8 weeks to go

So how did training go in week 9, initially not well.  I have had an ongoing problem with my shoulder since last year which has been treated by physio.  Unfortunately after competing in the 2swim4life 24 hours swim it aggravated my shoulder and by the time I got home I was not able to lift my left arm, it was so painful my husband had to undress me, bath me and wash my hair.  On Monday I was able to move my arm about 12 inches from my body but only if I had taken plenty of pain killers. 

Back at work on Tuesday and managed to get to see David the physiotherapist who has been treating me, he had me lift my arms out to assess the damage and let me know that my left shoulder blade was winging (sticking out instead of flat), he promptly spent the next five minutes pushing with all of his weight on to my shoulder to loosen it and realign the shoulder blade, boy did I say ouch or words to that effect.  I was also working a long day so no training that night (oh dear what a shame).

We were due to swim in the pool on Wednesday, how glad was I when Lorraine informed me she was not going to be able to swim as she had a possible ear infection and was getting a lot of pain, although my shoulder was now moving more freely it was still buring with pain at the joint.  This was the same for Thursday.

Friday swimming in the crouch I was due to meet Lorraine and Nick in the water as they had finished work before me and were already swimming.  So there I was in our usual spot where they launch the boats, no kayak support and getting into the open water on my own for the first time ever and I remember thinking what do I do with my shoes, normally there is always someone available to take them from me (who do I think I am the queen of Sheba).  I found a bit of grass to leave them, hoping they would still be there when I finished swimming (walking on pebbles/stones really hurts).

I started swimming or should I say attempting to swim, the water was colder than it had been recently and it took quite some time to acclimatise.  I was in for about 5 minutes when I met up with Lorraine and Nick.  Lorraine had to get out as her ear was beginning to hurt, so she was going to walk along the river bank to keep an eye on me.  Although he had already swum for an hour Nick said he felt ok and would continue to swim with me.  We swam to the mile point and I chose to turn around knowing I was getting cold and had been in less time than Nick. 

Nick is a much faster swimmer than me and regularly laps me in the pool so how much was I surprise when we turned and he remained behind me, very quickly I realised that something was not quite right.  I made sure that I was aware of where he was all the time thinking that the cold must have got to him and he was very quickly becoming hypothermic.  Lorraine had been watching us and had come to the same conclusion, we had a quick conversation and she went back to the cars to get his towel. 

Nick and myself continued to swim and I made sure I was close to him should he need support.  As I was swimming I was going over everything I had seen or heard about rescuing someone from the water convinced that I might have to rescue Nick.  Eventually Lorraine was back with his towel and we managed to get him out of the water.  Lorraine took him back to his car to warm up and I continued to swim back under Lorraine's watchful eye.  It just goes to show how dangerous open water swimming can be and why you should always have a swim buddy or boat support.  One minute you feel fine the next you become totally disoriented and unable to function properly.  But I must admit I did gloat quite a bit when I knew that Nick was ok that I was in front of him for a change.

Saturday first day back at Dover under the watchful eyes of someone more scary than my coach Lorraine, I think she even scared Lorraine.  Freda Streeter who has been organising and bullying channel hopefuls for years her own daughter has swum the channel approx 43 times and has even completed a couple of three way swims.  We arrived late so we missed the briefing, I got in the water with the sun shining having planned to stay in the water for over an hour, I managed 1 hour 15 mins.  Feeling really pleased with myself got out to be told by Freda that I was due to get back in at 11.30, it was a bit of a shock to say the least but lesson learnt don't be late for the briefing again, so back in I got for another 30 minutes.  You can see how cold I was if you look at the photo at the bottom of Lorraine's report.

Sunday saw me in the crouch with my faithful kayak support hubby Roger, we did an hour swimming/kayaking against the tide and on the return trip also had to deal with heading into the wind which made the water quite choppy.  So although the week had a slow start quite happy with the achievements. This coming week we have tides nearly every day, so hope to be in the crouch every day.

To close this weeks report don't forget I need your support to get me across the channel so visit my donation site and choose a quarter mile for me to swim just for you.  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Karensbigswim