63 days till dip day

MARCH!  ALREADY?

I am sure it was just yesterday when I was celebrating New years Eve, yet here we are at the start of the 3rd month of 2015 with 64 days left until I stand on the edge of Saguaro lake In Arizona with the first of four swims - in four days Ahead of me.

Over the last couple of weeks since I last posted, I have been doing my regular week time training and during the weekends I have been focusing on getting my Support crew up to speed. As She is not a seasoned kayaker - or water baby, To say "SHE HAS CONCERNS!" might well be a monumental understatement. As the person who she will be supporting. I do not share those concerns. Last week, we braved the lovely British spring afternoon. The sun was out --- intermittently (more like hardly!)

the wind was blustery, and the air temperature hovering about 2 degrees Celsius.

Being as Ill prepared as only I can be, we kitted ourselves out in what little "Hardy weather" Gear that we had, yes, we were covered up, but fitting 2 people into one pair of state of the art £4.50 waterproof longs was always going to be an insurmountable challenge. I won the toss so at least I was going to be waterproof. With Audra in her Gym leggings and surf boots with light socks on, we were off to go and get the kayaks From Sue. The lovely neighbour who has offered us the use of her Kayaks free of charge for Audra to get her experience up.

 

Audra testing

the equipment

before she finally hits the water with them.

After getting the kayaks in the water - without falling in!! We were off. A very pleasant start to the whole affair as the current was flowing quite fast so the effort needed to kayak the first 3 km was not immense. Drifting along the River Wey, past historical monuments like Old Woking Palace, we had rapidly covered the distance to a point where the River separated out and we turned right into the river which runs parallel to the Canals. We chose this route as it saved us a portage over a lock and, we had never done this route before. 

At his point it become trickier as the current was now against us and the Wind was also howling along the river so we were having to, not only deal with the current, but also the bracing wind that howled straight at us. after about 4 km I looked at Audra and, the cheeky smile had subsided from her face and a slight grimace was starting to replace it. Stupidly I asked is everything alright?  

It was at this point that I was now enlightened to the fact that Gym leggings ARE NOT WATERPROOF. and neither are surfing booties with thin socks. The sit- on- top kayak that Audra was in was not the most water tight vessel on the water either, so she was sitting in a pool of water that was about 2 degrees. Feeling had long since left her feet to be replaced with numbness. As I was IN a proper kayak, my legs were shielded from the bracing wind, oh and I at least had those £4.50 waterproof longs. 

As Audra will probably be using a -sit-on-top kayak in Arizona, she had opted to use the kayak she was in. This comes with Pros and Cons - as follows

1 - They are infinitely more stable than a proper kayak - resulting in -

2 - They have Far more surface area on the water to act as resistance.

3 - They are Not that waterproof with water always getting into them

4 - As you are sitting on top - as opposed to inside, your whole body

      is exposed to the elements. It was about 3 degrees with a bracing, head on wind.

5 - Emptying water out of them is difficult without a baler of some sort.

6 - They are heavier than a standard kayak so propelling them is far harder with a current 

      and wind against you as they are less aerodynamic in the water.

This stretch of the trip was hard work. As we did not know exactly where the River went, We turned around after about 4.4km Deciding it would be best to try and get back rather than freeze on the river.

Audras grimace turned into a smile again as we were on the home stretch. This smile, however was short lived. We then had to turn back onto the River that had happily carried us down in the first part of the Trip. Now the 3km that seemingly flew by in the first part, was a gruelling slog against the current with a wind against us. I tried to keep Audras spirits up by saying "we are nearly there! Just around the next corner."  In reality, I did not have a clue and, there are a LOT of corners on this stretch of River. I think after hearing "Just around the next Corner" For about the fifth time. Audra soon realised that I did not have a clue -which only added to the grimace and now she resorted to trying to Ram my kayak into the shore or weeds.

The only good part of this last 3km - apart from the scenery - which we both did not really care for at that moment. - was the fact that we were going against the current and had to work hard. This generated much needed body heat to stop Audra freezing completely. I am not too worried about myself as I have done this cold water malarkey often enough and, I was at least not sitting in a pool of near frozen water. I must admit, It was pretty tough and I would have been happier doing a 15km swim than kayaking in those conditions. I offered Audra the option of resting for a while - more for me than her - but she was having none of it, so we pressed on relentlessly

After 2 hours 40 min, we finally passed under the bridge just near where we were to stop.

Passing the finishing post

8.7 km kayak. For a First time in a While that is Dam good.

Now, although the battle of kayaking had been won, The war against the Wey was still raging on. lining up the kayaks to get out was a bit tricky without smashing into Sues Big Boat, that was moored right in front of us, Thankfully in a floating dry dock, otherwise it might have ended up with a few unwanted holes in it. We finally managed to get ourselves, and then the kayaks out of the river Wey. At this point, we were now not expending much energy, Audra was out of her freezing pool with Appendages that were attached to her body but basically did not exist due to numbness and cold. 

Whilst I wasted precious time tidying, cleaning and packing the kayaks Away, Audra was trying her utmost to help, but with little feeling in any of her extremities, The last thing I wanted her to do was to injure herself whilst packing away the kayaks. With the lack of feeling she would not even have realised it. Whilst she waited  - in the cold - for me to finish up. She experienced what all Cold water swimmers are very familiar with AFTER-DROP.

This is when you get out of cold water and about 15 minutes after you get out, you start to shiver uncontrollably and your body temp keeps dropping. There is a good sign to this in that, when you can shiver you are not suffering from hypothermia. BUT you do need to warm up quickly as shivering requires a lot of energy.

When I noticed this, it was time to URGENTLY get her home and Warmed up as quick as we could. I think it took about two hours for her to start feeling her feet again but fortunately she was fine after that.

So, after the lessons learnt from the above adventure, with new waterproofs, gloves to stop Audras hands chafing, some vestibule to remove water from her kayak and some sustenance, we tried again and The weather played its part. The wind was still a big hassle but we got through a 6 km kayak relatively unscathed apart from me gashing my ankle whilst getting back in after portaging our kayaks over to another river system. All in all we are getting there.

I do not share the Concerns that Audra has about her kayaking ability. 

She looks comfortable on a kayak, a bit like she has done it her whole life.

The water temp will not be 2 degrees in Arizona

There will be backup in the form of motor boats. These can be used to transport kayakers ahead of their swimmers should the wind come howling through the canyon.

She will not have to kayak at a fast pace. her speed will be dictated by the speed i swim at and I am not a very fast swimmer.

I do However have other concerns for her kayak. 

8 hours on a kayak can be pretty gruelling, not necessarily on your muscles that you use for propelling yourself but more on your core muscles. Sitting in the same position can be pretty hard on your core and Bum.

I think for us having just arrived from London I have a shared concern about the sun on both Audras and my skin.

