Recovery Week

As per the previous post, the week commencing 6 June 2016 was intended to be recovery. However, it was still one of my better weeks.

Monday and Tuesday no swimming just some light stretching.

4km on Wednesday evening after work with the flowerpot men, then rest again Thursday.

Friday I visited Simon at Bodybalance for some treatment, and ended the week with two excellent sessions in the river with Amanda. 

Friday was intended to be 2 hours which turn out out to be 2 hours 35 minutes (Amanda was late again!! so ended up doing the first hour and half alone) a pleasing 8km/5miles with no negative after effects other than a stiff neck from sighting.

Fridays route:

Saturday was a 3 hour session (as per video), wasn't feeling the love as I forced down the porridge but come lunchtime and 9350m later it was all over. So just 3 swims but  still 21+km.

Saturdays Suunto Movie:

The plan is 2 x 1 hour sessions in the North Sea this week followed by rest and eating like a pig prior to our visit to Dover for the brutal Champion of Champions event.

On Track .. (updated)

Bank Holiday Monday (May 2nd 2016) a glimmer of sunshine and a lull in the windy conditions allowed the River Tees temperature to rise slightly and hit the tropical heights of 8.9ºc / 48f (having been a bitter 7.2ºc the previous day in which we only managed 28 minutes).

This allowed us to finally hit the hour. It's amazing the difference 1ºc or so can make and how this impacts on your time in the water.

The route was a little messy (to the second boat followed by some internal circuits, not too far from the jetty) As we approached the hour, Amanda was keen for me to get out of the water as I was beginning to slur my speech. it was the correct decision as the later pictures show I was getting a little, err, less warm.

We are expecting fantastic weather this coming weekend which is typical considering I will be abroad on holiday. That said I have two more swims planned this week after work (Wednesday and Friday) with the plan to break the hour.

The after drop was quite severe, but at least I knew what to expect and how my body reacts. This is quite normal for me. 

Update:

For once the UK weather forecast has proved to be accurate, today May 4th (star wars day) Billy, Ben and I visited the river once more, where the water temps ranged from 10.5º to 11.5ºc. I was delighted to again complete the hour this time 66 mins covering 3284m the warmer water resulted in a far better recovery too with nowhere near the same after drop. Ideally Friday will be 90 minutes before we head off for a weeks rest in the sunshine. Happy.

Amanda Bell.. A 'Cool' Windermere 10km

Amanda asked me some time ago if I would assist her with boat support for a swim on Windermere, on a date to be confirmed once the water temperature had dropped below 14 degrees. (it was nearer 12 today) I was very happy to assist on what turned out to be a 10km swim, the start of which was in far from ideal conditions. The strong wind from the south was sending waves over the front of the boat, it was more like swimming/boating in the sea than freshwater.

The plan prior to the start had been to head down from Bowness (South) to the large yellow buoy about a mile north of Fell Foot, where we would turn, however, very soon after the start, due to the poor conditions the route was altered in an effort to afford Amanda some protection from the worst of the weather. I took the boat into the flatter waters near to Ferry Nab where the water levelled out almost instantly. It was a different world, much nicer for everyone concerned.

Then the rain came.. in biblical fashion, this flattened the water further still and we had a pleasant tour behind Belle Isle and through the Lillies in the general direction of Wray Castle. 

By this time, the feeds had dropped to every 45 minutes, following the initial 2 at one hour intervals. It was however, too late. Amanda was already in depletion (she should have started on 30-40 minutes between feeds due to the colder water) and it would not be possible to fully recover/refuel. 10 miles would not be doable today.

She probably (hopefully) won't mind me saying that she was ready to quit at 7.8km, as a result of which she was given a portion of what we call 'advice'. I also asked Graeme to jump in and offer some morale support by swimming alongside. This definitely helped and there was a marked increase in speed (to the extent that Graeme had some difficulty keeping up). 

Having already made the turn we headed south to the jetty at Bass Rock where Graeme exited the water. As per the video we then adjusted the course to encompass a small loop simply to round up the distance to 10km and facilitate the return to the jetty in order to collect our support swimmer.

Great training swim in 'cool' water. Well done.

