Update Sunday 27th May 2012

Didn't get home from work until later than expected so was late getting down the crouch. Yet another beautiful evening, managed 50 minutes and went about 2k so really please with that.

And Lorraine I kicked the entire 2k, can't say how effective they were but the little legs were working .

Continuing on my observation s of open water swimming from yesterday I forgot one factor and that is dirt up your nose.  You seem to spend the next 24 hours getting with dirt coming from your nose every time you blow it.

But being a real saddo I couldn't wait to get home and get back in that green scummy foul tasting water.

Lorraine thanks for your comments they really make me smile.  Down the pool tomorrow at some time and exam on Tuesday.

Have a good week everyone

Saturday Update

Spent most of the day out in the garden revising for my next psychology exam and then went to the crouch for a swim.

I've decided that open water swimming is like giving birth once it is over you forget about the pain that you have gone through.  This came to mind whilst I was swimming against the tide this afternoon.

I'd forgotten how hard it was swimming against the tide, with the wind blowing across the top of the water and every time you take a breath your face is covered with spray.  Then there is the buffing as the current under you pushes you in all directions as you are trying to keep to a straight line and on top of that the churning in your stomach starts as you succumb to motion sickness.  Not to mention the green water, loose bits of seaweed and the numb tongue you get due to the salt in the water.

But wow what a swim, the sun was shining and it felt great being back in the water, I was in the water for 40 minutes and swam 1 mile, and I am happy to say that no effects from the cold.


Hoping to go back out tomorrow going to try and get there for about 4.30pm, so if you fancy a dip I'll see you there.

meet Nessie from out visit to Scotland the picture above shows just how could it was out on the loch

This is a picture of Loch Ness and I have swam in that (well dipped), the water is black which is apparently due to there being a large quantity of peat in the water.

Pool Session

Sat my first Psychology exam this morning, seemed to go ok.  Following this I then went off to the pool for my first distance swim.  Completed 2k as planned in 46minutes, not a brilliant time, but that's the first of many distance sessions out the way.

Planning to up the distance by approx 500m a week.

I am going to have to do a search on kicking as mine is rubbish mostly because my arms and legs don't work in harmony with each other, which is quite important if I am going to improve my swim strength.

In a bit of a mood at the moment, studying for my exams, beginning my training and also on a diet.  Normally when I study I eat, not the healthy stuff, but lots of lovely sweets, which I have now cut out.  Most focus on a slimmer me.  I want to lose approx 3 stone although I need to ensure that I can still comfortably increase my time in open water without getting too cold.

Working a long day tomorrow and Friday so no up date until Saturday when I am hoping to have a swim down the crouch.

Back in Open Water

What a beautiful evening, it was so nice I decided to go for a swim.  So I took myself to the chelmer and spent 15 minutes testing my cold water resiliance and I am please to say it went really well, I could have spent at least another 15 minutes in the water but I only had land support not the kayak.

So on Sunday I am going to swim in the crouch for at least 15 minutes so if anyone fancies a dip with me please come along.

Down the pool tomorrow night for some distance work.

And so it Begins

I have now officially commenced my training programme for my second channel attempt.  I kicked off my open water training by taking a dip in Loch Ness.  I would like to have said that I spent a good length of time in the water, but unfortunately I think I spent more time getting in than I did swimming, the water was so cold it felt like I was being stabbed with lots of little knifes.  I spent about 3 minutes in the water and managed to do a few breast stroke pulls before turning around and getting out.

On getting out of the water my skin was bright red, but I felt elated that not only had I done my first open water dip of the season but it was Loch Ness and what a view (no sign of Nessie though).

Last night I spent 30 minutes in the gym doing carido work and then straight into the pool, unfortunately by the time they had sorted it out from the swimming lessions I only had about 30 minutes to swim.  I managed 800m not much you might think, but 600m was kicking with only 4 lengths using a kick board and those who know me know that I hate kicking.  I have a real problem co-ordinating arms and legs efficiently.