Keeping both kayaker and swimmer well hydrated and fed throughout the swims is going to be pretty important.

How will I catch her attention when she is listening to her Ipod? and I need feeding?

Back to my Swimming

last week saw me in the pool nearly every day for distances between 4 and 6 km. I have had another breakthrough in that I got a personal best for 1km in a 25 m pool. I got my time down below 14 minutes finishing my last km in 13 min 40 seconds which is about 1 min 20 seconds faster than I have been able to sustain in the past.

This was done in a set where I did 500m warm up followed by 6 x 500m after each one doing 100m slow breast/crawl as an active recovery rather than rest. My time progressively getting faster by about 5 seconds per 500m. I then did a 1km set in 13 min 40 seconds (Audra Does not agree with me when I say that I am not a fast swimmer) At the end of this I was not out of breath at all - which is a pretty good sign.

This does not relate to the speed I will be able to sustain in a purely open water swim. My cruising speed in pure open water is probably now at about 14 min 30 per km, maybe a bit slower. My last 10km swim I did last year I was on 16 min 30 per km.  Overall, I am happy with my progress so far and just need to keep up this regime as often as possible - without scratching my skin off or ripping my hair out in the process. On that note, I think I might have stumbled on something to stop the chlorine drying out my scalp and my skin by repeated exposure. One of the sponsors of SCAR is a product called  TRISWIM

A product designed specifically for people who spend a lot of time in chlorinated/salt water. So I will be trying that out over the next few weeks, thanks to the company SBR Sports ,who have offered me some of their products, to see if it helps. I will report back soon

This week I will spend less time in the pool and try and work on my core muscles with pilates and a bit of surface based exercises.

Other News  

I have now booked a few days post swim in Sedona, Arizona - where we will spend a few days just relaxing and going on a few tours around the city, famous for its Red Rock formations, and a trip up to the big hole in the ground commonly known as the Grand Canyon. I have heard rumours that it is fairly impressive.

Recently I have also been following a good friend Lewis Pugh as he tries to highlight the plight of the Ross Sea around Antarctica. His latest swim was the most southerly swim Ever in the world undertaken by just a Boy in Budgie smugglers. Pretty impressive stuff. I urge you to follow him on facebook or twitter or his web page Lewis Pugh Blog

This must be the most extreme case of "Driving Global Change Through Human Endeavour" I have ever seen.

If you thought our 2 and a half hour kayak on the River Wey was a bit mad, Then read his blog. The "After Drop" that Audra experienced becomes particularly perilous. A huge admiration for Lewis

On that note, I would like to extend my thanks to Audra - who is about as mad as Lewis is, in agreeing to support me on my swims. Also to Audras neighbour, Sue, who kindly lets us use her kayaks as and when we want to. Colin Durrant from Colins IT, My masters Class at David Lloyd gym and the Nemes Nutters for keeping me focused.All who are helping in many ways so that I can carry out my passion. Without them and so many other people, I would be nowhere in this world.

To end this blog, and upon hearing the Passing of The Great Leonard Nimoy, I would like to use a quote of his.

I think it's my adventure, 

my trip, 

my journey, 

and I guess my attitude is, 

let the chips fall where they may.

77 days left

Where does the time go?

I am sure that when I last looked there was ages to go until I have to take on this little adventure. It seems that time disappears in my life and we are galloping through this year, but In my mind we still have ages to go. This may answer the question as to why I am the King of procrastination!!!  if it was not for the last minute - in my life  NOTHING would ever get done.

So where are we at?   Flights booked, Hotels - for the swim booked. Time in Philledelphia booked so we just have a few days in between to take care of. I have been told that I NEED to get this sorted and we are not going to go with Zimhippo normal modus operandi - just rock up and see what transpires - live by the seat of my pants - be spontaneous. If past history is to go by, this is a bit of a gamble. Some of the best times in my life have happened on the spur of the moment with no planning BUT, some of the most expensive ventures in my life have also happened due to this "take it as it comes Attitude."

Training

In the last two weeks I have been pretty consistent with my training. I am generally doing 3 - 4 days of gym pool training ranging between 4 -6 km then on the weekends I have joined up with the Nemes Nutters at Charlton Lido for a 6 - 8 km session. it is a great pool to train in and not too busy on a Sunday at 9 am. Can be a bit nippy getting from the changing rooms to the heated pool, but once in, it is nice and toasty.

last week at the Lido I managed to do 7.6 km and all my 1 km times were between 15 min 20 and 15 min 40. I did not feel at all tight around my shoulders when I finished and I was not out of breath at the end of each Km - good signs to me. This was all followed by a coffee and chocolate and then on the way home I worked on my nutrition. Being a supreme athlete (NOT), it is imperative to eat well. So on the trip home, My car just happened to find itself outside a couple of eating franchises. I now had to make the decision of Macdonals burger and Fries or Steak Pie, Sausage roll and crisps. The latter won and I tucked into a fully fat free - well, at least in my mind - steak slice and sausage roll washed down by coke and crisps. Who says I do not eat well?  If you ask most endurance swimmers, the food of choice will be Macdonalds burgers. the Greasier the better. At least after a really good set.

I then entered into a week where I was on call at work, Never something to look forward to, it really puts a spanner in the works when it comes to training. Albeit being on call, I did manage to sneak out and do some short sessions after work and on the way home. generally between 3 - 4 Km but only managed to do 3 times. I then snuck back to the Lido on the Sunday for a bit of a longer session. Joined up with the Nemes Nutters. I did my 500m warm up then into 4 x 1000m. This is where I had a bit of a breakthrough. 1st one was done in 15 min 40 seconds. followed by 100m EASY swim, whilst waiting for my fellow lane swimmers to catch up. Next one done in 15 min 23 seconds - 100m EASY. Third was done in 15 min 08 seconds - 100m EASY.  

Whilst swimming that Easy 100m, I thought, lets try and get Under 15 min per 1000m. bearing in mind, I do not think I have ever gone under the 15 min mark - in a 50m pool. I can regularly do it in a short course (25m) pool. If I have, it was MANY MANY moons ago. I let all the people in the lane know that I was going to give it a try. This way, when I come steaming up behind them, or swim over them they do not get too annoyed. they were all happy so off  I went. At the half way point I was 4 seconds ahead of schedule. at 900m I was 8 seconds ahead of my prescribed time. I put the afterburners on AKA started using my legs and finally came in at 14 min 48 seconds.

I had done it, My shoulders were a bit tight but not screaming out at me. I think I might have swallowed half the pool and may have coughed up a lung on the last effort but surprisingly I was not that out of breath. At this point I slowed it down a bit and just cruised the last Km before a warm down.