Ady Brown 1 Way Windermere

I first met Adrian at the BLDSA Champion of Champions Event in June this year. We had previously communicated on social media, where it became apparent we have similar occupations. Having ascertained his ambitions to swim the English Channel, I suggested he complete a Windermere swim as a learning experience, especially for the benefits of deep water feeding and dealing with water disturbed by passing vessels.

To that end, today 2 Sept 2015, for the third time in third time in 5 days I departed home at 4am (with Charlie)  to escort Ady on his 10.5 mile swim..the data below provides the basic details..videos of this Gent of a man to follow within 24 hours.

Zoe Sadler 1 Way Windermere

When Zoe Sadler asked if I was available to crew for her Loch Lomond swim I obviously jumped at the chance and offered to help. The reasons were multiple, I have long since admired Zoe as an accomplished marathon swimmer, It would be an ideal opportunity to 'recce' the Loch and perhaps the biggest reason..she is a such a nice individual to be around and she makes me laugh!

Sadly due to circumstances beyond her control the Loch Lomond swim never happened (mainly weather) so, when she asked for a last minute escorted swim on Windermere I was delighted to assist and to be honest, flattered to be asked.

For the second time in 3 days I (Charlie and I) left home at 4am to drive across Country for todays (31 August 2015) swim.

The details are below with actual footage videos to follow

We took a slightly different route to normal but only appear to have saved 14 metres on Saturdays swim !

Ian Adshead 1 Way Windermere

At 0400hours on Saturday 29 August 2015, I left home to visit Windermere in order to escort another swimmer, on this occasion it was to be Ian Adshead (a friend of a friend) on a One Way Windermere attempt.

The usual electric boat from Shepherds was collected around 6am and we (Jason Ian and Myself) headed for the start at Fell Foot in far from ideal conditions.

The following videos and data explain the swim in detail.

Suffice to say, great swim, zero complaints, success all round.

Congratulations Ian and thanks Jason for your assistance as always

A change of direction (Windermere #6)

2015 is one of those years with no major swimming goals as such, I had entered a few events but I just more or less wanted to keep involved and not let slip too much. The BLDSA Champion of Champions was the biggest training day so far this year and the 10km at Ellerton the largest session.

Therefore a Windermere swim would be a reasonable challenge.

With the exception of the 2 Way Windermere swim, all my other encounters with the lake have started at Fell Foot at the South end of the lake, as is standard with the BLDSA event, part of the reason being the prevalent winds for the UK being southwesterly.

Having completed 4 previous one ways and piloted/escorted several more from the same location, I decided on this occasion to start at The North. This would provide slightly more of a mental challenge. That said, I generally find the crossover in the northern basin from Bass Rock to Ambleside the toughest part of each swim, partly due to fatigue, partly due to conditions later in the day. So physically it may or may not be easier. I would soon know.

There would be one more additional change to the tried and tested routine. At 5:45am two of the crew (Gavin and Charlie) would head to Bowness, load the boat (we always us Electric day hire boat from Shepherds) and get ready to set sail. The final crew member (Jason) would taxi me to Ambleside where I would begin the swim alone, after an hour or so the boat should have located me around two miles into the swim.

I appreciate some would say that is a silly idea, however, I am relatively well experienced, there is zero boat traffic this early on a morning, I was using a tow float to aid their locating of me, and as stated I am very familiar with the lake.

The plan worked like a dream, bang on the hour I was joined by the boat at 7:08am, took the first feed (maxim/cnp and summer fruits) right on schedule and started the routine of swim-feed-swim-feed.

The water felt ok, I was still wearing my Suunto watch despite intending to hand it to the crew at the first feed, initially this was a good thing as being a bit of a control freak, at a mid stroke glance or at a feed I could keep myself up to date with progress. I found this information quite inspiring up to a point which I will come to soon.

From Jason's notes I can see I had a stroke rate of 62spm, I opted to go straight to 30 minute feeds after the first hour.

This went well for a few hours I had a combination of coffee and maxim with an occasional solid (jelly babies/half a croissant). Though as usual the maxim/cnp did not really agree with my stomach.

