Since December I've been Eating.... Eating for the channel with the aim to put on a decent amount of weight... Why?? So I don't get cold.
I have been steadily putting it on, but this past two weeks has been a turning point. In two weeks due to lots of eating and very little training (injury and illness) I have managed to put on 3 kgs. Very good for channel training very bad for my now very limited wardrobe.
My only pair of jeans that still fit now has a hole on the inside of the thigh, results in an overcooked muffin top when I do them up and to make matters worse now bruises my hips when I sit for too long.... Despite the pain and my somewhat indecent appearance I'm still wearing my jeans as summer hasn't yet hit and my winter wardrobe is now limited. As a result of this I was sat on a plane from Sweden to London on Sunday night very uncomfortable. So much so, that I decided the best way to ease my pain was to unbutton the top button of my jeans. Once doing so my belly promptly protruded its way out over the waist band sending my t-shirt up toward my boobs much in the style of Homer Simpson . This elicited a rather large giggle from Mark who said "I'm so proud of you" ....
Oh well what can I do - time for some bigger jeans :)
Monday 23 April 2012
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Lessons Learnt from a Week in Gozo
Last week Mark and I spent a week on the small island of Gozo off Malta, on a Long Distance Swimming training camp with two of our other friends Tory and Deirdre. We were lucky enough to be joined on the camp by some channel newbies and some experienced channel swimmers including GB record holder Becky 'Our Becky' Lewis.
The camp was meant to be four hard core days swimming with seminars and a rest or two in between. What actually happened was 8 minutes on day 1 - swimming aborted due to force 6 winds and jelly fish. Day 2 we went from 0 to heroes with a gallant 6 hours, then day 3 it was 3 hours for Mark and only a short paddle for me, followed by short paddles for the remaining two days, one due to my sickness and two due to weather. Not the 4 intense days of training I expected.
Special mention has to go to Irene, who hails from Brisbane, Australia. At the tender age of 72, Irene is due to be part of a 4 person Channel Relay this summer. She is one fabulous swimmer and tough as nails. Having not swum in 15c water she pulled out a 2.5 hr swim on day two and a 3 hour swim on day 3, qualifying her for her channel relay and impressing the pants of the rest of us :) Can't wait to catch up with her on the beach in Dover.
Having said that, the week taught me a lot of things.....
My top 10 learnings:
1. Go with the flow - the best layed plans will go astray
2. Always come prepared for the unexpected and carry backups - I rocked up with a costume that wasn't suitable for a 6 hr swim thinking we were doing two shorter swims. Which resulted in me swimming with my costume around my waist and flashing my boobs for part of the 6 hours to avoid too much chaffing.
3. You can't control the weather and conditions - not safe = no swimming
4. You can push your body beyond what you think you're capable of - I managed 6 hours with a rotten head cold and cough, Deirdre having done not a lot of training due to injury swam for 6 hours, Tory and Mark along with the others who'd never done a 6 hour before pulled one out of the bag too.
5. A decent layer of fat really does help - 6 hours in 15c and I wasn't cold or hungry
6. The demons who are in your head will come out - it's your responsibility to tell them to get stuffed, 'man up princess' and just keep swimming.
For the more light hearted......
7. Sea poos are possible, but try not to get yourself caught in the brown cloud
8. Nick Adams will always win a gibber competition on his own terms
9. Don't challenge Deirdre to a potato eating contest she will beat you hands down - 1) she's vegetarian 2) she's Irish 3) they're potatoes
10. And finally......... A night off drinking is acceptable but ...... dont challenge 'Our Becky' to a jager bomb/shot drinking competition she may be the GB record holder for the Channel but you'll be under the table before she is.
The camp was meant to be four hard core days swimming with seminars and a rest or two in between. What actually happened was 8 minutes on day 1 - swimming aborted due to force 6 winds and jelly fish. Day 2 we went from 0 to heroes with a gallant 6 hours, then day 3 it was 3 hours for Mark and only a short paddle for me, followed by short paddles for the remaining two days, one due to my sickness and two due to weather. Not the 4 intense days of training I expected.
Special mention has to go to Irene, who hails from Brisbane, Australia. At the tender age of 72, Irene is due to be part of a 4 person Channel Relay this summer. She is one fabulous swimmer and tough as nails. Having not swum in 15c water she pulled out a 2.5 hr swim on day two and a 3 hour swim on day 3, qualifying her for her channel relay and impressing the pants of the rest of us :) Can't wait to catch up with her on the beach in Dover.
Having said that, the week taught me a lot of things.....
My top 10 learnings:
1. Go with the flow - the best layed plans will go astray
2. Always come prepared for the unexpected and carry backups - I rocked up with a costume that wasn't suitable for a 6 hr swim thinking we were doing two shorter swims. Which resulted in me swimming with my costume around my waist and flashing my boobs for part of the 6 hours to avoid too much chaffing.
3. You can't control the weather and conditions - not safe = no swimming
4. You can push your body beyond what you think you're capable of - I managed 6 hours with a rotten head cold and cough, Deirdre having done not a lot of training due to injury swam for 6 hours, Tory and Mark along with the others who'd never done a 6 hour before pulled one out of the bag too.
5. A decent layer of fat really does help - 6 hours in 15c and I wasn't cold or hungry
6. The demons who are in your head will come out - it's your responsibility to tell them to get stuffed, 'man up princess' and just keep swimming.
