I’m calling it: September is the New Year. January may have worn that sash in the past, but she’s never felt like a chance for a reset the way that September does. She’s cold, and the ski season is already in swing. She’s bloated and guilty and a bit hungover from the holidays. She’s confined to the pool, save for perhaps a cursory polar bear dip. She starts and ends in the dark.
September is where the fresh starts happen. A new school year, for awesome people like my kid who kicked off their freaking Master’s degree this month. Q4, for most of us that sell stuff, and Q1 (REALLY) for those in my industry. It’s the time for the closet switcheroo, and the waning days of air conditioning. It’s a swim in the lake on Monday, and then a crushing pool set on Wednesday, still rocking a tan.
September is my birth month, so I get to start a whole new year being a whole new age. This year the idea of a fresh start resonates for a million reasons, whether that’s in redefining relationships, embarking on a new chapter in my training, or putting some things firmly in the past and others squarely in the future.
I haven’t been in the water much since my English Channel swim. I experienced the expected Channel Blues compounded by a personal situation that both drained my energy and charged me with anxiety. The gym helped, the pool didn’t. I could float in the lake, but I didn’t want to put my face in. Walks and podcasts and friends and work powered my days, and I escaped to the Island to hang out beside the ocean and started to get some clarity. Campground conversations started to pull me out of the mire and suddenly, it was the last day of August. Thank fucking god.
September starts with my renewed training goals in mind. Getting stronger and faster in the off-season made all the difference in my successful Channel crossing, so now is the time when I recalibrate the plan, both for swimming and for the other shit that sometimes slithers into my periphery. Stronger, faster, and with joy. September is when the real work begins.
It’s time to plan applications for exciting 2026 events, and to line up the timelines and support I’m going to need for the swims I’ve already committed to. It really does feel like a new year, especially this year. There will be cake, chilly night swims, orange moons, long drives, and a whole new cycle of living and learning.
“September’s coming soon, pining for the moon / But what if there were two, side by side in orbit, around the fairest sun.”
I celebrated my one month Channel-iversary this week. It might have been with a few margaritas, since something happened to my tastebuds during my sixteen hour salt bath. Coffee tastes gross, beer tastes funny, dairy products taste like chalk, but the swim still tastes like a success.
Post-swim London hijinks with Brent.
That being said, I have not been swimming very much. I feel like I’m still processing the swim, and getting little bits of my brain back. I can accurately describe hours one through four and twelve through sixteen, but there’s a big murky middle where sensory deprivation and focus took over and I couldn’t tell you whether I was happy, tired, scared, or hungry. Beginnings and endings are much more interesting to me anyhow.
Back in the Scrabble saddle.
I’ve had ample opportunity to talk with both media and friends about my English Channel swim and was frankly surprised by the level of interest. People seem to be very curious about so many aspects of the swim, giving me a steady supply of topics to write about in the future. That one constant question though: what’s next?
What is next? I made the mistake of committing myself to several summer swims that should have seen me back in the lake racing almost every weekend. I’ve pushed back against the inevitable pressure these events would put on me – self-imposed, but still pressure – and cancelled! As someone who hardly ever cancels anything, I struggled with it and still wonder if I should just pull up my pantaloons and get back out there. To be honest, I have enjoyed not “training” over the last month, and have relished the long dog walks, Rossland hikes, bike rides, hangs with friends, and gym sessions. I haven’t dragged my bum out of bed any earlier than 7:30 am, and I haven’t consumed a single ounce of UCAN.
ATLS Ambassadoring
This month, what’s next has meant my next meal or next episode of The Bear (for the second time through).
I do have a lake swim in mind for later in the season, but that’s a big maybe right now. I don’t know if the logistics can work for both boats and crew, and it’s one I’d definitely want to do right, or not at all. So maybe that’s next, but maybe not. Upcoming holidays will certainly involve swims in Zurich and Thun, but it’s all for the pleasure of leisure at the moment.
