Last weekend at Dover was our 'ratifying swim' - this is the time in the water you have to do before you attempt the crossing. Well, not quite, that doesn't come in as a rule til next year, but it's currently the unofficial standard for whether you're up to the task.
Six weeks ago in a pub by London bridge, we decided that the 26th was going to be our date to do this.
The recommended aim is a two hour swim, followed by an hour's break, followed by another hour in the water - although, this can be altered depending where you've got up to and what standard you started from.
The good news is that everyone made their targets. The bad news is that it hurt (well for me at least and I'm sure I wasn't alone). Michael and I ended up falling into an informal race over the first two hours. That meant we really pushed ourselves - definitely a good thing. But by the time the second swim came round, it was sore just to swim at a decent pace. I think Michael may have fared better - managing to go a bit further on that second hour.
We also bothered to track our distance this time. In my two hours I covered 3.49 miles and in my second swim 1.76 miles.
So working our our speed, a (very) roughly averaged team speed is 1.62mph. That means if we swim in exactly a straight line, don't get caught in the tides, have excellent weather conditions, enjoy good water temperatures and don't tire as we go on, we'll cross the channel in a really speedy 13 hours.
I'm just thinking of the best case scenario here - the worst case scenario is a rumour of one team who took 25 hours!
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Monday, 21 July 2008
Who says channel swimming is all hard work?
I say this because we have just spent a really nice weekend in Bournemouth, swimming, sun bathing, chilling out and having some beers.
We signed up for the British Heart Foundation Bournemouth Pier-to-Pier swim, so we decided to make a weekend of it, by going up Saturday and camping there.
Kerry and Jen deserve a very special mention - acting as our tour guides for this mini-break. They went from London to Wiltshire, picked up tents, sleeping bags and everything we needed, got to Bournemouth, pitched everyone's tents and then met us on the beach for midday ready to swim. Amazing!
We swam from Bournemouth to Boscombe pier and back (4,600m) and then a bit more to take us up to two hours on Saturday. The conditions were OK, but they were rough coming back and the waves slowed us down - except Michael, who was on super-human form this weekend.
On Sunday, the race was only one way and it was really fun, with 1200 other swimmers, a calm day and a really warm sun. We even got a medal for our efforts! I felt especially tough, just wading in with my shorts with all these other wimpy triathletes in their fancy wetsuits. Wimps!
On Sunday, there were family visits for Jen and Kerry, and Gerry took some photos for us:
We signed up for the British Heart Foundation Bournemouth Pier-to-Pier swim, so we decided to make a weekend of it, by going up Saturday and camping there.
Kerry and Jen deserve a very special mention - acting as our tour guides for this mini-break. They went from London to Wiltshire, picked up tents, sleeping bags and everything we needed, got to Bournemouth, pitched everyone's tents and then met us on the beach for midday ready to swim. Amazing!
We swam from Bournemouth to Boscombe pier and back (4,600m) and then a bit more to take us up to two hours on Saturday. The conditions were OK, but they were rough coming back and the waves slowed us down - except Michael, who was on super-human form this weekend.
On Sunday, the race was only one way and it was really fun, with 1200 other swimmers, a calm day and a really warm sun. We even got a medal for our efforts! I felt especially tough, just wading in with my shorts with all these other wimpy triathletes in their fancy wetsuits. Wimps!
On Sunday, there were family visits for Jen and Kerry, and Gerry took some photos for us:
Team shot on beach - note Pier in background and a lot of other swimmers.
It only took Jen and Kerry 36 minutes to finish the race - very speedy
Tom, Michael and Chris finish to rapturous applause.
I'm clearly very proud of my medal.
Friday, 18 July 2008
New Video!
Here's the video of our first trip to Dover, edited by Michael.
It doesn't have any footage of us swimming, because there was no one on the shore for us that time. But there's plenty of footage of us shivering!
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Brighton for a Change
Unable to make Saturday's swim in Dover, I combined a day out in Brighton with a swim between the piers.
I didn't have time for two swims, so planned to do two hours, which I thought was a lot (until I heard Michael and Chris did a total of 3 1/2 hours on Saturday!).
It was choppy, but the sun was out and warm and it made all the difference. I went between the piers about 5 1/2 times in my two hours, and probably could have gone on, but I was too bored by then, plugging away on my own. I don't know how solo swimmers manage all that time on their own - it must be so dull.
