United Kingdom Cold water Swim Championships

ITV Coverage

January the 26th and I found myself with a very rare situation. The weekend and nothing to do. I had meant to be working but my clients cancelled the day before so with No wife to annoy and not a lot to do I was at a bit of a loss.

The night before I had been communicating on the interweb with Someone I did not even know, whom I found out was going to The Championships and told her of my plight with not a lot to do so I mentioned to her I might pop along to see what it is all about. She then Asked if I would like to swim in a relay team as she might have some friends that MIGHT Be looking.

Tentatively, I agreed to go and take the plunge into 1 Degree Celcius (33.8 Fahrenheit). I had never swum in water below about 8 degrees  so I figured, this could be a bit painful but hey ho, in for a penny, in for a pound.

I arrived at about 8.30am at Tooting bec Lido - one of the biggest outdoor, cold swimming pools in Europe - 91m long and 30m wide. It was already Buzzing with loads of people there and my thoughts were SEROUSLY!!! There are this many nutters out there, all dressed up as if they were at the North Pole and many of them intended on taking the plunge. I met up with some Endurance swimmers that I have met along my journey in this sport and met loads of others who are more into Wild Swimming, anywhere outdoors, lakes, cold water pools, Oceans. 

It is a championship so there is some seriousness about it but Generally it is more of a fun day. The Scheule of the day is as follows. Opened by Jo Brand, A British comedian that also swims regularly at the pool. Follwed by The individual heats comprising Men and women and youngsters who jump into the water - there is no diving and the start gun goes when all competitors shoulders are below the water - they then Race Widths 30m and hop out pretty smartly.

This was then followed by a hat parade, People taking the plunge and swimming heads up breaststroke with some pretty outrageous hats on and various other costumes - people in Union Jack mankinis, Hulk costumes, wearing proper clothes, leprechaun outfits and many others.

This is followed by the relay events, this is what I was in. Then it is the Finals of the individual heats and  all culminating in an endurance event where the seriously Hard core do 450m in temperatures of about 1.5 degrees.

I met up with my team - whom I had never met and it was made up of a 3 Wild Swimmers and an endurance swimmer - me. All teams had to be mixed sex  and the categories were below 180 and above 180. this figure was the cumulative ages of the team. We were Race number 68 so when we were called to poolside we all went in and got changed into our budgy smugglers/costumes and then went to the other end of the pool for  a briefing and then around to the other side of the pool and waited for the start. Our time came and we were in Lane 1. I was the start swimmer so you get to the lane, give all your kit to a volunteer - who kindly takes it to the other side - then jump into the pool - all shoulders below the water line and you are off. Head down, arms flailing wildly, legs kicking madly. it is not a pretty site but all you want to do is get out. I don't think I even bothered with breathing in that 30m. I had other things on my mind like HOLY CRAP THIS IS A BIT NIPPY!!

About 20 seconds later you are at the other end trying to clamber out of the cold whilst not being able to feel your hands or feet.

Honestly, was it cold? Yes - Its Nearly Freezing!! but you are only in the water for about 30 seconds maximum so there is no real time for your body to go hypothermic. By the time that your body registers that you are in cold water and your body is shutting down the extremities and pushing all the blood to the core, you are out. I stayed around to film the rest of the relay and then it was off to either the Hot Tub or sauna to get warm again.

Did it Hurt?  Yes - Its nearly Freezing!! By the time I got out My body had taken on a lovely pink colour and my hands and feet were not really part of my body as there was a lot of Pins and needles. The feeling is awesome though and when your body finally takes claim of all its bits again, you feel like a million bucks

Would I do it again?  Dam right I would, except the next time I think I will try and graduate to the big league and do the endurance race as well.I have always been aware of the joys of plunging yourself into near freezing water. Speak to any Pro athlete and I am sure they take Ice baths on a pretty regular basis. As for endurance swims, I feel much stronger and can swim much longer in the Colder water. maybe 1 degree is a bit excessive to do a marathon swim but it does make you feel great. all those aches and pains you experience in warmer waters seem to vanish in the cold.

The only downside that I can see with this whole event is that it is only every two years so will have to wait a while until the next one. In the meantime I think I need to do a load more cold water swimming as it is so refreshing.

There is quite good coverage on the UK TV

Training

My Training Tips

WARNING

My training is very much personal to me. This is based on my own ramblings through the sport of extreme endurance. I do not guarantee that this will work for everyone.
I am not a qualified Trainer. I do not have a piece of paper that says I can swim, I have a PASSION --better than any paper qualification out there!!

The Risk of getting wet is inevitable!!

Principle I Adhere to

1 - KISS principle -- Keep It Simple Stupid

2 - The 6 P's -- Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

3 - TBC Training -- Total Body Confusion    Never Train to a set schedule, this way your body            does not know what to expect when the Gruelling training starts.

4 - In this game, Keep your ego in check.

5 - LISTEN to those that can benefit you

6 - Do not get startled by what others are doing. 

                let me clarify the above statement.

Whilst reading the many blogs of other Marathon swimmers I was often startled and amazed at the distances my fellow marathon swimmers were covering in their training, I was barely doing half of what the majority were doing.

