Saturday Swim at North Sydney

Another great Saturday training session last Saturday 23rd July at 645am. I met with 3 of the early bird swimmers at Balmoral to discover that instead of improving overnight the conditions had worsened.

Ever the optimistic Stuart, Iain and Tori greased up, explained their dietary needs and plunged into the dirty 14 degree waters of Balmoral. They were back in about 20mins saying it was feral. We decided mission abandoned for the day just as the 8am shift of Wayne, Ali, Nicola and Marty arrived armed with thermoses, gels and sports drink. They were all chomping at the bit to get out there but being the eternal mollycoddling coach that I am (NOT) I suggested it would be better if they joined Vlad and Louise at North Sydney pool. Louise was swimming for 6 hours and Vlad was planning on hanging on bravely for dear life as best he could. (Louise is swimming a double crossing at the end of August in Fiji – Denaru to Beachcomber and back to raise money for Christchurch her hometown.)

Visit her webpage to see details and pledge your support for this emotional and worthy cause. http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/LouiseStevenson/

So Ali, Wayne, Nicola and Marty dutifully turned around and went to North Sydney pool while Stuart, Iain Tori and I stayed at the club had coffee and chocolate brownies (thanks Tori) and waited to see if anyone else turned up. We waited a bit and then went our separate ways – Tori to Squash finals, Stuart and Iain home to stay well (they swim the channel this August) and me to North Sydney Pool (I’d run out of excuses not to go). When I got to the pool I saw the below:

Happy smiling faces (well all apart from relax, smile and be happy Coach Vlad) They had all jumped in and were swimming 5 x 2km and then 5 x 1km to get a decent 15km swim under their belt. They were at about 6km. I jumped in for a bit and swam, took photos/video and jumped behind them for the final 2km and 1st 3 x 1km. That was plenty. Damien had started with Louise, so he had done around 12km, Vlad managed 16km and Louise finished her 25km around 1.10ish just after the others finished their 15. Everyone had a great time and swam really well. It is great as a coach to see a group of swimmers work together (they all took turns leading) encouraging each other and being so supportive of everyone’s efforts. They even encouraged me to keep going when I was about to get out. It could have been revenge for the week before, but I did feel loved. This weekend Nicola is off competing at Magnetic Island – Good Luck, Marty is away, I’m stuffing my face at brunch at North Sydney Cellars (highly recommended) and the others at this stage are gathering at Bondi for a swim there. The following weekend (6th / 7th August) we will be back at Balmoral If you are in interested in joining us – you are most welcome. Toys, wusssuits etc. are all allowed.

Please contact Vlad – 0413 754 977 or myself (0429 494 455) for more details. Hope to see you out there – Coach Charm