February

A few more changes to my trianing regime this month.  I have been finding it difficult to find a pool near me where I can do a long swim over 3 hours without getting interupted by swimming lessons and other people kicking me out of the lane.  So, I got back in touch with ‘The Orcale’ (Mr Adams) who once again advised me.  This time that there is no need to do a long swim of 3-4hrs, as long as I am covering around 25km per week of quality sets.  So, I have made some changes to my training plan as well as finding a new place to train near work.

Wk	Planned    (km)	Actual      (km)	Time (h:mm)	Weight	CSS Test Pace
1	25	18.5	5:04	86kg
2	25	24.17	7:00
3	25	28.5	8:08
4	20	18.3	5:15	87kg	1:24
Total	95	89.47	25:27

By moving to a pool near work I have been able to change the length of the swim sets that I have been doing from just over 3-4km per set to 5km.  The first couple of weeks of doing these longer sets was pretty hard work.  If I thought I was working hard before it was nothing compared to this.  I started to hit a bit of a low towards the end of the middle of the month, just when my form was picking up I started to get slower again, feeling slow and lethargic.   Yes I have had a bit of a cold and still getting broken nights sleep (I feel like a broken record on the sleep front), but it felt like more than that.  I remember reading somewhere that before a peak in perfomrance there is a bit of a dip as the body is adapting to the increased work load.  I really hoped that this was the case......and then, as if by magic, my form started to improve quite dramatically.  I knocked 4 seconds off of my previous month’s CSS which was awesome, so it was all looking good. 

I have also decided to stop doing weights sessions and instead dedicate the time to doing yoga and more pilates.  Both of which incorporate some form of strengthening exercises, especially around the core.  I have  started to feel looser and more flexible from doing the yoga, which can only help my swimming.  I imagine that it is a combination of stopping doing the weights, becoming more flexible and the increased quality of the sets that I am doing in the pool that has led to significant improvement in form....long may it last.

The eating has been going well this month too....actually a little too well, my target was to put on 1kg per month so I dont have to carry the extra load for too long.  However this month I managed to put on 2kgs which shocked me a little, but then I have been eating massive portions of food as well as quite a bit of chocolate, not to mention the endless bags of nuts.  I’ve actually managed to put on a bit too much weight, so on that front I am slowing down the calorie intake!

January

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.

December

This is the month in the year where it is almost impossible to stick to the plan and do every session, as there are parties to go to and pool/ gym closures to contend with.  I had factored all this in, so was pretty sure at the beginning of the month that I would be able to stick to my weekly mileage as well as go to the gym.  However, less than a week into December and I was struck by a cold that quickly made its way to my chest.  Ordinarily I would continue to train through a cold, but having learned from trying to train through colds previously I decided to take it easier for a day or so.....having 2 days off in fact and then getting back into it slowly.  As I was coughing all night long I wasn’t sleeping at all well.... and then Mel and the kids got it.....and they weren’t sleeping so it got really bad.  Mid-month it started to get better so I thought I could train harder again (obviously I still have not learned my lesson!) and then it got worse again....all in all the cold/ cough lasted the whole month and at the beginning of Jan the family and I still have the remnants of it.  So, my training has been hit pretty hard this month, I tried to keep going when I should have recovered fully.

Interruptions to training are frustrating, I know I should ease back and I do try, but if something is taking weeks to recover from, that is weeks of not training properly.  I am learning that this is where the mental strength comes into play.  It is better to have 2 slow weeks rather than trying to train through it and end up having more time off in the long run.

When I got back in the water just after Christmas to do a swim test  I knew it was going to be bad.  Almost a week without any swimming at all, my arms felt like jelly and my lungs felt like they were going to burst.  I felt like I hadn’t swum in months, not weeks!  Perhaps it was the wrong time to do the test, but perhaps not.  It did tell me where I was and gave me a new focus to my training. The upside to these interruptions is that it actually doesn’t take that long to get back into the swing of things and after 3 consecutive swim days I felt much stronger.  This is a fantastic mental boost, I may still be swimming ever so slightly slower than I was a month ago, but I feel like I am storming forward in terms of fitness. 

I am sure that there will be more illnesses and possible injuries between now and the end of July and I know I will have to be sensible with how I approach them.  Converting the knowing into doing is the challenge!

