I have been a regular, but not good, swimmer since I was little. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it was a necessary evil as I did tetrathlons. It was my weakest discipline by a country mile.
When I moved to Sydney at the age of 27, I started ocean swimming at lunch as we lived near the beach. Usually, a light snorkel for 20 minutes or so, or a quick loop around a buoy of about 500m. When a friend asked me to do a 1km ocean swim, I jumped in with classically little prep. Check out the blog here. I did one more 1km ocean swim and then saw the Bondi to Bronte swim go out, and decided that was my next challenge. At between 2.2km and 2.4km, it was a fair bit further than I would usually swim, and out around a headland too.
I looked up training plans and found the one on the Bondi to Bronte website. I personally didn’t think that plan would be right for me.
I therefore set about creating my own plan and recording what I did, in case it worked out and would help others in the future. I was overprepared with this plan, but for me, that was a good thing and gave me plenty of confidence and energy in the tank at the end. I also believe that even if the conditions had been rougher, I would have been absolutely fine. I came in at 45.04 and could have been a few minutes faster, but I didn’t know how much energy I would have left. Bronte can be a bit rough at the end, so that was also on my mind.
Base fitness: I will start by saying that I run 10km twice a week, and do around 2 hours of walking or exercise of some variety each day (including the runs). Through the winter, I was away, so I kept my swimming ticking over by swimming 2.5km in the pool once a week (not going to lie, it was boring, particularly in a 25m pool!). As such, this plan starts from a reasonable level of fitness, but no notable strength.
When I got back to Australia in early October, this was my training plan:
| W/C | Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14-Oct | Bronte 1.5km | Run | – | Bronte 2km | Run | – | – |
| 21-Oct | Newcastle pool 2.5km | Run | – | Newcastle pool 2km (non-stop) | Run | – | Newcastle pool 3km |
| 28-Oct | – | 1km ocean swim @ Newcastle | Run | – | 1km ocean swim @ Newcastle | Run | Newcastle pool 3km |
| 4-Nov | Run | 1km ocean swim @ Newcastle | – | Run | 1km ocean swim @ Newcastle | – | Newcastle pool 3.5km |
| 11-Nov | Run | Newcastle pool 2.5km | – | Prep swim 3.2km 750m higher pace, then medium, then 750m higher pace (to imitate getting into and out of the surf) |
Run | Newcastle pool 3.5km | – |
| 18-Nov | Run | Newcastle pool 2.5km | – | Newcastle pool 3.5km | Run | 1km ocean swim @ Barr Beach | Newcastle pool 1.5km |
| 25-Nov | 1km ocean swim @ Bondi | Run | – | Icebergs pool 2.4km | – | – | BONDI TO BRONTE SWIM |
If you’re considering doing Bondi to Bronte, I would definitely say go for it. I had a great time and enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. I was super nervous beforehand but really didn’t need to be. The surf life savers and everyone on the day were so supportive. I hope to be back next year!