Swimming Is A Team Sport

“Jo Mitchinson 40 Stevenage” I’d been dreading seeing the start list for Counties this year. The reality was no better than I had anticipated. There, in black & white- Jo Mitchinson 40 Stevenage. 40?? The sting of this is made slightly worse because I am not actually 40, yet. I’m currently enjoying my last 5 weeks in my 3rd decade to be exact!! And yet, there, for all to see- sandwiched between a 14 and 17 year old is a 40 year old woman who won her first county medal at this event 30 years ago. In short- it makes me feel very, very old. Being older than my opponents is one thing. Being able to have given birth to any of the other competitors, finishing uni before most of them were born, remembering when every local pool was 33m & therefore racing over 3 or 6 lengths was the norm is another. The support I’ve received from swimming parents has been amazing; the acceptance from my training partners who put up with my strange quirks is very appreciated. I’...

My love/hate relationship with the 1500m Jo Mitchinson - MP Ambassador & Team Aqua Sphere UK Athlete I’ve recently had the ‘pleasure’ of racing two 1500’s in 6 days. First at the Barnet Copthall Masters 1500m meet where I went 18:26 and next at the Stevenage Swimming Club Champs where I went 18:14. The opportunity to once again swim an event that I loved in my early 20’s has brought back a lot of memories of the random thoughts that occupy my mind in the time it takes to swim 60 lengths of the pool. I thought it would be worth getting these down so that coaches & parents understand what may well be happening inside the head of their athlete.  I’m not sure if it’s just me, but when I dive in I always congratulate myself for not false starting. Then I think a phrase that has been with me since I was young “get up, get out, get on your way” - which basically encourages me to settle quickly into a strong rhythm.  And then the weirdness kicks in and my lo...

Aqua Sphere Snowman Mile  Jo Mitchinson - Team Aqua Sphere UK athlete “Can you actually camp?” That was the first message I received as I approached my campsite in Snowdonia. I’d stopped at what my phone said was the last Costa before I arrived, for one last 'just in case' Americano. As a generally organised person, I was confident I could pack for 3 nights in a field on my own before a race. Unfortunately, my confidence waned as I lost internet access, then phone signal & turned onto a farm track in the pouring rain. Composure regained,  I set about pitching my tiny tent in the horizontal downpour. Then the inflatable mattress. I didn’t want to get it wet on the floor while I pumped it up so I congratulated myself on my initiative and began inflating it in the front seats of the car (Skoda Citago!). My first camping malfunction of the week was being unable to prise the fully inflated double mattress back out of the car again. Eventually I had to let...

Back at BESTCENTRE So the start of 2018 was pretty tough. I had an operation in December that put me out longer than I’d expected & then my breathing went completely AWOL in February. Coupled with my daughter being diagnosed with a liver condition in March & I’d decided to cut my losses (& my frustrations at being unfit) & call it a day.  It’s easy to forget that I went for 12 years without swimming except on holiday. So I can remember what it’s like to have my evenings free, to not walk into a classroom, have the kids say “Miss, it stinks of swimming pools in here” & replying “sorry, that’s me!”. I’ve spent far more of my adult life not swimming than swimming. And a very small part of me I guess, misses that.  So with my decision shared with my husband, daughter, parents & coach I headed out to the BEST Centre, Majorca with the swimming club for a training camp that had been arranged ages ago. I didn’t know how much swimming I’d do, I j...

Resilience Skills in Overcoming January Jo Mitchinson Team Aqua Sphere/MP 2018 Athlete I’m glad to see the back of January if I’m honest. It threw a lot of challenges my way and as a result I spent most of the month struggling to breathe. My usually well controlled asthma took on a life of its’ own and it took 3 weeks of steroids to calm down. I missed training and all 3 weekends of the Herts County Championships. But when my asthma goes wrong it isn’t just my swimming that suffers. I miss work, I’m unable to drive safely, I can’t speak and each breath hurts. I am scared to fall asleep and when I finally do, my asthmatic cough quickly wakes us all up. It’s a scary time. Despite having asthma since childhood it didn’t start to really affect me until a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to be referred to some of the very best specialists in the country and there have been massive improvements since then due to my medication. But sudden changes in weather is my big...

My Top 10 Favourite Swims of 2017 Jo Mitchinson Team Aqua Sphere UK Athlete I decided that this year, my final blog would be a reflection of my favourite swims of 2017. As I started writing it I realised that some of my very best times in the water have been training sessions - so they were included too. To narrow it down to 10 was difficult, there have been just over 300 training sessions and nearly 30 competitions and races.  10) 200m Fly Hemel Hempstead Open Meet (8th October 2017) I don't race 200m fly very often, because it hurts too much. The last time was 2 years ago, when I just wanted to see if I could still make it. I don't even really remember entering this race - it seems to have fallen into the 'good idea at the time' pile. It was the last race of the last session of a 2 day open meet. The session was delayed starting and soon I realised that I was going to be racing a 200m fly at what can only be described as 'stupid-o-clock...