It’s a competitive world…..

Hear ye, hear ye! Here is my 2023 recap – my year in swimming. It feels weird to write this given the five incomplete posts waiting patiently in my draft folder, but that’s how this year has gone.

It wasn’t a banner year for swimming, but I did learn a lot about patience, resilience, and the importance of rest and recovery. My focus was challenged in so many ways – even more than when I’m training for a big event. I had surgery in November 2022, and despite the best-laid plans, recovery didn’t go as planned, and I wasn’t able to get in the water until February. Further complications affected most of my summer event plans and led to another surgery in mid-August. This recovery went much better, and by mid-September, I was back in the pool. I’ve trained hard until the third week in December and have been sidelined again with a nagging injury in my pec and neck. It rhymes, but that doesn’t make it funny. I’m throwing IMS, taping, massage, and everything else in the kitchen sink at it, but mostly rest.

The unscheduled swim breaks taught me much about myself and what counts to me. Sleep counts. Not drinking counts. Stretching counts. Rotator cuff exercises count. Sculling counts. Kicking counts. Yoga counts. Red blood cell counts count. Preparation counts. Laughing counts. Swimming friends count. My partner counts. Drills count. Half-finished blog posts count. Everything counts in large amounts.

Despite my many weeks of not swimming this year, there were highlights in the water that deserve mention:

• Swimming Paradise’s event in the sparkling blue Tyrrhenian Sea in Gaeta, Italy. This 2-day event is part of the Italian Open Water Series. I did this swim in July with my niece Sara, which was the most fun ever, especially seeing her sprint out of the water and dash across the finish line ahead of a bunch of Speedo gods. So proud!
• Swimming in Leipzig’s beautiful lakes with my Love, surrounded by carefree naked Germans frolicking in the grass.
• Morning workouts at the pool at the Marlborough College during my work week in England. The generous aquatic staff let me come and train at 6 am every day for the second year in a row. A class act!
• A workout in Bristol South Swimming Pool, a Neo-classical historic pool built in 1931.
• Finishing the 7km Rattlesnake Island Swim 3 days before my second surgery. “Finishing” is the most appropriate word since I swam like a turd and was pretty disappointed in my results.
• Starting Amy Ennion‘s training plan as prep for next year’s VERY BIG SWIM. This plan saw me ramp up and get significantly faster in the last 2.5 months, focusing on technique and efficiency. If I wasn’t in injury mode, I’d beat a shark in a 50 m race.
• Cold water dips up at Gwillim Lakes in the high alpine during our late August camping trip in the Valhallas. You couldn’t keep me out of that glorious, icy alpine water.

Some photographic evidence of said highlights below, other pools and lakes I swam in in Rome, Oxfordshire, St. John’s, Kelowna, the Kootenays, and beloved swimming friends for good measure. You’ll have to reach out directly for German nudes.

2024 will be the year I turn 50.

2024 will be the year I will work with a charity to fundraise $10,000 to help families afford to put their kids in sports a little easier. Stay tuned.

2024 will be the year I swim all of the Across the Lake Swim events in the Okanagan (except the 2.1km ‘coz I’ll be across the pond for work). You should sign up too.

2024 will be my third year as a Hammer Nutrition Ambassador! HMU if you need fuel! (I also make cinnamon buns.)

2024 will be the year I attempt the English Channel (in September). More on that in posts to come, but everything that has counted this year will do double duty in the next. As I’m learning, much can happen in the meantime, and I can control only what I can control. I will share my training and preparation here on the Waterblog (maybe that’s what I should call this site?), and I’d be honoured if anyone wants to follow along, join me for a swim, paddle alongside, or send positive thoughts. It all counts!

Extra hugs and kudos to those who supported me this year: Debbie, Brent, Scott, Mum, Valerie, Sara, Kasie, Deanne, Harriet, Amy, Jaimie, Elaine, Martyn, Natalie, Julian, and Holger, who says, “You will do it” every day.