It often made me question my ability and fortitude for what I was undertaking. This all changed when I started my Open water training and could then guage my ability against other madmen and woman like myself. My ability was clearly there but I still felt that my fortitude might not be. This changed when I started speaking to other swimmers who would probably do double the distance I would do but at the end of their sets they were fine, bubbly and ready to do many other things with their Lives. After my shorter sets I was Absolutely shattered and was not really good for much. I soon learnt I could not train in the morning like many of them did as I then had to go to work and would probably be asleep at my desk by about 10am.This might  go a little way to explain my subsequent redundancy at the end of my Channel swim Venture. Don't worry, it all turned out well.

My training would allow me to get home at about 10pm in the evening have dinner and collapse into bed. Luckily for me, the fitter I got th less sleep I needed.

My Question, which still remains unanswered is What is better , QUANTITY VS INTENSITY?

How I carry out my training

I do not employ the services of a professional coach. If someone wants to step up to the plate then I would be grateful for the help. The Channel swimming group and Dover training was my only time I listened to other People for my long open water training. All my pool training was haphazard, unplanned but, it was effectivefor ME.

I have no guides to help me when I train and the sets are made up as I go along. I might often arrive at the pool with a distance in mind but that is it. the rest is very much fluid and often changes during my set.Some of my sets include, but only as a small part, a Masters class.

Previous to this journey, for my English Channel attempt, my only training was in the pool,and later in Dover Harbour under the Guidance of The Channel General, An amazing lady who gives up every weekend during the summer to train Channel swimmers. Her and her band of shingle stompers ( volunteers) do not charge a cent/penny for their time and expertise.What the channel general says, YOU DO!! Try to disobey her at your own peril.

There was no cross training, no weights, no circuits no classes, no running The Goal was to swim and that is what I did- A LOT OF

I never really logged anything or monitored anything, My only training Aide was a stopwatch- when doing Hundreds of lengths in the pool, I tend to lose count after about 3 lengths so Having a stopwatch and knowing exactly how long it takes you to do various distances is imperative to this form of taining. there are many modern watches which do it for you. My other two aides were a kick board and pull buoy.

After having the privilege to meet many endurance swimmers and athletes there is one common theme thats runs through all their lives

PREPARE FOR THE WORST AND HOPE FOR THE BEST --ANYTHING INBETWEEN IS A BONUS.

Things that have changed for this Journey

To be Honest, NOT MUCH - why change a formula which works for you? 

I am however15KG (2.3 stone) heavier than I was 4 years ago.

I have been doing Pilates once a week and I have an amazing Pilates Instructor, The Lovely Claire from YBfit 
You Might ask, why is a hippo like me doing such a sedate sport?
The answer goes back to the main Reason I ended up swimmng the channel. My barometer of my health and fitness is my back, I was starting to feel exactly Like I was before I chose to swim the channel, Lower back pain on a fairly constant basis.  I did not have any major goals in mind so started going to Pilates classes after my brother bought me a 6 week course. I did the six week course and about a year later still go most weeks, sometimes twice If I can. Beleive me when I say, I am often more knackered after an hour of Claires' Capers than I am after a pretty gruelling 4km in the pool.
 
The benefits are amazing and I will try to relate them to My swimmng.

I now have stomach muscles, stuff I only dreamed of. They might be packaged in a keg rather than a sixpack, but they are there, This helps tremendously when I start getting tired in the pool, I can control my core muscles and hence control my stroke a lot more effectively than I ever could. The key problem to marathon swimming is your stroke going to crap the longer your swim. Now I can go a lot further more consistently than I could at the same point of My Channel training.

Core Muscles. Something else I only dreamed of. Again My ability to control my stroke and link my legs and my arms is much better. I seldom used to use my legs to swim as I am blessed with slightly broader shoulders than average, I also have big legs but I haveVERY SELDOM used them Like I am able to now.

Controlled Breathing. I always used to breathe every 2 strokes when I swam, this is very energy sapping and also affects the body alignment, forces you to breathe always on the same side leaving you unable to glide effectively in the water and also stuggle to swim in a straight line, there is no black lines painted on the bottom of the channel or Windermere  Now I predominantly breathe every 3 strokes, sometimes 5 strokes. The benefits of this are my balance in the pool is much better, My head is further down in the water as I am not breathing so often,effectively bringing my mamoth rear end up and out of the water giving me a more streamlined position in the water.

Another side benefit, in the pool at least, is that I am now able to tumble turn conisitently without lifting my head to take a gulp of air just before I tumble. When Training for the channel I never did tumble turns, my reasoning for this was, in openwater marathon swimming you don't do a lot of turns so why bother with it in training.

Back and Hips. Always been a problem with me. I am now able to keep my stroke a lot more together. My biggest problem was Breathing, effectively trying to twist my whole body to breathe this would bend my torso slightly to get my head out and effectively break my streamlined positing. Now, with a Good core, back and hips, My breathing is a lot more fluid and maintaining a streamlined position is vastly improved.

I think This is the main reason that I seem to be a fair bit faster in the pool than I was at the same sort of Time in my training for the Channel----But I still can't do a single situp.
How does this equate in real terms?

Channel training-- I could consistently hammer out 100m in 1 min 30 seconds
Journey to 21 training --siimilar time to goto swim--I am doing that same distance in 1 min 23 seconds. So 7 seconds every 100m and My swim will e 35000m. I will leave the maths to you.

Well I am sure I have bored you enough with My ramblings, I hope that they will be useful to someone who might be thinking about Doing something like this.