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Surviving Lockdown 2021 – Kirsty

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We are celebrating how our community is using the 5 ways to well-being to get through lockdown (connect – be active – take notice – give – keep learning)

To share your story please drop us a message!

Next in this series comes from Kirsty. Always finding a way to keep her triathlon training up we are impressed by this latest effort

Here is her story:

“As a psychology lecturer, I understand the importance of getting out in the fresh air and staying active at all times, but especially during stressful times such as lockdown. I am so lucky that I can still get out to run and cycle and get that all important time to clear my head in the fresh air. Teaching from home means that I am at my desk most of the day, so getting out to escape for a while is really important to me. Unfortunately though I am a triathlete, so lockdown means that I am a swimmer out of water. Pinkston was a saviour to me during the summer and Autumn of last year, as it meant that I could open water swim safely to my hearts content and not have to worry about always taking a buddy with me or the water quality of where I was swimming (which is always a slight concern when you are swimming in water that is not regularly tested). It is such a lovely laid back place that I was actually sad when the water got too cold there and I had to return to the pool.

At this time of year, open water swimming is just not an option for me. I am a woose – as much as I love the open water, you are never going to catch me breaking ice in order to get in for a swim. Even the thought of that makes me cold. But I miss swimming, and with the pools being shut I had to find a way to keep ‘swimming’ without any water. I had seen a few videos of people using swim chords, but standing up to use them and not going through the full arm movement of the stroke. I tried this, but was not feeling the love at all. So I decided to try doing it on my swiss ball – and the result is in the video.

OK, so it is not like being in the water – I have even considered asking my hubby to spray me with a super soaker to make it feel more authentic. But I can go through the full swim motion, and even get the hips moving a bit so that I feel like I am swimming in my natural stroke rhythm just minus the leg kick. I can even do ‘sessions’ similar to those I do in the water by counting my strokes – I know roughly how many I would usually take in the water so I can break the swim down in to sets like I would normally in training. It is not perfect – I have learned the hard way not to use my hips too much as you end up underneath the ball instead of on top of it – and I miss the water. But I have learned to try and focus on what I can do just now rather than what I can’t. And hey, hopefully it wont be too long before I am back swimming at Pinkston until my hearts content. Until then I will be on my ball strapped to my living room door, counting my strokes, and thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming.'”

 

By Pinkston

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£25

Our Start Kayaking sessions are all about getting you on the water and experiencing the joys of kayaking in a safe and fun way. These adult sessions are for anyone over the age of 16 who want to get on the water and learn the basics of kayaking with basic skills and challenges. We use our great sit on top kayaks meaning that we have the best platform for learning skills without the challenges or fears of ‘getting stuck’.

This session includes your British Canoeing Paddle Start Certificate.