5 hour Swim done.

Slightly unplanned swim.....

Well, last week I got a message from a few wannbe channel swimmers to say that they would be heading down to Dover and would I like to join them. Vicky  was going to do a 7 hour swim and Lisa was planning on a 6 hour swim and Kate ws hoping for a 5 hour plus swim. As I am in need of doing a 5 hour swim as a qualifyer for my Zurich wim, I begrudgingly agreed to head down on the Saturday for a 5 hour swim with them, whilst also having the opportunity to catch up with a lot of the Dover crowd, which is always a good thing to do as they are a lovely bunch of people.

I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about doing it, for the following reasons: -

- I have not done a 5 hour swim in about 4 years.

- the longest Swim I have done in that time is about 2,5 hours

- I have not trained in the ocean for a while as I am doing

most my training in the lakes - which are warmer.

- I still hate the taste osf salt water.

- The drive back from Dover, after a 5 hour swim

was not somethingI was looking forward too.

Friday Night blues

I was really having my doubts about the following day. For the above reasons but I made a commitment and I needed to do this at least to get my 5 hour swim out the way. With these doubts came the menacing thoughts that keep me up all night, along with the most amazing storm, bundled together with lovely lightening and Thunder. Well, after finally getting to sleep at about midnight, then waking at 2am, 4am and then finally getting the hell in and geting out of bed at 5.30am to get some food in me for the swim ahead.

I jumped into the car at about 6.45am and headed down to Dover, about an hour and a halfs drive from where I am. Arriving at Dover at just after 8 and then parking the car and finding a loo and then off to register for the day ahead. It was great to see the dover bunch and they all greeted me like a long lost friend with Big hugs and kisses. Then it was time to get dressed - well undressed and don our costumes and get greased up by the shingle stomper. Quick catch up with Vicky and Lisa.

After final briefings from the Channel General (aka Freda) we were set on out way. Vicky and I agreed to swim together as we swim at about the same speed - at least for a while!!! Saying that, she does have her Channel swim in about three weeks time. her blog is Vicky's blog. In my humble opinion, she is more than ready to take it on, seeing how strong she was after a 7 hour swim. Lisa is doing a 2 way Channel relay later this year, with her sites set on a solo channel crossing next year. You can read all about her adventures at lisaswim. Although slightly slower, still a very accomplished swimmer and with a fair time to go before her solo swim, she will be very much up for it. I just  do hope that she has the tanacity to carry on this training through the winter. 

AND-------We are off. 1st thing that springs to mind is - "this is a bit colder than I am used too"  But hey ho, we have a job to do. First signs that it was going to be a long day was the fact that, when I dived in and could not see a lot. I went to adjust my goggles and soon realised that I did not have them on. Then looking around I panicked as I could not find them -----even though they were on my head, I thought I had dropped them in the harbour. Is this is sign of the future???

After figuring out my goggle dilemma, we were on our way.

Now A lot of people ask me what I think about when I swim for such long distances. Usually, I concentrate on making my stroke as good as possible, right length, right balance, bilateral breathing etc. etc.......  Today seemed different. I was trying to keep my swimming as good as I could possibly get it, BUT........ there was one thing which was now invading my consciousness and overriding most thoughts about my swimming. So below is what I had to mentally contend with for 5 hours

OH MY GOD It is cold, I do not remember it being this cold!!!!

Okay lets deal with this!!

Swim slightly faster to get the body heat up

Kick my legs, as opposed to just letting them drag and keep me balanced.

Not Working!!

Plan  B

slow my breathing down and try tackle it from a mental aspect.

New mantra now

IT IS NOT THAT COLD

IT IS NOT THAT COLD

IT IS NOT THAT COLD

IT IS NOT THAT COLD

IT IS NOT THAT COLD

mentally say that about a thousand times

Next thought that permeates my head

DUDE, GET REAL! IT IS FFFFRIGGIN FREEZING!!!!!

HOW MUCH LONGER WE GOT IN THIS BLOODY ICE BUCKET

4 HOURS 45 MINUTES

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!!!

HOW DEMENTED AM I TO BE DOING THIS?

OH MY LIVING THIS IS COLD!!!

So for 5 hours, that is what went through my head whilst the outward appearances were being realised by the development of goose bumps the size of mount Everest on my entire body.

