Four Months and Counting

Yes I'm still here and yes I am still swimming the channel in July I bet you thought I had given up, but I must admit its been a long winter.  I have managed to use every excuse in the book not to train even to the extreme measure of writing off my car when I rolled it into a ditch. 

I have always had a motivation issue in the winter,the short days and traveling to and from work in the dark leaves me wanting to do nothing except go home and sleep much to Lorraine's exasperation.  Many a time she has bit her lip and held back the sharp words I know she has wanted to say, it is through her pushing me  and the fact that spring is on its way that I am back to full training and beginning to enjoy it again.

Hey ho, moving forward it is unbelievable that there are only four more months left until my little swim across the pond.  We have started doing distances in the pool, so far I have managed to swim 8 miles but I am having problems with sickness, I get to about 7k, when the constant turning gets to me and my stomach starts to churn. 

I managed to get to 12k a couple of weeks ago when I had to get out of the pool vomit my guts up and then get back in to finish the last 800m, I can't wait to get back into the sea and just swim and at least if I have to be sick I can do it in the water and just swim on.  When I'm in the pool and I start to feel sick I begin to worry that I might be sick there and then and not manage to get out, how embarrassing would that be, worst than walking around with your knickers tucked in your skirt.  I have changed my feed and using sea bands which has helped a bit.  This week I am going to try ear plugs, just in case water is causing an inner ear imbalance whilst I am swimming.

All my paper work has arrived for the swim I have to have a medical to say that I am fit to do the swim, my GP will not sign me off until I have a cardiac consult due to my heart condition.  Cardiac echo was today and I am pleased to say everything is ok and there is no reason why I can't do the swim.  Next step back to my GP for my medical, I can then send back my documentation and I am all set officially.  I now need to start getting all my kit together and purchase the map of the channel that the pilot will mark as I make progress.  There now seems so much to do and so little time to do it in

Coaches Report November & December 2010

It’s been a tough November and December 2010!.  Hence, two reports together.  The past month has seen my little ‘water slave’, as Mr. Kevin Carley has started to call her, not only being rolled over by me in the water (all part of her ‘disorientation training’), but also being rolled over in her car!!!!!!!!  Combine this ‘time-out’, with horrendous weather conditions and extreme work pressures and what is the result – a failed attempt at December’s continuous 11.2k target!   November’s continuous 9.6k straight though, went without a hitch.  Hurt like hell, but she did it. 

We do our long swims slightly different now.  I have decided that as my little ‘water slave’ will not be able to touch the bottom to take on fluids during her challenge, that it would be a good idea to start taking our feeds from the deep end whilst treading water.  Her initial reaction – “But my arm will hurt when I reach up onto the side for my bottle”.  My initial reaction – L.O.L.!  “would you like me to dress a small table with a nice cloth, vase of flowers, candle etc. and pass it to you?    So this is the norm now for all continuous swims, no touching the bottom, well so I thought.  When Karen reads this, it will be the first time she realizes that I am not the fool she thinks I am.  Big brother is watching over you ALL THE TIME.  Whilst attempting December’s straight 11.2k, I always swim with her to keep her company.  Even though I am sort of enjoying the hard slog myself, I am constantly watching and monitoring her every move.  So with the lack of training through December, it came as no surprise to me when I looked back, under my arm, towards her whilst swimming in the opposite direction, to see her taking a sneaky rest and drinking whilst holding onto the side.  Then, as I swam back towards the deep end, head up position, to see what she was up to, there she was taking a very long rest indeed.  Then came the bit that took me back to my school days when you are doing something really naughty that you mustn’t let teacher see – just as I got within 15metres of the end, she let go of the side and frantically started treading water whilst taking fluids!  Who are you trying to kid?   Well, I never said anything at the time coz I was trying not to pee myself with laughter and choke as I carried on swimming.  OK Karen, so you might get lucky.  There might just be a large underwater volcano in the middle of the channel that you manage to find so you can have a little rest half way across. Who knows!  Me however, I am quite proud that I am having this effect on her – my water slave is actually scared of me!

Anyway, her 11.2k attempt was obviously going to end is failure.  She explained she felt sick – “So chuck up then and continue please”  She explained she was giddy – “So switch to backstroke please”   She explained backstroke hurts her neck – “So do breaststroke then please”  She explained breaststroke hurts her arm !!!!! SO BUGGER OFF THEN AND BE back in the pool at 6.30a.m. to finish off the missing 3.2k in the morning AND it will be done with flippers and paddles very, very hard.  To which she replied, I could make it at 7.00a.m.   */@*/@*@? Sorry, unprintable……….

