Health Education

We are changing over from swimming to walking this week. Our swimming challenge was to see if we could swim 21k (the equivalent of swimming the English Channel from English to France) together. We have now counted all our lengths and this year we have amazingly done the crossing twice, there and back gain and a bit further - we have collectively we have swam a total of 47K.

Well done to everyone who signed up for swimming lesson and have done their best to go from feet on the bottom while moving their arms to feet up and face in the water, from arm bands and floats to independently swimming widths and lengths. I would like to just mention one young man who at the start of our swimming session back at the start of November was happy to stand in the water, by the edge of the pool. Who is now swimming full 30 lengths on every visit and who has joined the sports centre as a member and has been swimming with me at lunch times and at the weekends. A lot of our 47k swimming distance is down to him. He is now thinking about wild swimming once the weather warms up! Awesome achievement!

Now the weather is improving we are walking!

Walking is something most of us do every day simply to get from A to B. easy to do, it is free, doesn't require equipment and it has a low risk for causing injury. Thanks to its lower intensity compared to some other forms of cardio. It's also a good choice for anyone with joint issues that may be made worse by high-impact movements such as running or jumping.

Walking can be as easy or hard as you make it. You can increase your speed or walking up and down hills to increase the intensity. To up the fitness benefits of walking – you need to walk at speed to get your heart rate pumping!

Walking is an accessible and versatile option; however, it does have 2 limitations. There is only so far you can walk in the time you have and you can only walk so fast before you need to break into a run to keep progressing.

However, having said that a good hike (walking over a distance) with good company is what we are starting this week. We will walk The River Thames.

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of times and support cars etc.

Stage 1. The Source to Cricklade - 12.3 miles (19.7 Km)

The source of The River Thames lies in a remote Cotswold meadow beneath the boughs of an elderly ash tree. The river wanders through pastures and small Cotswold villages, just before Cricklade the Thames Path skirts around the edge of North Meadow.

After all that swimming we will be fit to do this - easily!