This is it, 2013 is finally here.... almost 2 and a half
years since I booked my Channel slot. I can’t
believe my swim is actually this year,
it feels so close, but so far away at the same time. Mainly when I am in the pool struggling to
get through a set, feeling tired and lethargic. I am thinking ‘if I am struggling to get
through this set how the hell am I going to get across the Channel’. Other days when I am gliding through the
water and feeling fast and strong I can’t wait to get into the water at Dover
and power across. A bit of a mental
roller coaster for sure.
It has been a mixed month for training, what with winter
colds and yup, more impact on sleep. I
have had to miss a few sessions due not getting much sleep at all with both
kids up in the night. I had a slightly worrying
week where each day I was getting less and less sleep and I started to feel
sick and a bit dizzy. At that point I
knew it was time to take it a little easier for a few days.
My long swims have been interesting, I have switched from
doing straight long swims (on advice from Nick Adams) to mixing them up with a
variety of paces and distances. I do
this throughout the rest of my sessions, but I thought I had to do long straight
sessions each week to get used to the continuous swimming of the Channel. Not so, I am assured. I was amazed at how quickly an 11km swim
could go when it is mixed up. Even with
very short rest stops, mentally it is much more interesting, the change of pace
keeps it fun and it is easier to keep up a good pace if there is a 10sec stop
between reps. I am converted. My only concern is that surely it can’t be
this easy (I say this in relative terms)....surely there has to be more of a
struggle in training. I have been told
on a number of occasions that the real training starts in Dover in May.....
This is also the month that I have decided to start
increasing my weight. I have been
advised (again by Senior Adams) that I should aim to get my weight up to around
90kg. Not as much as I had feared which
is good, but still a lot more than I would like. Rather than go for a big bang and eat a tub
of ice cream every night in the month leading up to my swim I have decided to
build my weight slowly in the hope that it will be a more ‘healthy’
approach. I have started to increase the
size of my portions and snack on nuts, oh and eat more chocolate. I am getting some very funny looks from work
colleagues when I come in with my lunch.....it is huge. It is even more amusing as everyone in the
office seems to be on the January diet and is counting calories and I am trying
to go the other way. I will enjoy it
while I can.
