Coaches Report - October 2010 - God, it's getting cold out there

And so another month passes.  Another month of 4 swims a week, with one being a continuous non-stop one and with as many gyms as we can physically handle when trying to run a family and hold down a full-time job.  I have to say it’s a complete pleasure working alongside Karen.  Her enthusiasm to succeed in this challenge certainly makes my job a little easier.  October’s continuous non-stop swim of 8k has now been achieved in the pool with a very reasonable time from Karen of 2hrs 40mins.  We had already achieved this distance at Dover back in September and in some respects, doing it in the cold sea is actually easier than a pool.  You need so much focus for swimming up and down in 30 degrees in the pool, and it’s boring.  You are swimming the same bit of water over and over again and the heat just zaps up your energy levels so quick.

This month, I had a poignant trip down memory lane when a failed attempt to swim in the sea one Sunday morning, meant that we ended up in

Warrier Square

baths.  My old haunt from my childhood days that saw me progress from County swimmer to an international back in the ‘70’s. As we swum through our 6.4k there, all I could think about was the 1000’s of lengths I had clocked up in those baths as a child while my dad, who is no longer with me, slept outside in the car at ridiculous o’clock in the morning.  I drifted away in my own little world on this morning remembering how many hours my parents had sat on that very poolside every week, encouraging me to succeed.  Sad to say that this very weekend,

Warrier Square

baths has closed for good.  But, I am happy to say, that my coach from those days, Mike Higgs who now lives in South Africa, still speaks to me on Facebook and is following our channel experience.  And not to forget my swim mate from those days, Penny Palfrey (Pedley) back then, and now the open water Queen of Australia, is also giving so much welcomed support and advice all the way from down-under. 

But, onwards and upwards!  Enough of all the soppy stuff, we have a channel to train for. 

The past month has seen my house being turned into a circuit training area.  Hubby came home to ‘Sit ups and push ups are being done on the landing dear’, bike, weights, trampoline is in the back bedroom, medicine ball in the hallway, not to forget jogging up and down the stairs – oh and then there’s Wi-fit core body strengthening in half hours time in the garden room.  Luckily, he loves spending lots of time in the garage polishing his golf clubs! 

I guess the most memorable thing for this month has to be the low temperature that we are now swimming in.  Another book we are both reading at the moment is Lewis Gordon Pugh – Achieving the Impossible’.  Hopefully, by the end of the book, he will have taught us how to ‘train our minds’ to achieving the cold-water challenge.  He is known as the Ice-man or Polar Bear and once swum 1k in minus 2 degrees to bring awareness to environmental protection.  Swimming in 14 degrees is just about bearable for the likes of Karen and me, as long as you have ‘trained your mind’ so to speak, that you are capable of doing it.  And just dropping half a degree less than that, you really notice it.  So our 1 hour and 10mins in 10.5 degrees in Southend last weekend left us (apart from hypothermic), elated.  I guess, if you can do 1 hour in 10.5, it maybe equivalent of surviving several hours in 14 degrees.  That’s the theory we are working on.  Get our bodies used to swimming in this temperature so it no longer becomes something new to us.

An evening with the Swimtrek gang on October 30 in London, speaking to successful channel swimmers underlined just how on track we are.  Comments from two chaps that have swum the channel this year in 10hours and 12 hours respectively and who said to us, “If you girls can swim over an hour in 10.5 degrees”, you are home and dry.  Such a boost for Karen.  This is what she needs.  This is what we both need.  Positive thinking, positive comments and lots of encouragement.