♥️
One of the best things about swimming is that there is an almost endless list of potential “nexts”. I’m waiting for the lightning bolt of inspiration to strike. There are local lakes to bag. Big ocean swims that I never considered have now become possibilities. My English Channel swim has opened a lot of doors, especially in my own head, but rushing instead of processing and savouring feels wrong. These first short swims from Sarsons Beach are my way of easing back into the structure that I love and need, but it’s really all about the ease, which I haven’t enjoyed in a few years. So go easy on me, and what’s next will reveal itself soon. Or maybe in a few months. ♥️
June is Jumpstart Month, and I’m excited to ramp up my fundraising campaign in support of this awesome Canadian charity.
I started my campaign about a year ago, aiming to raise $10,000 ahead of my September attempt to swim the English Channel. I didn’t get a chance to swim, but proudly raised over $5000 toward my goal. I am very lucky to have been given another chance to swim this July, so I’m focusing my efforts to get to the $10,000 mark and beyond!
I am so grateful for Jumpstart’s support for my swim, and it’s truly my honour to help raise money that goes directly to enabling kids across Canada to pursue their interests. Jumpstart grants provide financial relief for families so that children can participate in sports and other activities. Jumpstart also funds many projects that create more accessible communities – places and spaces for kids of all abilities to play and grow. I am drawn to Jumpstart because of their positive impact on individual kids, families, and communities.
As a swimmer who grew up also taking dance lessons, playing club volleyball, softball, downhill ski racing, and attending summer sport camps, I benefitted greatly from the opportunity to develop as a young athlete and team member. My parents fundraised and volunteered tirelessly to pay for my sister’s and my activities. I hate to think of a kid who can’t join a swim club, or a tennis team, or take mountain biking lessons or Highland dancing because of financial limitations. Jumpstart’s grants break down the barriers so that kids can do what they love, try new activities, and stay healthy and connected in their communities.
Jumpstart has provided access to sport over 4 million kids – and they’re just getting started! Your donation goes directly to helping kids play the sports they love and pursue their dreams.
I couldn’t decide what to title this post, since I didn’t know what I was going to write about until I sat down and started typing.
November Rain (we’ve had a lot of that!)?
November Spawned a Monster (nah – no spawning occurred, nor monsters, and fuck Morrissey)…
Gone ‘Til November (sort of…..but not quite right)?
And then I started writing, and I realized that I’m doing a lot of thinking about learning lately, and how hard it is. A title will magically appear by the end of this post, because I’ll learn something along the way. That’s usually how it goes.
So – learning. My English Channel Swim That Wasn’t was definitely one of the bigger learning experiences of my life. All that training, the effort to learn to swim for that long, the logistics of getting to Dover, learning to wait, learning about the wind – the factor that would ultimately be my nemesis, learning to project a positive mindset in the face of disappointment, and learning how to come home having not swam and deal with the personal fallout – these have all been major things in my life during the last two months. I found myself canceling plans so that I wouldn’t have to talk about it, or keeping conversations short when the topic came up. I avoided writing about it, and I avoided the pool for a few weeks so as not to be recognized as “the swimmer who didn’t get to swim.” I felt guilty about fundraising and not being able to follow through. I felt guilty about the attention I received, which felt like it was all for naught. My Inner Imposter syndromed its nasty way into my dreams and thoughts on long, pensive walks. I knew I was going to have to learn to deal with this and process it much in the same way I’ve processed other big tough disappointing things, or I’d never lift my head above the surface.
Late season swims in Christina Lake, October.
This is where I am right now – processing – but also gradually “chalking it up to experience”, as the saying goes. I took some advice and started booking swims for next year, because one thing I have learned about myself is that I do need those future milestones to reach for in order to not become a drifting, shiftless mess. I’m leaning into feeling the feelings of now, but focusing on the months ahead where several fucking awesome trips and swims and challenges are going to happen.
While the English Channel remains firmly in my sights, I did not accept a less-than-stellar slot for 2025. Instead, I took a confirmed #2 spot for the first week of September 2026. If a fortuitous cancellation happens in summer 2025 with my pilot Andy King of the Louise Jane II (as sometimes happens), I will jump on it and pop back over to Dover. It will be like I never left! My tears are still drying on the beach….
