How cold are you?

I have discovered that when swimming in cold water, "are you cold?" is not the right question. It should be "how cold are you?" The last couple of weekends in Dover have been testament to this.

The week before last was a great week. Matt signed his deal late (very late) on Thursday, so we had a lovely family Friday all three of us together. I managed 15k in the pool during the week, and in Dover over the course of the weekend I increased my maximum cold water time from 40mins to 2hrs 30mins (one swim on Saturday of 1hr 45mins, and then 2 and a half hours on the Sunday). The sea was around 12.5 degrees celcius - at that temperature, my hands started clawing after an hour through loss of nerve control. It happens to everyone, but I find it mentally quite hard to take - it seems somehow very wrong to keep on swimming when your body is displaying such obvious signs of incapacitation. Still, after warming up with plenty of hot chocolate, there were no ill effects except an aching shoulder. It was interesting that I found the longer swim on Sunday easier - the sun was shining and I think that makes a big difference. I ended up with freckles and rather interesting strap marks...no strapless dresses for me this summer!

The aching shoulder was still present last week, so much so that I only managed two pool sessions. That wasn't really a disaster though, since we are starting to do so much at the weekends that the swims in the week are less valuable. Saturday was another big day - 3 hours, with a drink after 2. I swam with a pair called Katherine and Rob but they were a bit faster than me and I dropped off their pace after about 75mins, and then swam on my own. The drink was a godsend, it really seemed to warm me up and I managed the next hour without feeling too awful. When I climbed out, Bug was desperate for a cuddle but of course I was all wet and couldn't oblige - Matt and I had an entertaining time desperately trying to dry me, whilst I was shivering and my hands weren't working, with the poor wee man wailing at me until I was able to pick him up.

Sunday was a rotten day. The weather was awful - 8 degrees and rainy. Not a day for Bug at the seaside so Matt and he stayed behind. The target was 3 hours 30 mins with a drink at 2 and a half. It felt colder in the water than Saturday, although the sea must have been the same. I swam with Ian for an hour, and then picked up a gentleman called Jim. He dropped off my pace after another hour or so, and then I was on my own. I was finding it really very cold and couldn't wait for the drink. This time the drink didn't really do the trick and I still found myself feeling increasingly colder. I called it quits at 3 hours 10, and found myself experiencing whole body racking shivers as I swam into the shore. Anna was on the beach and was an absolute star - she more or less dressed me and sorted me out.

Getting out earlier than planned is a strange thing. None of us doing this sort of thing lack determination, and it doesn't sit easily to fail a target. However, I refuse to beat myself up about it: this is not just messing about in a pool, there is a real safety issue at stake here. Two and a hlaf hours later, when I got home, I was still not warm - usually I find myself stripping off layers in the car about the time I reach the M25 - so I had gotten significantly colder than before. I've reached the conclusion that you do what you can, and it's important to recognise when enough is enough, even if that means others do more than you. It's important to recognise when the answer to "how cold are you?" is heading towards "too cold for safety".

All in all, though, it feels like great progress, though oh my god it's hard work in the cold...all I can say is, bring on the gulf stream and the 2-3 degree hike it carries with it!

Wales!

Last weekend we were in Wales (Tenby) for Becks and Emma's wedding. Tenby is a beautiful place, but my god it's a long drive from Wandsworth. The wedding itself was a wonderful affair, with lots of fun had by all. You might think that weddings don't lend themselves to Channel training, but at least in this instance, you'd be wrong - given that a large percentage of the guests were triathletes, no-one raised an eyebrow about me going swimming in the sea. They did raise eyebrows about me doing it without the standard issue Orca wetsuit though.


Freda had told me not to do more than 30mins in any one swim in Wales, and as everyone in the Channel fraternity will tell you, you have to do what Freda says! (Freda is Alison Streeter's mother, and runs the beach at Dover for Channel hopefuls - she has incredible experience acclimatising swimmers and what Freda says goes. No ifs, no buts, no messing.) On Friday I had every intention of getting two swims in, but the first was in very rough seas, high winds and driving rain, so I called it quits at that. On Saturday, though, the weather was much better and I managed two sessions of half an hour each, with Matt keeping an eye on me from the beach. According to the Pembroke buoy the temperature was much the same as Dover Harbour, but it felt a little colder - whether that was psychological or the wind chill factor I don't know.


Only 9 or so weeks to go now. It feels like a very short time to get from swimming 45mins or so in the sea up to swimming 6 hours plus for the qualifying swim, but I have faith in Freda getting me there. I wouldn't dare think otherwise.

Prizes!

I shall have to get better at remembering to do this blog-posting stuff, such a lot has happened since my last posting...


Firstly, Bug had the pox. I am putting it in this fashion since "the pox" has a nice dramatic ring to it, whereas "chicken pox" is brushed off as one of those mild inevitable childhood illnesses. Whilst the latter is factually correct, that's not what it feels like when your child has open weeping sores, a sky-high temperature and is utterly, utterly miserable. Thankfully he is now over it - in fact, we've had a cold and teething issues since, so it's a distant memory even if there are a few marks still remaining.


Matt won the F3 duathlon series! His legs didn't have a lot in them on the last run of the final race, but he managed to place high enough to win overall. First prize is a bike, which of course is exactly what he needs, no respectable athlete should have only four bikes...


I won a GB road atlas! This was for coming second in a Serpentine 440m scratch race. I never had any chance of winning given Nick Adams was in the event. (By the way, I highly recommend the mozzarella slicer which was part of a previous prize haul.) Mum and I had breakfast at the Lido Cafe afterwards with Adrian, which was lovely (Matt was on Becks' stag weekend - coast-steering - which seemed to involve jumping off cliffs or some such testosterone-fuelled nonsense).


In the pool, training has been going okay, I have been hitting my 25k target each week. We also had the first training weekend in Dover last weekend (photo courtesy of Nick Adams). The water is apparently unseasonably warm at the moment (11 degrees centigrade) by which you should read still bloody freezing. Actually, it really wasn't that bad once you got going. The hardest bit for me wasn't getting into the water, it was warming up afterwards. I reckon that after getting out, you have about four minutes in which to get dressed, otherwise the shakes set in so badly that it becomes a real struggle. I hate the shivering - it's such an exhausting feeling. We did two swims each day: on Saturday, it was 30mins at 10am followed by 35 at noon. On Sunday it was 35mins followed by 40mins at noon. The second swim was easier for me both times, both the swim itself and the warming up afterwards. I've come away from the weekend feeling very positive - the water was pretty rough (it took me 12 mins from swimmer's beach to the east pier, then 20mins to get back to the beach on Sunday, so there was quite a current flowing) and at times it felt like swimming in a washing machine, but it didn't faze me so I was pleased. I now really believe this swim is actually going to happen. The other great thing is all the support you get on the beach, it's wonderful to have people there ready to help you out of the water, find your shoes, feed you something sweet...and of course the wealth of experience available to tap into is phenomenal.


Next weekend is Becks and Emma's wedding, so I shall be braving the seas of Wales for my sea swims. Apparently it is colder there right now - I suppose I shall find out for myself soon enough!