2 hours finally came  and we got to get some energy drink and some jelly babies. It was the best tasting energy drink I have ever tasted and was great to get something warm inside me. Psychologically, the time that it takes for that first 2 hour feed to come round seems like eons. After that, the feeds go to every hour and they seem to come round pretty quickly in comparison.

To stop me losing my thoughts in how Bloody cold it was, Vicky came up with a mental game. At the end of each length of the harbour we asked each other questions about 5 sports you would like to be good at, 5 best places to visit, 5 next challenges, then for the next length you  had to think about what your answers would be. This did go a small way to alleviate the constant OH MY GOOD IT IS COLD chatter in my head.

2 Hours Energy drink and Jellie babies, then out for another hour, 3 hours energy drink and bananas, then out for another hour. 4 hours, Energy drink and Milky way chocolate. then Out for my final hour. man it felt good. At this point I told Vicky that I was going to slow my pace down a bit and that she must carry on on her own. during the last 40 minutes of this hour I met up with Lisa again. As my pace had slowed, I swam along with her until the 5 hour mark. That last hour was also pretty tedious with my mind playing games with me about when I should exit. I had to swim past the middle of the beach (Where the organisers base themselves) and the desire to just head for the shore was pretty overwhelming, but I needed to do 5 hours. When I cam in for the last time and emerged from the murkiness of Dover harbour. There was mixed emotions that went through my mind. I was, undoubtedly, glad that I had done it. But I was also dam pleased that it was over. Now the task of dealing with my Everest like goosebumps, the blueness of my body and the unbearable shivering that ensued.

After about 45 minutes, having got some food in me and some coffee and warm clothes - Man I am so glad I keep a spare pair of clothes and warm jackets in my car as all I had come down in was standard Zimhippo attire consisting of T-shirt and shorts and flip flops. I started to feel a bit more human, my lips were no longer purple, my body had lost most of its Blue hue and I could now feel, and account for most of my body parts.

I then relaxed on the beach, catching up with the beach crew and waiting for the the rest to finish their 6 and 7 hour swimmers to come in. Well done to all of you who were out there and best of luck to all of you for your respective swims, I still think you all mad but have huge respect for all of you.

How is it all going Now?

As mentioned before, I am very pleased that I have got that 5 hour swim out of the way. It is something that I have not really been looking forward to and have been procrastinating on it until the absolute last moment I need to do it. The fact that it was done in the ocean has a few benefits associated with it. It also has a few drawbacks as well, let me explain.

Swimming in salt water adds buoyancy to your body that you do not get when you are swimming in the lakes. From that aspect you do not have to worry so much about keeping your body up and streamlined as the water keeps your body floating well. In the lakes you do not have that benefit so we generally have to spend more time adjusting our stroke to keep our hips and legs up and this over compensation can cause back problems as our heads go down more to lift our bodies up.

I am led to believe that the lakes, including Zurich, will be a lot warmer than the Channel. It is something that I have encountered so far. Dover was much colder than Shepperton where I swim. I only hope that is true. having lost a lot of my insulation over the last year, I struggle a bit with continuous cold. I never used to when I was a bit heavier.

With a 5 hour under my belt and still about 8 weeks till my swim, I think I am in decent shape and can now concentrate on my endurance and also look more into my feeding and nutrition whilst I swim. I will most likely stick with what I know  - MaxiCarb pluss chocolate, bananas and jelly babies.

Thank you all to a wonderful day in Dover and thank you all for following my blog .

A saying that was on a lot of the swim caps yesterday which is quite pertinent

Nothing Great is EASY.

Captain Matthew Webb 

Jubilee Swim 2014

Time for another 10km.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes in Britain. Twelve days after my Dorney lake swim, which took place on a very Typical British bank holiday, wet, Rainy and Grey.

I was once told if you let the weather dictate what you do in Blighty, YOU WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING. I never realised how true that was. Well yesterday arrived and the weather was AWESOME. Not a cloud in the sky - when I woke at 4am. I went and sat outside for about half an hour with a cup of coffee thinking about How I was going to approach a 10km swim along the Jubilee River that lay ahead of me, visualising the journey, the other people, what obstacles I might encounter......... On days like this I do love being a morning person. Admittedly, this habit of waking at 4am is not a good one but it seems that I have settled into my 5 hours sleep a day cycle.