Boooooo.
Otherwise, I will continue my goal of achieving the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming by swimming the Catalina Channel first. Future milestone #1 burst into and all over reality when I was in Dover, distraught that the Channel wasn’t gonna happen. I thought that I might be able to get a late season spot for Catalina, but had a helpful and informative call with Dave from the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation who informed me about the length of the registration process (too long to make it happen in 2024) and new forms and fees for 2025. I secured a pilot, paddlers (thanks SUMMER!!), and nabbed a confirmed date of June 29, 2025. This storied swim involves swimming approximately 34 km at night from Catalina Island to Long Beach, California, and I had originally planned to take it on in 2026. But since I’m learning to roll with the punches and seize the goddamn day, it has become my main training focus for the year ahead. I’m looking forward to bioluminescence, big grey shapes beneath me, and being able to invite a few more peeps to support and celebrate. It will be the Canada Day Long Weekend, after all. 🙂
Future milestone #2 came in the form of a WhatsApp message from my good friend and absolute swimming legend, Martyn Webster, who suggested that I grab a spot on a Swim Trek trip to Croatia in early April. I’ve wanted to do a Swim Trek trip forever and maybe even guide for them someday, so it seems to be the perfect opportunity to get some early season coooooold ass training under my belt. The trip is classified “ultra” and features 6 days of coached swims, video analysis, and seminars. Learning! It also includes the chance to do a 6-hour cold water qualifier, which will come in super handy should an elusive English Channel slot materialize in the meantime. I’ve never been to Croatia and can think of nothing better than exploring the Prvić Luka and the Dalmatian Coast from the freezing water with good pals.
With these lofty future milestones in mind, I’ve shifted from some half-hearted fall maintenance swimming into my brand new full-on plan. I enlisted the help of English ultra-swimmer Amy Ennion again, since her English Channel plan helped me get focused, faster, and motivated to take on the big swims. This year’s plan challenges me to learn how to swim faster and better, instead of just longer. There are a lot of plans and planners out there, but I believe that Amy is simply THE BEST. She took the time to get to know me, was available for necessary check-ins and rejigs, and her cheerful and motivating demeanor was just what I needed to structure my training.
The perfect title for this post occurred to me when writing this last paragraph about the most important learning this experience has given me – the learnings I learned from my coach and mentor Brent Hobbs. Brent has generously worked with me for almost four years now, and he is a constant source of knowledge, experience, and laughter. When I think back on the trip to England and the swim that wasn’t, I think about Brent and his constant good humour in the face of uncertainty. I think of how he crammed scones with cream and jam into his face with wild abandon. How he’d strike up a jolly conversation with anyone in a pub (and we went to a LOT of pubs). How he dragged my flagging ass down to the Dover Harbour for another swim, day after day, doing his signature flip turns off the slimy breaker walls and butterflying into the waves. How he ate more fish and chips than any person ever should, yet ran the Folkestone Half Marathon the day after we departed. How Scott and I laughed until we peed at the videos he sent from Liverpool, where he painted the town red dancing in Beatles bars and enchanted the locals. How he made us say, “It’s a bit shit, innit” when it was really more than a bit shit. How he understood how I was feeling, but somehow helped me learn how to keep it all in perspective. And how – in every situation – there is a Monty Python song that is just perfect for the occasion.
And there you have it – the post and the title: The Meaning of Life: Growth and Learning.
Today marks the first day of September, in the year 2024.
My 50th birthday is in 14 days.
My English Channel swim window opens in 22 days.
But before we get into all of that, what a summer! Summer, you were sure something. I had so many brilliant swim experiences in July and August that it is hard to imagine that September will take the cake. A recap is in order, so here we go….
Just a girl in Dover.
