ and completed some NZ swims including the Cook Strait (2001) and was named NZ Master Swimmer of the Year in 2001. Then I spent most of 10 years either pregnant or breastfeeding and didn’t do much swimming (but have 4 gorgeous kids). Whilst in the last two years I have quite consistently swum 3 times a week I was far away from the speed and stamina of my prime.

Career-wise, I also have had fantastic but not small roles which haven’t afforded much time for significant training.  Over the last couple of years, the emotional “pull of another big swim” was stirring and Taupō (40.2km) was calling – however, I couldn’t see how and when was I going to find the opportunity to train and attempt it.

Just before Christmas, I thought if I build a bigger base over the holidays and train hard January- March, maybe by the end of summer maybe there was a chance I could go for it.

On 1 April 2021 (and it’s not an April Fool) I successfully completed the 40.2km swim in 14 hours 49 minutes and 19 seconds.

Along the way, there were ten things I learnt about myself, about long-distance open-water swimming and about swimming Taupō.

1.       Awesome community

·         The open water swimming community are awesome. Supportive, full of information, fun, accepting, open and just awesome…seriously a fantastic community that we should cherish – it's special and yes for the third time awesome. 

2.       The spreadsheet

·         You will wish you had had a “spreadsheet of accountability” much earlier in your life. This was where myself, Corrina, John and Rebecca logged our mileage each day and it was added up both weekly and monthly. I am an optimist (never a bad thing) however I do think I may have had in the past a tendency to “round up the training in my head”. The spreadsheet never lies (unless like me you put it in the wrong weeks – thanks John for correcting it). I found the spreadsheet kept me honest, forced me to plan and also enabled me to learn things about my other “spreadsheet people” – boy they trained hard! 

3.       GPS trackers have changed the game

·         When I did the English Channel back in 1987, no one apart from those on the boat knew how you were doing, or where you were. My mum and Aunt walked the streets of Dover stopping at every church they came to. They heard that one of the three swimmers who started that morning was out but did not know who – just imagine their worry levels. Now everyone can follow your swim and the emotional engagement with the swim is so very high. Those who know nothing about the sport, see and follow the tracker all day (and night) and can put into perspective how long the swim is. Then add the social media dimension to this and you can now have “crowds” cheering you on. This is seriously cool. 

4.       Food technology has moved in the last 35 years.

·         Just as tracking has moved on so has food. There is all sorts of information out there, and products, which, whilst fantastic can also be overwhelming: the value of the swimming community comes to the fore here. My view 35 years on from the English Channel is that nothing beats homemade soup and a good electrolyte drink.  

5.       You will train with and talk to anyone and it's fun

·         When I was younger we used to try and look fierce and speedy so that members of the public would not come into our lane. Now when trying to do those 7-10km sets in the pool I smiled and talked to anyone and said “want to do a set with me?”. The best was the “yes please” and we agreed 10x100 on 1.45. Two reps in, the man looked at me confused and said “I have no idea what 10x100s on 1.45 means”. For someone who had never swum in a squad, he was impressive. Then the other set of people you meet and talk to are the retired folk who swim after all the early morning squads are over – they aren’t going to do a set with you but they kindly make sure they never get in your way, ask you lots of questions, show support and often have loud conversations (the joy of declining hearing) where you learn all about what they think of you! (and it was all good.)

6.       You really should have stretched

·         Yes I really should have – build stretching into your training – it is not an optional extra.

7.       Mind does matter; however training does as well!

·         Okay so now the real truth, a few people I knew didn’t tell me (which was the right thing to do) but they had their doubts I would make it. They were right to have their doubts as I came at this challenge later than ideal however with an excellent pedigree! I did know that all my training, whilst it was a fair bit, wasn’t perfect but that experience and attitude would balance this. I also knew the swim and recovery would be painful – so I knuckled down and got on with it. As one lovely swimming friend/fabulous osteopath (Vicky) said –“grind it out – we can put your body back together”. And yes there is a little bit of that to do. I am quite proud of Philip Rush’s comment to me about 11 hours into the swim –“you haven’t complained once” he said. I didn’t because I knew some of the pain was about the trade-offs I had needed to make. The combination of the right mental attitude, training and understanding of where I was at added up to more than the sum of the parts.

8.       Night swimming is special

·         There is something completely magical, spiritual and special about swimming at night. Believe it or not, I was quite sad when day broke. I had wanted to savour the experience for longer. Also I did have some lake fog for about an hour of the night swimming – I found that spooky and scary and my mind went to volcanic eruptions of the pink and white terraces in 1886 and mysterious waka (canoes) ... less fog, more stars for the next swim! 

9.       The “money shot” 

·         I have the best ever photograph of me in the water which I will cherish forever. Thanks to the crew who took that and also helped me so much on the water: mum, Elsbeth, Des, Philip Rush (we are very lucky to have his expertise, experience and passion), Hana and Mike and my dad on land…Amazing crew at home – hubby and kids and back to point 1 – the awesome community.  

10.   “Just keep swimming” Dory

·         When you tell people you are thinking about it, training for it, about to do it a surprising number of people will spontaneously burst into a fantastic impression of Dory. They and Dory are not wrong – the philosophy of just keep swimming is powerful in more ways than one…not just for the swim but for life. We all have our ups and downs (and I have not been immune to this of late), “just keep swimming” helped me enormously through this and can help us all through!