Date	Week	Time	Temp F	Temp C
12th May - sess 1	2	45 mins		12
12th May - sess 2	2	1 hour		12
13th May	2	1 hour		12
19th May	3	1hr 20	54.5	12.5
26th May	4	2hr 15	55.6	13.1
28th May	4	3 hours	55.6	13.1
2nd June	5	4 hours		14
3rd June	5	5 hours		14
17th June	6	4 hours	58.3	14.6
24th June	7	6 hours	59.5	15.3
30th June	8	4 hours	59.2	15.1
14th July	10	7 hours	61.0	16.1
15th July	10	1 hour	61.0	16.1
21st July	11	6 hours	61.7	16.5
22nd July	11	6 hours	61.9	16.6
28th July	12	6 hours	61.5	16.4
29th July	12	6 hours	62.1	16.7

 

DO I FEEL THE PRESSURE? ABSOLUTELY!!!  As someone once said "Pressure is the reflection of your ambition".  Bring on the pressure!!

 

Week ending 29th July

Once again I didn't summon up the motivation for pool, but it doesn't seem as important as it used to.  It was two 6 hour swims again this weekend.  My shoulders were a bit sore on Saturday, but nothing that I couldn't ignore.  The swim felt so good that I sprinted the last 15 minutes!!

On Saturday Freda said that she would get me as ready as possible so that I could swim when I get back from holiday.  On Sunday she asked if I would like to swim before my holiday, I said yes.  At the end of the swim Freda waved her at me and said three words I never thought I'd hear her say 'You are ready'!  She said that the weather looks good during the week so I should wait for the call.  She hoped to get me away early enough that I could recover for the holiday. 

She also asked if I felt ready - I don't think I will ever feel like I've done enough, so I need to trust in the training and go for it.

All I need to do is get my shoulders recovered as right now they are very sore, the pain during the swim today was the worst that it has been, although Ibuprofen did seem to be effective.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!

 

Week ending 22nd July

I kept out of the pool during the week to enable my shoulder to recover as quickly as possible.  It seemed to be healing well, and by the time I saw the chiropractor on Friday it felt close to normal.

"6 hours" said Freda on Saturday morning, with the only possible response being "OK".  Mentally I was totally 'up for it' having worked on mental and well as physical healing during the week.  The water looked nice and flat and apart from a big downpour at the beginning, the sun was out and warm.  Looks can be deceptive though - the washing machine end (ferry wall) was very, very choppy with very strong currents.  The currents were so strong at one point that it took an hour to do a distance that normally took about 40 minutes.  My shoulders hurt from the word go, I had some Ibuprofen after 3 hours, and it didn't feel like it made any difference, until near the end when it had worn off!!  Despite all this, there was never any doubt - I would finish this swim - this weekend's word would be success, not failure.

I expected my shoulders to cease up like last week during the evening, and although they were sore, I retained mobility.

Sunday morning "6 hours" said Freda.  "OK" I replied.  Shoulders were sore to start with, but soon warmed up.  The water was glassy smooth with no strong currents, and although the sun took a while to show - the conditions are what you would pray for on a crossing.  The first two hours are always the worst mentally.  After that it's down to mental games 'on the next feed it'll be half way'; 'after the next feed it will be the last feed'; etc.  It was a shame that the glassy smooth water didn't last - it was too good to be true, but once again I was not going to give up.  Close the end of the 6 hours I swam past a small sailing dinghy and noticed a fairly young child waving his arms and calling for help.  I went over to him and it appears he'd got stuck and was heading for some rocks, poor thing was scared silly and couldn't get the attention of the rescue boat.  I stayed with him and calmed him down until help arrived.  It was a welcome distraction - the last hour always drags.

I don't think I'm quite ready for the big swim, but this weekend is as close as  I have been.  I still have a 7 and 6 hour weekend to look forward to.

Sandles waiting patiently on the beach for their owners to finish

 

Week ending 15th July

This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster.  I got back in the water on Monday and quickly realised it was a little too soon, so got out after half an hour. Things seemed to have improved during the week, so after training in Spectrum on Wednesday and Friday I felt ready to face Dover again at the weekend.

I arrived in Dover on Saturday morning, not sure what Freda would throw at me.  Would it be a shorter session to make sure that I was fully recovered from the virus? Or would she go for a big weekend?  Daft question really - she went for the big weekend!!  On Saturday the water was choppier than I have ever seen it before and the task was 7 hours.  It was tough!!  By the end absolutely everything hurt we were all battered about like you wouldn't believe.

I stayed over this weekend with the intention of doing a night swim.  Although I knew that I was sore, I didn't realise just how much damage had been done until I got back to the hotel room to change and realised that I couldn't get my arms above my head!  My shoulders felt as bad as they did at the peak of their injury at which point I struggled to swim 200m joined up.  I was physically exhausted, but couldn't really sleep because of the discomfort.  The night swim got shelved so that I had some time to recover for the morning, which was a shame because the harbour was as flat as a millpond.

In the morning there was an almighty thunderstorm and as I walked the short distance from the hotel to the beach I did reflect upon how truly mad this all was!  However looking at the water, again it was dead calm.  As I still had significant pain in my shoulders I asked Freda if I should swim, she said yes - 4 hours, which I guess was a compromise!  Now that water that had been dead calm was now looking very angry and lumpy - it was very hard work to swim in.  After just over an hour of every stroke hurting, I decided to call it a day.  Failure is not something I take too well, so I felt about as low as you can at that point.