In July I hopped across the pond to undertake a weekend of salty swims with Dover Channel Training. When I learned about the opportunity to get some actual Channel experience with a group that has supported so many swimmers, I had to sign up. While I’ve spent a lot of time in the UK, I’d never been to Dover and was keen to get a sense of the situation. I travelled from London and became more and more excited as I saw the coastal views out the window of the train, Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat playing loud in my headphones. I stayed in a cute and cozy little place near Churchill House, where my crew and I will stay later this month. With a mere 10 minute walk to Dover Harbour, it was the perfect location to suss out places to get food, replenish supplies, and, of course, drink beer. The iconic White Horse pub was right across the street from my digs, so I strolled over for some Channel inspiration. The walls and ceiling of the pub are covered with years of Sharpie’d accounts of Channel swims. Walking from room to room, you can look up and see the handwriting of many a swimming legend, and I spotted autographs from Sarah Thomas, Martyn Webster, The Crazy Canucks, Sally Minty-Gravett, and my own coach, Brent Hobbs! I’d heard that the new owners no longer allow swimmers to write on the walls, but the barmaid assured me that indeed they do. I may have even scoped out a spot for my future self.
My Dover weekend plan called for two five hour swims back to back. Part of the deal is that the DCT team provides hourly feeds, and I was eager to see if their offerings might solve my ongoing challenge with nausea. I told Emma about my “issues”, and she suggested UCan, a cornstarch-based product that a good old Dad invented for his daughter who suffered from stomach issues. Eager to test it, I started my swim with around twenty other Channel hopefuls. We swam laps around Dover Harbour, which on that day offered a mix of conditions ranging from wind and waves to blindingly bright sunlight. The laps are approximately two km and while they don’t actually take you into the actual Channel, they do give you a chance to taste that famous salty water, and soak up the vibes. My first hourly UCan feed went well. It was a slightly chalky, less sweet chocolatey flavour, served warm. It stayed down and filled me up. The second feed was blackcurrant squash. Yum. The third feed was UCan. After three hours of slaying the chop and waves, I had fully expected to blow my cookies. But I didn’t. It stayed down and I kept swimming. At the five hour mark I was supposed to stop for the day, but I felt so good and strong with actual calories in my body that I decided to keep going and swim the full seven. Not a single barf exploded from my mouth. I don’t think I even burped. All that happened was that my smile grew and grew like the Grinch’s heart, as I realized that I might have (gasp!) found. my. feed! I went back to the b’n b with some pretty major chafing that I didn’t even feel because I was so happy, grabbed some fish and chips, and tucked myself in for the restful sleep I’ve need to do it over again tomorrow.
The next morning I woke up and strolled through town to the harbour for the ten a.m. start. To my surprise, the amazing Sarah Thomas and Neil Hailstone were on the beach, greeting swimmers and soaking up congratulations for Neil’s successful Channel swim earlier in the week. How starstruck was I!? I knew they were in the area from Sarah’s Instagram stories, but I could never have hoped to actually meet her in Dover Harbour, in my bathing suit, covered in Vaseline (me, not her). If you haven’t heard of Sarah Thomas, well, she’s pretty much the most accomplished swimmer of all time. She is the only person to have completed a four-way English Channel, and holds the world record for the longest lake swims in 104 mile Lake Champlain and 80 mile Lake Powell. Meeting her was magic for my heart and my mind, inspiring and timely. I thought, “Here is a person who has done all of these amazing things. And she’s just a person on the same beach as you. And she shook your hand, and your hand was so slimy.” Do yourself a favour, and instead of watching Nyad, watch this. The real deal.
Pinch me
Day two of DCT went just swimmingly, with rain and wind in the mix, no vomits, strong shoulders for five hours, and lots of fun. It was so great to meet this crew and learn from their experiences. I highly recommend that anyone planning a Channel swim should try to invest in a weekend of training. It made a massive difference for my mindset for the upcoming swim. Tasting the Channel – it’s frickin’ salty, my dude – definitely helped me get in the headspace for the big gulp.
