A gentle reminder for all swimmers to bring water bottles poolside with them.

Training is physical exercise and bodies do sweat and loose water.  We just can’t see it as we are in the swimming pool.

Drinking water throughout a training session is important to keep our bodies hydrated and performing well.

Can all swimmers please arrive at the training venue 10 minutes before their training session and can they be changed, poolside, and ready to enter the water WHEN THE SESSION STARTS.

We have noticed reently that training sessions are taking longer to start due to swimmers not being ready or continuing to talk to their peers instead of entering the water.  Starting 5 minutes late for a 60 minute session is almost 10% of your time gone! We also can’t fully complete the training sets if we are late starting.

Can parents please pass this message along to all swimmers.  Thank you.

• Juniors 7.45 – 8.45 pm
• Seniors 8.45 – 9.45 pm

The competition will run in 2 lanes of the junior session (7.45-8.45) and the senior session (8.45-9.45).

The competition is aimed at swimmers who are able to legally swim a 100 Individual Medley race.
Swimmers will be judged on their start, stroke technique for all strokes, turn skills and their finish.

Please note that this competition is not aimed at beginner swimmers since there is only a limited time available on the night.

Training will take place as normal in 2 lanes of the main pool and in the small pool.

Swimmers competing will be withdrawn from their training in small groups. Swimmers who do not normally swim on a Friday are welcome to compete.

There will be a list at the desk – all swimmers wishing to enter should sign up there.

The 7pm development session will be training as normal.

The weather forecast is good so open water training will be on Saturday morning this week.  The temperature last night was 19C and although it looks like it might be rainy the water will be warm enough to comfortably swim without a wetsuit.

Training will again take place at Mallory Park Race Circuit, Kirkby Mallory, LE9 7QE where lake swimming is run by Cycling Mallory Park.  Map and safety information here:  The cost to is £5, payable at the time to Cycling Mallory.  They have a small number of wetsuits to hire if you contact them directly for anyone who can’t face swimming without!

When you arrive at Mallory park, drive through until, you get to a car park.  Ahead are some open gates with a florescent sign saying open water swimming – go through this gate and drive clockwise along the road alongside the track until you get to the footbridge over the race track.  Park here and walk over the footbridge then continue walking straight ahead to the desk by the entry slipway to the lake.

Please read the safety information before you arrive and all swimmers will need to fill in the safety form – this will need to be signed by parents for anyone under the age of 18 and you will not be allowed to swim without it!

You will need to bring:

• Swimwear (already on to save time!), goggles and a bright coloured hat (I have spares if you only have a silver one).
• Warm clothes to wear once you have got changed.
• Something warm to wear to walk from the lake to the changing rooms, (eg a fleece or cagoule).

You may also like to bring:

• Flip-flops
• Wetsuit
• A warm drink.

Tony, (Monday and Friday coach), has set himself a personal challenge for the rest of the year and I hoping that you can support him with your good wishes for even sponsor him.

Tony is a stalwart volunteer of Leicester Neptune SC, having first got involved by swimming for the club as a child and well into adulthood.  These days, he would turn out for a gala in a heartbeat but spends most of his time coaching, either for Leicester Neptune SC, or for his other clubs.

In working towards this challenge, he is aiming to raise money for multiple charities and give his own personal fitness a boost.  His provisional target is to swim 22 miles over 12 consecutive weeks between September and December and raise a minimum of £800 in doing so.  This is the equivalent to 1408 lengths of a 25m pool.  He has thought carefully about the charities he would like to support and will be splitting the money equally among the following charities:  Apire, Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation (who have helped him in the past), Air Ambulance Service, Mouth & Foot Painters (because this was a special charity that his mother supported), and Hedgehog Rescue.

I hope you fee able to support Tony with this mission, whether this is by offering to sponsor him as I have, joining in with his challenge, or just giving him encouragement when you see him ploughing up and down the pool in the time before our training sessions.

Helen

So we have made it to the end of the season and hopefully everyone is feeling rested and refreshed ready for the start of the next season in September.  There will be a few move rounds of coaches in the next few weeks, the main one being the taking over of the Monday senior session by Neil Kirk who has recently become fully a fully qualified coach.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank John Sneesby for all of the gaps he has filled over the last season, and club stalwarts, Tony and Steve who have coached twice a week, every week.  The volunteers of the club are our real strength, and while I can’t mention every single one today, I hope everyone remembers the time our massive voluntary workforce gives for free every week.  A big thanks to all of them from Alison, Chris and I.

Speaking of Tony, he is planning a massive charity challenge in the near future, so more to follow on this next month.

Another big thank you needs to go to Steve Bird for organising the annual trip to Mablethorpe.  This was a great opportunity to hang out with other club members for a bit of rest and relaxation.  Steve said “everyone that went enjoyed it … a spitfire flew over and there were poppy day stall along the prom”.  If you have ideas for social activities, please see Steve.

A quick reminder that both Evington Pool and DMU Pool are closed on Monday for the bank holiday.  However, if you still need a training fix, speak to your coach about making up the sessions you have missed, (the same goes for swimmers that have missed DMU session last week due to the pool closure).  We can usually fit you in on another night but please let us know.

A second quick reminder, that we would like swimmers on the poolside, ready to swim, at least ten minutes before the start of the session.  Swimmers should be going through their dry-land warm-up routines and be ready for the water warm-up as soon as possible.  We would really appreciate your help in getting the warm-ups starting crisply.

Finally, on Saturday it is #iamteamgb day to celebrate the British Team’s success in the Olympic Games.  Sadly, I have been unable to arrange an open water training session as the lake isn’t open, so instead I would love it if you could join Heather, Jacquette and myself at Braunstone Park Run at 9:00am on Saturday for a 5K run.  The theme is to wear something red, white, or blue (so a Neptune t-shirt then!).  To get a time you will need to register and print out a bar code, and under 11s must be accompanied on the way round by an adult.  You don’t even need to run all of the way, but will get lots of encouragement.  More details here.