Its confirmed... Somewhere between 23-28 September 2012 we will be swimming the channel - with good luck and a following wind! Today we completed the contracts and paid the booking fee for our pilot, and it suddenly all seems very real. (Not just my sentiments but those of my team - newly named 'The Sea Breezers!)
Virtually 9 months away from today we will be waiting for the call, doing our final visualisation exercises (girls, we need to start those...) and psyching ourselves up for the journey.
For now we are planning our calendar for 2012, alongside our work and family commitments we will be regular visitors of Dover, and every other sea front we can swim in, as well as a number of open water swims to keep our fitness levels up.
As I said last week, amidst all of this I still need to survive each swim session, It all seems to be tied to the outward breath, the only time in our lives when we have to think about breathing out is when we are in water!
Saying that! In Karate I encourage people to breathe out, rather than try and breathe in quicker, when they are starting to lose breath (usually when we are Sparring and the panic has kicked in...) so that there is full capacity for air coming in.
There's a metaphor there for us in life - noticing what we do subconsciously and seeing whether it is serving us at that moment. For me, breathing out is right up there right now, and perhaps I'll be on the look out for that much more in the future!
Tuesday 13 December 2011
Tuesday 6 December 2011
Gnarly Nutters Swim club
It's Monday night, It's 7.30pm, It's been a long day... Where are you? What's your mood? What are you doing? Where I would like to be is in front of a plate of good food, around the dining room table with John and the kids, and relaxing with that 'end of the day feeling'....
But based on this goal I set for next year, where am I? Well, for the last 4 weeks I have been attending the Gnarly Nutters winter swim sessions run by Mr Frosty himself, a full hour that starts with a gentle 20 lengths of warm up... something I could only watch from afar 6 months ago.
Pete said to me that for my continued development I needed to be with other swimmers to help drive my own performance,he discovered (? is it hidden!) my competitive spirit, and he knows I won't be able to resist the pull of the faster swimmers (mostly everyone in the pool) and trying to match them, he was right! It is interesting though, that the first 10 lengths are still like re-learning over again, every week. One other observation is that amidst the many lengths we swim each Monday there are times when a breath is taking on water not air, and yet we/I cope!
Tomorrow I am working with a leadership team who are driving for massive growth in their business, and have barely time to take a breath, do I tell them that they will cope? not forever, but if we have a big, challenging, hairy goal in mind, we can take a few water logged breaths and survive.
Courage, a fine quality, and we all need it at times.
But based on this goal I set for next year, where am I? Well, for the last 4 weeks I have been attending the Gnarly Nutters winter swim sessions run by Mr Frosty himself, a full hour that starts with a gentle 20 lengths of warm up... something I could only watch from afar 6 months ago.
Pete said to me that for my continued development I needed to be with other swimmers to help drive my own performance,he discovered (? is it hidden!) my competitive spirit, and he knows I won't be able to resist the pull of the faster swimmers (mostly everyone in the pool) and trying to match them, he was right! It is interesting though, that the first 10 lengths are still like re-learning over again, every week. One other observation is that amidst the many lengths we swim each Monday there are times when a breath is taking on water not air, and yet we/I cope!
Tomorrow I am working with a leadership team who are driving for massive growth in their business, and have barely time to take a breath, do I tell them that they will cope? not forever, but if we have a big, challenging, hairy goal in mind, we can take a few water logged breaths and survive.
Courage, a fine quality, and we all need it at times.
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Back to basics
Interesting, after an extraordinary breakthrough swim, I have had two weeks with very little swimming except in a small hotel pool in Prague while running a leadership session, I cancelled my tuesday lesson due to roofing our new log cabin (ow our knees). I finally swam properly yesterday with guidance as usual from Frosty, one armed catchup and two armed catch up drills, a reminder again of how easily bad habits kick in and how we need to keep revisiting the basics to help us grow.
This theme led me to think about one of my colleagues who has apparently been catalysed by conversations around my swimming challenge, and has signed up for some zen swimming lessons, (way to go Phil). Surprise, surprise his first lesson will take him back to the basics of floating and gliding in the water, I know, I did it for months!