I waved goodbye to jolly England and after some Lufthansa shenanigans, made my way to Zurich via Amsterdam to meet Holger for the second half of my swim vacation. We loved Zurich and the people we met there two years ago for the Lake Zurich Swim, so it seemed a natural place to meet and continue my training. Zurich is a spectacular lake, with so many swimmer’s amenities in the communities that surround it. We did a mix of camping in Rapperswil and luxury bed and breakfasting at the Oberhaus in Feldbach. Reconnecting with legendary swimmer and friend Martyn Webster led to fun swims at the Rapperswil Seebadi, a trip into the mountains seeking cold water in the Klönteralsee, and a list of awesome suggestions that were a veritable Swiss scavenger hunt of swimming. Martyn and Cat also had us over for dinner and to watch some Olympic swimming. I swam in a pool in the lake at Sportbad Käpfnach, communed with the topless at Seebad Utoquai, and set off from the Oberhaus several times with Holger in a rowboat. Is there anything more romantic than a German in a rowboat, safely (backwards) steering you away from ferries and sailboats? I think not. I left Switzerland full of chocolate and cheese, wishing I could live there someday. I also had some great swims and benefited from many conversations with Martyn about everything from nutrition to mileage.
See? A German in a rowboat. With Martyn Webster after 8 cool kms. Sportbad Käpfnach: a pool in the lake!Just a girl in Zurich.
Back in Canada, I had two days to recover and leverage the jet lag before the first of my Across the Lake Swim Series events: the Rattlesnake Island 7km Swim. Ten years ago my ex-husband tried to run me over with a canoe, last year I bonked, and this year I won a wooden medal for second place in my age category! Things do change!
Around Rattlesnake Island
The following weekend was the Skaha Lake 11.8 km on August 11, and I had another great swim, finishing third in my age group.
Randy, paddler extraordinaire
I swam the Kalmalka Lake 4.5 swim on August 17 and had another third place finish, and then finished second in my age in the Gellatly Bay 5 km swim just yesterday morning on the very last day of August.
Holger with a bronze in his very first open water swim!
Gellatly capped off a month of races that challenged me to continue my focus on the long game, but forced me to bring my competitive spirit to the table and push myself to swim a double on many of those race days, and another long swim the day after. This genius series is one of the best parts about living in BC, and I am proud to be a Swim Squad ambassador. I do love me some Lake Zurich living, but it doesn’t compare to hugging my swim pals, celebrating our results, and supporting one another in our close-knit swimming community five weeks in a row. I’m so grateful to Emily, Randy, and Julian for paddling assistance this summer, and fun times with Elaine, Deb, Dionne, Phred, Brent, Kylie, Sean, Robynne, and so many others.
A Naramata swim with the wonderful Elaine, aka Naramata Blend
If anything, I am most proud that I have mostly stuck to the plan, leading up to my “Peak Week” seven and six hour back to back swims next weekend. And once those are done, the tapering begins. And at the end of the taper is a body of water that I’ve been waiting for, that waits for me and demands that I be ready. And I will be.
📷 Elaine Davidson
Want to help me raise $10,000? Not for me, silly, but for Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. Jumpstart helps kids facing financial and accessibility barriers access sports and play. 100% of your donation goes directly to helping kids play. My fundraiser is now LIVE and you can read about it here.
March: month of leprechauns and lions, Ides and madness. I am in the thick of it!
In my last post, I mentioned a little challenge that I will take on in September – swimming the English Channel! It’s a dream several years in the making – all the way back to Grade 7, in fact. Some Howard Coad School bully (there were a lot of them) probably said to me, not kindly, regarding the extensive amount of swimming I was then doing: “What are you gonna do, swim the English Channel? What a barf bag.” and I probably said “YEAH!” and ran home before they could steal another Beaver Canoe t-shirt right off my back. 12-year-old Aerin would have had very little conceptual understanding of the actual undertaking or what I’d agreed to, but it’s really feeling VERY REAL now as I start to check off the application requirements and make VERY REAL plans.