6 am came and it was time for some good old maize meal porridge and fruit to set me up for the day. I was not planning on feeding again on this swim. Possibly not a great idea but I do not often feed on 10km swims. A thought that was invading my mind was "Will this be the year I get ill?" River swimming in this country is pretty hit and miss, as to what sort of bacteria and bugs are floating round in them at the time. Last year at this same swim, if I recall correctly, about half the people got ill in one form or another. I have swum in many rivers, lakes and Oceans over the last 5 years and - touch wood (my head will do) I have yet to get sick in any form. However, I am acutely aware that there will always be a first time.

It was time to leave and head for the registration. I love travelling around London on a Sunday morning at 8 am, the traffic is a breeze. This year, parking was onsite so no 15 minute walk to the registration.Got there, Registered, picked up my timing ship and GOLD swimming cap?? My posse, much reduced from last year was there, thank you Audra for taking time to join me. We sat around for the buses to arrive to take us to the start, chatting to familiar and unfamiliar faces .As this is a Point to Point race, the start is 10km up river from the Race HQ and finish area, hence the buses to take us and our supporters there.

We arrived and disembarked and got ready for the start. My mind was all over the place haveing to go back to the bus twice, to fetch my goggles. 1st time to get them out of my bag, 2nd time to actually get them. It was soon very obvious that I was going to be seriously outnumbered but the Wetsuit Wearing Wallowers. I was looked on with complete envy as it was such a gorgeous day for a skins swim and there were all this bunch donning up 5mm wetsuits and standing around in the baking sun until we were allowed into the water

one small addition to the course over last year was a fallen tree, in the middle of the river, about 300m after the start that we had to keep on our Right. Very close after that there was an island that we had to keep to the left. The racing Chicane was in place then! Soon we were off and the typical start of a race ensued with a lot of thrashing water and people jostling for space.

As you can see, I am right near the close bank with the rest of the field above me. This time, unlike most my swims, I tried a different strategy at the start. Where I usually wait for everyone to go and then start my race, I tried to get in a fast start with the rest of the group. The above mentioned tree now became a bit of a hazard for me. I had a kayaker pushing me out from the bank - to go around the tree - whilst the rest of the group were pushing me towards the bank to get as close as they could to go round the tree. As I slowed to squeeze around the kayaker, and lifted my head to site, SMACK!!! I got someones heel straight in the face, dislodging my goggles and resulting in me seeing stars for a few seconds. I honestly thought I had a blood nose, I swam on with one hand whilst trying to adjust my goggles and check if the flailing hoof had done any damage with the other hand. Luckily it had not. Goggles now reseated and sealed, I carried on up the river.

The race then progressed with the field spreading out. the first section of this swim is 1.9km, after which you get out to go around the weir then back in. I stuck close to the banks and occasionally ended up dragging my fingers on the shoreline so I moved out into the middle a bit where it was deeper and there were more swimmers to contend with.

 First section of 1.9km was done in 26 minutes then we had a 3.5km section which was over in 53 minutes 15 seconds before we had to exit again with a slightly longer walk to get back in. At his point I saw how some people get around having to run and swim. They were wearing full wetsuits and a pair of trainers. Whatever gets you through I suppose. The next leg was 2.6Km and this came round in 41 min 25seconds.

These two middle sections were more of a "swim on your own" legs, as the field had spread out quite a bit by this stage and also, in the latter parts of the 2nd leg and beginning of the 3rd leg, we were now starting to catch up to the slower people of the waves that left 30 minutes and an hour before us. Generally the water was open ahead of you and I just had to get into the zone and  "just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!"

Towards the end of the 2nd leg, and start of the 3rd leg I was now catching the slower swimmers from previous waves up and also the people that had gone out to swiftly at our start. I Like to have people ahead of me to chase and keep my enthusiasm up so it was good to start getting people to chase again. I was then out for the last weir and the start of the 4th and final leg - a 1.5km stretch to the end. This took me just over 23 minutes. I was overtaking lots of people now which was fun - for me.

Soon enough it was all over. The finish was a bit slippery and muddy but there were plenty of people on hand to help you out and I was welcomed out by Audra and a fair amount of people who had obviously heard about a Hippo in orange trunks, that came to greet me and congratulate me on a passable time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 40 seconds.