Which brings me onto my ‘cyber friend’.  Mr. Paul Bates, whoever you are, he seems to be having the same problem with one of his team mates in Walsall.  Check out the following quote from his Xmas report before visiting their blog if you wish to follow their story. These guys are going to attempt a record breaking channel crossing relay in July 2011 and they are raising money for the British Heart Foundation in memory of their late friend, Mr. Mark Richuss.  Mark sadly died at such a tender age through heart disease in 2005.  Mark loved swimming, be it in the pool or open water.  Here is the clip from Big Ricks blog: -

 “Our other missing member is our very own Super Star..!! Mr  Darran "supper chest" Dyke  ...who sadly is suffering a very painful illness which he always gets about this time of year , I`m  thinking some of you may of heard of this deadly illness ... LAZYITIS....!!,  So at the moment, he's more fondly known as Flabby Chest..!.!! So he had best Get his ass into gear and get to training ASAP before he gets his old Man Boobs BACK.!!! (other wise we have to take shocking measures and publish picture evidence of the old man Boobs ..SCARY”.    

Seriously though, please visit the site : http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbigrickchannelswimteam.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fmerry-christmas-everyonex.html&h=28bca

So here we are.  2011 at last.  Karen Eyles will swim the channel - solo.  It’s gonna be a real tough few months as my own job, PA to an accountancy firm, will bring a lack of personal coaching from me whilst I struggle with the usual January self-assessment deadline and all that over-time.  My little “water slave” will need to be disciplined and self-motivated to get through the sessions without me nagging and moaning from the side.  But, I know she will do it because, despite a very lazy two months, the failed 11.2k was a huge wake up call.  We are now going to attempt it again on Friday January 14^th, followed by January’s continuous swim of 12.8k on Friday January 26^th and I just know they will both be a success because one thing that has not changed at all is her determination that despite the obstacles that are put in front of her, she will succeed in her challenge.   

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

Coaches Report - Sept 2010. TEARS, TANTRUMS & TRIUMPHS

It’s been a good month.  We are slightly ahead of schedule, and apart from a niggling arm injury, which seems to be settling down, things are looking good. 

At the end of August, we headed off for 3 days camping, trekking and swimming across Crummock and Buttermere in the Lake District.  This was more for the benefit of getting used to the cold water (14 degrees), rather than distance training.  The highlight of the weekend had to be when Karen decided to wear a wet suit after hypothermia almost settled in on the first day!   About 400metres out, she realised she was extremely uncomfortable and needed to get it off quick.  I had the opportunity to swim on this day, rather than be my usual ‘human kayak’, swimming beside her with all her little luxuries, so I had moved on ahead.  Just as well I took a sneaky check on her because way, way back in the distance was this little hat bobbing around, not swimming.  I quickly realised she was in trouble; so a quick dash back to the rescue and a quick unzip of the suit was called for.  This wasn’t sufficient though. She was still uncomfortable and the panic attack kicked in! She couldn’t breath and needed to get it off.  Our safety kayak whizzed over and insisted that she held onto the side, while I doggy kicked backwards as hard as I could whilst tugging at her wet suit.  I almost disappeared under the kayak myself a couple of times.  Any of you regular wetsuit users will know how difficult they are to remove, let alone trying to do it in a 14 degree lake!   As this was not the first panic attack that Karen has suffered, she has now reassured me that there’s a little song she’s gonna sing that will calm her nerves in future when the fear takes over.  So here’s looking forward to the next panic attack to see if it works!

Penny Lee Dean, once world record holder of no fewer than 13 open water long distance records has written an excellent book simply called ‘Open Water Swimming’ and we have both been glued to it during September for inspiration.  It was extremely re-assuring to read that our own training plan was not too dissimilar to her advice.  So, with a slightly tweaked training schedule fully in place for the next nine months, it’s now full steam ahead.

A combination of 6 x gym/run/bike or weight training sessions, and 4 x swims each week is tough going and each month, the continuous non-stop swims step up a mile or two. This will be the form for the rest of 2010 where it will increase to 6 swims a week.   It’s little wonder that tears crop up every now and then.  Usually instigated by frustration, but sheer exhaustion also plays a part.  And it’s the exhaustion that sometimes means you physically cannot find the strength to handle the frustrations encountered with heavy training.

Our local pool has offered to sit down and discuss how they can assist with undisrupted lane swimming so that we can attempt some of the longer swims during the winter in the pool.  This is much appreciated and we are both looking forward to their proposals.