So that was one goal achieved and I was pleased with both the time and the speed at which I recovered. Another milestone that I have achieved this last week is too finally go below the 100kg Mark (220 pounds - 15.7 stone) Again I cannot remember the last time a scale read 99.6 kg when I poured my chassis on it. This has not really been a goal of mine but I am glad to be there. I just have to be careful not to slide out of the Obese category all together and into a normal BMI. With Britain now classing obesity as a disability, I might lose my right to a disabled parking badge. I would then have to walk at least an extra 200m to the shops!!!!.

This week I will be back into full training for the next 4 days and then I need to help my support crew get to grips with a kayak, and build on her knowledge of the vessel that she will have to sit in for 8 hours. My main focus is keeping her occupied supporting me rather than beating me with the paddle. I will need to devise a logbook for her and she will be taked with monitoring my every move.it will also give her the opportnity to work on her fitness for this event. I can tell you that kayaking 40 miles is no small undertaking. It can be pretty gruelling dependant on the wind and the waves so over the weekend I will be messing about ON the water rather than IN it. So, if anyone is near the river Wey, be afraid, be very afraid, ther will be a few hippos in the area.

Once again I would like to thank everyone who have helped put me on this amazing journey. Colins IT have been amazing in their support as have many other people who constantly offer moral and physical support, My training parttners - the Nemes Nutters. They are just that - NUTTERS - probably the reason I fit in so well with them. My travel Agent Rudi keyser, Support crew Audra. I am certain that there is a list far too long to mention who hae helped me along this route, helped me when I have fallen, kept me focused with words of encouragement or verbal pick me up. You are all amazing. I am jsut very priviledged to have you in my life.

Till the next post I wish you all well and I look forward to your support on facebook and my blog.

Thoughts of the Day

Don't give up what you want MOST for what you want NOW

93 days to D day

An interesting 10 days

The count down continues and 10 days seems to have just disappeared, and with it, January 2015!! I must admit that, for me, it has been a pretty good 10 days, for a number of reasons, but the main one is that I seem to have found my SwiMojo. It had gone walkabout for about the past 2 - 3 months with me not feeling the love for my newly adopted deodorant - CHLORINE and my new, improved shampoo and conditioner, now being sold with extra itchy scalp components. Well, I have now learnt to love one and live with the other and my training now continues in earnest with me putting in my biggest week of training for about 3 years. In total, over the last 10 days I have clocked up just under 40 Km.That in the past would have been my total for a month. I have had two days off from swimming in that time and my average set in those 10 days has been 4.2 km per session.

The masters class at my gym still keeps me motivated and they are a great bunch to train with on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I would like to join them in the mornings during the week but, sadly, I have my doubts. dragging this body out of bed in the morning is proving to be a challenge.

The highlight of the training was when a fellow Scar Swimmer organised a nice little swim at Charlton Lido on the East side of London. That is about an hours drive from where I am on the west side. So I left the house at 7.30, Air temp was 2 degrees Celsius and I was soon driving through a snow blizzard. I thought to myself, " This has to be up there with one of my no so bright moments!!!" Anyway, I had made a plan so I was going to see it through.

After 1 hour 15 min of driving I had parked, thrown lots of change at a parking machine, thrown more money at an a pool attendant and made my way to the pool.

I could not even see the end of the pool as the steam rose from it into the cool 2 degree air. I then bumped into the Lifeguards - who were dressed as if they were trekking to the North Pole. Eat your heart out all you lifeguards in the tropics, who wander round in t-shirts and shorts and bikinis. These guys at the pool are the real deal. I challenge any of you - and them for that matter, to do a length of swimming with all that gear on - WITHOUT SINKING!!!!

I got changed into my signature orange budgie smugglers and headed out of the changing rooms. it was like opening the door to a freezer!! I found a locker for my kit, threw some more money at it then headed to the lane, where I joined up with Mark - my fellow SCAR swimmer, Sam, Adrian and a few others. Jumping into 24 degree water never felt so good. We started with 500m warm up then we went onto 5 x 1000m swims. My times were pretty constant at about 15 min 30 secs for 1 Km, but times varied a bit as I had to swim around other swimmers. One guy who got in had a wetsuit??? in that temperature???   Thankfully he did not hang around for as long as we did.

After a 500m warm down, then off to the change rooms for a shower followed by a well deserved coffee and chocolate and a catch up with some more of the "Nemes Nutters". I had good catch up with Lisa Williams - who will be swimming the channel later this year. As we were leaving we took the opportunity for a bit of a photo shoot outside the front of the Lido. Apparently, no cameras allowed in the pool areas - well ones that they know about.

All in all a great 6 km swim and thank you to Mark for organising it, I look forward to the next time that we can hammer out a long swim in such a great venue. Let's just hope I do not drown, Would not want to put my life in the hands of a lifeguard dressed to go to the North Pole.

Further Planning done.

Going back a few weeks, I met up with a Friend who I had only ever met through good old fashioned banter on the Interweb. At Parliament Hill Lido we finally met and got chatting and he mentioned to me that he was in the travel industry and if there was anything that I needed with regards to travel arrangements to drop him a line. Rudi Keyser of  The Travel Club, I bet you rue the day that you offered that help. Even if I did assist you after your 950m in 4 degree water.

After two days of emailing incessantly to get the travel side of my trip to Arizona done, Rudi was a star, it was just my procrastination and the price hike by the BLOODY operators that came back to bite me in the bum. and put paid to my fantasy of drifting through Arizona in a Convertible sports car. It will now have to be the cheapest nastiest box on 4 wheels  for transport - unless anyone out there has a good deal on car hire in America! I still have to look for that deal. Thank you Rudi for helping out. Thank you also to Audra for helping out with this and kicking my procrastinating behind into action. She really does have an uphill struggle ahead of her. Learning how to kayak AND having to keep me in check. She has my sympathies

Accommodation for the swim is now booked and I still need to decide where to spend three days post swim. I understand that America is a bit bigger than the UK so I am sure that we will find something to do. After that it will be a couple of days on the East side of that little country.

The Focus for the next three months.

All in all we are getting there and will soon be on a plane to America. If the speed at which January has vaporised has anything to go by, that will most likely be pretty damn soon. With My SwiMojo back I will keep my original plan of swimming at least 4 consecutive days a week and upping my distances that I do in each set. 

Thankfully, my body is holding up remarkably well, my shoulders are very loose and relaxed at the moment. I still have wonky knees when I do breaststroke legs so will steer clear of that for the time being. I did have a bit of a twinge in my neck after Saturday but that is due to me holding my head to high whilst in the pool. If I do not, I will end up swimming over the odd wetsuit boy so I have to keep my head up a bit. In open water I swim with my head much lower down as I do not have to sight the end of the pool or buoys or wetsuit boys

If the worst comes to the worst I am certain my support crew will have a big enough arsenal of drugs to fend off even the most obstinate of bodily ailments. Even the American ones. Which of course are bigger and nastier than the ones in the Thames!

