ups and downs of an open water swimmer

I can't believe where the time is going, It's now less than a year until my little swim across the channel.  We are getting into serious training now and when we are not training we are reading about training programmes, preparation for the crossing, recovery requirements and even organising questions for my support team to ask me to check for a potential onset of hypothermia whilst swimming.  We have a list of things to take with us that's so long that already we're going to need a bigger boat.  I'm also trying to understand the world of sports nutrition to ensure that I don't burn out halfway there.  I think it's going to be easier to swim than to remember what I have to eat and when.

A couple of weeks ago Lorraine and me went to the Western Lakes with a company called Swim Trek for a weekend of lake swimming. It was excellent except for the rain, wind, tent and 14 degrees water temp.  Seriously it was brilliant.  We slept in a two man tent without an air bed listening to the wind and rain during the night.  Our first swim was on the Saturday. We had a short walk to the lake from the minibus. It was really windy but the view was spectacular.  I decided not to wear a wetsuit, being tough and plunged into the water (tip toed in like a girlie really).  It was shocking how cold the water was. When I finally managed to catch my breath and swim, my arms were burning from the cold.  As we swam across the lake, the rain started and everytime you came up for breath you got a mouthfull of rain water.

Picture this, when we finally reached the end of the swim which was approx 2k, we congregated on a grass hill in the middle of two lakes, wind and rain lashing down on us trying to get out of our swim suits (whilst trying to maintain some dignity), into some dry clothing, with one of the kayaks and a large tarpauling for cover.  The weather was so bad, the second swim was cancelled. 

Saturday night's weather was the same as Friday's, wind and rain. Everything seemed to be covered in mud.  It was still windy and raining when we got up on sunday but an hour later, the clouds cleared and the sun shone so off we went for our next swim.  As I was so cold the previous day I thought I would be sensible and wear a wet suit (big mistake).  I was promptly measured and issued with one, but within five minutes of swimming, I felt as if I was being strangled and I could not expand my chest enough to breath properly.  Lorraine, who was in the faster group (no surprise there), saw my distress and came back to see if I was alright. She undid my zip to see if that would help, but unfortunately no.  So there I was, hanging off the end of a kayak bobbing about in the water with Lorraine pulling off the wet suit so that I could carry on swimming.  Oh what memories I'm going to have.

Unfortuantely, I have had a shoulder injury with some bicep pain, I've spent the last couple of days resting it, taking anti inflammatories and ice packing it. I'm glad to say that it feels a lot better, so I am going to give it a test run down the pool tomorrow night and if it is ok I am going to head off to Dover Harbour on Saturday to see if I can get my first swim under the supervision of Freda Streeter.  I'll let you know how I get on.

the end of the tent

It was a very sad occasion last week when Lorraine's home made (or should I say designer) tent was laid to rest.  She finally realised that it was not doing what she needed it to do, so after the swim she took it home and put it in the bin.  Note to myself - make sure I do what she needs me to do, I don't fancy ending up in the bin.