Pass the medical. Confirm insurance. Decide who will be my support team on the boat. Accommodations. Flights. Align training cycles to travels. Documentation. Deadlines, which are helpful and also seemingly always approaching. I’m a reasonably organized sort of person who takes great pleasure in any sort of checklist, and the remaining items mostly involve the coordination of people who are not me. There’s also the 6-hour, sub-16-degree qualifying swim that must be completed before September, but I’m waiting for that sweet spot between 12C and 16C that usually happens in the middle of May. Sweet = a temperature that turns your nipples blue and gives you several subsequent episodes of afterdrop, but I’ll take those over hot flashes any day.
Only Harriet is swimming in the lake so far
Lots of people have asked me lots of questions about this swim. How far? Why? What the fuck? How do you train for that? I will endeavour to answer many of these questions in subsequent posts but thought I’d write a bit about training since that’s what I’m in the thick of. In the meantime, this helpful FAQ from the Channel Swimming Association (the official body under which my swim will be ratified) contains lots of interesting information for the curious.
My training plan is the most detailed and specific that I’ve ever used, thanks to the expert stylings of one Amy Ennion. I followed Amy and her impressive swimming accomplishments for a while before reaching out to see if she’d build a plan for me. And what a plan! I’ve worked on technique, speed, and swimming at my threshold pace. I’ve forced myself to swim slowly to swim faster. I’ve used paddles and my buoy more than ever before, so much so that my buoy has become a second buoyfriend. I am also swimming all four strokes, even though my Channel attempt will be 99% freestyle/front crawl. The other 1% is peeing during backstroke, a technique I have nailed. I might figure out how to pee better on my front between now and September, but no pressure. Right now it’s just fun to splash kick away the yellow so that the lifeguards don’t see. I have just entered a new “mesocycle” to prep for the approaching open water season, replacing 2 of the interval sessions with 2 long back-to-back swims each week. I’m in the pool four times a week, in the gym twice, and at yoga twice (if I can be arsed – I’m trying to fall back in love with yoga). My weekly distance has now ramped up to between 16-20 km. For instance, this week I did 2 interval sessions including a speed test and a pull/paddle-focused workout. I also did 2 back to back 90-minute swims of 5 km each. I’m also in the thick of my busiest season at work, with many long days and lots of travel in the mix.
Invested in a proper DryRobe
Fitting it all in is an opportunity and a challenge. In January, I swam in some pretty cool pools in Palm Springs, including the Palm Desert Aquatic Center and Palm Springs Swim Center. The PDAC accommodated my super early mornings and I am still feeling the thrill of swimming outside in January! Under palm trees! I also swam in Toronto in January which was the complete opposite experience with limited morning lane times within the downtown corridor, although the Varsity Swim Centre was fun and very fast! In February and March, I swam in Calgary at the MNP Community & Sport Centre, Waterloo at the Swimplex, London at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, Hamilton at the McMaster University Pool, and Montreal at the Parc Olympique. Montreal was a highlight as the World Aquatics Championships of Diving were happening, and it was such a thrill to watch the competition between sets! Such tiny splashes, and yes, such tiny Speedos.
Palm Springs Montréal’s Parc OlympiqueRapide!
I’m using a Garmin Swim 2 to track my training sessions and have slowly become a convert, or at least less of a skeptic since I got the watch in September. The battery life sucks, the features are somewhat limited, and it sort of ruins any nice outfit, but it’s what I have for now. The stats are great, and I actually look forward to reviewing my swim data after every session. I’m working hard toward not working so hard and the ability to track how much time I’m spending in each heart rate zone is helpful. A chest strap would give more accurate data, but I’ll take the watch for now. I’m saving up for a Garmin Fenix 6 Solar for the open water season. The Garmin integrates with Strava, and if you’re a Strava-er you can follow me here. I also use a pair of Shokz OpenSwim Waterproof Headphones for long pool sessions – I do love them and they are a significant upgrade from the Finis Duo that I used for years. My latest swim playlist is here.
