Holiday and Penzance Masters

March 1st 2009
We decided to go on holiday early this year in view of the fact that I need to be able to concentrate on the swim now, and the summer will be taken up with events to support the fundraising effort and also I will be entering some open water events.
So we went to Cornwall for 11 days or so and drove down via friends and family and back via other friends and family. Our holiday was initially hampered by snow and we were amazed by the amount of snow in Devon. We stayed in a cottage in Porthleven with our good friends Claire and Jacqui and their adorable 16 month old Border Terrier Dudley. We were beyong excitement when we thought that we would battle through the snow and then get to play with it!!! However we were sorry to find that not a flake had survived in Cornwall.
The sea was wild though and provided a spectacular show. Once the wild weather had subsided it was almost like Spring and we spent our time walking round gardens and sitting outside pubs drinking fine ale and eating pasties....marvelous.
I went to Penzance Leisure Centre and was delighted to find a lovely pool with some friendly swimmers. Peter Marks who I met in the fast lane during a public swimming session told me I should turn up at 6.30am on Wednesday and talk to Jim Saulter the coach. I was made to feel very welcome at the club and was delighted to find that they were ADULTS!!! This was the Masters squad and they were hot dang. I swam with them 3 times and they were very very fast. Jim was a little baffled by me as I told him I didn't do tumble turns and he watched as I struggled to keep up and in the end I pulled a muscle when I was diving in off the blocks. 'What happened to the sprint?' he shouted....I don't do sprints. I think my performance was fairly pathetic as I struggled with my back which had started an acute phase. Could have been the beer and the pasties of course, and I also had stopped taking by glucosamine tablets. Could have been a coincidence, could have been a combination of factors, but all resulted in a period of 'can't do it!'
Actually I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the sublime Penzance Masters. They were hard working welcoming and enthusiastic. I have been in touch with Jenny from the club and I look forward to swimming with them again one day. Thanks to Jim for all his support and encouragement.
Since I got back from holiday I have given up alcohol, I've been eating carefully, stretching, taking my tablets, rowing and swimming. Although my back is still tender and is firing warning shots across the bow, it has responded somewhat to my routine. I don't feel really really old anymore and I think that I have to accept that pain is part of a long distance swimmers lot. Any ideas on that one?
I have stopped dreaming about huge waves engulfing me and getting lost in the ocean, and I know that these are signs that anxiety is around and the seriousness of my challenge is a teasing spectre in my every day life.