It’s hard to explain, but when the alarm goes off on a cold frosty morning, it’s dark and the house is lovely and warm, and it’s quiet and your hubby is all tucked up in bed, fast asleep.  What possesses someone to get out of that very warm cozy bed, and head off to the beach to swim, in ice cold temperatures just as the sun is rising.   The answer is simple – Prepare yourself for your challenge to succeed.  And we just pop back into a nice warm bed when we get home.  Life’s too short.  It’s for living.  My life was full, happy and complete before Karen came back into it full-time, but now, I realise there is always room to make it more complete.  Anyone who wishes they had the time to full-fill a challenge – just do it.  By saying, I wouldn’t have the time to prepare, it’s another way of saying, I have managed to find an excuse not to do it.  We are living proof that if you want something badly enough – then you do have the time to do it.  You just adjust your daily priorities/routine accordingly.  Karen wants this challenge to succeed and I need to ensure she succeeds in her challenge.

Bit of a soppy report for me this time I guess.  There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that you are playing a big part in ensuring that a friend of yours achieves their challenge.   Of course, there are lots of other people who are also helping in this challenge but I am a big part of it and I am chuffed that Karen chose me to help her.  So brain freeze, here we come again. November, bring it on!  We are ready !  And when it’s over, she’s gonna help me do my challenge………………….. Now she’s worried !

Challenges, Challenges, Challenges

I've come to realise that there are many challenges to my little swim across the channel, least of all the swim itself.  Some of the challenges include:

• How to feed and what to eat - ever tried eating a power bar in 30 secs whilst treading water. It's worse than eating half a dozen cream crackers without a drink!  I can manage drinks and power gels at present. Next challenge will be rice pudding as it is high in carbs and protein.
• Getting the time in the pool to complete long swims.  This is not too bad at the moment but within the next month or so our training time requirements to achieve the distances will out strip our local pool availability
• What goggles to wear - in the last couple of months I have purchased about 6 pairs of goggles to try and find a pair that do not leak or cause pain.  At the moment I am using speedo aqua socket but the most I have worn them is for 3 hours, here's hoping that as the time increases, they remain comfortable, otherwise it's back to the drawing board.
• The best swimsuit to wear - there are two main issues with the swimsuit, comfort along the length ie not cutting in and lack of chaff potential.  It's not only wet suits that can rub around the neck.  If your swimsuit is wrong, you can end up with blisters and sores on your neck from the swimsuit straps.
• The cold - I am looking at being able to stay in the water for approx 14 hours at temps of 14-16 degrees.  I have to acclimatise to the cold whilst battling hypothermia.  This challenge is one for my family as I won't let them put on the heating and I am sleeping with my windows wide open - much to my husbands disbelief as he is very much a hot house plant!  They may not be suffering in silence but bless, them they are suffering.

The Beauty of the Early Morning Swim

In order to help me with the cold, the plan is to swim in the open sea for as long as possible before the weather dictates otherwise, so Sunday just gone, Lorraine and me set off at 7am to meet Tongie (who was supporting us with the kayak) from the Redcaps at the Crowstone so that I could have an early morning swim. 

With only my swimsuit and a little help of some Vaseline, I tentatively stepped into the sea and rapidly asked myself why, when it was still on the dark side, was I standing in the cold sea and not asleep in my bed?  Eventually, I talked myself into taking the plunge and with brain freeze and a numb body started to swim. 

Why am I not Still in Bed

It's strange to move through the cold water with numb arms not feeling them turning but knowing they are, otherwise you'd be drowning.  Then the burning starts which is worse than the brain freeze and the numb limbs, but eventually, much to your own disbelief, thing seems to settle down and you finally get into your stride just in time to stop and feed and then the whole process starts over again. 

When I got out of the sea and stopped shivering I have to say I was quite proud of myself and what I had achieved.  I had managed to complete about 2 miles in the hour.  Almost at the end of the swim we hit a patch of water that felt like someone had thrown a truck load of ice into it.  As I swam in to it, it stopped me dead and took my breath away but strangely leaving me with enough breath to swear like a trooper (I'm glad my mother didn't hear).  It wasn't until the next day that I found out I had managed to swim for approx one hour in 12.2 degrees, how good do I feel.

Tongie the Kayak Man