To expand our skills, perhaps we do sometimes need to approach learning with the simplicity and wonder of youth, to clear our minds, and just embrace 'what is', our kids can teach us a thing or two about that! I'm off swimming in the 50M pool at high wycombe tomorrow, someone pass me the armbands....
This theme led me to think about one of my colleagues who has apparently been catalysed by conversations around my swimming challenge, and has signed up for some zen swimming lessons, (way to go Phil). Surprise, surprise his first lesson will take him back to the basics of floating and gliding in the water, I know, I did it for months!
To expand our skills, perhaps we do sometimes need to approach learning with the simplicity and wonder of youth, to clear our minds, and just embrace 'what is', our kids can teach us a thing or two about that! I'm off swimming in the 50M pool at high wycombe tomorrow, someone pass me the armbands....
Wednesday 12 October 2011
How would it be.... 11 October 2011
If you could just swim, with no agenda, no judgement, no counting strokes, no unhealthy fear. That was the sentence in my mind today as I strode purposefully into the gently swelling sea, bathwater warm mingled with icewater cold (what is that phenomenon ?), brought on by the course I am on with Rebecca Watson and her team, finding the source within, parking my ego, and breathing.
I didn’t set a goal today although I gave myself maximum chance by placing shoes at one end of the 2k beach and walking right to the other end:) I just held that thought, and swam, and although hard to express now in its simplicity :- I was just ‘being’, me, the stroke, the sea, the sun, and the source.
The oddest and most elating part of this tale is I swam past my shoes, and then turned around and swam back. No big drama, No second guessing, No fear. Just the odd bit of seaweed and a sense of being supported by a new friend who met me on arrival, the same voice that had been in my head before, was just there instead, for the last 1/8th of my swim, walking down the beach, there if i needed, and not if I didn’t.
How would it be...if I could just swim with no agenda, no judgement, no counting strokes, no unhealthy fear.
It w
ould be 4kilometers in 1 hour 20 minutes, It was perfect.
I didn’t set a goal today although I gave myself maximum chance by placing shoes at one end of the 2k beach and walking right to the other end:) I just held that thought, and swam, and although hard to express now in its simplicity :- I was just ‘being’, me, the stroke, the sea, the sun, and the source.
The oddest and most elating part of this tale is I swam past my shoes, and then turned around and swam back. No big drama, No second guessing, No fear. Just the odd bit of seaweed and a sense of being supported by a new friend who met me on arrival, the same voice that had been in my head before, was just there instead, for the last 1/8th of my swim, walking down the beach, there if i needed, and not if I didn’t.
How would it be...if I could just swim with no agenda, no judgement, no counting strokes, no unhealthy fear.
It w
ould be 4kilometers in 1 hour 20 minutes, It was perfect.
The more I practice, the quieter the voices become... 10 October 2011
I am trying to turn up the volume of the voices I want to hear, and down those that I don’t. In fact, what served me today was to focus on the sunshine on my back, the rhythm of the swim, the height of my elbows, and enjoying the passing buildings as I just kept going, I know one day it will feel as easy as doing karate (able to balance, co-ordinating limbs to get ultimate power, constant adjustment, muscles aching, breathless and sweating when I try too hard, and wonderful when I am in flow), only another 9 years and 6 months to go then...
Seasickness is something they warned us about, today was a bit windier, therefore choppier, and my new strategy worked - swim half way up the bay and back (stony beach, ouch), but also against the tide and heaving waves, my voice certainly had to be encouraged to quiet down, and remembering it is likely to be that way in the channel, it was comforting to know I can deal with it in this dosage, now it is all about learning to deal with more of it, with the rolling feeling, the sea water cocktails, and the noise of the waves crashing over my head, time for a mini ipod perhaps, maybe with a very old children’s book chant we used to say to our children playing on it....
I can I can, I know I can...said the little engine... I can I can I know I Can.
