July 13, 2008 - Dover - Week 11

Saturday 12th July

Water temperature:               15.9^oC

Air temperature:                     13.9^oC

Conditions:                              Nice and sunny, little bit breezy & lumpy

I was unbelievably nervous going to Dover today.  The last two times I've trained I've got out very early, both at the same point.  It has now become a huge mental block.  I went to Freda to get my hat and she asked me to do 3 hours.  I just said 'OK' and walked away.  In my head I was thinking '3 hours - I can't do that, I'd be happy if I just broke the 2 hour mark'.  Not the best mental state to get into the water with.

As I walked into the water, it felt colder than when I'd been helping on the beach last time, but once I got in and got over inevitable initial cold, it actually felt quite warm (everything's relative).  Although I know it was colder, it almost felt as warm as the Lido.  Overall a pleasant surprise.  I still wasn't convinced I could do 2 hours, let alone 3.

When I got to the wall I was quite close to Margaret, who'd been in the relay team I swam in last year.  She's a little bit faster, but again when I got to the other wall I was relatively close.  I now had a decision - I could go in for a feed at an hour, or swim across and do the normal straight 2 hours.  The first 2 hours is always the worst, but having an extra feed didn't seem to help last time. 

I mentioned to Margaret that the next length was the point in which I'd bottled it on the last 2 swims, so she said, right then, let's do it.  The people in Dover are so supportive.  It must have slowed her down, but I'm so grateful, it made all the difference.  It got me passed the mental barrier.  After than I swam alone.  I came in for my 2 hour feed knowing that I only had one more lap to do. 

I'd taken it relatively easy just to make sure I could do it, so I actually had a little under an hour to do.   The last hours is always a challenge too - not because I can't do it, but because you end up with a part lap, or an amount of time that you don't quite know what to do with.  I didn't think I'd get a whole lap in, realistically I probably would have, but I ended up stopping all the time trying to work out how far to go.  Still, none of this matters.  I stayed in for the 3 hours - a definite step forwards and a huge mental boost.

Freda was pleased for me too.  We then stopped and chatted about this year's challenge.  She recommended a 3 person relay.  I'll ask Jim & Dana if they're up for it, fingers crossed.

Sunday 13th July

No training today.  I did my first stint as observer for Katie Goodall's solo swim.  We had to get to Chris Osmond's boat 'Seafarer II' for 0530.  The swim started at 0608.  She was absolutely brilliant from start to finish.  She was fast, confident and happy and did a fantastic time of 10 hours 23.  It was great to watch.  Her support team were fantastic too.

July 6, 2008 - Dover - week 10

I got home after last week's training to find my right ear started to hurt.  I didn't really think much of it until the next day when the pain became excrutiating.  By Tuesday I had to get it seen to, so visited the GP who told me that I had an ear infection and that I needed to avoid getting water in my ear.  I knew that Sharlene wanted me to swim with her on Saturday for her qualifying swim, so I was left with a bit of a dilema.  I came up with a cunning plan, that was to do kick with fins on - therefore keeping my head out of the water.  So on Friday morning I did the whole session on kick to see if I could keep up with her and I could.  Unfortunately, my ear wasn't getting any better, so I went back to see the GP during the day, and the GP advised me not to swim at all as, even with ear plugs in, I couldn't guarantee not getting water in my ear.  So no swimming for me at all this weekend AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!

Despite not being able to swim, I went down to Dover.  It really is fun to help on the beach, Freda, Irene, Barrie, Ruth and co are really great company.  It also gave me the chance to brief and watch out for the 6 swimmers who'd come down to do their qualifying swim for next year's relay race.  Josh, Sharlene, Ali, Peter, Jo and Sam came down to give it their best shot.  Here they are getting in.

Sharlene & Josh are already in - very keen to get the job done!!

It was a very low tide at the start so as you can see from below, they had a very long walk before they could start to swim.

The conditions weren't perfect as it there was quite a breeze which made the water a bit rough, but the sun came out and the water was a balmy 16C.

Sam (only 12 years old), managed a brilliant one hour - that's very impressive for a first swim. Jo came out with her.  The remaining 4 all managed their 2 hour qualifiers.  As you can see from below Josh looked like he might actually have enjoyed it.

And there was I thinking that this would be payback for all those hard sets that he's given us over the last year!!

So that's 5 out of 12 swimmers for next year with qualifying swims in the bag already.

After the relay swimmers had gone I stayed on the beach to help the shingle stompers.  It's great being there just to soak up the atmosphere and to watch people who are truly inspiring.

The relay swimmers definitely chose the best day of the weekend.  Sunday was interesting to say the least!!  It started off very similar to Saturday, then became very calm and ended up with massive waves and a downpour.  The picture below really doesn't show how bad it was.

As you can see from the picture below - we all got quite wet on the beach too!!

I am totally in awe at the swimmers who stuck out 6 hours in this today - what an amazing training session!!  As for the regular beach hands - why do they do it?  They are amazing.  As you can see from the photo they are still full of smiles despite the grim conditions.  So why did I stay when I could have been tucked up warm at home?  Well if these swimmers were prepared to battle these elements then they deserved all the support I could give.  Realistically being there was the only support I could offer, but I was delighted to give that at least.