Talking to a few people they  were commenting on how composed I looked towards the end of the Race. Audra had been counting my strokes again and I was averaging 70 - 72 strokes a minute. this is a much faster cadence than I did at the Dorney 10Km a few weeks ago. I also learnt that I was a hit amongst the spectators as I was an easy beacon to find their wayward wetsuit wearing wallowers by. It was often heard, when looking for their swimmers, "the dude with the orange trunks, ahead or behind him."

I like to be of use to someone so glad I am someone easy to spot.

Synopsis

All in all a great swim and a must on any marathon swimmers list. Pretty easy swim with a few breaks along the way, very easy for the spectators to follow you along 95 % of the course. Great for relay swimmers too. some people doing a 2 person relay whilst others go for the more conventional 4 man team with each swimmer doing a single leg. As the legs are different lengths it is very accessible for those who want a slightly shorter swim or some who want a longer swim. Swimming under some of the bigger bridges can be a bit daunting as you are in bright sunshine then all of a sudden you are enveloped in darkness. Scenery along the way - for those swimmers who are taking it at a leisurely pace - is very nice. Some times the walk around the weirs can be a bit tender on your feet so some swimmers get their spectators to take their flip flops for them to walk around them. Other people wear booties or full on running shoes. For the purists amoung us, anything but trunks is far too much effort.

The silverware is pretty cool this year.

The above is purely my perspective and others may have differing ones but I think this swim is a very good swim to do.

So what is next?

For the Foreseeable future, I have no races to take part in. I will look for another 10km this month or next month. Even If I do not manage to get anymore, I will still be continuing my training for Zurich and plan to do a 5 hour swim before the end of June so one Saturday or Sunday I will be down at the lakes by 6am then swim until 11 am, possibly longer. I think I will be sticking too lake or river swims as that is what I will be swimming in whilst in Zurich As it is with this sport, I am meeting so many more wonderful people. most of which swim because they love to swim rather than want to  win. it is such a great group to be around..

To end I am going to use a quote I have used to many fellow swimmers over the last couple of weeks, I know not who said it, but, in my mind it makes sense

It is not about the final destination or the result.

It is all about the amazing journey you have taken

to get to this point!!

Weekend Training a bit hap hazard!!

A weekend or weird training

Well the weekend arrived and it was time to go off and get some proper training in. I had arranged to meet someone at the lakes on Sunday. So to get ahead of the game and also to try and get a longer swim in, I Snuck off to the lakes on Saturday morning. The Sun was shining, the weather was fair, I thought, This is going to be a good day to get in a swim above 2 hours. My hopes were up I was fully prepared with Sunscreen - I really had to dig around to find that!! 

ALAS, as I drove up to the entrance of the lake there was a big sign that Swimming was cancelled. Roll on Grumpy Gumps!!!  To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. I then bumped into one of the organisers and they told me the situation, the car park was waterlogged and they really did not want too many cars on it as it would just have churned it up and made it a lot worse. Oh how we love the British Summers, earlier in the week it had rained for about two days solidly. I thought Fair point. With the weather being so good - a sweltering 15 degrees celcius and the water temp predicted to be a balmy 17 degrees, they probably would have had about 200 swimmers pass through there on the Saturday alone.

As the organisers were hanging around, I could not even hop over the fence and take a dip on my own. I would never dream of breaking any laws but bending them is always a possibility. Oh well, onto PLAN B. What did Plan B entail? 

This is me you are talking about, PLANNING!!! What is that? That is for people who are organised. So without a Plan B I now had to make one. All the other lakes would be closing soon as it was pushing 9.15am. I really did not want to do a trip to Dover as I would be ridiculed for being SOOO late. So I was left with the only option available to me, lets head to the gym. Not really where I wanted to be on such a great day, but, I NEEDED to do some training.

So Gym it was, I dragged myself, begrudgingly out of my car and disappeared out of the sunshine into the depths of the gym with its Chlorine soup  bath (pool) to swim in. I got in and started on a set which was being devised on the fly. After the 6th 500m swim, My thoughts drifted to other open water swimmers and their Challenges. One, of particular interest, and one that I am following quite avidly is by a lady from the Netherlands called Anoushka Bold. A truly inspirational woman who is swimming a mile a day of  BREASTSTROKE for a year, in order to raise money for Cancer Research. After my 6 x 500m swims, I was getting a bit bored so decided that I would give this madness a try - at least once. So 64 lengths of breaststroke it was. after 29 minutes it was over and my thoughts were, WHY ON EARTH WOULD ANYONE PUNISH THEMSELVES LIKE THAT? - 365 times?? Whilst also gaining huge respect for her and her efforts and also how many people she has got following her and keeping her inspired.