At 9:22 mid stroke in single word per breath conversation I requested some pain killers due to a blinding headache, I was suffering some nasty pain above my right eye, which kind of took me out of the groove. I took the meds at the next feed (6th) and tried to swam on. I then stopped to adjust my cap and goggles attempting to get some relief from the now distracting painful headache.

Around 10:40 I took the 8th feed and also complained of pain in the hip flexors and quads (a regular problem in fresh water!) I had fully expected this. I was still keeping an eye on the distance covered via the Suunto watch which at this feed was reading 13.6km.

I was happy in the knowledge that I had a mere 3km give or take and the one way would be 'in the bag', it has been said many times that ('mentally you only put enough fuel in the tank for the journey)  meaning for example if you plan to swim 10km by 9 you will be flagging and at 10 you have given all you have got.

By 11:38 and the 11th feed I noticed the watch at 16.4km and commented to the crew words to the effect of " we should be there by now"

Suffice to say from here to Fell Foot slipway felt like an age ! The final reading being 17.68km. I am not sure if this is the route (which looks excellent in my opinion) or more likely a GPS error/blip which has been known previously in training. Whatever it is, I have learnt to hand over the watch in future.

To summarise I was and am happy with another Windermere swim in 5hours 58 minutes, not a PB, but over 10 miles is a good training swim all the same.

Thankyou as always to my awesome team, Gav for piloting again, Charlie for feeding all day and Jason (Mr Reliable) for updating social media and never taking his eye off me for the entire swim.

I fancy something longer before the season is out!?

P.S. I also need to sort those fingers out (photo above)..no wonder it aches today

Windermere No.6 (preview)

More of a write up once I receive the details from the crew.

Tracks of my Tees

Did you see what I did there with the title ! 

Never mind you are probably too young to know Smokey Robinson. 

Almost a year on from contracting Leptospirosis in the River, (RELATED POST) I retuned to its murky brown waters this week, its very close to home and I needed a swim after a over a week without.

The Yarm swim was alone today, with The 'Pipey' swim being with Belly on Thursday, aside from a couple of GPS blips when swimming under trees the course seems ok. (best viewed full screen if you cannot get rid of the ad) Enjoy

Next Friday I plan my longest swim of the year..all being well

What gets measured gets done

Without going into detail my place of occupation is AGAIN becoming more and more...how shall I put it..less of a nice place to be.

As a result, I took the day off on Friday (3rd July) with plan of going to the Lake in an effort to wash away the woes of work, at least for the weekend. Britain had been baked in glorious sunshine with the occasional electric storm for the best part of a week so there was really no excuse. Local water temperatures had been discussed online. Whilst the River and Lake would now do little for my acclimatisation, we agreed it would still be of benefit to ongoing fitness training/conditioning.

Friday was no exception weather wise, heading to Ellerton pretty much straight after the school run, I hadn't bothered with breakfast, just a couple of cups of coffee. The water looked very inviting as the sun began to peep over the tree line to East into a clear blue sky.

A few swimmers were already in the water but none that I recognised. The plan was 8-10km, hourly feeding with Lucozade sport and a tin of peaches left on the jetty, no need for warm feeds today as the sun would do its job.

Aside from the lake being extremely weedy between buoys one and two it was just 'what the doctor ordered'

The huge benefit I find from wearing the Suunto is 'What gets measured gets done' ..previously I might have gone to the lake for a planned 3 hour swim, subconsciously it would be a plod, feeds would be slower, I would have no concerns about stopping to gather my bearings or speak to anyone treading water at a buoy as they usually do. It would just be a matter of running down the clock.

Now, I am very aware that 'bobbing' and passing the time is only fooling myself, I know all to well how this will be reflected on the Suunto, and that the distance will still need to be swam, so, if I am in the water I might as well get on with it.

With a glance at the watch every 3 - laps I could choose the time to feed and keep it more or less on the hour with some minor adjustments to the route.

Three feeds later and a mere 900m to swim all was well, a little fatigued but very happy with my efforts, I had predicted 20 minutes per km, plus 3 mins, I was therefore pleased with total time of 3h:14m for 10,020m.

