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