'The colder the water, the quieter my head is'

Harriet Green attempted the Ice Mile, swimming a mile in water colder than 5C

Work, finances, family, hobbies - many of us have a lot to juggle in life.

For 49-year-old Harriet Green, manager of Shaftesbury Lido in Dorset, cold water swimming offers a reprieve from her anxieties.

Motivated by her love of the sport, as well as the death of her dad in September, she is hoping to be recognised as one of fewer than 600 people in the world to have completed an Ice Mile.

The one-mile swim must be in waters of 5C or less, wearing just a standard costume, goggles and a swimming hat.

The air temperature was -3C on the day of Ms Green's swim

She completed the swim at Hatfield Outdoor Activity Centre near Doncaster on 11 January and is waiting for it to be officially ratified by the International Ice Swimming Association.

"I find [water] just wonderful to be in," she said. "The colder it is the quieter my head is.

"I discovered there was such a thing [as the Ice Mile] and I just thought - why not just do that?"

Ms Green said when her dad died last year it shifted her perspective on life.

"I want to make this the year that's just full of fun things," she said.

"Life is too short."

On the day she completed her swim, the water temperature was 4.3C and the air temperature dropped to -3C.

'What am I doing?'

She said she was "absolutely petrified".

"I was stood on the shore... thinking 'what am I doing?'," she recalled.

The moment she got in the water was "empowering", but the challenge got harder.

"I ended up just counting my strokes up to 100, then starting again," she said - a strategy that also helped her recognise if she was getting dangerously cold.

"In one of my training swims I got to 78 and really struggled to remember what came next," she said.

"I got myself [out the water]. I recognised it which is the really important thing."

Ms Green said she was "buzzing" after completing the swim

She had a support team in a boat and a recovery team on the shore - something that meant she could "push myself more than ever before".

"I had absolute faith in them," she said.

Nearly two weeks on, Ms Green said she was "still absolutely buzzing" from the swim - and that she was "very excited" for the first Shaftesbury Lido Ice Championship Extravaganza, which is being held on 16 February and has attracted participants from all over the country.

"It's the first of its kind in Dorset," she added.