The one thing I am slowly getting my head around is the constant swimming in Chlorinated water. I must admit that I now have the skin of a crocodile - there is not enough body cream in the world to tackle this! - hair like dried straw and the constant aroma of Chlorine; I do not even think bathing in essential aromatic oils would get rid of it.

The Journey continues in earnest and I look forward to where it will take me next and whom this world will bring into my life. If last year was anything to go by, I really embrace what the future holds. On that note, one of my friends who continues to inspire me is due to unveil his next expedition, Lewis Pugh Expeditions I look forward to following him upon his next quest. From what I have heard about it so far, he is piling on the weight and has gone from 85KG up to 95 KG and still growing. I hope he is not becoming a sumo Wrestler!!!!

Happy reading and I wish all of you success in all that you are preparing for. JUST KEEP FOCUSED!

102 Days remaining.

102 days left

Wow, just been looking at this blog and there are a couple of alarming Facts. Let me start with the first one. It has been over two months since I last blogged. It is quite scary how time just seems to evaporate when you get on with living. In those two months I have had a wonderful time with a truly amazing way to see in my 40th year on this planet. A once in a lifetime Safari to Africa with some very good friends saw me break a personal record of Flying on some sort of flying machine everyday for 6 days, that on top of flying THROUGH Canyons and over Dam Walls and Spotting Wildlife over a safari park and walking through some of the most wild terrain I have walked through in a long time, saw my first 40 years out. Thank you Greg, Ali, Audra, Craig and last but not least my Parents for putting up with me flitting in for food and washing then disappearing again. On this trip, Little swimming was done, for a multitude of reasons but the main one being the pools were a little bit small for a good workout or populated by the local wildlife.

The Second Fact is the heading of this blog. 102 days!!!!!  A bit scary. Hotels are now booked and all that remains is to get the flights and we are all good to go --- Oh, hang on?  I feel there is something I have forgotten? Something quite important!! 

AAGGHH!!!  It has just come to me. Apparently, if you going to be swimming 40 odd miles it is quite a good idea to train!!!  Who would have Guessed?  it seems that it is in the small print somewhere.

Never Fear, We still have 102 days, Surely, If the past is anything to go by, should be a piece of cake.

No, in all seriousness, I have been back in the pool since the beginning of January and My distances are coming up slowly. I am taking a slightly different approach this year and instead of swimming Monday Wednesday and Saturday, with Saturday being a longer swim. I now anticipate to swim 4 consecutive days a week, one of those days will be about double the distance that I swim on the Rest. I am choosing this as that is exactly what I will have to do in Arizona.  

There are many ways to skin this cat, I could read loads of blogs of marathon swimmers, and, like when I swam the channel, get very despondent that I am not doing nearly enough - in comparison to EVERYONE else. Or I can do my own thing which HAS worked for me very successfully in the past. Do as much as I can feasibly do in the pool and spend more time concentrating on getting my Mind in the right place.

There is a lot of discussion on one of the Sites about how to train for distances and I still believe that there is no real need to do anywhere near the actual distance that I eventually aim to do in one session. I will most likely not get above 60% f the longest distance that I will be swimming. So effectively my longest training swim will be 14 km.

Two other challenges that I am having to deal with are the obvious one of swimming upwards of 10km 4 days in a row, making sure that my body, shoulders and hips are ready for that sort of punishment. All my past big swims are just one day and then you can rest but consecutive days of long swims is still a daunting undertaking. I do not have a problem with the distance, even the longest day of 26 km does not really hold that much apprehension for me. Getting up the following day and doing it again, however, is a slightly more problematic scenario. Either way I am sure it will be fine and I will figure out a way to do it.

The other challenge, and by far my greatest hurdle right now, is to get my head around doing MOST of my training in a Pool. believe me, 400 lengths in a heated pool is a bit monotonous. I also tend to get very hot when in the indoor pools. I am trying to mix it up with a bit of cold water swimming, I took part in the PHISH cold water Championships last weekend. I will also do some  swimming in longer pools with other SCAR Applicants and other long distance swimmers. It still gets a bit boring doing it on my own, in a heated pool. 

If this game was easy then everyone would be doing it! The benefits far outweigh the costs of time and effort input so I am still on a winner.

So where are we at Currently?

As for my training so far, I am not too unhappy with it. I am generally swimming 3 - 4 km every session and that will be increasing as time goes by. Time permitting, I will be up to 6 - 7 km at least 4 times a week with one of those swims being slightly longer. Up to about 8 - 9 km. I am a bit sad to say that I have had to remove some parts of my training that include breaststroke legs as I get a pretty annoying pain on the insides of both knees when kicking out sideways. Luckily I do not have that problem when I am kicking for freestyle, butterfly or backstroke. Training will continue to build, just have to take care of my tree trunk legs. Fortunately in this game, I do not use my legs for propulsion that much. I normally just use leg workouts to break up my sets a bit

As the days get longer and the open water heats up a bit I might try a few River swims with my Support kayaker to get them used to someone swimming beside them and also let them realise that I will not be going as fast as they can kayak. If and when that happens, I do not anticipate doing more than about 2 km in the cold. 

As for the sets that I do,  sets generally involve intervals with the longest distance that I do in one hit being 1000m. Currently I am doing that in 14 minutes. I am relatively happy with that time for now. I do not anticipate getting much quicker as I am not really training for Speed, although I did a small amount of it last night and got a personal best of 1 min 9 seconds for my 100m time. In reality, my sustainable speed is about 1 min 30 seconds over the longer distances. Baring in mind that this is in the pool so I would anticipate about 3700m per hour in open water

Now to the support Crew. it is a bit rude of me to ask someone who has never kayaked before to be my support crew. Audra has supported me before but that was on a nice motor boat with drinks and a sundeck. But She has taken up the challenge and is making great strides. 

           1 - She knows what a kayak looks like. 

           2 - She can tell which is the front (bow) and which is the back (stern).

           3 - She knows which way up it should be

           4 - She even knows how to fall out of them. (Gutted I was not there to see that.)

           5 - She knows what a paddle is for. Sadly she also knows that it can be used to

                beat her poor defenceless swimmer. A habit I need to get her out of.

Audra, like me is also on the fitness forage. I really appreciate her stepping up to this and Like my challenge, I think her challenge of kayaking  all that way is possibly more daunting for her than my challenge of having to swim it, is for me. I at least have a bit of an idea of what I am letting myself in for. This trip will be a big Challenge for both her and I. Let us hope she enjoys it as I will most likely need a support crew in the future. Any support that you can give her will go a long way for her moral. Hats off to her for agreeing to do this.

I very quickly learnt in this game, The training and a lot of the preparation may be done in solitude but to make a successful swim requires many friends, Family and sponsors giving up a lot just so that I can go and wallow around some of the most picturesque places I have laid eyes on. A huge thank you to EVERYONE who has been part of my journey so far.

Onwards and Upwards.