I actually swim faster when I just pull, but from experience from my first attempt it is not about speed (not that I am fast), its more about strength to get though the tides.  I will have greater strength it I can get an efficient kick that compliments my arm pull.

I learnt such a lot from my first attempt that I feel confident that this time I will be able to complete the swim.  One of the biggest things I am going to have to work on is my mental attitude, as this was my biggest failing factor from my first attempt.

The vomitting during the swim got to me so much that my mind seemed to switch off and would not let me continue.  I know I had the stamina as two days later I was out running.  I felt so emotional following that failed attempt that I could not watch the video that Lorraine had compiled for me until that November.

Lorraine was brilliant all through the training (scary but brilliant) and an absolute gem during my attempt.  I would definately recommend having her in your corner when attempting a challenge.  I only wish I could have upheld my part and completed.

I should be down the gym and the pool again tonight, but I am also studying for a couple of A levels with an exam tomorrow, wish me luck.

C-day approaches

I am now just over one week away from the start of my channel swim slot, am I ready I would love to say a resounding YES but in truth I have no idea. My training has been sporadic because of my work.  I am a ward manager for a private hospital so it is not a 9 til 5 job.  Last week I went to work at 07.30am and left at 16.00 the next day managed to get a few hours sleep.  Although I may not know if I am ready I have no doubt that I will complete.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Dover harbour to complete my 6 hour qualifying swim, my husband Roger came along to support me with my feeding and Nick a fellow swimmer came to swim and be my official observer. 

The moment I got in the water I convinced myself it was not happening the water felt freezing and over the next hour and a half I was convincing myself that I would not be able to complete.  Then something strange happened I started to think of reasons why I should continue.  Nick had taken the day off work to observe, Roger had come down on his day off to support me and the car was loaded with everything I would need to complete.  So I decided to kick hard to try and warm up a bit but to no avail, at the end of the second hour I had decided to give up, I was swimming in to shore when I saw Roger waiting on the beech looking cold with my first feed in his hands, I came in to the beech took my feed drank it turned and got back into the sea gave him my instructions for the next feed as I did.  I am still not sure what made me do it but I was really glad I did as I went on to completed by six hours. 

I wouldn't say it was easy I had pains in my back and groin from the cold and, I felt sick but I had done it.  I wish I could say when I got out of the water I felt elated but I didn't all that was going through my mind was if I felt this bad after 6 hours how was I going to be able to last 14.  I got to the car  dressed and was promptly sick all over the road but I felt better.  The week before I had been sick in the sea which was a first for me and a huge learning curve on how not to be sick in the sea.  My worry did eventually turn to glee when Roger later told me that the sea temps had been between 12 and 13 degrees at Dover that day not bad I was quite proud of myself.

We spent a weekend at Dover when I was hoping to complete a six and seven hour swim back to back, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  Unfortunately Saturdays was a bust not sure why I was just unable to complete I managed to get to four hours and then got out and sat on the beech crying (bloody women). 

Sunday dawned to the sound of the fog horn quite a dense fog had rolled in over night, initially I was hoping that the swim would be cancelled but as the membership rules state "reasons for not swimming NONE".  Tentatively we got into the sea just able to see the shore.  So many things can make or break a swim its difficult to say why one day you fail and the next achieve.  I completed my 6 hours and felt really strong cold was a bit of an issue but not as bad as the previous 6 hour swim, shoulder only started to hurt at the 5 hour mark which is excellent so I know I have to take pain killers every five hours whilst I am swimming.  But the best indicator possible for me is that my last 1k was only 1 minute slower than my first 1k how good is that.  So on that statistic I now feel really positive that this challenge is mine.

Unfortunately I have been a poorly bunny recently, hot weather, bad food, too much salt water who knows, but I am feeling better now, would have swum tonight but not sure about swimming in a lightning storm.

I should be in my tapering down mode at the moment but as Lorraine my coach said recently I haven't tapered up yet so will just carry on until I get the call.

