2019 Here we go again… [Swimming the English Channel]

So the time has come…I have paid the deposit on my swim…the swim window is booked out in my diary (15th to 21st August 2019)…and so the mind turns to training.

On the “Dover Channel Training” facebook site, 2019 Channel aspirants are posting: “Quick question for those attempting a 2019 EC solo or have swum in the past: what lengths are you swimming at the moment? I’m currently swimming 2500m-4000m 4x a week [10-16 km per week].“

And people are replying “My winter volume was 100-120km per month [20-30km per week]. It included technique, distance and speed work.“

I am pretty sure, without much fear of contradiction, that “zero km per week” is not enough!

So back in the pool I go…

Week 1 just shows what it is like training for the channel…something always has to give. Six months into my new role it is very busy with Mid Year Reviews to start the week, an unexpected conference speech appearing in my diary on Thursday and some important external meetings on Friday. Most evenings I am committed. And emails are backing up as a consequence…

…which means the last thing I feel like is spending several hours with my face down in a chlorinated pool, with the unavoidable streaming eyes, sore throat and asthmatic cough resulting.

But training is training. And this is week 1…so time to start with some creative accounting!

Normally I start my training week on a Monday and end it on Sunday. But having done a swim with the TriClub on Sunday evening, I could “legitimately” count another swim on Sunday morning a week later as “the same week”? So that was 7.0 km in the week 1…not at all bad.

Inevitably week 2 followed with only one swim done on Sunday evening: 3.7 km. Ahhh…

Week 3…got to do better: 4.0 km…now thinking about it, that is nearly 10% better than week 2 (if you round up). And if I continue to increase by 10% per week then through the power of exponential numbers, I will be ready…just before my swim window!

Week 4…now I am worried…I have to achieve a respectable weekly total before I write my Monthly Newsletter!

And that’s when life gets in the way: I am away all week on training, with emails in the morning, a gruelling training schedule during the day and experience sharing or course work in the evenings. When is there time to swim?

The answer is 5:30 am! Get up…drive to local leisure centre…swim from 6-7am…then back to shower and do emails.

Same problem at the weekend. Saturday is occupied visiting my father in hospital. And on Sunday when normally I do the long TriClub swim in the evening, Arsenal are playing Spurs home at the Emirates – and I am not missing a London Derby for any swim!

So up at 6:30 am again…drive to local leisure centre…swim from 7:00-8:30 am…then back to walk the dog…shower…catch train to match…cheer until hoarse (score: 4-2!!)…long trek home and collapse. 7.0 km swum.

Feeling a bit smug, I head into London this morning and on route I read this article by a fellow channel trainee. Jody missed her swim last year due to a surprise diagnosis of cancer. She is now, after gruelling medical treatment, fighting her way back to full fitness in her plan to swim in 2019. Now THAT is dedication to training…

…and this week as my penance, I will swim 10 km without entertaining even the tiniest, microscopic little grumble!

Welcome back to the mental games that are “training to swim the channel”…