I was stiff and sore this morning, and that was before I even hit Brockwell Lido.
Yesterday I did the ultimate in alternative training. My wife Elaine had arranged for 3 tonnes of soil to be delivered to Rosemead - soil for the 4 raised beds I'd built during the Summer holidays. (Yes, they're big beds.) Normally, soil gets delivered in big bags by a lorry that has a crane that can deposit the soil wherever you need it.
Unfortunately the lorry couldn't get up the narrow (and steep!) drive up to the playground, so the lorry driver dumped the soil on the pavement outside the school. This meant I had to shovel 3 tonnes of soil into a wheelbarrow, push it up the hill, and tip it into the beds.
I'm not sure of the maths, but 3 tonnes of soil equals a lot of trips with a wheelbarrow. I kept telling the curious children that we were moving the equivalent of an Elephant. (For the Trivial Pursuiters amongst you, a 20-year old female Asian elephant weights about 3500kg.) Elaine helped with the digging, but the lugging and the tipping of the barrow was down to me. Several hours later, job done, and I'm a bit fitter than I was before. One more step to victory over the Channel.
The Lido felt good this morning. Okay, so the temperature was only 9.2 degrees, but it did my back, shoulders and blisters a world of good. I swam for thirty minutes.
Definitely recommended - 3 hours digging and humping soil followed by a 30 minute swim in icy water.
In a masochistic way, I've been looking forward to this day - the day when the water temperature dropped below 10 degrees. Today the temperature was 9.75 degrees. Some Lidos close when the temperature gets this cold, but not Brockwell Lido!
When I checked the web for useful tips on how to survive in cold water, I discovered that swimming increases heat loss and can shorten survival time by more than 50%, cold water robs the body's heat 32 times faster than cold air, 0-11 degrees is regarded as freezing, and few people can swim a mile in water that's only 10 degrees.
So, my swim today was quite an achievement.
I can't wait to see how cold the water is tomorrow.
We've signed up for our next training event - the 2015 Cold Water Swimming Championships on Saturday January 24th at Tooting Bec Lido. It's a 4x30m relay event. 30 metres doesn't sound very far, but the water will be freezing. Honestly, it will be freezing. Back in 2013 (the championships are held every two years) the water temperature was only 0.5 degrees! (I haven't mentioned that to Orlaith, Lynne and Fiona yet. They were the first to sign up with me. The others are, very sensibly, probably checking the small print first.) Apparently there were grumblings from some of the overseas competitors that the water wasn't cold enough. I don't think we'll be grumbling.
For some inexplicable reason, I decided not to wear a swim cap this morning. I'd never realised what a difference wearing a cap makes when open-water swimming. I know the pool was only 11.1 degrees, but when I launched into the water for my first length I thought I was going to freeze to death. My head was throbbing away so much I thought about stopping after that first length ... but I kept going ... only for 15 minutes ... and then I escaped to the heat of the changing room. I'll be back with swim cap next time.
As Channel relay swimmers, we get yellow silicon caps to wear. (The solo swimmers get red caps.) These are cosy caps, but they're really designed to make us easily identifiable when we 're training in Dover Harbour.
We don't have to wear the yellow caps when we're actually swimming the Channel, so I'm going to experiment with some other types to see which offer the most heat retention. After all, no wetsuits are allowed, so us blokes have to swim the Channel practically naked. I'll be checking out the Aqua Sphere Aqua Glide cap - a cap that's designed to cover the ears too.
Back in 2009 I persuaded 5 other mad dads to help me row an Admiralty Sailing Craft (ASC) 22 miles up the Thames in the Great River Race.
If you don't know about the Great River Race, check it out. It's a handicap race. Slowest boats start first and fastest boats start last. ASCs were built to be sailed and to be rowed - kind of a jack of all trades and master of none. So, they weren't any good as sailing boats, and they certainly weren't any good as rowing boats.
Well, guess which boat was first off the line? Our boat.
What's this got to do with swimming the Channel? Well, I have persuaded 5 other mad people to join me in the swim. But that's not what this blog post is all about. To train for the Great River Race, I bought myself a rowing machine. It really helped. After the event though, it was pushed into the darkest recesses of the bedroom cupboard and forgotten about ... until last week.
Now the rowing machine's back, and it's part of my cross-training for the Channel swim. It's yet another way of beefing up my upper body. And, it's in the spare room with the old telly, so I can row whilst watching back-episodes of Doctor Who. Yeah.
11.7 degrees! That was the temperature in Brockwell Lido this morning. I knew it was going to be cold when I scraped the ice of both cars, and the dashboard computer in Elaine's car showed the outside temperature to be 2 degrees.
I'm writing this 2 hours after getting back from the Lido, and my toes are still numb. It was a good swim though. No leaks from the new goggles, and they were comfortable will the curvier nose piece.
When I cheerfully announced "one for the pool please" and handed over my £3, the guy behind the reception desk gave me a 'really?' and 'are you sure?' look. But the Lido was busy this morning. More people than ever. There was something invigorating and macho about braving the water. On the whiteboard, it looked as though the lifeguard had had problems writing down the temperature (probably because his hands were too cold).
Can it get any colder? I'll let you know.
I swam in Crystal Palace pool today for the first time. It's very different from Brockwell Lido. It's warm, clean, and cheaper. And it doesn't really have a shallow end, so there's no easy way to wimp out and have a rest at the end of a length.
Brockwell Lido has its plus points too. The lockers are free, it's always quiet (especially at this time of year), and there's a machine to wring out your swimming costume.
Swimming in warm water was lovely. I could concentrate on technique without worrying about frostbite and the colour of my toes.
I was at Crystal Palace because it's becoming harder and harder to get to the lido. At the moment it's only open from 7.15am to 10.45am, and I seem to have a lot of morning meetings at the moment which kill that slot.
So, I was testing my new goggles at Crystal Palace. Getting a good seal is important to me. I don't mind water in my eyes, but I swim whilst wearing contact lenses, and any leakage will take out a lens. On average I lose a lens a week. Thank goodness I wear daily disposables, and thank goodness I have a huge amount of spares. What I really need though, are goggles that don't leak! So having changed from Speedo to Aqua Sphere, I've changed again to a cheap pair from Decathlon. They work really well. No leaks, and comfortable (for about the first 30 minutes). They're probably a bit tight. Wearing my bahji training partner (check out my earlier blog entry) makes the goggles tighter. I've swapped out the nose piece for a curvier one, and I'll adjust the strap.
I'll let you know how I get on. I'll be trying them in the lido next time.
 |
| Torn hamstring |
I started running again yesterday. Usually I run a lot, but I've been recovering from a torn hamstring. I tore my hamstring at the Rosemead 'fun' day, playing tag-type games with the children. Being super-competitive, I was trying really hard to scare and catch the children. Then one child turned really quickly, and I went flying. I thought it was simply a very bad sprain until the back of my leg turned black and blue. I guess I'm not quite as flexible as I used to be. I was very cross because it wouldn't have happened if I'd warmed up and done some stretching.
So, 30 minutes running in the rain yesterday. My hamstrings are stiff, but I reckon I can go out again today. I'm aiming to run on the days I don't swim. I think I need a bit of cross-training to get me super-fit, and to keep me motivated.
I'll confess to this blog if I don't manage to swim or run every day.
