The end of a very tough week. Includes Coaches Report for August 2010

It's the end of another week of training.  Completed 20k, with a combination of pool and sea swims.  It has been tough and I've not even started the hard training yet, as Lorraine (my coach) keeps telling me.

Monday was a rest day as there were no tides that we could swim and the local pool does not have any evening sessions.
 
Tuesday managed 2.8k in the pool.  Very restricted with pool time.  Started with 1k warm up then went onto 40 single sprints off 35secs (snails pace for most but lung burning for me).  Finished with 5 x 200 off 4.30. 

Wednesday, we did a sea swim and for the first time we had waves.  I even managed to do a 360 degree roll.  I breathed to the right, just as a wave rolled in and it flipped me onto my back and all the way over, back onto my stomach.  However, I was dead chuffed with myself as I thought 'oh' and just carried on swimming.  Feeding was quite tricky as treading water whilst being pushed about by waves is not easy.  We decided to try and swim against the tide so sent our husbands off to our get out point, but after 20 arm pulls I looked up realising I had only gone about 2 foot so we decided enough was enough and got out (the picture attached is of us after we got out of the water) and went to retrieve our men.

Thursday I was on a long day at work so could do no training.  Then we come to Friday.  We achieved our longest distance in one session yet, completing 3 hours in the pool and a total distance of 7k.  This was made up of 800 warm up (1 length back, 1 length breast and 2 lengths free). We then went on to do 10 broken 400 sprints; Then, as a breather 8 x 1 length kicking, and finished with a 2k straight swim.  I had to stay in the pool chating for about 10 minutes after that session as my arms were so wasted I could'nt get out.  Really pleased with this session but began to dread how I would swim the next day.

Saturday arrived all too quickly for a five mile sea swim from Westcliff Leisure Centre to East Beach at Shoeburyness.  The sea was once again rough with many obsticles to get around including wind surfers, moored sailing boats and at one time we had to swim against the tide to get past an obstruction in the water. 

I had my first panic attack.  I really freaked out.  Lorraine was really good trying to keep me calm and then all of a sudden she said "stand up" which I did and we discoverd that we had been swimming in four foot of water - whereby I promptly burst into tears.  I think I had freaked because neither of us knew exactly where we were heading as we had never swam this far before and we had hit a bit of sea that seemed to have tides coming at you from 3 different directions plus the fact that there was no where we could have safely got out of the water.  Eventually, we rounded the small pier and I saw a bit of beach and had to come in.  We soon realised that we were stuck on the beach as no escape, so had to get back in the water which by now was only three foot deep.  Having reflected on what had caused me to panic I believe it was because I felt I had no way out of the water.  I began to worry if I was like that now what would I be like when there was no land nearby.  I managed to think rationally and calmed my worries as it occured to me that I would always be able to get out if I needed to as there was always going to be a boat near me.  Felt really bad that night as nutritionally, I was depleted and got the shakes so decided that I would not swim the next day and duly called Lorraine to tell her.  About half an hour later, she texted me back, nicely, telling me to get over it and carry on.

Swim against the tide don't be silly

Sunday guess what I went swimming in the sea. Only did 1k using the swim to stretch out my tired and sore muscles.  Pleased that I did and had to admit so to my rather smug coach.  I wonder what the next week will bring?

Lorraine Rate/Coach report

I am really pleased with our first two months. And whats more, we now have a plan. For those who don’t know me, I am a long distance swimmer, but I am a pool swimmer, not an open water swimmer. Am I gonna get this right for Karen? Well, with lots of studying, education and input from my old swimming buddies, I think we can pull this off. From all the stuff I'm reading, there is no right or wrong way to tackle this. Everyones abilities to withstand such gruelling training, such extreme in temperatures, such dedication is different and it is all gonna be tested to the limit over the coming months. Feeling a little nervous about my personal challenge to get Karen in good shape to attempt this, I’ve been putting a few feelers about myself and a huge huge thanks to Gavin Rowsell, an excellent swim coach, when he offered me the best advice I would want to hear, which basically came across as, “Don’t get bogged down with all that reading and technical stuff, you have a wealth of experience behind you to rely on”. So with that boost of confidence in me, I will try to do a combination of both. Look at the people who have achieved it, see what the experts say, and then look at what I did to achieve my successes in swimming. Put it all together - and see you in France.


