Right now I love swimming.

I love swimming in the middle of the day at the London Fields Lido with the cold air on my arms and the sun in my eyes every other breath.

I love swimming at the London Olympic Aquatic Centre on Friday nights after work with Alex and then hot footing it to Wahaca with our goggle marks and wet hair to devour burritos & coronas.

I love chasing goals with my friends, like trying to swim the channel in January, and looking ahead to big open water challenges this summer.

Last year, I was an ambassador for the Swimathon and blogged about my training to swim 2.5k. This year, I saw that Swimathon 2016 is a part of Sport Relief AND registration was half price before Christmas. I signed up again for 2.5k and looked forward to another fun winter of training.

Sports Relief Swimathon with Olympic Gold Medal winner Duncan Goodhew, Journalist and bloggers visited the Ironmonger Gym, London, to learn new swimming techniques and encourage others to swim

Last week I got an email asking if I wanted to join Duncan Goodhew & the Swimathon/Sport Relief team at a London pool for a training session and of course I said yes. I did a session with Duncan last year and still use the simple and easy techniques he taught us. When I arrived at the session Duncan remembered me from last year, which put a bit of pressure on to show that I’ve improved (or not!).

We spent about an hour in the pool working on drills to improve our individual technique, some beginner butterfly drills (which didn’t do much except prove I’m best at sticking to freestyle!) and even some synchronized swimming.  Duncan’s passion for swimming, water, and getting more people active is contagious. The world needs more Duncans!

I’ll be doing Swimathon 2016 on Sunday 20th March at London Fields Lido if you want to join me. It is on Alex’s birthday so there will be cake post-swim if you promise to sing Happy Birthday with me!

Duncan Goodhew is encouraging everyone to get behind Sport Relief by signing up to swim themselves proud at the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Swimathon on 18th-20th March. To find out more visit www.sportrelief.com