I will finish off this month back at the Trail Aquatic Centre during my long weekend Kootenay getaway. I hope yours is filled with giant bags of Mini Eggs filling your cheeks (6 at a time in each), great globs of caramel running down your chin, and several toasty, heavily buttered hot cross buns. Training makes me so hungry. It’s one of the best things about swimming. Come on April!
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!
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.
I’ve put off posting for a long time, and I have no excuses other than the general ennui that many of us are feeling to some degree as the challenges of the pandemic continue to bork things up for everyone. And so, this post took me until today, March 1, to finish.
Nobody wants to read more whining about cancelled events, shuttered plans, or disrupted training. I’ve experienced all of those things over the last 2 years, but I’ve also collected a laundry list of excellent things that have happened despite the dumpster fire. So let’s focus on those, shall we?
Highlights of 2021 (If I dare….)
Getting an early start in the lake
My local pool was never closed
Swimming in Vancouver with Debbie Collingwood
Swimming off Texada Island
New paddling people
English Channel slot confirmed (September 2, 2024!!)
Seal spotting synchro with Debbie
What I’m Stoked About In 2022
Hammer Nutrition Ambassador Program
Sri Chinmoy Lake Zurich Marathon Swim
Portland Bridge Swim
Swimming the length of Slocan Lake
The return of the Okanagan swims
I think my neck is better
I was selected to be part of Hammer Nutrition Canada‘s Ambassador team for 2022. The fact that they’d choose a leathery old nugget like me makes me love them even more than I already did, since they’re always so nice when I phone them and ask them a million questions. I’m determined to get my long distance nutrition challenges sorted out this year, especially after last June’s puke debacle during my 6 hour Channel qualifier. I’m going to experiment with all the fun stuff, including adding electrolytes and recovery fuels. If you’re curious about Hammer products, you can use my 20% discount code – aerin20 – when you check out with your cart full of juicy gels and magic powders.
Training at Nancy Greene Lake
My list of upcoming swims continues to grow as events are confirmed. This anticipation fuels me on the daily and helps to keep me motivated to swim endless back and forth laps at the pool, staring at the black line and listening to the same songs over and over while plotting my escape from society. As of today, I’m confirmed for the Portland Bridge Swim and FINALLY, at long last, the Sri Chinmoy Lake Zurich Marathon Swim. Third time lucky? I’m betting on it. Most of my training will focus on this event, so I’m using the Slocan and Okanagan swims as preparation to the big event on August 7. And then, if I make it, I’ll embark on a 2 week bike trip with mein Freund for which only my legs will be needed, since you hardly use those in open water swimming.
I do feel weird about sharing this post, since world events are overwhelming and despairing, and I can currently only concentrate for 20 minute blocks, when I’m not doomscrolling or staring out the window. People are hiding in bomb shelters and held up at borders while I sit here waxing on about my upcoming European holiday. So I will stop there, and get back to work.
I woke up this morning, tired – and having cancelled my usual Monday a.m. swim. I’ve been a little unmotivated lately. I didn’t realize that it was International Women’s Day.
The great Gertrude Ederle
And then, as usually happens when I spend time scrolling the socials for news, opportunities, and a much needed dopamine hit, I started to see a whack of posts, memes, diatribes, confessionals, laments, and promotions heralding THE DAY. Not to be left out, I thought about a post that I’ve been pondering a while about something I’ve really noticed in my open water swimming journey, and I decided to bloody well write it before the inspiration faded, as it has so many times during the last few months when I’ve had something to say, and then didn’t in the end. Meh. Covid.
As a relative newcomer to this open water life, it’s become clearer and clearer to me that women – or SWIMMEN (if I may coin a word) – are the backbone AND child-bearing hips of open water swimming. My training partners have mostly been women. My biggest cheerleaders are women. My support teams have mostly been comprised of women. When I planned my Christina Lake swim last fall, 5 women appeared ready to help. I meet women when I travel to events. Sometimes, we sit on the school bus to the start line and encapsulate our entire swimming history in 4 minutes, and then we’re friends. For life. The upper echelon of this community also seems committed to support and share – interacting through the channels that connect us through this weird time in the world. Jaimie Monahan has commented on some of my posts, which flummoxes me, because if I met her in person, I would probably die a messy fan-girly death.
