Wednesday 16 June 2010

Robin Hood...

We have decided to run The 2010 Robin Hood Half Marathon in September to kick start our fundraising campaign. Rumour has it we may well be sporting swimming costumes... hats .. and goggles for the full 13.1 miles!

Monday 14 June 2010

EATEN ALIVE!

In addition to Justine's report i would like to add that i have been eaten alive by God knows what whilst swimming at HP! 174 bites at the last count...!

I am currently looking into ways of avoiding this in the future so any top tips then just throw them this way.

I've had myself one itchy weekend!!

Kate

Sunday 13 June 2010

Swimming without wetsuits!



Kate and I decided that we have to embark on some cold water outdoor training. We have tried to ignore the fact that we're swimming in the sea and not a pool but every good thing comes to an end. So rather hideously we donned our bathers, red hats and goggles and foolishly jumped into Holme Pierrepont regatta lake with a number of other swimmers (in full wetsuits!) to embark on some outdoor distant swimming.

To be honest I was scared. My thoughts preceding the swim focused on:
What if I swim into a swan? What injuries will I sustain from a swan beak and wings - haven't people died in a human and swan dual?
Will I catch Viles disease?
Is there an equivalent of the Loch Ness monster? Stupid I know but it did cross my mind.
And weed. Lots of weed. How will I swim through weed?

Anyway, we survived. Kate was like a rocket and I took things a little more steady until I dealt with the above. The experience was strangely enjoyable but it was hard! My arms we're throbbing and I had a touch of cramp in my thigh and calf. I'm thinking that this could have been down to the cold or more poor technique at the start of the session. But training with Kate is great and a real motivation. We swam just over 2000 metres which is a good start and we were in the water for about 50 minutes. So same time next week?

Channelling Positively begins..........

So it's confirmed we're actually going to do this! Kate and I are swimming the channel from England to France in July 2011 in the form of a 2 person relay. This means one of us swims for an hour whilst the other is on a boat and then we change over; this continues until we reach the otherside. And of course we have every intention of doing this!

The reality is a little frightening but we're going to achieve this....by hook or by crook! Both Kate and I felt that we still had a swimming challenge left in us, maybe the thought of turning 40 in the not so distant future gave us an added boost! Anyway we have some sponsorship and we have a little, but very dedicated team of helpers or supporters. There's Carrie, who basically organises us and liaises with our sponsor and Emma who is the trainer - she's rock hard and uses phrases such as "pain equals results!". We do exactly what she says!

But more importantly we're going to raise money for charity whilst promoting the fact that any Tom, Dick or Debbie can engage in a challenge, no matter how big or small and without turning your life upside down. Kate and I are just everyday people, with partners, kids, cats and full time jobs as major priorities and we're going to achieve our channel swim with exactly that in mind.

So, we'll use our blog to tell you about our trials and tribulations over the year and how we attempt to prepare ourselves for the big swim! I'm guessing they'll be lots of laughs and maybe a few woes but we'll do our best to be honest and hopefully entertaining.