Seasickness is something they warned us about, today was a bit windier, therefore choppier, and my new strategy worked - swim half way up the bay and back (stony beach, ouch), but also against the tide and heaving waves, my voice certainly had to be encouraged to quiet down, and remembering it is likely to be that way in the channel, it was comforting to know I can deal with it in this dosage, now it is all about learning to deal with more of it, with the rolling feeling, the sea water cocktails, and the noise of the waves crashing over my head, time for a mini ipod perhaps, maybe with a very old children’s book chant we used to say to our children playing on it....
I can I can, I know I can...said the little engine... I can I can I know I Can.
Just one Mile with no stops... by Christmas - 9 October 2011
Sunday was a glorious day, I swam 3/4 of the bay, with the voice of Joe (one of the retreat attendees) in my ear “if you want to swim an hour just don’t get out :), Well it focused my mind, I tried to turn back to keep swimming and got caught by tides and cramp, the enormity of the sea against a 6 month swimmer overwhelmed, and a 20 minute walk back on the beach to my towel, made me think I needed to have a different strategy around my shoes!
He ran the beach from the same point I swam that day and informed me it was a 2k run according to his Nike chip and Iphone - so, without too much pomp and ceremony, I did my mile with a few stops to clear my lungs from salt water, and enough pride to take the lead in a gang of Lions :)
He ran the beach from the same point I swam that day and informed me it was a 2k run according to his Nike chip and Iphone - so, without too much pomp and ceremony, I did my mile with a few stops to clear my lungs from salt water, and enough pride to take the lead in a gang of Lions :)
Sunny Malaga - 8 October 2011
Well, La Herradura to be precise, and sunny only in patches! A relatively still day for my first real solo swim in the sea, no-one waiting on land to wave assurance to, just myself to rely on. I set bitesize goals for myself to prevent the feeling of swimming endlessly, ‘up to the coloured bouys’, 100 strokes more, up to the yellow tent, white van, they all helped, and yet I still found I played games with myself, ‘It must be time to take a breather, the tent is within spitting distance, that counts’, I had to give myself a talking to ‘its ok, only a few more strokes, its your word’..
I wonder why it is that with this particular skill i am building that I do that, perhaps because its all so conscious, there is little that excites me about putting my face into salty water, although fortunately there was azure blue sea with pretty coloured fish to watch and take my mind off the ‘chatter’. I swam for 40 minutes I reckon, with a few breather stops for no more than a minute,but it is the ONLY sport i have ever done that this elusive hour haunts me, normally I am wishing time would slow down.
Maybe time slows down a bit when we connect more to the experience we are having, savouring the life we live, noticing the smells, the tastes, the sounds, and most of all our feelings, I am noticing my fear and being kind to myself (well, maybe the odd ‘don’t be ridiculous’ still slips out), but what a great lesson, to put ourselves in the way of something that brings up these incredible emotions and valuing them for what they are ‘a way of keeping us safe/ noticing something is wrong’ rather than judging them.
Remember that old book “ Feel the fear and do it anyway”, maybe its time for me to read that again....
I wonder why it is that with this particular skill i am building that I do that, perhaps because its all so conscious, there is little that excites me about putting my face into salty water, although fortunately there was azure blue sea with pretty coloured fish to watch and take my mind off the ‘chatter’. I swam for 40 minutes I reckon, with a few breather stops for no more than a minute,but it is the ONLY sport i have ever done that this elusive hour haunts me, normally I am wishing time would slow down.
Maybe time slows down a bit when we connect more to the experience we are having, savouring the life we live, noticing the smells, the tastes, the sounds, and most of all our feelings, I am noticing my fear and being kind to myself (well, maybe the odd ‘don’t be ridiculous’ still slips out), but what a great lesson, to put ourselves in the way of something that brings up these incredible emotions and valuing them for what they are ‘a way of keeping us safe/ noticing something is wrong’ rather than judging them.
Remember that old book “ Feel the fear and do it anyway”, maybe its time for me to read that again....
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Turning up the Pace
In my second swim coaching session with Pete he gave me his precious book, the story of Des Renford, the King of the channel, an Aussie with a wonderful journey of channel swimming. I am 75% of the way through the book, he is 63, has had open heart surgery after a series of setbacks trying to get to his 20th crossing, and is already back in the water, but is also coaching Phil Rush to do a '3 way' I kid you not...who does it in 28 hours, 21 minutes and his stroke count is 77 per minute.