As I bring this blog to a close, the enormity of the task ahead is starting to sink in, It is by no means beyond my capability. My focus is returning and I am getting stronger (and maybe a bit fatter) every week. The hardest part is trying to juggle the funds to be able to make it all happen and I have some very good people around me who are willing to help out. I will in the next couple of weeks finalise what charity I will be swimming for. lets just hope that all my friends out there help me to make a difference to people that would love to do what I do but cannot for Whatever reason.

Happy winter all, if you need me I will be in a pool somewhere

2015 season is starting!!

Looking forward to Summer 2015

The 1st of November has now come and gone. That was to be a big day for me. After an amazing summer of swimming and meeting some amazing people, sights were being set on what this amazing journey had in store for me in the future. Nowadays, there are plenty of them out there. Marathon swimming has come a long way in the last 6 years and the plethora of swims available to one in 2015 is mind boggling. The criteria for my 2015 swim was a toss up between lake swim vs ocean swim? Local vs international? One big swim or multiple medium distance swims? Believe me, if my father had his way I would be swimming the 321km of Kariba dam in Zimbabwe/Zambia. I would do it in a heart beat if it were not for the 20 foot plus Crocodiles that ply those waters. Although Hippos are known to be the baddest beasts in Sub Saharan Africa, this one still has a very weary appreciation of a 20 foot handbag with teeth on one end and a tail that will smack you around like any self respecting super villain. I will however be going to Kariba on Safari in a couple of weeks.

So, as Kariba was out of the question, and having had a pretty amazing trip to conquer Switzerland's largest lake earlier this year, I was becoming quite used to not swimming in Salt water. Also, amongst my dalliances this year, I had the privilege to spend some time with Roger Finch. He started harping onto me about SCAR swim in Arizona, and how amazing it was and that if I ever get a chance I HAVE TO DO IT. After this meeting, I went away to my friend  "Mr Google" and did some research into this swim. This is what I came up with.

Just the name SCAR can make anyone feel just a bit apprehensive. Its origin however is far less hair-raising, although still enough to intimidate. Now knowing the Americans' love of the ACRONYM. SCAR is merely just that.

Day 1   S agurro lake        9 miles

Day 2   C anyon lake     9.5 miles

Day 3   A pache lake      17 miles

Day 4    R oosevelt lake    6 miles

So, somewhere between 41 and 43 miles of swimming.

Now in its third year and limited to a field of 30 swimmers per lake, this swim has already attracted some pretty heavy hitters in the world of Marathon swimming, including inductees into the  International  Marathon Swimming hall of Fame, several triple crown holders and, now, the likes of Me. I will now have my opportunity to conquer, what is fast becoming, one of the top global swims. Yesterday I put in my petition to be regarded as one of the 30 that will be selected this year. Today I got confirmation that I have been selected along with a pretty international field from London, New York, Scotland, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Nebraska, Texas, Australia, Connecticut, South Carolina, Vermont, Arizona and California. I have yet to see the final list but I do know another Pom that will be going; Mark Sheridan, I look forward to training with you.

So why this swim out of so many?

All you really need to do is to take a look at the video from this years SCAR 2014

This was a good advert for it. Apart from that, I have been in touch with the Organiser, Kent Nicholas and he, as well as many past SCAR swimmers, have given me only great praise on this swim. This is not the only reason. 

I was also looking for something within my budget. As far as 40 mile swims go, this is relatively good value. Any of the big ocean swims is going to set you back about £2500 - £3000 just to hire a boat. Sadly - for my kayaker, Audra, the cost is representative of what sort of boat she will be getting - I hope you up to kayaking 18 miles??? That is before all the flights and accommodation that you need. I am again extremely fortunate to have Colins It on board again to offer a bit of assistance with some of the costs  and building a website with me. But there are always others that I will no doubt have to find. If anyone out there would be willing, or know someone who is willing to help me achieve my dreams of raising funds for charity by exerting myself then please feel free to email me on g.schlachter@btinternet.com.

 It is also the fact that the swim will not be in cold water and mostly - weather permitting - under awesomely blue Sky, with hot days.

Any event that has a brewing company as one of its key sponsors is most likely going to be a great event - isn't it?  I have also never been to Arizona so now is as good a time as any. Whilst in that part of the world I might as well make a holiday of it and make my way up to Lost wages (Las Vegas) to see what all the fuss is about.

As far as the challenge goes, it will be a first for me. Yes I can swim those distances and feel pretty comfortable doing them but, I do not do those sort of distances on a regular basis especially 4 swims of that size in 4 days. This swim adds a whole new challenge, which I only hope I can deal with. Not only is it going to be a big challenge from a mental perspective, I believe this swim is going to be pretty taxing from the physical point of view. Going all out on a big marathon swim knowing that at the end of it, it is done, you do not need anything left in the tank, is easy. Making sure you can get up the following day and do it all again adds a whole new perspective on things. I believe that this will be my biggest challenge on this trip.

I am sure that along the way, there will be  a multitude of challenges, Logistics, the heat, saving up for this trip, marketing my Charity fund raising and many many more that will arise out of the woodwork. My biggest, immediate challenge, is how to get my mind into the training that I will need to do? Our Season has now closed, so the lakes are more difficult to get to now as most of them have closed. Anyway, they will not be of great use to me anyway as they are getting cold. I will be swimming in the desert - at a time of year when most people steer clear of it, due to the heat. Water temps will be well above what I would get in any lake in Mud Island so my love affair with chlorine and heated pools is going to have to flourish over the next couple of months. Hours and hours of following the black line!!

After all this effort, it will be great to get into the salt River Valley and swim along those canyons with canyon walls soaring many feet out of the waters of the lakes. The finale of this swim will be a night time swim. For a lot of swimmers, swimming at night is one of the most daunting challenges. However, I have heard that this is one of the most serene experiences. As there is not  a hell of a lot of light pollution in Arizona, the milky way is in full visibility and floating on your back looking up at the stars has got to be up there with one of the most peaceful experiences on the planet. Hasn't it? Well I will now have the opportunity to find out for myself.

So I have a very busy 7 months ahead of me but the one thing that attracts me to this sport and keeps me coming back time and time again is not the swims,those are bloody hard work!! It is not the training, that is also a bit of a bore. IT IS THE PEOPLE THAT I MEET ALONG THIS JOURNEY. I have been extremely lucky to meet some amazingly inspirational people that I can now class as friends and, the more I keep doing this, the more truly awesome people I meet.. 

My saying for the start of this journey.

In everyone's life, at some time, 

our inner fire goes out. 

It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. 

We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

 Albert Schweitzer

An Inspiring weekend Had

No major Swims but A Truly inspiring weekend

This last weekend saw me taking a trip down to Dover for a couple of reasons. The first was to take a shirt from the Zurich Swim, given to me by Vasanti, to give to the Channel General. Freda Was very Appreciative and a big thanks to Vasanti for giving it to her. She was wearing it the following day.