I have never felt marginalized or disaffected within the open water swimming community. The connections I’ve made through events, training, and even my social media presence have largely been with amazing and awesome women, who sometimes reach out just to extend a wave of support. The power of this community is that it is free of boundaries, free of bullshit, and full of heartfelt support. If you’re reading this and you’ve ever reached out to me, I hope you know how much it’s meant.
The great Lynne Cox
Here’s where I name some amazing SWIMMEN so shout these names RIGHT OUT LOUD and you can too: AS LOUD AS WE CAN:
Jaimie Monahan, Ali Gartland, Ella Chloe Foote, Chloe McCardel, Emily Epp, Deanne Steven, Debbie Collingwood, Suzanne Welbourn, Sarah Thomas, Beth French, Lynne Cox, Elaine Davidson, Alina Warren, Joanne Malar, Amber Honeybaker, Catherine Breed, and many, many others.
And let us honour:
the women who cross Channels
the women who cross Channels several times (my goodness)
the women who dream of crossing Channels
the women who support paddle
the women who drive the boats
the women who get their boat licenses the day before a swim so they CAN drive the boat and support their nieces
the women who share a lane
the women who can handle the cold
the women in the hot tub, laughing
the women who lend a cap when yours rips
the women who lifeguard
the women who volunteer
the women who drive their daughters to swim practice
the women who make Rice Krispie squares for their daughters’ swim meets
the women who swim through difficult times
the women who are just starting out
the women who break records, and barriers, in this sport and all others
We need more than just a day to remember and honour our commitments, contributions, and responsibilities, but let’s take these precious 24 hours and stand with each other, trailblazers and newbies alike and those in between. Or swim with each other. Just don’t touch my feet.
I won’t miss my other swims this week.
Strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them. And may we swim with them, always.
So much for lamenting the loss of travel – summer in BC has been wonderful, and so has the swimming!
I’ve been working toward my BIG GOAL of swimming the length of Christina Lake on September 12. Otherwise known as the Bathtub of B.C., Christina is one of my favourite places to swim. The swim will be ratified by the Marathon Swim Foundation, if all planning goes well. It’s the best place for early season training, and it stays warm enough for the late season too. I’m 100% focused on this swim, and there’s lots of preparation to consider. And also lots of swimming to be ready on the day. It’s approx 19 km and I can do it! (I hope)
Route planning and existential ponderings.
I took a precious week off and did a 5 day kayaking trip on Slocan Lake (second favourite local BC lake) with my daughter and 2 pals. We paddled the 40 km top to bottom and I swam 5 km/day in Slocan’s beautifully crystal clear water. There was also lots of time for campfire laughs, nude-watching, flirting with our campsite neighbour, and…night swimming! We loaded up the Oru Kayak with lights and I swam under the stars and the moon in the quiet and inky blackness. Bliss.
Night swimming deserves a quiet night.Beautiful Slocan LakeFuture album cover.
I’ve been training at Nancy Greene Lake most days, which is good because of the high elevation and the lower water temperature. It’s full of life all summer. Fish jump, and plant life stretches up from the sandy bottom. Swimming here feels like I’m a wee a drone flying over a forest. Apparently there’s an aggressive otter, but I haven’t seen him yet. I bet he’s seen me. I hope he introduces himself before the summer is over, and maybe he can teach me how to efficiently peel shrimp while floating on my back, because right now it’s a bit awkward.
No sign of my otter.
I did a 10 km training swim at Christina Lake last weekend to get a feel for the distance and the landscape of what will be the second half of the BIG SWIM. My friend Shanna paddled for me from Texas Point to the northernmost end of the lake – and graciously allowed me to glamp at her lovely cabin.
A room with a view!
And now – I’m en route to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a few weeks. I’m looking forward to exploring some new lakes and swimming some long distances in my home province, and having my Mum do my laundry. YES!
Maybe she’ll even do some support kayaking for me….Mum?