For the more light hearted......
7. Sea poos are possible, but try not to get yourself caught in the brown cloud
8. Nick Adams will always win a gibber competition on his own terms
9. Don't challenge Deirdre to a potato eating contest she will beat you hands down - 1) she's vegetarian 2) she's Irish 3) they're potatoes
10. And finally......... A night off drinking is acceptable but ...... dont challenge 'Our Becky' to a jager bomb/shot drinking competition she may be the GB record holder for the Channel but you'll be under the table before she is.
Monday 16 April 2012
The beginnings
Two and a half years ago when I dipped my toe into the world of Long Distance swimming, I was naieve enough to think I could do it (swim the channel) as other ordinary people had done it, lived in my little world of ignorant bliss that I was an ok swimmer and I was stubborn. These things would surely be good qualities that would get me through both a two person relay and then spur me to complete a solo channel swim.
Fast forward 2.5 years through the successful two person relay of the English Channel - one of the hardest days of mine and my relay partner Clare's life. Two hours of swimming followed by two hours of vomitting and repeat four times over. Why didn't either of us give up, because we were both too stubborn to do so and didn't want to be the first to cave. That combined with a lot of luck, an awesome pilot, fab team of advisers on the beach in Dover, our motely crew on the boat and a lot of hard work, tears and tantrums got us across the Channel. The bad stuff is a distant memory, the good stuff still firmly planted at the front of my mind and this time I'm going SOLO!!
This time round I've decided I'm going to do a few things to share the experience and prove that I'm not actually a nutter (like most of my family and close friends think).
1. Write a Blog
This is not going to be a blog about how many miles I've swum and what an amazing swimmer I am.... Quite frankly I'm not an olympian or a world record holder (never will be) there will always be a better swimmer than me (and lots of them), there will always be someone who swims further than me, it's boring and most people simply won't care. I am going to write about tears, tantrums, silly tan lines, water temp, sea beards, chaffing, vomit, wees, weight gain and all the interesting things I discover during the training season.
2. Raise money for Charity.
This is not the first time I've completed a sporting activity with the hope of putting myself through pain to raise money for a charity. But this is different. This is the channel and the toughest thing I will have done in my short 31 years on this planet. So I believe if I'm going to smile and wince my way through the training, give up my weekends and social life along with my beautfiul Ted Baker clothing (as I not longer fit into it), then others should benefit. The charities I have chosen relate to cancer research because in the last 12 months 5 people who have made an impact on my life in some shape or form have lost their fight with cancer, most noteably my grandmother Mary McIntyre. They all fought a hard, but this is a disease we don't have a cure for and if I can make some form of difference I would like too.
3. Tell people about it
The reasons are many, 1) they will keep me in check with my training 2) so my colleagues understand when I scoff down 3 slices of cake, always have wet hair and a hat tan line and 3)when I waddle around with grazes on my neck it's not that I've been to some form of a random sex party.... but actually that I have chaffing on my thighs and neck due to swimming and that waddling and swimmers hickey's are a normal part of my life now along with fat clothes.
Check back, I will try to update weekly, maybe more frequently dependent upon what's happening.
Kx
Fast forward 2.5 years through the successful two person relay of the English Channel - one of the hardest days of mine and my relay partner Clare's life. Two hours of swimming followed by two hours of vomitting and repeat four times over. Why didn't either of us give up, because we were both too stubborn to do so and didn't want to be the first to cave. That combined with a lot of luck, an awesome pilot, fab team of advisers on the beach in Dover, our motely crew on the boat and a lot of hard work, tears and tantrums got us across the Channel. The bad stuff is a distant memory, the good stuff still firmly planted at the front of my mind and this time I'm going SOLO!!
This time round I've decided I'm going to do a few things to share the experience and prove that I'm not actually a nutter (like most of my family and close friends think).
1. Write a Blog
This is not going to be a blog about how many miles I've swum and what an amazing swimmer I am.... Quite frankly I'm not an olympian or a world record holder (never will be) there will always be a better swimmer than me (and lots of them), there will always be someone who swims further than me, it's boring and most people simply won't care. I am going to write about tears, tantrums, silly tan lines, water temp, sea beards, chaffing, vomit, wees, weight gain and all the interesting things I discover during the training season.
2. Raise money for Charity.
This is not the first time I've completed a sporting activity with the hope of putting myself through pain to raise money for a charity. But this is different. This is the channel and the toughest thing I will have done in my short 31 years on this planet. So I believe if I'm going to smile and wince my way through the training, give up my weekends and social life along with my beautfiul Ted Baker clothing (as I not longer fit into it), then others should benefit. The charities I have chosen relate to cancer research because in the last 12 months 5 people who have made an impact on my life in some shape or form have lost their fight with cancer, most noteably my grandmother Mary McIntyre. They all fought a hard, but this is a disease we don't have a cure for and if I can make some form of difference I would like too.
3. Tell people about it
The reasons are many, 1) they will keep me in check with my training 2) so my colleagues understand when I scoff down 3 slices of cake, always have wet hair and a hat tan line and 3)when I waddle around with grazes on my neck it's not that I've been to some form of a random sex party.... but actually that I have chaffing on my thighs and neck due to swimming and that waddling and swimmers hickey's are a normal part of my life now along with fat clothes.
Check back, I will try to update weekly, maybe more frequently dependent upon what's happening.
Kx
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