The second reason was to meet up with a Channel swimming Friend that I have gotten to know over the last couple of years. I think he is probably the most prolific endurance swimmer South Africa has ever seen - well, in such a short space of time. Roger Finch, has completed, 

The English Channel, (England)

 MIMS, (America)

Catalina Channel, (America)

Rottnest Swim, (Australia)

Zurich Swim, (Switzerland)

SCAR swim, (America)

quite a few Robben Island swims, (South Africa)

and, I am sure, a few that I have forgotten to mention. One of the amazing things is that he has pretty much done all of those since 2011. His most recent Swim being an attempt of the Tsugaru Channel in Japan.

The point was to go down and meet up with him, as I have not seen him in while. The reason he is over here is to support Dr Otto Thaning. A Pre-eminent Cardiac surgeon, also from South Africa and based in Cape town. I briefly met Otto last year when he was over here with Lewis Pugh to have another attempt at the English Channel, sadly the weather gods were not kind to him. Now, at the tender age of 73, having done the Channel 20 years ago, and various other marathon swims over the years, he had quite an interesting take on why he was doing it again. It was not to become the oldest person to ever do it, but, more importantly it was to highlight the fact that you do not have to be a young person to do some pretty extreme things. 

Audra and I drove down on the Satruday to meet up with these two Aquatic Africans. We arrived late as we had a few things to do in the morning. We met them after their moring swim. As they are there for a couple of weeks - or until Otto gets to go over, they had befriended another Aspiring Channel swimmer who is the youngest Swimmer this year (I Think) Charlotte Samuels, From Some Place called America, is an extremely accomplished open water swimmer, whom, at the even more tender age of 16, has Swum Both Catalina Channel and MIMS - This year.

So After meeting them all and having a coffee with them, it was off to a late Lunch with Otto and Roger, with the plan to meet at the beach in the morning for a swim. After a hearty lunch, it was off to check into our B&B and then off to meet Roger for the night. We met at Varne Ridge and then went off to the Royal Oak for Dinner. we had only eaten about 4  hours before but, with Steaks at £6 -- we just HAD to have dinner - where in the Britain do you get such great steak at that Price?? Audra, Roger and I had a very good catch up, accompanied by more Amber nectar than I have consumed this year. 

it was in this pub that we experienced something you do not experience every day. At about 9ish in the evening an couple of elderly gentlemen came into the pub - it was their local pub. they pop in regularly for an evening tipple. you would say, nothing odd there. But, upon chatting to them, their story was quite amazing.

They both live in the area, this, as mentioned, is their local Pub, But how long have they lived in the area? Well, a photo was collected off the wall of the pub, it was a standard framed photo , one which you might find in several pubs in the area, of Army Cadets assembling in the car park of the very pub we were in, prior to going off to fight in World War 2.The photo was taken in 1941. There, in the photo were these two guys and, 73 years later they were sitting in the pub chatting to us. Quite amazing to be in the presence of some veterans from the 2nd world war.

Sunday Morning

After getting to bed at about midnight with the world spinning a little faster than I am sure it should, I awoke at 6 to go for a walk and try and clear my head  from the previous nights foray. We then had breakfast and checked out of the B&B and then headed to meet this utterly mad, but pretty phenomenal bunch of swimmers for a bit of a dip. The day was lovely and both Charlotte and Otto are sitting around waiting for their swims so don't do any really big swims so normally just do 1 - 2 hours a day whilst waiting. We all got ready and then the four of us went off to the water, with our photographer - Audra in tow.

Otto, Me, Roger and Charlotte.

The amazement did not end there. I knew I was in the company of some pretty phenomenal swimmers, whom all know our way around a bit of endurance swimming. Otto however really amazed me. he has the stoke of a swimming god. SOOOOOO effortless. Otto is nearly double my age, swims nearly as fast as I do, BUT, he achieves that speed and gracefullness doing just 40 strokes per minute. I have to do 68 - 70 strokes per minute to get the sort of speed I am used too. Roger and Charlotte are more on a par with me at about 65 strokes and above.

Swimming with Roger is quite entertaining as he pretty much knows everyone in the water and chats to pretty much all of them as they pass. 

Charlotte is a wonderful person and a good swimmer, with her swimming CV, I beleive she will fit in perfectly with this truly unique bunch of Open water swimmers

After taking some video Footage - which I will post in the near future, of the weekends Wallow, it was a fabulous time had by both  Audra and I. I wish Both Otto and Charlotte the very best of British luck for their up and coming swims to France. I have faith that they will both be successful and with Roger to entertain them I also have faith that their Trip to Blighty will be a memorable one. Thank you guys for a great weekend

My thoughts for the day. I am by no means a famous author or any good with words but what I have to say is based on my weekend away and what I learnt.

Never let age interfere with Aspirations.

Inspiration can be garnished from anyone,

no matter where they are on lifes Rocky Road.

A wonderful weekend. So what is next?

 Arrival in Rapperswil

An Awesome weekend away

Glad I was not facing Hurricane Bertha in Blighty

The time had arrived for me to head off to Zurich - then to Rappperswil - to take part in the 27th Self Transcendance swim up lake Zurich. After a pretty mixed week, work was a bit of a nightmare, made better by the evenings spent with my parents, who are over here on holiday. Friday morning came and Audra - my support crew - and I managed to catch our cab and get to the Airport on time. After not being able to check in online the night before, it was a bit frantic; it seems that noone had been able to, so we were queueing for about an hour. I thought that went out with the arc! We finally checked in, we had our boarding passes, so now on to the next challenge of the day - to find some breakfast. Sufficiently fed and watered, we found out where the gate was and then proceeded to ask one of the airport information guys how far it was to the gate we were leaving from. He said about 25 minutes walk - I thought he was joking but, after a 15 minute jog across Heathrow terminal 1, we finally arrived hot, sweaty, and out of breath at the gate.

Arrival in Switzerland was typically swiss with NO hitches. The information given to us was superb and tickets to our final destination purchased, we headed off to Zurich Burkiplatz  (the ferry port). On the advice of an open water swimming friend, we decided to catch the ferry to Rapperswil to locate the landmarks that were, hopefully, going to be useful to me in two days time. The weather was great and the sun was out and after a very insightful 2 hours - yes, 2 hours!!! I figured if it takes 2 hours by boat, How bloody long is it going to take me to swim it?

Rapperswil is a gorgeous little village and we had barely got off the boat when the bags were forgotten about and the cameras were out. There was a lot of  Wow!, stunning! This is amazing! look at the mountains, OOh, look at the castle etc. etc.  About half an hour after landing and taking more photos than your average tourist takes on a week holiday, we decided it was time to go and find our hotel. Fortunately it was about 10 minutes walk from the harbour.

