It has been confirmed!

Well it looks like at this time our slot has been pushed till Monday morning at 0430.

This waiting game sucks and this English weather sucks but I guess that is the name of the game.

So I will just watch the England game tonight and relax or should I go to masters practice.  England game or practice.  hmmm....

English Channel Relay - Waiting Game Now...

Our window for the relay starts tonight at 7pm.  So now it is a waiting game.  The weather is shit now and forecasted for shit!  The wind for the forecast is pretty high for the next two days.  I am not an official pilot but it does not look good at this moment.  I don't mind rain but I do not like swimming in white caps in extremely cold water.  My biggest fears is wind chill and waves...  I really just want to get on with this swim, the waiting game is killing me...  Ugh...

Testing the water...

I have been swimming at the lake twice a week for the last couple of weeks with three days of masters training.  The last week or so it has gotten a blistering 16C/60F and is almost blistering in a weird way.  So I needed a reality check so I went out Saturday morning for a channel swim w/ one of my relay partners down at Eastbourne.

This winter was the coldest and longest in the last 30 years making the water temperature the lowest in that time as well.  On the charts the water temp should be nearing 14C/57F which is much more tolerable...   At this point there is nothing I can do but just get on with it!   I was quickly brought back to reality, the water was a 12C/55F. 

Notice the CAP, it was for ENG VS USA!

Since our relay is the first out with a tentative date of this Saturday, I was really getting worried about the water temp!   To be honest I have been having some sleepless nights and been very worried about it.  All and all I survived an hour with no signs of hypothermia at all.  I do this all the time and I have no clue why I do it...

Janina and I taking the plunge!

Made the local paper and not the police beat...

Some Press that I have gotten locally...

Great example of controlling your mind over a long swim or just training...

Credit Greg Whyte and Andy Lane.

Racking it up...

Water just shot up from 10.5c to 11c/51.8f which is a great sign for english weather...  That .5 is a world of difference,  some parts in the lake are still def at 8c but some are in the 12c which makes it so much, i want to say fun.  That might sound sadomasochistic but it is actually so much tolerable and something to look forward too when making the rounds....  I am not putting smoke and mirrors it is all mind work!  Once you get in your zen it is all out!

Soreness and Swimming

Everything is going as planned in regards to the last post.

- Laid on 6 kilos from Auz.  Turning a lot of it into muscle with going to the gym three days a week and doing a full body routine on the weights.
- My pool team has helped me out with new kicking tips.  I have put them into practice and it is really made a difference.  All though I am having to breathe more as the legs take up a tremendous amount of O2!  That will come in time...
- Cold water training is going very well.  Thursday hit 4k in 15c.  I was in the water for an 1 hour and 10 minutes that includes acclimatisation.  Yesterday was in the water and only got 49 minutes with 2.7k.  This was effected by the weight training and the massive distance sets we did at the pool on Friday Night.  My arms were like lead weights!
- My bi-lateral breathing is coming along well, not great.  I try to only breathe on my weak side during warm ups and drill work.  During the strenuous sets I only breathe on my strong side but trying hard to hit bi's on those as that will get me used too it...  So this is the only thing that is really on my plate.

So what have I learned, sore arms and cold water training can cause you to drown, ha...