Jess's Weekend of pain: Weekend of pain DAY ONE

The weather was absolutely beautiful in Windermere today! The temperature outside was about 25 degrees Celsius and in the water was 17!! Balmy

Nerves were increasing as I saw the 5km swimmers finishing their waves and staggering out of the water... But there was nothing to do but put my wetsuit on and get on with it

We had to get acclimatised to the water and did a little swim in a small bit of the lake- I put my face in and got used to the cold. But it was sooo much warmer than swimming in Scotland!

The fastest people were told to go to the front and they all ran into the water at the start horn. I hung back a bit not wanting to get kicked in the face!

The swim was amazing- it wasn't too cold and there were no waves. It was amazing to look up for a breath and see the hills all around. I didn't take a very direct route to the bouys.... I swam on the outer circle of the course to avoid people which probably meant I swam further than strictly necessary!

I just swam the first lap at an easy

pace and decided that I would push myself for the second lap. I really pushed with my legs and tried to make my stroke long and efficient. I did bursts of sprinting in the final 600 metres and tried to beat the people around me! By the end I was wishing I could do another lap!

Coming out of the water was really strange... I felt very dizzy and my legs were a bit wobbly