After swimming as an in-towner in London, Kerstin moved to join our out of towner contingent in Zurich and from there to Milan, where she is now based with her family.
What are the rules for lockdown in your country?
In Italy we have been in partial lockdown since the 23rd of February. Schools, gyms and pools closed that week and some but not all restaurants. You were still allowed to go out keeping a minimum distance. Total lockdown came on the 8th of March when everything except supermarkets shut down. In the North of Italy, where the situation was especially precarious, special rules were reinforced (for example sports outdoors or walks were no longer possible, children cannot go outside, you can only walk your dog very close to your home etc.) So we have been essentially at home all the time, except going 1-2 for food shopping during the week. People find it increasingly hard to be so confined at home, especially when you live in a larger city without any outdoor space. Masks and gloves have also been reinforced when venturing outside.
How are you coping with being out of the water?
Being out of the water was very strange to start with. Also, because we kept on seeing the rest of Europe going out and about and going to the pool. I felt totally restless and stressed out. But, I have been very lucky. We live in a modern apartment block which has got a small gym and a 15m pool! To start with, these were also closed along with everything else. But we got together as neighbours and decided that it wouldn’t do any harm if we were to use the facilities individually. We established a timetable for the gym and also for the pool – which essentially means it’s just me. I have ordered some equipment (as I had left everything at my normal training pool) and definitively doing lots of turns! Essentially it took one month for the pool in the building to reopen.
What do you miss most?
I definitively miss the camaraderie of training in a group and seeing other people. I’m not a big fan of training by myself and being able to socialise before and after training is something which I value a lot.
Do you have a daily fitness routine?
Since I was able to go back into the water, I’ve adjusted past training sessions to the length of the pool. For example, I’m doing 105m intervals instead of 100m and anything which is a multiple of 15m. I’m not doing much longer distances as you’d have to swim 27 lengths for around 400m and I kind of get dizzy 🙂 I’m trying only to do 1 or 2 underwater kicks as otherwise there is not much swimming left. The pool is quite shallow, but nevertheless I’m also training some underwater kicking.
Our swimming club offers a dry land training three times a week via Zoom and I try to join in on that too. Inspired from what I have seen on the Spencer Facebook page, I have also ordered a skipping rope.
Any recommendations for team mates?
The one thing I really miss is being able to go out just for a walk, so as long as you are able to do that, enjoy it as much as you can!
Which competitions have you missed/will you miss?
Back in February when pools were closed and seeing that we were going to be in this for the long-haul, I already decided not to take part in the GB masters. I wasn’t sure about Budapest, so effectively I haven’t missed out on any competitions, except some planned local meets. I’d like to say that Sheffield in October is an option, but realistically pools won’t reopen before September and international travel is a big question mark too, so we will have to wait and see.
How is your partner/family coping with you not swimming?
Well, now that I’m back in the water they say that I’m more relaxed and not going up the walls.
What are you most looking forward to when you can get back in the water?
Being able to have a structured training session together with my team mates, simply being able to go out, walk around and drive to the pool.