T-9 weeks and counting. I was checking my diary this morning and noticed that our swim window for the Channel starts 9 weeks today. 9 weeks! I can't believe I started training for this thing almost 2 years ago.
Well, here we are, pilot boat booked, swim registration forms and Channel Swimming Association application forms submitted, and medicals completed. We just need to get our 2-hour swim certificates (by swimming for 2 hours in cold open water), and sort out our insurance (it is an extreme sport after all).
I'm not getting scared (yet), but I'm still a way off my target swim speed of 1.67 miles/hour. Mind you, last Saturday's Dover Harbour experience helped me shave a couple of minutes off my half-mile swim time (mainly because you can't put your feet on the bottom or hold on to the sides in the harbour, so it's swim or die, and that's quite an incentive to go faster).
The temperature in the lido this morning was 17.2 degrees (which is unbelievably warm for us Winter swimmers) and swimming in the lido is no longer the macho thing it was. It's warmer than the Channel will be! So I'll have to dream up other ways of making it uncomfortable. Maybe I should start swimming without my swimcap? Mind you, it feels pretty cool wearing a Channel swimmer cap.
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