BLDSA Champion of Champions 2015

Friday 19th June 2015 brought the standard horrific Dover drive, 340 miles south stuttered from the word go with traffic congestion. Arriving around 2030, we quickly checked in with Kevin Murphy at Charter House (recommended accommodation for swimmers be it your EC tidal slot or training weekends) the self sufficient cosy flat with enough rooms for us and two of the kids (Charlie and Lottie). We were delighted to see Freda too but had to cut short our catch up gossip for a table reserved at 'Cullins Yard'. 

(I had also arranged to meet with Jane from Portsmouth University re the Cold Water study, in order to take possession of 'the pill' as described on previous post)

A quick pasta meal and another chance meeting, this time with Sam Jones, then it was back to the flat to relax before bed.

Saturday morning after a broken nights sleep, mainly due to nerves,  I left the children and KGO in bed as I headed off for swim registration about 8am. Mark Sheridan and his team of helpers were in situ as were dozens of swimmers, friends old and new.., too many to mention. 

I had my weight, height and skin folds measured for the study, along with my core temperature by the Uni team. 

Arms marked up with professional Olympic style numbering it was just a case of awaiting the safety briefing before the inevitable start, planned for 0915. 

The plan was simple, swim the triangular course (what is it with the BLDSA and triangles ??? Wykeham/CofC/Derwent Water) clockwise for 10, yes 10 laps, report in to Kate Todd at the last buoy nearest shore on each lap..simples. What could possible go wrong?

The 5 mile started pretty much on time, the water felt fresh but it was too late to complain, the mass deep water start was as hectic as ever, though it didn't take long for the racing snakes (the likes of Chloe and Ollie (eventual Champions) to forge ahead. 

Rounding the first buoy, breathing under control, I felt wired, yes wired NOT weird. I needed to settle down into the metronome of one arm in front of the other. 

It would be pointless of me to flower this up so I will be as honest as can be. I rounded the second buoy and almost fell to pieces. I felt panic stricken, cold, lightheaded..what the hell was going on. I had swam plenty of times in the murky waters of Dover Harbour, the conditions were great, the sun was trying to get out, the water was about 14. something degrees C and I had only been in the said water for about 10 minutes??. Help.

It took all my concentration and focus to get to grips with this awful mental blip. I continued swimming throughout, speaking to myself all the while, working through the issues one at a time, calling on some relaxation techniques. In the back of my mind I also had the faces of those who had joked with me about ensuring I finish this event (Kelly, Emma, Sam, Graeme, G, Freda et al) 

After 5 minutes or so, my head began to settle down and sort itself. I plodded on and on and on, after what seemed like an eternity, 5 laps were done. I was half way, I was playing all kinds of mathematical games with the numbers and distances remaining. Feed wise; At some point I grabbed a couple of jelly babies from the lap counters, together with a gel I had concealed in my trunks. 

I knew each lap was taking between 15-18 minutes, therefore I knew I was now in the final hour. Yahoo! No matter how long your swim, knowing you are in the final hour always brings great relief and happiness!! In my mind the last loop didn't count as that was just the swim back to the beach.

10 laps down, one final report in to Kate with directions to swim to shore, where we touch the green buoy and the clock stopped. Excellent. Surely that was the toughest part of the event over ?

The Uni attempted unsuccessfully to take my core temperature, I was either dead or needed to swallow another pill.

KGO and the children were waiting with towels and warm dry clothes, they supplied me with several hot sweet drinks of coffee, I gobbled down a couple of croissants and an energy gel, spending the remaining time resting and warming up.

The Suunto shows 2 breaks in connection to the satellite, but you get the idea.

5 miles: 2hours 40minutes 54seconds

When we commenced the first swim, it was more or less low water. As the tide came in, so did the wind, this resulted in a marked changed in conditions for the 3 miler, the bumpy water slowed my pace and made sighting more difficult. This was physically way tougher than the 5 mile swim. Thankfully the mental demons did not re visit. Mile 2 of 3 was a killer for me, fatigued, aching, my goggles fogged to the extent that I asked Lianne to guide me in her kayak on the last leg as I was swimming blind! 

This time the Uni managed to take a reading !! I was alive....More coffee and sweets before the final briefing of the day for a mere mile.

3 miles(4898metres): 1hour 47minutes 55seconds

Good conditions had once more returned for the days final swim, just 2 laps and it would all be over, slightly more of a swim (due to the tidal range) to the start line but I was past caring.