Afternoon in Rapperswil

After checking in at the hotel, it was now time to try and have an afternoon kip - we had both not had a great night sleep the night before. Sadly, we - rather I, was too excited to sleep so it was off to explore. The old town is stunning and we headed up to the castle to see the view. It took us about an hour to get up there - usually about a 10 min walk, as there was SO MUCH TO SEE on the way up there. It was well worth the trip up there but sadly the view across the countryside was obscured by the bloody huge mountains all around the place.

After spending a fair amount of time up at the castle soaking in the sunshine and also the amazing views of the snow capped mountains in the distance, which blocked the real view of anything past them, we then went down the other side of the mountain to the Lido to get the lay of the land. This was the place where we were going to start swimming from. Lidos in Zurich are generally an area of the lake that is cordoned off for swimming. They range from the very simple to the pretty ornate manicured areas like the one where I finished the swim in Zurich.

As you can see in the above photo, the lake is stunning and that is where we started our swim from. As the weather was so agreeable, we decided to go back to the hotel and fetch our costumes to go for a dip in the lido. So off we went, dropped off the cameras - thank god for digital, if we had to take as many photos as we did on film, we would have had to take out a loan to develop it.

Audra got in slowly and was a bit cold and then I just had to go and practice my diving off the 3m board that they have there - you never know when I might get a call from Tom Daly or the likes to be a synchronised diving partner.

The perfect landing

After about half an hour of wallowing (and staying off the diving boards - I might have got a bit more adventurous and done myself a mischief  before the swim!) We got out and headed back to the hotel only to be interupted by the most amazing storm that came across the lake. The sky was astounding and the vibrant colours were out of this world. We just sat on the waters edge watching the rain roll in on the left and the sun setting to the right of the clouds. It was an amazing way to end what had already been a wonderful start to my swim weekend. After this it was time to go and find some food. With all the excitment of the day, food had been a bit of a forgotten past time so we were both hungry enough to eat the leg off any low flying duck. A Fine Italian, on the edge of the harbour fitted the bill and were happy to assist us in parting with some money.

Saturday

After a good night sleep we were up and raring to go with thoughts of tourist stuff to do and the like but we just opted for a bit of last minute shopping for supplies for my swim and also a little wander around the town again to visit places that we had not found the day before. We were not disappointed, as around every corner there was something new to see and more shops to relieve us of our money. Rapperswil is often referred to as the "Town Of Roses" with no less than 15000 plants of 600 different varieties in three main Rose gardens and throughout the village. We came across a wedding at the castle at the top; it started with a procession that headed through the entire village with people adorned with giant cowbells and a leading whip cracker followed by the wedding party. There was a lot of stuff left undone as we ran out of time.

In the afternoon we headed off to the registration and race briefing of the swim. Here we had photos taken for our certificates and were given caps, t-shirts and general instructions and more healthy food. The organisers are very much into their Health and meditation and eating properly so there were no unhealthy snacks. After this the race briefing took place and we found out all that we needed to know about what was in store for us the following morning.

As it was a lovely day again, We headed back to the hotel and dropped off our kit and checked on Facebook. This was quite interesting as I got a message from a friend on facebook who had seen some of my posts. She had a friend who knew of me and my past dalliances with open water swims. He had just moved to Rapperswil from Yorkshire and wanted to meet me so I messaged back that I would be at the Lido. Off we went again to the lido - by now, the fixation on photographing EVERYTHING had abated enough for us to leave the cameras and phones and all technology in general at the hotel. We actually managed to survive about 2 hours without checking facebook or photgraphing a single thing!

Whilst sunning myself on one of the sun decks in the lake, thinking about the adventures of the following day, a Gentleman swam up to the deck and, recognising me by my trade mark orange budgie smugglers introduced himself as Martyn Webster - The guy I had been liaising with on FB. We spent a while chatting on the sundeck about marathon swimming in general. Really Nice Guy and I am sure someone whom I will keep in touch with and probably visit again.

The sun was starting to set so we headed back to the hotel for some dinner, after which it was down to the serious stuff of mixing my turbo juice, packing the bags of food supplies and preparing for a 4.30am start on Sunday. I must admit that this time I think I still overcatered but not by about 100 times - like I did when I swam the channel. I blame my mother for that sort of overcatering and she was not with me this swim

The day of the swim.

I did not get a hell of a lot of sleep but this time it was different. I was not nervous, I was not anxious, I was just not tired.  I placed no expectations on myself at all. My only hope was that I was able to get to the end - at some point during the day - with all my limbs still attached to my body.  I think the lack of expectations really helped me to relax. I know that I can get by on very little sleep. So after about 2 interrupted hours, I was awake well before my alarm so busied myself with final preparations and a bit of reading. At 5.30am we had a quick bite to eat and collected our ice packs for the cooler bag from the kitchen before grabbing our three - yes THREE bags and took a stroll to the lido.

The plan was, get to the lido, locate your support boat, grease up and get ready, roll call then Solo swimers start at 7 am and teams start at 7.15am.

Breakfast and coffee was being served at the lido and then we had to go and locate our boats. This is where the competitive spirit of these swimmers really showed through. The boats for the 40 soloists ranged from a 30 Ft sunseeker style luxury cabin cruiser to a single man kayak --and EVERYTHING  in between, including sail boats. It was now a guessing game as to which swimmer got which boat and all the chuckles and laughter and banter that went with this comical excercise as swimmers found their boats

We were lucky enough to be allocated a very lovely couple who had a pleasure boat with a suntanning Deck on it and seats and everything. Audra would not have to kayak up the entire length of the lake - having never kayaked before. How lucky was she???  Marc and Janine were lovely people and they had a great boat. Also, ironically, they were also suckers for punishment. At the same event a year earlier, they had piloted for another swimming friend of mine, who was also born in Zimbabwe and now lives in South Africa - Roger Finch.

 

The boats and the crew all jumped in their boats and headed out into the lake whilst the swimmers all jumped into the lido and gathered behind the floating bariccades at the shallow edge. The start gun went and we were off.

It took about 30 to 40 minutes to find my boat and link up with it as all the boats were waiting for their swimmers and joined them as they went past. As mentioned earlier, I was not at all nervous this time. I just got on with the task at hand, settled into my stroke at about 65 strokes per minute. When I finally met up with my boat and got to my first feed, which was an hour in, I looked around and there were only about 5 boats. I asked where all the others were? I was then told that they were behind me and I was currently sitting in about 6th place. I was a bit shocked as I really did not expect this. The feeding went well and I was liking the fact that if I swallowed water I did not feel like throwing up.

So what does a Marathon Swimmer do to occupy themselves?  

