Is it 4:30am Already?

Oh. no! That horrible sound - the alarm has gone off - wake up, rise and shine ..... it can't be 4:30am yet.

I'm in the middle of a wonderful dream...I am riding on the back of a dolphin, ahead of all the rest of the competitors and about to become the winner of "The Great Dolphin Sea Race".....across the English Channel - naturally....and now.... I will never know if I was heading to be the outright winner !?? or if my Dolphin and I even make it to French soil !! Now I say....be positive.

Oh. well, back to reality. The alarm goes off at the same time Monday to Friday. Its always a welcoming feeling on Saturday mornings, as I get to sleep in to 5:30am.

There is not a lot of traffic on the road this time of the morning so it's about 20 minutes drive from home to the pool situated in Churchlands. I love this time of day, the air is fresh, there is always lots of birds chirping and my swimming mates chatting, getting ready for their morning session. It's still dark when arriving at the pool and later on most mornings, there is a spectacular sunrise of red, pink and orange tones filtering through the trees that surround the pool....how lucky is that?

Some members of Barracudda's Swimming Club: From left - Myself, Sue Oldham, Kathy Phillips & Tony Parbery - 5:30am and ready to commence the training session - look at those smiles !

My health is starting to improve and am now feeling so much better after the terrible chest and throat virus. Fitness and endurance levels are down compared to this time last year... so ...keep attacking and keep going forward.

For years I trained in a 50m pool so it took me quite a few sessions to get used to all the tumble turns required to train in this school's 25m outdoor pool. The sessions vary from day to day, covering all aspects of speed and strength work, skills, endurance swims and included in the program sometimes are push-ups on the side of pool - ouch!

Most sessions are over two and a half hours, swimming 4 to 5 kilometres. After these sessions I try to add an extra 2k of various swim strokes, practicing technique skills and kicking. If time permits, a short gym workout consisting of light weights, core exercise and more frequently, stretching for flexibility. Of course....making time for chat, fun and laughter is a must...all at the same time !?

I should add that I am enjoying retirement and therefore usually have the time for rest and recovery.

With all goals, there is the build-up plan. I like to keep a log book daily to give me a weekly total. At the moment I have built up to 20-30k pw and then the kilometres will increase each month. Having a log book keeps me in touch with my build-up progress. This seems to work very well for me...both mentally and physically.

Just keep swimming - A breathtaking experience

Pool Training For Open Water Swimming

It is a bonus that I am training under a coach who is so passionate about open water swimming. Pauline Pratt has successfully coached several English Channel teams of 6 swimmers, children and adult teams plus solo swimmers completing the Rottnest Channel, The English Channel and Manhattan Island events. This year Pauline is very busy training two school teams (6 swimmers in each team) to swim the English Channel in July 2009.

Coach - Pauline Pratt

The 2008/09 Open Water Swims Calendar events commence in Perth early November so now is the time to develop swim skills in the pool. There are about 33 events in metropolitan and country venues - link http://www.mastersswimmingwa.asn.au/ I intend to make training more fun and to have a more lighthearted approach, at the same time make a real commitment to do the up and coming training sessions of smart swimming, hard work and dedication needed to this vital lead up to my English Channel goal. Along the journey I will select the longer swim events from the Open Water Calendar as extra training and to practice various feeds.

Because distances in the open water are not accurately measurable and conditions can vary greatly, the best place to develop cardiovascular conditioning is in the pool. As distance training is mostly done by the swim group, I/we count the number of strokes taken per length of the pool, making an effort to gain the greatest distance per stroke.

During training I need to:-

• Stay focused and motivated
• Be positive - say no to negativity
• Work on my weak areas eg bi-lateral breathing!
• Fine-tune skills, techniques, pull etc
• Kicking, I love to kick - dolphin kick sets on back and front are great ab. exercises
• Stay streamlined
• Practice DPS - distance per stroke, long strong strokes - stretch
• Mental skills - visualisaton, self belief
• Work on speed, strength and endurance
• Get the diet right
• Dry land exercises - improves strength and performance...repetitive training with light weights, stretch cords, fitness ball. Walking. Meditation. Stretching for flexibility.

There is no time for boredom and I hope that most of the time, all the above will be done with fun and passion keeping in mind it will be setting a good basis for the coming open water season and my EC goal.......relax !

Just keep swimming - A breathtaking experience.

Another Ten Months Of Training

Another ten months, another attempt to swim from England to France - August 2009.

I am so lucky to have another opportunity to swim my dream. With the right attitude I am going to treat my unsuccessful attempt as a valuable feedback tool. It has shown me what to do differently next year in order to succeed. I believe in myself and I am not going to get sidetracked by failure or disappointment of not completing the English Channel this year. I am not giving up! ....

So, there are several things I need to address before my next Channel attempt. Linked mainly to mental strength and more hours training in open water conditions. Another must is to practice bi-lateral breathing to even out wear and tear on muscles and to be more flexible as to positioning myself either side of the pilot boat when swimming to France. The boat can shelter you from oncoming waves etc. Being a unilateral breather all my swimming years, I find it hard to adjust to new ways. It seems to me so much easier to practice a two stroke cycle, breathe, then two cycle on the other side. We shall see what the outcome of this technique brings.

From this years experience I know I can tolerate the cold water, thanks to the acclimatisation sessions done here in Perth at Lake Leschenaultia and Hillary's Marine Harbour during our winter months, temp. ranging from 11 to 16C! Plus nearly three weeks in Dover Harbour UK. The channel water temp. during my attempt was 16C. The feeds given from boat could be improved and these will be practiced during the Cottesloe to Rottnest Swim. I need to train quality plus quantity swim sessions and to work so, so hard on mental toughness, my main weakness.

8 - 21 Sept 08

A week back in Perth I commenced training at Churchlands High School 25m pool under coach Pauline Pratt. The pool is situated outdoors, very pleasant surroundings with birds chirping while you swim...lots of Willy-Wag-Tails, my favourite....What else could you ask for? Ducks?.....Yes!

Churchlands High School Pool

Some swimmers who have working commitments commence at 5.00am, others at 6.00am. Training for me starts at 5.30am. to 7.00am and sometimes swim to 8.00am.

After two weeks of intense training averaging 22 - 25 kilometres pw I contacted a bronchial and throat virus, zapping my energy and hence the training went to being non-existent.

22 Sept - 1 Oct 08

So now what?

I thought about a friend of mine Gail Parsons who had previously set up a Blog for my last Channel attempt but I was reluctant to share my thoughts and feelings with the 'whole world'! So having sick time to sit around and just rest, I decided to use this time and go ahead ...... give it a go! It will be a way to keep me motivated, to chronicle my English Channel training and to easily share this journey with the people in my life.

After a couple of blog postings I found it rather interesting and a challenge to find the right words to express my thoughts and feelings....I hope my writing improves as time goes by. One thing in my favour is, I can type with all fingers!

2 -10 Oct 08

This virus lasted 10 days. My health is so much better after just resting! This week it was soooo good to be back into training with the group, a group who are mainly long distance/marathon swimmers and members of the Barracuda's Swimming Club Inc.

Just keep swimming - A breathtaking experience