After some thrashing around fighting the waves on the 3 miler, I decided to focus on technique and good form for these last two laps. I was very relaxed knowing it was all but achieved and enjoyed the last mile very much.

1 mile (1763metres): 33minutes 51seconds 

The presentation followed with rightful thanks to all involved in organisation and safety cover. Mark Sheridan had something positive to say about almost every swimmer, making the whole event feel very personal and friendly.

The weather held good until the end of the proceedings when the heavens opened. How lucky we were.

An awesome event. Highly recommended. Thank-you to BLDSA family yet again.

More pics later as well as feed back from the Uni.

BLDSA Wykeham 2015

As previously mentioned, Sunday 14th June 2015 was the BLDSA Wykeham Championship. I have completed this one several times, the main reason being its geographical convenience. At 70 miles from home its is the closest event in the UK, apart from the wetsuit triathlon type crowded rubbish that does nothing for me.

Its seems to be the norm, that regardless of the weather in the preceding weeks and days, Wykeham is generally miserable, damp and windy. This year was no different, however, as alluded to elsewhere, I would certainly prefer poor weather for what can realistically be termed a training or build up swim.

No matter which words you decide to choose, train hard fight easy, expect the worst hope for the best, or God works in mysterious ways. It has to be a good thing to have challenging conditions whilst preparing for bigger and better things.

On arrival it was great to see several regulars including Mark Sheridan, Dee, Pat and Liane Llewellyn, Belly, Sarah T, Dom Gillespie, Jo Blackburn and many more, having registered it was just a case of waiting to start.

As can clearly be seen below, the event follows a multi lap triangular course. Side 1: was with a more or less following wind. Side 2: offered a head wind with Side 3: having right side minor chop. Nothing too testing but certainly sufficient to require a greater effort than swimming in a mill pond. Sighting was probably the most difficult aspect of the day due to the drizzle and the slight chop.

The water was reported to be just short of 15 degrees C though the ambit3 and my body for that matter indicated more like 16 degrees. The safety brief informed us that the course was measured at 1100m loops. I was therefore aware at the outset that a PB was not doable. Generally speaking, I manage the 5k in around 1hour 37 Minutes, last year the finis hydro tracker recorded a distance at 4999 metres ! 

This year the Suunto recorded as per the image below at 5460m in a time of 1:41:49 my official time on the certification is 1h 41m 42 seconds. The brief was more or less spot on.

Following the 5km event we warmed up, had a snack and some hot drinks, then prepared to re-enter the  water for the 1km event. I figured this would be good practice for the Champion of Champions, getting back into the cold water despite feeling toasty warm and comfortable. 

With Charlie kayaking as part of the safety cover, 19minutes 58seconds later it was all over.

The presentation was well attended with some touching tributes to persons no longer with us, then, as is becoming standard practice we had massive success winning several raffle prizes.

A great low key event, excellent facilities and friendly atmosphere. Thank you to all involved in organising, time keeping, first aid and safety cover etc..see you next year.

Event photos courtesy BLDSA 

Cheating ?

In preparation for Sundays BLDSA Wykeham Event (just 5km freshwater, my time for which is generally about 1h 38 minutes) I returned to Ellerton on Wednesday 10th June for another 2 hour swim (6278m), whilst I was pleased with my form, distance covered and especially the recovery, it did feel like I was cheating with the water up to 16 degrees. The training will be of benefit at the afore mentioned event but will be of little use for the BLDSA Champion of Champions Event at Dover the following weekend.

Last night I was analysing the GPS route for the latest 2 hours and decided to play around with some of the additional Suunto Movescount features. Below the ever present map you will see a short animation, which is made available in around 60 seconds at the press of a button within the app, probably more usefull for the cyclists and fell runners featuring changes in altitude, but you get the idea.

My acclimatisation process must be having the desired effect if I felt like a fraud on Wednesday. Once Sunday is out of the way I will need to find some cold water for a few dips next week. Fingers crossed for Dover Harbour to be above 13 degrees for the CofC.

