Something has changed. Friends, work colleagues and family have noticed it. My physio has remarked upon it. The swimmers at Source Health & Fitness have commented upon it. There has been a change. There is a disturbance in 'the Force'. That disturbance has been caused by coach Eilís handing everyone their sea swimming schedule on the 1st of May. No more pool! Outdoors from now on, and not only that, but a huge jump in the mileage as well - 55km, 75km, 88km etc etc. Ok, deep breath, how can I make this work? I need to habituate myself to the cold water (about 11 C at the moment) even though the Channel swim will be much warmer (hopefully 14-16 C), but as I am a skinny person I am currently having huge problems with lasting a long time in the water, and endure shivering and muscle cramping after each swim. Mentally and physically this is exhausting, and my muscles are paying the price, as my physio has seen.
In order to keep up the mileage, though, I have to now swim twice a day, and do long swims in a wetsuit when I have the time or opportunity. It's also not advisable to swim on my own, so a bit of organising with others is required as well. So since the 1st of May I have been doing a lot of driving to do relatively short swims, lots of shivering, then repeating again after work, while keeping an eye on the tide times so that I have enough water in which to swim. Then home to prepare enormous quantities of food and prepare for the next morning's 6:30am swim.
Needless to say this has consumed an enormous amount of time, and I have been worried about increasing my duration in the cold water, and how to maintain the mileage when this duration is still short. This is the real challenge.
The real training has started.
I know Cork seems to be missing out on most of these sunny days we have had in the west but hopefully the milder weather is bringing the sea temperature up for you skinny ones! Have you started your butter diet?
ReplyDeleteStay strong!