We both work full time too so, gone are the days we're gonna come home to a nice cooked meal and relax with the family. Now, its pack the swim bag before bed, straight from work to the sea/pool for 2, 3 and sometimes 4 hours. We train 6 days a week at the moment, where work commitments allow. If the tides in, its in the sea. If a lakes available, its in a lake. If they are not available, its down the pool or gym. We are already exceeding 20k a week and this has only been on drills, no meaty stuff yet, so I am confident we have enough time to build this up to an extreme 21k in a day (albeit I will only make her do this a couple of times a month, so dont start shouting at me just yet). She's a tough cookie, shes got stamina, she’s got strength and she's got endurance. Weaknesses - her frame of mind sometimes, but we will work on that.

Even if we don’t always accomplish a perfect arm entry, perfect propulsive phase, exit and recovery, the first 6 weeks were set aside for stroke correction and she has taken them all onboard with enthusiasm and we will continue to flash back to them so she doesn’t get complacent.

I read recently that “now is not the time to start changing a stroke” when you are just about to attempt a channel crossing. We can’t always assume that every person’s encounter of their channel training experience, is the ‘right encounter’. And we are not about to attempt a channel crossing anyway – it’s a year away. We decided to do two months drills as there were some real fundamental stroke issues going on that needed addressing. Her stroke is relaxed, it’s comfortable and it’s consistent. But with a little tweaking, relaxed, comfortable and consistent could come down to 25 strokes per length instead of 30, thus making her overall challenge less tiresome. If I can get her across in say, 10,000 arm strokes less than she needs to use, think of the energy saving. This is something we practice every meet.
Bringing her down from a 6 beat leg kick to a 2 beat leg kick in the hope that she will settle for a 4 beat one has not been so easy. For a channel crossing, a hard fast leg kick is going to deplete oxygen levels and exhaustion will quickly settle in. By the same standards, no leg kick whatsoever, and by this I mean, just dragging legs, (which she has a habit of doing when we are on a long one and she knows Im not looking), will throw you off balance and increase your arm rate, especially if its rough in the sea.

On another read, a guy says to give yourself at least 2 years to train for such a challenge. Well, she booked it and then approached me and said, I only have 1 year, so I did not get the option to plan the time scale. It can be done, we are confident we will do it and together we will prove it can be done in just one year.
As we move away from August now with just a couple of days to our holiday with Swimtrek, all these schedules/targets that I have finally managed to put into place with my eyes pegged open at the computer till all hours, will now take over our lives. Having a plan already laid out means we have targets and goals each month. Building up the distance, building up the time spent in cold water and strengthening the mind to overcome our fears of the sea. Notice I say OUR fears, yes I have my own challenge going on too as I swim all the training sessions with her and I hate the sea! Each month, I will update the diary with how we are progressing and what Karen’s achieved.
Finally, we are gonna have one hell of a party when this is all over, so stay with us everyone for the next year, follow the traumas, the tears, the laughter and don’t forget to look at those awesome photos!! When the day comes, we will post 1/2 hourly updates on facebook so you can stay with us during the challenge too and offer words of support whilsts its happening.

As for the party, (unless she fails of course), then the party will be delayed (similar to when she doesnt get it right in training, I will make her get in and do it again), we want all our supporters to join us, hopefully, we can present a lovely cheque to her charities too because there is an equal amount of work going on in the background at the moment with sponsorships etc.

So from a very nervous, but ambitious coach, back in September, bye for now.

p.s. Karen, pool please 6pm tonight, I will come straight from work so get your warm up done before I get there….. Yeh, L.O.L., this is the type of texts she gets from me continuously. x.