This week also saw the first channel attempts of the season.   Three people I've trained with attempted the crossing this week, 2 successes and one that didn't quite make it.  The one  that didn't quite make it also made me think, he had done absolutely everything asked of him in training and it still wasn't enough on the day.  Up until Dover training I had done pretty much the same preparation as him, but in Dover he has done everything asked and I have had issues and excuses and not achieved the same.  I guess I could look at this and think that if he can't then I've got no chance, alternatively I could remind myself that the challenge is 80% mental and 20% everything else - could all this be really good mental training?

 

Week ending 8th July

Not the best of weeks.  After a visit to the GP all training has been shelved this week while I try to get rid of the chest infection that I have.  I've tried the 'ignore it and hope it goes away' tactic, but strangely enough it didn't work!!  What I did do was go down to Dover and stomp the shingles instead.  It was great mental training, and gave me an entirely different perspective on training and tactics, plus the chance to have some great conversations with some very experienced people.

I also had the chance to meet my pilot Neil Streeter and pay a visit to the boat.  It really helps to picture things before the day.

Fingers crossed that things will return to normal next week.

 

Week ending 1st July

I had a chat with Freda after training in Dover last Sunday about how much pool training I should be doing at this stage in the preparations, the answer was very little - just to stretch out.  It's good advice and I was glad to follow it!  I need to ensure that when I arrive in Dover I am fresh and ready for whatever challenge is thrown my way.

As Freda uses the TBC (total body confusion) strategy, you never know quite what is going to happen in training:  how many hours; how many feeds etc.   After last weekend I suffered from dehydration and appeared not to be tolerating the maxim too well, whilst not too much of a problem in training, it could be disastrous on the day.  Whilst some of this could have been due to the virus that I was fighting, it is also a sign that needs to be taken very seriously.  So I had a chat with Freda, I am making a conscious effort to make sure I am well hydrated leading up to the big swims, and Freda has said that she will put more water aside for me during the feeds.

Like last week, on Friday I started to notice the signs of a viral infection: sore throat, tiredness, bit of a temperature.  It made me consider whether this is real or just demons, strange how it happens just before Dover.  So despite how I felt I forced myself down to Dover Saturday morning in an attempt to defy these demons!

The water felt colder, and I found out with hindsight that it was.  The extra water at the feeds really helped and I didn't suffer any signs of dehydration either during or after the swim.  However I was really slow and it was hard work.  I could easily have given up any time after 30 mins, but I didn't, I kept on going. 

Sunday, however, I could no longer ignore the viral signs and had to give in and rest.  I still don't know if it's real.  Let's see how next weekend goes!

This training has a knack of really putting you in your place, just when you feel like you're almost ready, a curved ball is thrown and you're right back into self doubt.  I guess it is just evidence that despite the huge physical challenge, the biggest element is the battle against yourself - a mental challenge.

I do know that you can change negatives to positives.  The first few times that we had really poor weather really affected my mental state as the feel of sun on your back really helps.  However I have now managed to accept this as the norm, which is just as well as the weather has been really bad!  As Alison Streeter (Queen of the Channel) says "prepare for the worst and hope for the best".  So I now look at it this way - this is great training, and when the weather changes, it will be absolutely awesome.  I now have only one motivation for the weather to change for the better, and that is so that the early slots get away on time so that there is more chance that I will be moved to an earlier slot.

 

Week ending 24th June

I was feeling pretty good about this week, until Saturday.  Speed was picking up, I was happy with the hours that I'd managed to get in the pool.  We had been warned that the weekend would be tough, and with forecasts of thundery showers on Saturday and light rain for Sunday, a tough weekend was about to become really tough.  I was mentally prepared and 'up for' six hours and seven hours respectively.

Unfortunately Saturday was not to be.  I woke up with a sore throat, earache and a splitting headache.  The drive would be a challenge, the swim impossible.  I had been absolutely shattered all week, so I guess I was either coming down with something, or was suffering from exhaustion.  Either way, rest was the only option, and it did me the world of good.  Having spoken to others, the July soloists did a 7 hour swim, I don't know if everyone did this, but I was surprised how gutted I was to have missed it.

Sunday was better, just the remnants of a headache.  So I headed off for Dover psyched up for 7 hours.  It was only 6.  I did feel like a bit of a cheat.  The water felt warm, but the conditions were very tough with rain and very choppy water.  Despite that I felt like I was flying for the first 4 hours.  At 3 hours, I asked 'Barry the Shingle Stomper' if I could do 7, but was told 6 was enough, I was disappointed for a while, but once I hit the wall at 4 hours and kept head-butting it for the rest of the swim I was very glad with the response!

 

Week ending 17th June

There seems to be a bit of a theme forming - I never seem to feel like I've done enough!!  Maybe that's just the way it will be until the swim.  Pool training is becoming less and less attractive, with the only exception being club training.  Dragging myself out of bed to swim alone is tough - although the opportunity to do drills, pull or kick is always welcome.

I went to Heron Lake once this week.  It's much warmer than Dover, and always very amusing to see the triathletes in their wetsuits struggling with to get in due to the cold!

Only one day in Dover this weekend due to other commitments, and having missed last weekend and yesterday, I had braced myself for a 6 or 7 hour swim.  The set in the end was only 4 hours, however there is always a twist - today's one was only one feed at two hours.  Given that I always struggle with the first two hours, to have two of them was not an appealing thought.  Furthermore the conditions were not good - very choppy and windy.  I had cramp in both calves for the second two hours felt sick from drinking too much salt water, had a headache and lower back pain - other than that it was absolutely fine!!

Speaking to Freda afterwards she warned that next week will be very tough - I dread to think what she has planned!