My first time
Determined to push past her insecurities, Christina Raven, 61, from Baldock, Hertfordshire, decided to make a splash in the open water.
I’m a great believer that gentle exercise can help with a lot of ailments; as an osteopath, it’s what I tell all my patients. I try to practise what I preach, but sometimes insecurities get in the way of exercising.
I had breast cancer in 2006 and, following a mastectomy, I began to feel self-conscious. I used to love swimming, but I no longer felt comfortable being in my swimming costume. Then I struggled with weight gain post-menopause, which added to my insecurities.
But I’m in my 60s now and I’ve decided that life is too short not to try new things. I want to feel like I’m really living – not just chugging along. Lots of my friends are living more adventurously now, too, and many head to nearby lakes and rivers to swim in nature. Open water swimming has been on my to-do list for a long time, so I thought I’d give it a go with a professional to guide me.
As my lesson with swim coach Alice Barnes at Lake Ashmore, near Huntingdon, drew closer, I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive about getting back into my swimming costume. I also struggle with arthritis, so I worried that I might not have enough strength to swim for long periods without touching the floor.
My nerves were soon quashed when I met Alice and she put me at ease. After putting on wetsuits and tow floats, we began the lesson by splashing our hands and faces in the lake to acclimatise to the cooler temperature. Slowly, we edged our way into the deeper water and practised breathing out through our noses rather than our mouths, to help stay relaxed.
But before we could set off to swim, I realised my feet had sunk into the mud! With Alice on hand to pull me out, we soon set off, heading to the centre of the lake while practising our breaststroke and front crawl.
In the lake, you’re constantly treading water, so I found that swimming uses more energy than it does in a pool. Alice showed me some good techniques to help me glide more in the water. ‘Your front crawl form is great,’ she told me, which came as a nice surprise and gave me a confidence boost.
After 30 minutes of swimming, we peeled off our wetsuits and re-entered the water in just our swimming costumes. That had been one of the bits I’d been looking forward to; feeling the water on my skin was liberating. Alice also taught me the ‘Float to Live’ technique, which can help you if you find yourself in difficulty. Floating on my back was peaceful; it felt meditative.
When we left the lake, we had t