Having already achieved a continuous 5.2mile (8.4k) swim in 3 hours at Dover harbour in September, things are looking good.  The 5 mile stage was not scheduled to be attempted until October so Karen is doing real good.  Freda Streeter (mother of Alison Streeter who has swam the English Channel 43 times!) has welcomed Karen to her channel group of swimmers that regularly meet at Dover on Saturday mornings and we have been enjoying their company for the last few weekends.

The stroke count range is now stable, the monthly schedules are set, and Karen is getting fitter and faster.  Sponsor letters are going out, posters are starting to appear in shops/gyms etc, Essex radio have been in touch and we’ve even had a small amount of local press already.  Best of all, the charity donations are already starting to come in.  This is the really exciting bit.  Knowing that we have so much support, it really does help to spur us on when we are so tired. 

October will see us working a percentage of each training session at a different heart rate level. Getting to know what the ranges are and what they feel like will assist Karen to change to a different pace quickly, which is obviously going to be called for during the challenge.

Several people have asked me, “don’t you both get bored just continually swimming”?   There is so much to take into consideration when training for a channel swim that it’s not really about continuous swimming.  I have a mountain of knowledge on pool swimming but when you look into long distance open water swimming, it makes you realise that there is so much more to learn.  There is the nutrition to work out, the best weight ratio, best times to feed, studying how your body works in 14 degrees as opposed to 17 degrees, the tides, the weather, the cramps.  Too much to mention, but everything has to be studied now as we need to be prepared for every single possible eventuality.  So it’s not about getting bored, it’s about keeping your mind occupied all the time and thinking ahead.  So why do I call this report, Tears, Tantrums and Triumphs.  Because, at the moment, I don’t mind the Tears and Tantrums because it helps us to learn how to deal with them.  I would rather face every horrible obstacle now than encounter it first hand on the day.  And as long as we know how to deal with all these obstacles, I am confident that the Triumphs will be just a formality.  After all, it is only 1 length isn’t it. 

The Luck of the Tide

Do we have to swim in that?



Grease me Up



I've come to realise that open water swimming is 20% training, 30% mental attitude and 50% luck.  You never know what to expect when you set out for a swim or what you are going to find. 

Last week, I went to Dover Harbour for the first time and met Freda Streeter, mother of Alison Streeter who has swum the channel a staggering 43 times.  Freda and friends spend every Saturday and Sunday from May until September at Dover Harbour supporting and helping channel hopefuls to train. 

After introducing myself, I was greased up and told to hurry up and get in.  I had taken my mum with me to try and show her it is not as bad as she thinks as she is quite concerned about my little challenge.  So here we get to the luck bit.  I was told by my swim buddy that she doesn't remember the water being so rough before.  Oh well, I waved to my mum hoping she would not freak and went for it.

Boy was it rough.  I felt like a rag doll being thrown about half the time and took several stinging slaps to the face from being dropped by the waves.  I spent two hours in the water thanks to both my training and keeping my mental attitude positive.  After the agreed two hours I got out and felt really great as if I could have swum and swum.  Once out, I discovered my mum had had a bit of a challenge herself.  She nearly had a punch up with some passer by who was telling his son that the only word for the swimmers he could see was "stupid" to which my mum replied "oh do you mind my daughter is out their swimming".

The other thing an open water swimmer has to have is no inhibitions as you have to get dressed where ever you can.  The most important factor when you complete your swim is getting warm and not, can anyone see my bum?
 

Will it ever be calm

Ok back to the luck.  On Wednesday, Lorraine and me went to Southend on Sea hoping to do 12 x 400m swims at Crowstone.  It was overcast, windy and cold.  It was so rough and getting rougher as we swam, that we only managed to do 6 x 400m.  The times were different at every turn as the sea was getting rougher and rougher. The first swim against the tide was 11 minutes and the last one took 15 minutes and was really hard work, but I was glad I had done it.
 



Lovely and Calm but Ice Cold



Now, I have to say that I do have some good luck when it comes to sea swimming.  Back at Dover Harbour this Saturday attempting to achieve my monthly goal of 4 miles or 3 hours in the water.  It was a lovely morning and when we got to the harbour the water was flat and the sun was shining, although, the water was really cold (must remember to take my thermometer to check the temp).  I completed my 4 miles in just over two hours but Lorraine wanted me to go for the 3 hour challenge.  I had just started to get really cold at the end of the two hour mark and desperately wanted to get out but, with Lorraine beside me, I did the 3 hours and managed 8.4k in that time.  Dead chuffed or what.  When I had thawed out I was really pleased and managed to smile.  I must say, I am really grateful to my poor husband who spent the journey there cold as I did not want to put the heating on travelling there but he was boiling hot on the way home so that Lorraine and me could warm up.  I'll make it up to him one day I'm sure.

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.