P.S. Just been to the 'The Mecca' for a quick dip before the school run. I was expecting the North Sea water to be 11 degrees and was strangely disappointed that it was nearing 13, the sunshine on ones back does make an enormous difference.

Related posts:
Champion of Champions 2011
Open Water Tests with Suunto Ambit 3
Pool Tests with Suunto Ambit 3

Can you see what it is yet?

I apologise if you are growing tired of looking at the GPS tracks of my training swims..KGO (previously known as KGB) clearly is, she asked if I actually think about what shape is being created as I swim and could I please make more of an artistic effort !!

To that end..here is a vague butterfly from a 2 hour swim on Friday in the wind..use your imagination for goodness sake !

Art aside I was pleased to complete the two hours in the water, recovery was good, next weekend is the BLDSA Wykeham swim which I have swam several times, it will be great to see some of the stalwarts prior to the dreaded C of C the following weekend 20 June

Time Gentlemen Please

Thursday I took an hour off work and spent it at max effort in the lake, the water was nice at 14.3c though it was rather patchy.

I average 3km an hour open water and 3.6km per hour in a 25 m pool. Today I was pleased to cover 3346m in the hour. Sometimes I get hung up on time in the water, especially when schedules and time are tight. I should learn to recall the quote from the absolute gent that is Mr Nick Adams "it's not just about how long you are in the water, it's what you do whilst you are in there"

This in turn reminds me of one of my all time favourite posts from Mr Alcatraz Gary Emich......
Don't let the pool cheat you .... Enjoy

The Mecca

A few more outings this week, as planned to reboot the acclimatisation process. Monday and Tuesday  being same location as previous post (Ellerton Lake) where owing to slightly less craft on the water I was safely able to extend the size of the laps each day, which makes things easier mentally. Better for me to swim 4 laps of 20 minutes than eight of ten.

Mondays GPS track below shows a small loss of satellite coverage resulting in a blip..I promise I did not get out and walk that small triangular section. 60 mins again, water around 14.2C

Tuesday brought glimpses of sunshine, though with it a stiff breeze to whip up the surface mid lake, comfortable enough to push on to 1hour 20 minutes, recovery was good, so should be able to hit two hours in the next few days. Water 14.6C

Wednesday in the pouring rain brought a visit to what we jokingly call 'The Mecca for Open Water Swimmers'...Seaton Carew nr Hartlepool, yes that crowded resort NOT...even the seagulls had disappeared evidenced by the photo below.

Somewhat fresher than the lake at 9.1C. Swimming parallel to the shore for just a mile (1600m) in around 30 minutes, it was a fun swim despite being bracing to say the least. The good news being the angry seal did not show his face. Its also way closer to home at 10 miles compared with the lake at 25 miles each way. Notwithstanding the fact that the council have tidied the place up a little, it could NEVER be described as picturesque. Sky Sports Jeff Stelling may disagree.

As Joe Hunter (EC 2011) says."If you can swim for 6 hours here, you can swim the English Channel, nasty place" It is quite simply awful.

Open Water Tests with The Suunto Ambit 3

The Bank Holiday Weekend at the end of May 2015 coupled with Charlie being abroad getting some sunshine, allowed for my first real open water swim of the year, whilst Joe Hunter and I did have a little dip a few weeks ago in The North Sea, there was not a lot of actual swimming that day.

Having returned from Mexico only a week since, I am not afraid to admit I as rather anxious before heading to Ellerton Lake on a rather overcast Sunday. As luck (or bad luck) would have it, Saturday was in fact glorious in comparison.

Had my training been rather more disciplined I would still have been swimming the Eton Dorney 10km with Zoe Sadler which I had entered some months earlier. However after some sensible discussion the decision was made.. it would be a poor idea to travel almost 300 miles to Eton with insufficient training and or cold water exposure.

So off to the local lake for a somewhat delayed start to the 2015 open water training.

The plan was to complete at least 30 minutes whatever the temperature with a view to swimming outside most days this week in an effort to jump start my acclimatisation. On arrival I noticed a few wet suit swimmers entering and leaving the water but their numbers were very low.

Standing in speedos at the jetty I attracted the usual comments regarding the lack of neoprene as I waited for a group of four divers to make their exit.