On a very positive note, we have just had 3 consecutive nights of the kids sleeping through, almost not sure what to do with all of this extra sleep :-)

November

More of the same in November...gentle progression, the distance work is feeling nice and comfortable and the speed work is hard, challenging and...... fun.  I used to really dislike interval training, but now I am loving it.  Getting into the pool when you’re still groggy with sleep, fall into the water and start swimming the warm up I am thinking, ‘am I going to be able to pick up the pace’ but during the build set the heart starts to beat a little faster and the blood pump a little harder....then I really get into it!!  Loving the sprint sessions....just have to remember that I am training for a long distance swim and not a sprint! 

 

The kids continue to impact my ability to sleep and during the middle of the month it got so bad that I couldn’t train much for a week.  When I hit a period that I cannot train for any reason it really bothers me.  I almost feel my fitness waning if I miss a planned session.  I know this is the ‘condition’ of the endurance athlete and what drives us to train as hard as we do.  Even though I understand this, it doesn’t help when I miss a session!

On the upside I started strength training this month - a couple of Pilates sessions per week and 2 x strength sessions and a Boxercise class, for variety.  The key thing I noticed about my first Pilates session was how ‘unfit’ I am!  As the sweat was pouring down my face and the inability to do some of the moves well and certainly without any finesse, reminded me that my fitness is swim specific.  The stiffness I felt the following day helped confirm this.  I had been trying to convince myself that I could get away without doing the gym work, as I really don’t enjoy it and just concentrate on more swimming.  Now that I have started to pump a bit of iron I am reminded that during the 24 hour swim I did last year I had no shoulder problems due to the weight training I was doing at the time.  A problem that a lot of the other swimmers were struggling with.  It is a key part of the training, I have faced the facts and am now getting on with it.

I was thinking that the way I have introduced the strength training into my plan may not be the worst way.  I ramped up my swim training in September and gave myself just over 2 months of building,  allowing my body to adapt to the increasingly steady load.  Only then have I added the strength training.  I know I did not plan it this way, but now that it has happened I think this could be the way forward rather than hitting it all at the same time and pounding the body.  I trained that way in 2011, all at once and full on.  That winter I had so many colds and was very run down, that was before we had 2 children to worry about and sleep was not quite so elusive!  I can feel the strength training impacting my swim fitness as my muscles get used to the increased workload.  It is slowing me down and I am having to make sure I warm up and down better (I’d say properly, but that would be a lie!) to work through the stiffness.  I have even started using a recovery drink in the hope it will help me recover more quickly between sessions.   I am hoping that this is a temporary blip and will suddenly have a leap forward in speed and stamina in the water, in the coming weeks.  It’s good to hope.

I have started looking at the events/ races I would like to do next year, to assist my training and give me smaller goals to aim for in the lead up to the ‘Big One’ .  This is what I have so far:

·         March – Eton Channel Swimming Training Camp.

·         26/4 – 2Swim4Life – yes I am a glutton for punishment, but awesome mental training.  Last time I did 12hrs skins and 12hrs with wetsuit, the target this time is obviously to do the whole thing skins!

·         27/5 – Eton 10km -  possibly not the best event to chose in my lead up to the Channel, but as I was the one that pushed HR into putting the race on, I see it as ‘my race’ J

·         15/6 – Champion of Champions – I hear it is a must!

·         End of June – Jurassic coast swim, basically me, a boat (need to find one) and my crew doing a 10 miler along the lovely coast and practising all the things that need practising before the big one.

October

October has been a much better month with some consistent swimming and gradual progression.  The sleep deprivation has been at an all time low with both kids vying for attention through the night.  I see this as a great training tool, if I can bang out 4-5km each session on just a few hours sleep each night this will hold me in good sted for the end of my Channel swim.  That's assuming that I have had some good/regular sleep in the lead up - may have to be a tent in the garden!

I have managed to get out to the Serpentine a couple of times doing an hour each time in around 10c water.  Both days were overcast so meant it felt even colder, good mental prep.  It does start to play with you mind though, when getting toward the end of the hour all I can think of is getting out and getting warm.  If I am struggling with an hour in 10c am I going to be able to make it for 12+ hours in 16-18c water?!  I have to stop the negative chatter in my brain....a 6c increase is significant and having an increase in air temp and maybe even sun on my back will make all the difference.

My wrist is still a little stiff but getting better, hoping it isn't a long term thing.  My right shoulder has started to ache a bit which may just be over use, but could be bad technique.  So I am getting regular massage and plan to get some stroke analysis as I don't want this to grow into something bigger.

Overall I am really happy with the quantity and quality of my training (although I am not going to talk about the lack of strength training ....... shhhhh).  Not working this month has obviously helped to do longer sessions.  Next month I will be back driving a desk so lets see how that impacts training.