Where I’ll be swimming from 25 Feb to 1 March

On Thursday morning, 25 Feb, I will be getting up at a ridiculous time of day to travel across London to Finchley Lido for my first of 31 miles in 31 pools over six days, which I’m doing with a team from BETTER, a leisure centre operator as a fund-raiser for Sport Relief.

If you happen to be near any of these pools at the time we are swimming, please come along and cheer us on!

The full programme is as follows:

Day 1 – Thursday 25 February 2016

Barnet – Finchley Lido: 7.00am-8.00am

Greenwich – Waterfront: 10.00am-11.00am

Bromley – Crystal Palace: 1.00pm-2.00pm

Hackney – London Fields Lido: 4.00pm-5.00pm

Belfast – Avoniel: 10.00pm-12.00am

               

Day 2 – Friday 26 February 2016               

Belfast – Grove: 9.00am-10.00am

Carlisle – The Pools: 4.30pm-5.30pm

Allerdale – Cockermouth: 7.00pm-8.00pm

Manchester – Manchester Aquatic Centre: 10.00pm-12.00am

               

Day 3 – Saturday 27 February 2016         

Rugby – Queen Diamond Jubilee Centre: 9.00am-10.00am

Cambridge – Parkside: 12.00noon-1.00pm

Chiltern – Chiltern Pools: 3.00pm-4.00pm

Vale of White Horse – Vale of White Horse and Tennis Centre: 5.30pm-6.30pm

West Ox – Carterton: 8.00pm-10.00pm

Day 4 – Sunday 28 February 2016             

South Ox – Henley: 9.30am-10.30am
Bath – Bath Leisure Centre (Mid way point): 12.30pm-1.30pm
Swindon – The Link Centre: 3.00pm-4.00pm
Epsom and Ewell – Rainbow: 7.00pm-8.00pm
Reigate and Banstead – Tadworth: 9.00pm-10.00pm
               
Day 5 – Monday 29 February 2016          
Hillingdon – Highgrove: 7.00am-8.00am
Ealing – Gurnell: 9.00am-10.00am
Hammersmith and Fulham: 11.30am-12.30pm
Kensington and Chelsea: 1.00pm-2.00pm
Westminster – Marshall Street: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Camden – Oasis: 5.00pm-6.00pm
               
Day 6 – Tuesday 1 March 2016   
Tower Hamlets – York Hall: 7.00am-8.00am
Merton – Wimbledon: 9.00am-10.00am
Lambeth – Clapham: 11.00am-12.00noon
Islington – Ironmonger Row: 1.00pm-2.00pm
Waltham Forest – Leytonstone: 3.00pm-4.00pm
QEOP – London Aquatic Centre: 5.00pm-6.00pm

For the record, I’ve recently been swimming around 15 to 20km per week, so it’s going to be more than double what I normally do but barring injury or illness it sounds like a manageable distance provided I’m sensible with pacing (a subject I’ve written about several times recently, so I’d better be). A bigger challenge will be to manage the logistics of travelling between the pools and making sure we eat and drink enough on the way. It’s going to be an interesting routine.

I’m swimming with #TeamBETTER which has set a fund-raising target of £9,000 for Sport Relief, which supports good causes in the UK and around the world. You can find the team fund-raising page at:

https://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/TEAMBETTERSWIM/donate

You can follow #TeamBETTER on Twitter @Better_UK