Coaches Report - May 2011

The solo channel attempt is creeping up on us fast now and in my mind, this is the time when I really want to 'go for it' training wise, but everything seems to be against Karen.  The work is the biggest issue, late shifts, traffic, early starts etc. just keep getting in the way of training.  So the past month we have made the best of every spare moment we have available, albeit its small.

I've set Karen a weekly target of 15 miles and she just managed to squeeze in 14.5 two weeks ago and now this week, work has prevented her from managing 10.  It's a tough challenge that she has ahead and although there is always the saying 'you can never train enough for a channel crossing', there is certainly the worry at the moment, that you can certainly 'undertrain' for it.  So, calling anyone that has any influence at all at the hospital where she works, please, give her some space over the next month to train pretty please.  She can make up for it afterwards!!!!

This aside, the 6hr continuous cold water attempt is looming now.  Hopefully, maybe we can squeeze in a couple of them during June at Dover to make up for lost time.  She certainly has the strength and endurance to continually swim, but the cold-water distances have not seen us exceed 3hrs yet, so this will be a big test.  As the channel may take anything up to 14 hours to get across, we should be building the time up now.

Last weekend saw us in Southend sea for almost 3 hours but unfortunately the tide had turned.  I am confident that if it wasn't for the tide, we would have gone well past 3 hours.  We swam to the pier from the Crowstone and intended to swim back again.  But the strong tides/winds had other ideas.  There is Peter Pans playground on the horizon near the pier and the hardest thing was watching the Helta Skelter image for over 20 mins of continuous swimming, and not managing to get past it.  That was demoralising.  I paused to look back at her and just because I wasn't swimming for a few seconds, I drifted back in her line in an instant. We were stuck in some kind of rip-pool.  She looked up and by the time she had said, "Why cant I do this", I realised she was almost back at the pier.  Not being able to 'chat' so to speak, as we were being carried away, all I could manage was "Just Shut Up and Swim Woman".  She later asked me, "Was I really trying to compete with Freda Streeter for the Scariest Coach Award".     "No, I just thought, if I took the time to say anymore, you would have been in Shoeburyness".

So, hat's off to Karen, she put her head down and swum forever, but hardly got anywhere.  Good training though, as we have read all sorts of stories where channel attempts have seen people swim for over an hour and only gaining 400metres.

I, by now, was getting cold so was choosing to swim to a 'Hat' as we call them, (the markers at the end of the wooden posts, periodically placed along the sea front) and grab hold of it till Karen reached it.  "Lets just take one hat at a time, I instructed".   I was getting cold and struggling to hold onto each 'hat' waiting for her and felt so guilty that as soon as she got there, I pushed off and instructed "OK, to the next hat".

Imagine this in the water, it was EXACTLY how strong the tide was.

Finally, Karen announced, "acclimatisation wise Lorraine, I'm done in".  We still had over a mile to get back to the car but it was obvious it was going to take too long to swim it.  I made the mistake at this point of saying, OK, lets see if we can get in to shore.  I realised later I should have just pushed her to 'one more hat'.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing.  So there we were, one in our 40's in a swim cozzie and one in her 50's in a torn wetsuit, walking the promenade to so many funny looks from people as the weather was appalling.  Bonus - we got lots of 'toots', haven't been tooted in years!  It was a case of, head down, don't think about what we look like, and march back to the car.  

Nick had swum with us this day too, but being a strong swimmer, he did not see much point in two of us holding back and struggling with the cold and a groin strain, so he decided to head back ahead.  Without telling us!   Tut Tut!   We were relieved to see his bag gone from our spot on the beach when we got back coz this was the only way we knew he was back and hadn't drowned.  A lesson he will not repeat as he quickly suffered with the telling off from two nagging women when we got back, I'm sure he thought, god this is worse than being married and more agony than my groin strain.    We were seriously worried about him though as we had no idea if he had made it back or not.

We headed off to the river Chelmer last week coz

So, now, as well as scary looking things on the bottom of the river bed, I want to organise a night swim with glow sticks.  Hopefully, this will be done in next week or two.  To be extremely cold and it to be dark, I think it will have to be the River Chelmer, with Roger in the kayak.  Oh joy !!