Then it was the usual easing of oneself into the water. Feet, knees, waist then drop down to the neck before a little breast stroke to the first buoy, get control of the breathing and off into front crawl. First thoughts were 'ouch thats a little fresh' (after 30 degrees C on holiday). A short shuttle back and forth to one of the orange buoys then into laps.

I had configured the Suunto to its Open Water exercise mode, with just a few clicks I was able to switch from normal day / time mode to Openwater, Locate GPS signal and press start to begin recording data. Extremely simple on screen instructions and no doubts of the device being in operation (unlike the Finis Hydro Tracker which is situated on the back of the head, the indicator lamps of which can be difficult to see at best)

As you can see from the image above I have the Suunto set up to show, total distance (top) total time (middle) and temperature (bottom). The user can personalise to show whatever information you wish, be it pace per 100m, swolf, lap time, heart rate, you name it, the combinations are pretty endless. This just happens to suit my requirements. 

The swim it self was fairly uneventful, I had a minor mental blip around 30 minutes but decided to complete a few more laps and aim for the hour. The water was around 14degrees, I was breathing rather heavily but coped ok with the water so long as I kept moving. Once out recovery was good, the odd shake but nothing to speak of which was reassuring.

Soon as I got home I downloaded the session via bluetooth transfer in less than a minute and was able to analyse the data via the 'Suunto MovesCount App' on whichever device i.e. laptop, iPad, iPhone etc.

I was already familiar the mapping from  Gavins 'Ambit 2' which we had utilised on two of last years Windermere swims. I was not disappointed, except that I need to spend less time sight seeing and more time swimming

In summary I was delighted with the Suunto 3, the ease in its operation, how it performed and the data provided post swim. I much much prefer it to the Finis Hydro Tracker.

Pool Tests with The Suunto Ambit3

As you will be aware I am now in possession of this great new device, at present I have only performed tests in pool environment albeit I am aware of the capability and functions it has to offer.

Initially, on first usage I utilised little more then the stopwatch and distance/lap counter. This proved to be a little frustrating with the occasional length of the 25m pool missed or rather a turn was missed, resulting in inaccurate totals for metres covered. This was addressed by the simple procedure of teaching the Ambit my stroke. (just a case of pressing a couple of buttons, selecting the appropriate stroke and swimming 25m.) Once I had gone through the 'teach phase' the device worked perfectly and never missed a beat.

The first real session was this weekend when we swam multiple 100s ie repeats of 4 lengths. It was as easy as selecting your exercise (openwater/poolswimming/running etc) and hitting the start button, the display clearly indicates the distance covered (saving me the hassle of trying to remember how many repeats, see Abacus Training!) The next line displaying the total time of the session, followed finally on the third line by the time per 100m. (It is personal preference as to what you have displayed and where). The device recognises when the swimming stops and rest periods begin and does the maths accordingly. It also counts the strokes per length and calculates your efficiency as a SWOLF number. (stroke rate plus time per length).

On conclusion of the set, the pause button is hit and the data is stored, immediately after doing so all of the figures can be viewed prior to even leaving the water. Once in proximity of your tablet or smart phone you pair the device and the data is downloaded almost instantly via bluetooth transfer.

Further analysis can then be performed, breaking down every length if you so desire, with multiple graphs and tables.

The only negative being the heart rate monitor on a standard belt style fitting slips down from the chest as one pushes off the wall. This will not be an issue outdoors and the monitor is able to store information until such times as it is in close proximity to your Ambit device.

Today I opted for the hour continuous swim, I use this set as a bench mark to measure my general fitness. I am quite pleased to not have lost too much pace over the summer (this is only my 5th pool session since April.)

Here is just one part of a screen shot whilst viewing your 'moves' via the 'movescount app' on your smart phone or tablet. As you can see, the vital stats are visible at a glance (average pace per 100m / average speed per hour, total time/distance, temperature and swolf.

There are all manner of comparables and analytic functions. Each length can be viewed as per below as can heart rate etc

Overall for pool swimming it is an absolute joy, frees my mind from troublesome mathematics, the display can be easily read on the move (at the turn) it is no more noticeable on the wrist than any other watch, it is simple to use and even motivates !

related post Openwater Testing