Rachel Rodgers Annecy Solo 2026

End-to-End Lake Annecy: Not Quite the Swim I Imagined… But One I’ll Never Forget

On 22nd June this year, I completed the end-to-end swim of Lake Annecy — something that, for a long time, sat firmly in the “maybe later” pile.

Last year, illness meant I had to step away from it completely. At the time, it was the right decision, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept. When you’ve set your sights on something big, letting it go (even temporarily) can feel incredibly frustrating.

Fast forward to this year, and the opportunity came back around — but not quite as planned.

I actually took a last-minute cancellation spot, which meant I had around two months less to prepare than I’d originally intended… and for a longer swim than I’d been training for. My focus had been Ullswater at the end of August, so suddenly shifting gears to 13.8km in Annecy required a quick mental and physical adjustment.

But Annecy isn’t just any swim for me.

It’s a place I’ve visited a few times before with my dogs, and somewhere that already held a lot of happy memories. What I didn’t expect was just how emotional it would feel to finish the swim at the exact same beach and jetty I used to swim from with them. Standing there at the end, it really hit me — everything coming full circle in a way I couldn’t have planned.

And having Marilyn my business partner from The Canine School of Trailing, there waiting for me made it even more special. She’s been such a huge support, especially over the past couple of months when I’ve been trying to juggle work with squeezing in 3-hour swims wherever I could. Anyone who runs a business will know how tricky that balance can be, and I genuinely couldn’t have done it without her backing me the whole way.

Now… the swim itself.

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If I’m honest, it wasn’t the smooth, strong, “everything clicks into place” kind of swim I’d imagined.

In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Despite having no issues in training, my shoulder started to become really painful just two hours in. To the point where I very nearly pulled out. I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to giving up during a swim before.

And to add to the glamour… I also ended up “feeding the fish” mid-swim. Not exactly the picture-perfect endurance moment I’d had in mind!

My pacing was off from the start too. I’m still not entirely sure why I went out so slowly — perhaps overthinking the distance ahead, knowing it was my longest swim to date. That hesitation may have affected my form more than I realised, which likely didn’t help the shoulder situation.

But… I kept going. Mainly due to Karen getting in, seeing what on earth I was doing wrong and coaching me through the issue.

Sometimes it’s not about how it looks, how it feels, or whether everything goes to plan. Sometimes it’s just about putting one arm in front of the other and continuing forward.

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And I did.

Nearly two weeks on, my shoulder is still sore, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit anxious. I’ve got the Trent 12km coming up in just three weeks, and right now I don’t know how that’s going to look. A physio appointment is booked, and the focus is on recovery and getting back to doing what I love — but this has definitely been a reminder that these challenges aren’t always as straightforward as they might seem from the outside.

None of this would have been possible without Karen’s training plan in the lead-up. Having that structure (even with the shortened timeline) made such a difference. And both Karen and Dave were incredible on the day — their support, encouragement, and presence meant everything, especially when things got tough.

This swim wasn’t perfect.

It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t pretty, and it definitely wasn’t easy.

But it was real.

And for me, that makes it even more meaningful.

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