来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年4月7日
With gyms in Britain shut for much of last year, almost a million people downloaded an NHS-backed fitness app over three months in an attempt to get up off the sofa and out for a run. In subsequent lockdowns wild swimming converts have been preaching about the healing powers of cold water.
英国的健身房去年大部分时间都处于关闭状态，近100万人在三个月内下载了一款由NHS支持的健身应用程序，试图从沙发上起来跑步。在随后的封城中，野外游泳爱好者一直在宣扬冷水的治愈力量。
Now the Outdoor Swimming Society has launched a free Swim Couch to 5K programme – echoing the Public Health England programme Couch to 5K – to encourage three months of training for a summer challenge in the sea or in a lake, pool or river.
现在，英国户外游泳协会效仿英国公共卫生组织的“从沙发到跑步5公里”计划，推出了一项免费的“从沙发到游泳5公里”计划，鼓励人们在海上或湖泊、池塘或河流中进行为期三个月的夏日挑战训练。
The scheme, the brainchild of Kate Rew, founder of the OSS, is aimed at competent swimmers who want to improve their front crawl, and fans less fit after the UK lockdown.
该计划是OSS创始人凯特·鲁的创意，目标人群是那些想提高自由泳水平的游泳健将，以及在英国封城后身体状况不佳的游泳爱好者。
Rew said she had “suddenly become conscious of how many independent, free-thinking friends” were doing Couch to 5K during the pandemic. “I realised we had reached a point in lockdown where we just needed someone to tell us what to do. I thought it would be really lovely for swimmers to have a plan to follow to get us out of the inactivity and off our couches to pave us towards midsummer,” she said.
鲁说，她“突然意识到有多少独立、思想自由的朋友”在疫情期间参加“从沙发到跑步5公里”活动。“我意识到我们已经到了一个需要有人告诉我们该怎么做的关头。我想，如果游泳者能有一个计划，让我们摆脱不活动的状态，离开沙发，朝着仲夏前进，那将是非常美妙的。”她说。
“This kind of easy, long-distance front crawl is so fluid it is like taking a long walk, and you can go on for hours,” the programme notes say.
计划记录显示：“这种简单的长距离自由游非常流畅优美，就像散步一样，你可以持续数小时。”
Daniel Bullock devised the programme, which began as British summertime started. It is not too late to join. Training remains on dry land until 1 May, when indoor pools are expected to reopen and outdoor waters should have warmed up.
丹尼尔·布洛克设计了这个计划，与英国的夏季开始同步。现在加入还不算晚。训练将在旱地进行，直到5月1日，届时室内游泳池预计将重新开放，室外水温应已升高。
At least three weekly sessions follow until 21 June, when thousands of swimmers across the UK are expected to tackle the 5K challenge. Among them will be Will Sparkes, 25, a junior doctor, who spent much of the pandemic on Covid wards at a hospital in Portsmouth with little time to swim even when the pools were open.
接下来每周至少进行三次训练，直到6月21日，预计届时全英国数千名游泳运动员将参加5公里挑战赛。其中包括25岁的初级医生威尔·斯帕克斯，新冠疫情期间，他大部分时间都在朴茨茅斯一家医院的新冠肺炎病房里，即使游泳池开放，他也几乎没有时间游泳。
“It’s been an intense year. With pools closed I probably haven’t swum more than 200 or 300 metres over the last six months,” he said. He managed to keep running and cycling but missed the “mindlessness” of swimming. “Swimming is different because you can switch off, you just have you and your thoughts. Mentally I’m OK now that the sun has come out and I’m much brighter about everything, but the winter was quite dark and difficult.”
“这是紧张的一年。由于游泳池关闭，在过去的六个月里，我可能只游了200或300米。”他设法继续跑步和骑自行车，但想念游泳的那种“无意识”。“游泳不一样，因为你可以放下所有思绪，只有你和你的思想。现在太阳出来了，精神上我已经没事了，我对一切都更有信心了，但是冬天非常黑暗和艰难。”
Rew said she had had just brief plunges into her local river over winter, never putting her face under, and had been “much more bad-tempered” without her pool swims in the last lockdown.
鲁说，她只是在冬天短暂地跳入当地的河里，从未把脸埋在水里，而且在上次封城期间，她没有去游泳池游泳，“脾气变坏很多”。
Although Sparkes used to swim long distances before the pandemic, the prospect of tackling 5K was nerve-racking, he said. “It’s quite intense. Going straight up to 5K in a month and a bit is quite a big task, but the plan is written by a professional, so I hope it will work.”
尽管斯帕克斯在疫情爆发前曾长距离游泳，但参加5公里比赛的前景令人伤脑筋。他说，“这相当紧张。在一个月内直接达到5公里，这是一项相当艰巨的任务，但计划是由专业人士制定的，因此我希望它能奏效。”