THE JOURNEY SO FAR - JULY 2010
I am not really a swimmer. I’ve never had a coach or a club. Recreational holiday swimming, with the occasional bout of keep-fit morning swims at the local pool, was about my lot. But I’ve secretly dreamed of swimming the Channel for years and years. I just never told anyone.
I signed up to a charitable swim around Gozo, Malta which is how I started<>in the summer of 2008. I had got the bug, so I carried on in 2009 and completed my first 2 marathon swims, Lough Erne and Lake Windermere.
In September 2009, I decided I would declare my dream and try to make it a reality; booking a pilot and his boat and crew for an English solo Channel attempt for the first week of August 2010.
Since then I’ve trained and trained. I took technique lessons in December and trained alone at indoor pools throughout the winter. It felt futile, tiring and isolating. I started sea-training at Easter in Cornwall. It was 7 degrees C, I managed ¾ of an hour each time and felt hypothermic. It was great to be out of the pool, but my confidence was very low.
I started the Dover-organised swims in May 2010 and struggled with the others in 10 degree-water. I decided I had to go every weekend, if I was to have a chance of keeping up; if I could, it would address my low confidence, but if not, well, I would know inwardly that I would have no choice but to scrap the whole idea, at least for 2010.
By Whitsun, I felt I had turned a corner; I was now keeping up with back-to-back swims of 3 and 4 hours at Dover. And on 19th June I completed my first open water 6 hour swim in 13.7 degrees water and was able to complete my registration for the Channel attempt.
Since then it has been 7 and 6 hour swims each weekend and my consistency and power has improved with each. Frankly I can’t believe I’ve survived the training – it feels like a real achievement.
I am now fine-tuning in the short time remaining. I plan to test out a few things e.g. my newly acquired Channel grease (-no, not goose fat, but lanolin and Vaseline mix and it’s mostly to stop chaffing rather than heat retention -), feeding of the “Maxim” calorie-drink via a pole and a night swim to test my lights – after all, I expect to start in the small hours of the morning to catch the tide.
I am not really a swimmer. I’ve never had a coach or a club. Recreational holiday swimming, with the occasional bout of keep-fit morning swims at the local pool, was about my lot. But I’ve secretly dreamed of swimming the Channel for years and years. I just never told anyone.
I signed up to a charitable swim around Gozo, Malta which is how I started<>in the summer of 2008. I had got the bug, so I carried on in 2009 and completed my first 2 marathon swims, Lough Erne and Lake Windermere.
In September 2009, I decided I would declare my dream and try to make it a reality; booking a pilot and his boat and crew for an English solo Channel attempt for the first week of August 2010.
Since then I’ve trained and trained. I took technique lessons in December and trained alone at indoor pools throughout the winter. It felt futile, tiring and isolating. I started sea-training at Easter in Cornwall. It was 7 degrees C, I managed ¾ of an hour each time and felt hypothermic. It was great to be out of the pool, but my confidence was very low.
I started the Dover-organised swims in May 2010 and struggled with the others in 10 degree-water. I decided I had to go every weekend, if I was to have a chance of keeping up; if I could, it would address my low confidence, but if not, well, I would know inwardly that I would have no choice but to scrap the whole idea, at least for 2010.
By Whitsun, I felt I had turned a corner; I was now keeping up with back-to-back swims of 3 and 4 hours at Dover. And on 19th June I completed my first open water 6 hour swim in 13.7 degrees water and was able to complete my registration for the Channel attempt.
Since then it has been 7 and 6 hour swims each weekend and my consistency and power has improved with each. Frankly I can’t believe I’ve survived the training – it feels like a real achievement.
I am now fine-tuning in the short time remaining. I plan to test out a few things e.g. my newly acquired Channel grease (-no, not goose fat, but lanolin and Vaseline mix and it’s mostly to stop chaffing rather than heat retention -), feeding of the “Maxim” calorie-drink via a pole and a night swim to test my lights – after all, I expect to start in the small hours of the morning to catch the tide.
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