Next Swim Booked

Next swim Booked

Time waits for no man. I am learning this fast. Today I have finally got off my fat backside and booked my next small challenge. It is a 10 Km swim in Lakeside, on the East side of London. You might be asking, "What is someone, who normally swims on the west side of London going to the dark side for?" Don't you need a passport to get over there? Is there anything over that side apart from car factories and industrial wasteland?

Well this is a bit of my on going challenge with a very good and old friend of mine that swam the English Channel about 2 weeks before I did and then was support crew on my boat. Yes I beat him in the channel, by 6 minutes, he has a faster 10Km time than me so we need to settle this once and for all. Who is the better swimmer? Sssshhhh, Don't let him know, I think he is. Sadly he has turned to the dark side -black rubber!! and now swims as a rubberised human. I am hoping that he will shed the rubber for this challenge, if he does not then he has to give me a handicap.

My training has been very erratic for about a week now and I seriously need to find some "Get up and Go" before the summer Gets up and goes. I have swum a few times but I have been focused on stroke technique and drill work in favour of the endurance and distance side of things. I hope to change that this week by starting off tomorrow with at least 10Km in the lakes. I was going to go this morning but my bone idleness got the better of me and I did not make it so have not swum now for 3 days. Diabolical!! Today I also went to fetch some maxim juice (energy drink) from a friend who swum the English channel last week. A huge congratulations to Eleanor Thomson who crossed over to France after 13 hrs 46 minutes. Welcome to a very Unique Club Eleanor, Glad to have you in it, even if you are South African and made me look like a complete amateur at this game in Dover 2 weeks ago.

So now I have some energy juice, I can start pushing up the distances so I just hope I have the mental fortitude to do it. Two of the best days this year and one of them I was working and the other my Mojo got up and walked out the door without me. Very disappointed in myself right now. Lets hope that the weather holds out and I can catch up with my Mojo very SOON.

A few things that have been very interesting this week. I have been doing a bit of research about Nutrition for these little swims. Never ever thought I would become so focused on it AT ALL! I came across a few very interesting articles about:-

1 - Why I have managed to lose so much weight over the last 6 months

2 - How it is that I manage to get by on so little sleep for very long periods (3-4 hours a night)

3 - Why are a lot of the modern Diets very much Protein based?

The article I came across was passed on to me by a very good friend and "Gumps Groupie" regular. Protein V sugars   

It is an interesting article and goes a small way to explain why I am what I am. I do like my proteins and I eat loads of them.

I have also been doing a bit of Research about Maxi Carbs powder, which I have just picked up from Eleanor. When I did the Channel, I used Maxim Energy Mix. Both very high in Maltodextrin. Upon reading up on this ingredient, it also goes a way to help me understand why I have lost so much weight. When I was swimming bigger distances in the past, I used to use Maxim. All very good for high endurance sports. But not good if you are not going to use it as it gets laid down in the blood stream as fat. So, I used to use it regularly, this year I have not started using it at all, as most my swims have been less than 10Km. 

I have never really got to involved about the mumbo jumbo regarding nutrition and endurance in the past, but that was a long time ago. My whole physiology and mind set were VERY different. Now with the simultaneous exercising more and losing weight. On that note, I seem to have stabilised with my weight and am currently sitting at about 96KG - down 24 KG on what I was 7 months ago. I am now very interested in it as I feel that this is about the lowest I can go without having BIG issues with the cold. Ideally I would like to put on 5 kg before the end of the month.

New Week. New Outlook!

So this week will be a telling week. Hopefully my mojo only popped out for a couple of hours and will return to me ready to focus and put the effort in again. I will be looking forward to planning my trip to Windermere and although my swim is playing on my mind, I am looking forward to the break as I need a break as well. Silly hey, lets go on holiday and whilst there, lets go and swim 35km over one of the nights? Well, I have never ever been accused of being conventional - and am not about to start now. Sorry Guys.

I also have a run to do next week - suffice to say, I am not worried about it at all, if you have done NO training, you do not have the right to get upset or worried about it. Luckily only a 5km run/waddle so I am hoping I can wing it. I suspect it will be a little bit more walking than running. The run that I am doing is the "Colour Run" Happiest 5km on the planet .From what I have read about it, I suspect that there will be a lot of paint powder involved and I will probably, - like 20000 other runners, be covered in it. The things I let my friends get me into. Honestly! This will be on the 14th of July so I suspect I will not be able to get any swimming done that day, unless i am awake pretty early.

So once I get this out the way i can then - hopefully focus on my end goal for the summer. The journey to 21. I am hoping to travel up on the 8th/9th August and stay up there and drive back on the 12th August. I am looking for B&B's or hotels in the area and need to get them booked this week.

As it is a fair trek from London to Cumbria, I suspect that I will not be lucky enough to have my usual "Gumps Goupies" around and I can't expect them all the trek up to Windermere to sit in a pub and drink whilst I swim 2 lengths of the lake, as much as i would love all my friends to be there.

Training schedule ahead.

Well this week I am planning on doing 2 x 2 hour swims minimum which would be 8km each.

On Saturday I am looking to do a 3 to 3 and a half hour swim in the lakes which should be about 12 - 15km swim. On the weekend of the 20th-21st I anticipate doing a 5 hour swim which should be approximately 18 - 19km swim, I am hoping that a few people might come and keep me company whilst I do 25 laps of the lake. At my current stamina level, I basically do a lap in 11 min 30 seconds with a 30 second rest before I start the next lap so each lap effectively takes me 12 minutes.

Lately I have been getting a lot quicker with my lap time.At the beginning of the season, being closer to 13 minutes. I can put this down to a few things but I suspect the main reason is that I am a lot lighter so there is a lot less of me to drag through the water. Fortunately, so far, the cold has not come back to haunt me, if anything, I am cold for the first few laps and then seem to warm up as I get into my stride. Long may this continue and Long may this warm spell continue so that the lake warms up a fair bit. I Also suspect that I will not be doing a lot of pool training as the temperature of the pool is just too hot for me to train in it.

Still Loving my Pilate's and I think that this has played a huge part in how I am able to maintain my posture whilst swimming. I will say that the mental strength that I so desire for the longer swims really becomes necessary the longer I go. I can feel my Stroke going to hell n a handcart, I can feel the water becoming like syrup, I can feel that I am no longer gliding but, fighting with the water, it takes all my mental effort to concentrate on maintaining a stroke, which is as perfect as I can possibly get it.

There is a lot happening in my life right now and I am struggling with the mental aspect of it but I am trying to take it back to basics for my swimming and focus on those - then the bigger picture becomes less opaque. I am loving the swimming though. which is great. A couple of months ago I do not even love that. Time and training, encouragement from friends has given me my focus back on that front and I think this is the biggest challenge. If you you do not love what you do, DON'T DO IT!!  That is my take on it.

Well As I said I will be down at lakeside on the 21st of this month so may see some of you there.

Stay well and enjoy this Lovely British Summer. This country is Awesome when the sun Shines.

In life, you can’t go back to the

     beginning and make a new start ...

   but you can begin now and

    make a new ending.