The swim progressed, the weather was great, water temperature was about 20 degrees, a bit of light rain in the first couple of hours and then slightly overcast for the rest of the day. As I was lying in 6th place, I decided that I would alter my stroke. My stroke rate was not slowing down so I then started swimming with a completely open hand - the effect of this was that I was not putting as much strain on my shoulders. At least that was my practical mind telling me that - less surface area pulling = less stress and less propulsion- doesn't it?  I knew that between 4 and 6 hours the little signs of my body getting pissed off with me would start to show themselves so anything I could do now to limit such manifestations would be good.

I actually switched my stroke quite regularly. Single side breathing to bilateral breathing. Shorter strokes with a higher head position to longer strokes with a very low head position. Watching other swimmers near me to monitor my speed in comparison. Songs in my head - thank you ChrisTurner - your bloody hatred for the Happy song struck a chord in my head and that bloody song permeated my every thought for a while so there was  a fair amount of mental energy spent trying to get that rubbish out my head. I had a swimmer slightly ahead of me and I was concentrating on maintaining speed with him. After 2 hours I was very comfortable and happy with my progress. My feeding plan was working and Audra seemed confident to do the right thing.

After about three hours, My pilot and helper came over to me and said that they were going in for a comfort break, "was I happy to carry on on my own?" I was happy with that, so off they went and I was on my own for about 30 min. During this time, the race umpires came up to me and chided me for not staying with my boat. We should stay with the boat at all times.

My boat finally caught up with me and we carried on. My first milestone that I was sort of aiming to hit before the cutoff time was Meilen. A village along the shores that was 14.3km from the start. I mention cutoff as, this is the first of two points that you have to reach before a certain time. If you do not, the organisers will pull you out - as it is unlikely you will reach the end before 7pm. The cutoff at Meilen was 5.5 hours. I managed to get to it in just on 4 hours. At this point I was happy, I had gotten to just over half way and I was still feeling great. No niggles, all body parts in tact and working correctly, feeding going well, this was a huge boost for me as this is one point I wanted to get to within the time limit.

At Meilen, there is also a ferry that crosses the Lake. We stopped for about 2 minutes while I fed and stretched and waited for the ferry to go past. Then we were off again. Another boat had caught us up in this time so I trudged on with them. it is nice to have another swimmer to gauge your speed on from time to time. Another hour in and another feed. And, the first signs that my body was rebelling. My elbow started to ache on my right arm and my shoulders were starting to get a bit fed up with me. The rest of my body was fine. I changed my stroke again, so  I was not really using my right arm as I sliced my hand through the water rather than pulled it flat through the water. This eased the pain in my elbow.

6 hours and another feed, but this time, my team needed another loo break - what were they drinking on that boat??? This time I opted to go to shore with them and just tread water and do some stretching in the water whilst they went to the loo. I did see Janine coming back to the boat with a  bottle of bubbly- now I know why there were so many loo breaks. If the truth be told, I was not complaining,  I was now about 20km into the swim and my body was still working, I had some Ibuprofen for my elbow and shoulders and they were feeling much better.

After this 10 - 15 minute respite I was ready to do battle with the last 6 km. There was only one problem, 3 boats had passed me. Again, I was not too worried about it as I had achieved more than I had hoped for already. I did however manage to storm past at least two of them, my stroke rate had gone up to about 72 per minute.The next cut off point was at 21.8km and I reached this milestone with ease.

Now, at about this time, we reached the last headland, afterwhich we could see the finishline 5km ahead of you, straight across the bay whilst the shoreline curved away from the headland into a bay. This is when I learnt that  NOT ALL KILOMETRES are equal. Some have 1000m in them and others  seem to have at least 3000m in the; that last 5km was probably the hardest stretch of the whole lot. and it seemed to take me as much time to swim that stretch as it had taken me to do the 20km prior to it. It did not help that there was a fair amount of pleasure boats on the water so waves were coming from all directions. On these pleasure boats were some very interesting characters, some, quite pleasing on the eye. I just had to adjust my stroke again and do some head up breast stroke as I was getting really tired now!! 

Anyway, at about 23km, I had a bit of a tiff with my support crew! She enlightened me to the fact that I had been in the water 7 hrs 10 min but I was convinced that it was more like 8 hours 10 min. I know her powers of time keeping are pretty rubbish. This is when I learnt that Women are Always Right. (What am I saying???) The boat left me for a while and went ahead and I was wandering what they were doing. I carried on regardless and then, out of nowhere, this mermaid  appeared out of the swell beside me. I looked at her and thought, Mermaids do not where orange goggles, and those Orange goggles look suspiciously like my spare pair. Upon further inspection I realised that Audra had decided it was time to take a dip and join me for a while. We swam together for about 15 minutes then she went off back to the boat to get me some more feed. 

During these last 5 km I went straight across the bay. I then noticed another swimmer much closer to the shore and it was now my goal to at least beat him. there was also a swimmer about 200m ahead of me and there was a mental battle raging in my head, Should I push myself to try to beat them? against the thoughts that I have done more than I had hoped for already so just take it easy? Which do I do?
I chose the latter as I really needed to do a lot of heads up breast stroke at this point trying to "dodge" all the pleasure craft.

I was nearly there

That was the finish. Those sundecks were quite a distraction but we managed to get past them onto the finishing steps. The First thing that happens when you get up those stairs is they put a garland and a medal round your neck and thrust a microphone in your direction and ask lots of questions. A bit hard when you have just finished an 8 hour 20 min swim, overcome with emotion and trying to stand upright without falling over, there is lots of clapping and the atmosphere is pretty electric. Sadly my support team were not there to see me get out as they had to go and park the boat around the corner.

Then it was just a matter of resting, enjoying the atmosphere and getting a massage and some beer and just chilling in the sun whilst the others finished. All in all it was not a bad way to spend a Sunday. I know I would NEVER have gotten here without all the friends and Family that I have, that pretty much do everything for me, all I have to do is a bit of swimming. I only had one support crew with me but I had many more sending me good positive vibes, without which, I would never be able to achieve anything that I do.

I sat on the grass in quiet contemplation asking the question, "How is it that someone like me, from a small country in Africa, without much focus and drive can be privileged enough to get a podium position- ahead of an Austrian with the name MAX BEER, in one of open waters bigger swims. And find myself in such a beautiful place surrounded by such amazing people?????

The answer is------- MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
 All of whom play a key, pivotal role in making me the person I am

So where to Now?

Well, it is nearing the end of the season and I might do a few smaller swims and pol swims but I already have my sites on my Big swim for 2015 and I see that the entries have jsut opened.
SCAR swim in Arizona. Four lakes in four days through the lakes in Salt River Canyon.

This poses various challenges which I need to start working on. Firstly i will be looking for sponsorship so if anyone knows of anyone, or company who might be interested then please email me. the next challenge is the training. It is right at the start of the Open water season in Europe. There are very few lakes around to swim in during the Winter so I will be spending a LOT of time in the pool over the next 8 months, I do not like them at the best of times but if needs must? There will be very little races between now and May next year.

I will keep people up to date on tis blog and facebook