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