GregInTheWater
GLASGOW OPEN WATER SWIMMING COACH
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I was determined to swim through the winter in Scotland; and by that I did not mean swimming in an indoor pool. I meant swimming in the lochs in the bracing water. This was coming from someone who grew up in Australia where the winter swimming clubs had to put ice cubes in the water to make them colder; a place where if the sea temperature dropped to 13c it was a… Read More
Each year I post a summary of my swim events, but this year it is different. I used to write it at the end of May each year, as that was the end of the open water swim season in Australia, and it would cover the 12 months to the end of May. Well, this year I am writing it at the end of May, but it is now covers a different… Read More
It has been quite a while since I posted on this blog, with my 16 kilometre swim in Loch Rannoch the last entry. But that does not mean I have not been swimming outdoors in Scotland. Just because the nights get longer, the water gets colder and the snow starts to fall, it does not mean I have not been swimming. So after the marathon swim in September, the weather morphed into… Read More
I had noticed on the openwaterswimevents website that there was a swim at Loch Ken in southern Scotland on the weekend before the Big Un. They were offering a 1km swim, a 2km swim, and a 4km swim, but the timings of them meant that it was possible to do all three. The online entry system though seemed to have an implicit bias that meant you could only do one swim. Now… Read More
The day after the great Scottish Swim, a group of four fanatics from Wild West Swimmers, organised a training swim for the Big Un swim. What is the Big un swim? Well that is a 10 mile (16km) swim from one end of Loch Rannoch to the other, to be held in mid-September. The training swim was to start at Aldochlay and finish at Balloch, down the western shore of Loch Lomond,… Read More
The biggest swimming event in Scotland was held on the last Saturday on August on Loch Lomond. The event known as the Great Scottish Swim is the last swim of the summer in the five race great swim series, with the over four swims held south of the border in England. Usually at this time of year, the loch is at its warmest and can get to 18c. But as this… Read More
As mentioned in previous posts, I have joined a social group of swimmers called the Wild West Swimmers. This group is fortunate to have numerous lochs and waterways to swim in near Glasgow in Scotland. The biggest waterway is Loch Lomond which is the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the UK. A call went up from some intrepid swimmers in the group to do a five island swim in Loch… Read More
I entered a swim at Balloch on Loch Lomond called the Wee Beastie swim to be held in late July. This event comprised three distances of 400m, a half-mile, or the full mile. The swim was to be held on a Saturday afternoon, with the Scottish Aquathlon in the morning, and a full day of triathlon on the Sunday. After my last swim event I decided to enter the… Read More
After my last swim event at Milarrochy Bay, I realised that I just had to get in and swim some more to adapt to the Scottish conditions. As part of that plan I went for a sunrise swim on the summer solstice in Loch Lomond. The above picture was taken just after 4am on that day, as at that time of year the sun rises at around 4.30am, after setting around… Read More
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