That swim finally ended after about 5.2km as I was starting to overheat and was yearning to be outside in the sunshine.

Sunday Bloody Sunday!!!

After waking up aearly and getting a whole lot of admin done and tidying up, my thoughts turned to a bit of swimming. I knew the lakes would be closed, I DID NOT want to go to the gym on such a great day and I wanted to do another 5km at least!! Armed with my UNUSED suncream, after the trouble of trying to find the dam stuff the day before. I headed to a new gem of a pool that I have discovered down at Guildford, a lido with the following credentials

50m

Outdoor

Heated

Two out of three aint bad. Arriving about 9.30 and ready for a great swim I was informed that I would only be allowed to swim for 20 minutes before they kicked us all out for half an hour and then reopened at 10.30am. When I would have to pay again, for the daytime swim. Hence to say I was GUTTED, and, maybe a little bit annoyed.  Who on earth comes up with opening hours like that on a Sunday- when the weather is so great????  But one thing I have learned in the first world, RULES ARE RULES!! to be asked to deviate from said rules, requires someone to think, Thinking is the enemy in the modern world!!! That is why there are RULES, so people do not have to THINK.

You can now guess where I ended up. Yes, THE GYM chlorine bathtub. Sadly my mojo had deserted me so I only managed to do a very slow, very paltry 2.2km before my yearning to be outside got the better of me. So outside we went, my weekend of outdoor swimming utterly dashed against the rocks of bureacracy and a bit of good old British weather. OR was it??

Later on Sunday

After a particularly lazy day, My friend Audra finshed her work and was wanting to do something so, quick as a flash, I suggested we head to Guildford Lido for a bit of a dip. She is currently toying with the idea of doing some openwater swimming and I needed to get my distance up a bit. As we were now in the pool, I had to start my training as I always do in the pool. A length underwater. there was just one minor problem. I normally train in a 25m pool, this one was 50m!! I mentioned to Audra that I was going to try it and a guy next to me overheard me. He then asked "are you seriously going to do a legth underwater?' My response, "That is the Plan." so after hyperventilating for a few minutes I disappeared into the 1.2m depths of the pool (it does get deeper in the middle) and off I went. SLOWLY to preserve my oxygen and however many minutes later, my head broke the surface at the other end follwed by a bit of dizziness and a HUGE GULP of air into my lungs. I had done it! It is a far cry from what I used to be able to do 20 odd years ago - 2 lengths of a pool that length underwater. Oh well, that is what many years of abuse and lack of training does to you.

I then went onto do a further 1.5km in the big pool. I had forgotten how different it was to swimming in a short pool. the lengths seem to go on FOREVER. I was jsut happy being outside and enjoying the latter part of the day in an outdoor pool.

All in all the weekend of outdoor swimming was a bit of a fiasco but that will hopefully be remdied tonight when - if the carpark is still not waterlogged, I will be at the lakes for an evening of watery wallowing along with some friends who will be out there doing 3 hour swims.

Monday Evening

HOORAY!!!  the lakes are open again so I arrived at about 6.15pm, met up with a few skins swimmers, Lisa and Vicky and joined them for 5km, Vicky is training for the channel in about 4 weeks time so although we swim at very similar speeds, she definitely has me on the endurance side. She was in for 3 hours last night. it was fabulous swimming with her ---and annoying people in black condoms, if you think they gt annoyed being passed by a male skin swimmer, you can imagine their disgust at being passed by a female. You vicky. Good luck for the channel.

Future Events

This weekend will see me taking to the rivers for a 10km swim again. I have a bit of a point to prove here. last year I won this event in the skins category.there were only three of us but i still won it and my time was not too bad at 2 hurs 27 minutes. My aim is to get somewhere near that time but considering I only managed 2 hours 44 minutes last week, it could be  a big ask.. Roll on the weekend.

A saying I have seen Recently on the internet.

I swim because

not even my troubles can

keep up with me there.

I hope you all have a lovely week and I hope to see some of you on Sunday at the jubilee River swim.