The Great North Skinny Dip



Sunrise over Druridge Bay, Northumberland

 September is obviously the silly season for outdoor swimmers in the North East, as following hard on the heels of the Tyne River Swim last weekend came the North East Skinny Dip in Druridge Bay yesterday.

The swimmers who attended were forced to contend with an air temperature of 5.5 degrees which made the North Sea possibly balmy, possibly as barmy as the 146 souls who bared all and braved the conditions to raise money for MIND. Respect!

And why I hear you ask was Binge not there? well I must admit that I took the Facebook page rather literally and decided that there was no way I could possibly stretch the adjective "skinny" to cover my current ample frame so I dipped out.

Seems I misunderstood that judging by some of the pictures (see below) but what a gloriously life affirming and slightly eccentric event. Maybe one to put in the diary for next year.

I've had an interesting Sunday which included making my third Sunday Swim session in a row, it's a pity about the rest of the week as I can see my mile a day challenge for 2012 may need to be postponed until 2013. I think Binge needs a serious Mojo hunt.

Busy session though as Proudie turned up fresh from a similar 3 months out, and Cloughie (another veteran of the Tyne River Swim)

4 x 100 @ 2 mins warm up increasing pace 1 -3 lengths
4 x 66 @ 80 secs pull
4 x 33 @ 60 secs kick (hard)
266 free @ 5mins
2 x 133 @ 2.20
266 free @ 5 mins
4 x 66 @ 1.10
266 free @ 5 mins
8 x 33 @ 35 s
266 free
2600 metres

I really need to swim through the week as well.