My First 10K - a love letter to TI.

[flychick]

On Saturday I swam my first ever 10K. I took part in the Dart 10K - an event organised by the Outdoor Swimming Society and which takes place in the beautiful River Dart in South Devon in the UK. My time was 2:25:14 and I was 92nd out of over 600 swimmers and was 17th lady to finish. This swim is tide and current assisted - I would expect my time in a lake to be 2:50/3 hours.

I just wanted to say that I could never have achieved this without Terry and TI. I shall be 55 in two weeks time and simply cannot do heavy mileage in training - I start to fall apart physically. I have had a sore back all summer, so have focussed on short repeats (50 - 100m at a time) and I generally do not swim for much more than 45 minutes at a time. I am really committed to mindful swimming and to using the focal points that Terry and Tracey Baumann have taught me to use. My only concern has been imprinting technique. I had never swum more than 5K in one go before Saturday.

Last Saturday was the best swim of my life. I felt so good and so fresh at the end - I didn't want the swim to end! I really did enjoy every stroke and I just felt stronger and stronger the further I swam. I felt incredibly emotional as I came out of the water, knowing that I had managed to quiet my chattering mind - I am the queen of the chattering mind - and to enter the flow state. It felt simply amazing and incredibly empowering.

So thank you Terry...you continue to be an enormous presence in my life. I am so grateful to you and to everyone in the TI community and I look forward to the next stage of the journey!

With sincere thanks and warmest wishes to you all,
Nicki

[sojomojo]

Nicki,

Thank you for sharing your inspiring achievement. It's an achievement like yours that make other struggling swimmers know that it can be done.

Again, congratulations on a milestone achievement!!!

[Grant]

Wonderful achievement and post.

[flychick]

Thank you Sojomojo and Grant!

At times I'll admit that I was worried that I wasn't putting in enough mileage in the pool, especially in the face of extreme scepticism from fellow swimmers, but in the back of my mind I always had Terry's words about quality over quantity. I also remembered his blog posts about the times that he had been injured, or that his health had not been the best, and he had put all his focus on technique and maintaining efficiency...it works!!!

[StuartK]

Nicki

Congratulations, how well I know the chattering mind . My 'work in progress' is finding the elusive flow state, I will use your achievement as my inspiration.

[Richardsk]

Good effort!

The Dart swim has a sort of crazy appeal, especially as Devon is a paradise on earth, but this year a troublesome tendon rules such things out. Maybe next year, but then again, maybe not.

Congratulations on your swim.

[terry]

Nicki
Congratulations! Your account--plus Richard's description of Devon as a sort of paradise on earth (I believe Sam Williams has set up a TI Swim Studio there)--have inspired me to put the Dart Swim on my calendar for the relatively near future. The fact that it's in mid-Sept makes it particularly attractive. I love being able to extend OW racing season into Sept and beyond.

I'll see you next month and will be sharing some ideas that will help ensure your speed gains continue on toward 60!

[flychick]

Thanks so much Terry - maybe we should have a 'TI pod' entered for next year's event!! Be warned though, the event was full within 48 hours of opening for registration, so keep watching the website. Really looking forward to seeing you next month - onwards and upwards!!

Stuart and Richard, thanks so much for your kind words! How difficult it is to find the flow state in our crowded pools...Richard, I hope that your tendon gets better soon.

One more thing. Since the event I have been miraculously free of the back pain that has been so troubling this summer, apart from a little minor stiffness in a couple of places. I believe that I was holding onto a subconscious (or maybe not so subconscious) fear of failure. There's yet another lesson to be learned...

[POLIDORI]

I have been suffering bacj problems since I was 14. Now 41 and with a lumbar operation 6 months ago, I never feel so pain-free as after a good long swim on the sea.

The TI way of swimminf really shares some of the principles that my phisiotherapist encourages me to do, which is stretchinn, why on the floor and laying face down, opposite arm and leg.

What could be better that trying to make every stroke as if it was the last one, while you carefully use your legs to gain some balance? All your potential problematic tissues are going to be stretched carefully, little by little, many times. And with no weight on them. With gravity gone, I even do some other stretching in the meddile of the sea, while I take a rest far from shore. Shoulders, high back, triceps, quadriceps all can be stretched in the water.

[The Parrot]

Brilliant Gal, well done. I need you as an exemplar as well as an instructor! I wanted to enter this swim but was too late with my entry. Perhaps 72 is a bit old but I am much more comfortable with longer distances and thought I could always roll over and drift down with the current if necessary!
Lovely to hear it was so good for you. It proves yet again that endurance events are mind AND matter not mind over matter.

Martin T.