I didn't have the camaraderie of the Dover trips with team mates, other swimmers, Freda and her helpers. But the Brighton lifeguards are very friendly and came out on their canoes to say hi and have a chat about the weather, training and water conditions. They also helpfully pointed out I'd strayed into the jet skiing area and was liable to get my head knocked off. As I said, nice people.
I didn't have time for two swims, so planned to do two hours, which I thought was a lot (until I heard Michael and Chris did a total of 3 1/2 hours on Saturday!).
It was choppy, but the sun was out and warm and it made all the difference. I went between the piers about 5 1/2 times in my two hours, and probably could have gone on, but I was too bored by then, plugging away on my own. I don't know how solo swimmers manage all that time on their own - it must be so dull.
I didn't have the camaraderie of the Dover trips with team mates, other swimmers, Freda and her helpers. But the Brighton lifeguards are very friendly and came out on their canoes to say hi and have a chat about the weather, training and water conditions. They also helpfully pointed out I'd strayed into the jet skiing area and was liable to get my head knocked off. As I said, nice people.
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Jellyfish and floaters
Chris and I went for a two man trip to Dover. Conditions were worse than normal, a little choppy, grey skies, just stopped raining, and visibility in the water was awful. Even with my fancy goggles I couldn't see past my elbow.
As we approached the harbour wall, this lack of visibility proved to be a good thing. My arm brushed against something slimy, but solid. I stopped swimming, and saw Chris stop a second later.
"Did you feel that...?"
"Yeah..."
"Eurgh"
We're not sure what it was, but I think it's better that way...
Michael
As we approached the harbour wall, this lack of visibility proved to be a good thing. My arm brushed against something slimy, but solid. I stopped swimming, and saw Chris stop a second later.
"Did you feel that...?"
"Yeah..."
"Eurgh"
We're not sure what it was, but I think it's better that way...
Michael
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Laying Down the Hundreds
No Dover swim to report from last weekend - a mixture of engineering works on the trains and bad weather meant we didn't manage to get down to the coast.
But since Jen, Kerry and me got some more preparation advice from Freda, we've all been hitting the pools again.
Most of us noticed that when we moved from lots of pool swimming, to more lido and sea swimming we lost some of our fitness. The stamina increased, but when we went back to our programmes for the pool, we'd all slipped back a bit.
So we've been focusing on getting out of breath with interval training again. Freda's tip was to do lots of sets of 100m, trying to cut down on the time you give yourself to do each one. This was what Gerry started us off with when he wrote up our programmes for the pool.
I'm currently aiming for 20 sets of 100m, with each set being completed in 1 min 45 secs. I can almost do it. It means being able to do it in 35 mins. Today I managed it in just under 36mins, so just one more minute to peel off.
Doing just 100s gets boring and repetitive, so once I've done that, I think I'll go back to Gerry's programmes for some variety.
But since Jen, Kerry and me got some more preparation advice from Freda, we've all been hitting the pools again.
Most of us noticed that when we moved from lots of pool swimming, to more lido and sea swimming we lost some of our fitness. The stamina increased, but when we went back to our programmes for the pool, we'd all slipped back a bit.
So we've been focusing on getting out of breath with interval training again. Freda's tip was to do lots of sets of 100m, trying to cut down on the time you give yourself to do each one. This was what Gerry started us off with when he wrote up our programmes for the pool.
I'm currently aiming for 20 sets of 100m, with each set being completed in 1 min 45 secs. I can almost do it. It means being able to do it in 35 mins. Today I managed it in just under 36mins, so just one more minute to peel off.
Doing just 100s gets boring and repetitive, so once I've done that, I think I'll go back to Gerry's programmes for some variety.
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
"Localised Bobblyness"
This is the technical term for the water conditions we faced on Saturday. Well, we were trying to think positively about the waves we saw crashing against the shore from the train window as we pulled into Dover.
I assured everyone it would be entirely different in the harbour - and it was: flat as a mill pond as long as you were within 10 metres of the wall. Kerry's post below describes the rest of the 1190m between the dock walls pretty well...
Seriously slow going at some points and as for breathing bi-laterally, breathing any way was enough of a challenge.
On the up side - it was very sunny and warm!
I assured everyone it would be entirely different in the harbour - and it was: flat as a mill pond as long as you were within 10 metres of the wall. Kerry's post below describes the rest of the 1190m between the dock walls pretty well...
Seriously slow going at some points and as for breathing bi-laterally, breathing any way was enough of a challenge.
On the up side - it was very sunny and warm!
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