Lake Windermere

Lake Windermere

Saturday 26 January 2013

IT'SNOW FUN

As you may be aware, I hate snow. I can't imagine why people would want to go away and have a holiday in it. Hopefully it will go away today.

Training is really going well. Last January I covered just over 60,000 metres, already I have done 85,000 with 4 big swims planned before the end of the month. I am focusing on much longer swims at the moment, minimum 5,000 metres. I will do more speed work in February although I am doing 3.27 kilometres per hour compared to 2.99 this time last year. Interestingly (well to me anyway) that I have already spent the equivalent of one whole day in the pool having swum for 24 hours 26 minutes thus far! My pool hours have been transformed by my new Merlin MP3 player. WOW, rock and roll as I swim baby. I can highly recommend it ( any sponsorship gratefully accepted Mr. Merlin ) as it is far better quality than my old one. Thank you Santa!

With round Jersey and the Channel this year, I am looking at 2014 swims. Europe to Africa or Ireland to Scotland are possibilities. These are already pretty well booked. Mad people.

Swam to Sweet Home Alabama this morning. Legend.

Monday 14 January 2013

A New Year Begins

Hope you have all made your New Year resolutions and are sticking to them. Once again I have promised not to go out with super models. It has worked for me every year of my life so far!

I have had a very busy start to the year as I have had a busy time visiting the USA, Suffolk and Cornwall. I managed to get some big swims in and now that I am back to work at school, I have upped the intensity of my training. With Jersey and the Channel looming I am swimming longer for each session. Last week I got 10 hours in the pool covering over 30K. It won't always be like that with work commitments but I should get in at least 4 good swims a week.

Snow today. I hate it.

Wednesday 2 January 2013

The Year That Was

Manahau to all.

2012 has gone and with it many hours in the water for yours truly. In fact 342 of them to be exact, plus 25 minutes! That equates to over 14 full days of swimming.

Lizzie and I spent Christmas in the USA with Kate, Doug and Tabitha so as well as having a wonderful time, I managed to get plenty of swimming in. I won't bore you again about how wonderful their facilities are, suffice to say that it is a pleasure to be able to swim in your own lane in a dedicated swimming pool and not fight for space with head up breaststrokers or kids playing tag and getting in your face. Is it any wonder that the US win the most swimming medals?

After passing the magic million metres on the 12th of December, I added another 53,000 to finish with a total of 1053 Kilometres for the year. There is a purpose for this dear reader as I am swimming around Jersey on the 22nd June and across the Channel at the end of August. These are 2 tough, long swims to do within weeks of each other, so the hours I have trained in the last 12 months have given me a solid base of fitness for the coming year.

I started the year with a 6000 metre swim this morning so here I go again!

Mumford and Sons Live at the Red Rocks. Check it out!

Setting off. 7am. Only 13 and a half hours to go!