June 29, 2008 - Dover - week 9

Water temperature:  15.5^oC

Air temperature:        15.0^oC

Conditions:                Beautiful weather, but a bit windy making it a bit rough 

Well after 3 days skiving in pool competitions it was time to get back in the water in Dover.  I was absolutely determined to get in and get back on track.  Freda suggested 3 hours.  I know I should be doing far more, but 3 hours would at least allow me to break the mental barrier that's been hitting me between 1 and 2 hours recently.  Freda agreed to letting me come in after an hour for a feed, we thought that might help too.

All started well, I got in easily enough and felt quite warm.  At the beginning I was convinced that it would be OK, I was even planning to come in after 3 hours and ask if I could keep going.  I got through the first hour, came in for a feed and went off again.  Unfortunately that's the end of the positive stuff.  I swam for about 10 minutes and then hit a barrier which could easily have been a physical wall as a mental one because I totally lost the ability to swim.  I was stopped dead in my tracks.  Location wise it was almost exactly the same place as last time.  I did doggie paddle, backstroke, even a bit of breaststroke, I just couldn't swim properly.  I limped back to the beach having failed yet again.

Barrie was very kind, and pointed out that at least I'd got back in and started back after the last disaster a few weeks ago.  Freda came down as well.  She definitely knows how to motivate someone.  She pointed out that Dana was in the water and I couldn't get out before her!!  So I got back in and swam to the Prince of Wales pier and back again.  All in all about 1 hour 45.  Not enough, I need to break this pattern and quick.

After I got out and changed I sat and chatted with Freda, Irene, Tanya & co.  I said that I'm simply not enjoying it any more.  I love Dover, I love the people, I'm just not sure I can do the swimming bit.  What's even more worrying is that I'm becoming OK with that.  Part of what's causing a problem is that the thought of 2 seasons of this is a bit overwhelming.  At the beginning of the season I was absolutely convinced that a 2 person relay was totally do-able.  I would even have committed to a 2 person 2 way.  Now, I'm not so sure.  I hope that's just because I haven't got the 2nd person firmed up yet.

Enough of the wallowing - time to get over it and get on with the training that's needed.  Next week is a new week.

June 28, 2008 - Surrey Masters Championships

A tradition was started a few years ago by a few of us that we should enter ALL the events at the Surreys.  It used to be over 2 weekends, but now it's in one afternoon / early evening which makes it even more challenging.  But then again I like a challenge so why not.  So that's 10 events plus 2 relays!!  The biggest issue is that I have to swim all the strokes and I am absolutely hopeless at breaststroke and not much cop at backstroke or fly either! 

It was a very friendly gala, most masters galas are.  There were also some amazing swimmers there and many records were broken.

I've compared the times to the ones I swam at the Isle of Wight Masters as this was the last short course event that I swam.

 

Event	Lifetime PB	Essex Masters	Time	Comments
50m Free	0:39.25		0:45.69
100m Free	1:21.29	1:35.19	1:37.75
200m Free	2:50.35	3:17.23	3:17.39	So close...
50m Butterfly	0:47.59		0:55.66
100m Butterfly	1:46.24	1:58.39	1:56.55
50m Backstroke	0:52.90		0:59.91	Also so close...
100m Backstroke	1:52.61	2:06.39	2:01.68	That's more like it!
50m Breaststroke	0:55.23	1:04.48	1:05.11	Why do I do this?!
100m Breaststroke	2:08.33		2:18.12	Dire, really shouldn't enter it!
100m Individual Medley	1:42.93	2:00.24	1:58.07

Well I've had my fun messing around in the pool.  It's time to get back to Dover again

June 22, 2008 - GB Masters - Manchester

There was a small but select contingent from Guildford City - me, Alex H & Roger (Superman).  Yet again it was fantastic to catch up with swimming friends from around the country.  Generally the gala was very relaxed, well organised and very friendly.

At the time I entered it seemed entirely logical to enter ALL the freestyle events from 50m to 1500m plus a novelty event of 200IM.  It never seems quite so sensible when the day actually comes.  I will probably never learn.  The most challenging thing was to vary my pace so much between the different distances.

The gala started with a 1500m free.  My shoulders hurt for the first 1000m and although I finished inside my entry time, it didn't feel great.  Perhaps doing a swim like that after a very long drive is not the best.  The 800m was the best race.  It felt good, I felt both physically and mentally strong.  Given that I had already swum 400, 50 & 100 free that day it seems that I need quite a bit of warming up.

Whenever I had a negative thought about the race I was about to do, I just reminded myself that the alternative was to be swimming in Dover - after that all the races seemed OK!!

My times:

Event	Lifetime PB	SE LC - Feb	Time	Comments
50m Free	0:40.44		0:45.45
100m Free	1:24.41		1:37.85
200m Free	2:55.78	3:27.51	3:25.27	This was the last event, probably one event too many
400m Free	6:15.20	7:15.62	7:14.02	Only marginally faster than SE Region
800m Free	12:57.46	15:00.80	14:45.70	38 secs faster than the 800 split on the 1500!!
1500m Free	24:58.96		28:57.90
200m IM	4:18.51	4:18.51	4:19.??	Just outside the PB I set in Crawley

I was hoping to swim a bit better than this as the last time I swam I was still suffering the after effects of the chest infection, but I suppose since I generally swam faster I should be pleased.

Next stop Surrey Masters Championships