I raise it because at my lesson yesterday Peter introduced the concept of increased pace, what is interesting about that, is that he is talking to someone who lives their life in a whirlwind of pace and yet, while swimming, it is (for the first time), enough to be efficient, with a smooth stroke, no splashing around, no wasting energy. The thought of getting faster was hard, I didn't get the maths, he counted my stroke and reckoned I was doing 56 strokes per minute. (I reckon it is often lower than this...), and had to increase it to add 4, 8, 12 strokes per minute.
As always my brain tells me why that would be hard, (more strokes, more energy, surely less oxygen left...) an ongoing battle between body, brain and lungs. When I was leading a team, a very wise man once said to me,"get a life" (i did have one, but he was referring to the over demanding pace I lived at), and I never even thought about how hard changing pace is for people.
I realise now, that the faster pace is often in response to running away from the stillness that is required to really reflect on the life we are living (well it was for me), and that running out of energy, oxygen, strokes, or roughly translated, exhaustion, was a state of being that I headed into regularly, and being fully aware of it now, I am working to create a life of flow.
BUT in order to get into flow, we do actually need to go through the increases and decreases in pace, to find out what is sustainable for us.
Well, that's what Pete says, and he is, for now, the boss, the King of the water that i listen to...
I raise it because at my lesson yesterday Peter introduced the concept of increased pace, what is interesting about that, is that he is talking to someone who lives their life in a whirlwind of pace and yet, while swimming, it is (for the first time), enough to be efficient, with a smooth stroke, no splashing around, no wasting energy. The thought of getting faster was hard, I didn't get the maths, he counted my stroke and reckoned I was doing 56 strokes per minute. (I reckon it is often lower than this...), and had to increase it to add 4, 8, 12 strokes per minute.
As always my brain tells me why that would be hard, (more strokes, more energy, surely less oxygen left...) an ongoing battle between body, brain and lungs. When I was leading a team, a very wise man once said to me,"get a life" (i did have one, but he was referring to the over demanding pace I lived at), and I never even thought about how hard changing pace is for people.
I realise now, that the faster pace is often in response to running away from the stillness that is required to really reflect on the life we are living (well it was for me), and that running out of energy, oxygen, strokes, or roughly translated, exhaustion, was a state of being that I headed into regularly, and being fully aware of it now, I am working to create a life of flow.
BUT in order to get into flow, we do actually need to go through the increases and decreases in pace, to find out what is sustainable for us.
Well, that's what Pete says, and he is, for now, the boss, the King of the water that i listen to...
Sunday 25 September 2011
The Power of the mind
After a hard session at Karate this morning I pondered the question "Is it better to be kicked in the head by a talented 2nd Dan, or to swim repeatedly for an hour at a time in jelly fish infested, choppy seas?", If you needed it..the answer is neither and both!
I reflected that without putting ourselves in the way of new challenges, how can we truly test our spirit, or defeat our inner voices that make us feel small. There is not necessarily peace in this philosophy of life, but there is immense joy in living each day to the full, and whilst I still can, I will.
Our Body and our Mind are connected powerfully, when I have been 'stuck' with swimming (I can't go any further/ I can't breathe/ I wish I could swim for longer - or whatever negative beliefs come up), it is now definitely in my mind, and having great friends and supporters around me to help me unblock that has been, and will continue to be invaluable.
I don't believe 'no pain, no gain', but i do believe 'one stroke at a time' which unfortunately has a different meaning as my dad had a stroke 10 years ago, and I know, that if he hadn't he would be living by a similar philosophy, so lets do it, for those who can't and especially for ourselves when we "can't" either.
I can I can I know I can...
I reflected that without putting ourselves in the way of new challenges, how can we truly test our spirit, or defeat our inner voices that make us feel small. There is not necessarily peace in this philosophy of life, but there is immense joy in living each day to the full, and whilst I still can, I will.
Our Body and our Mind are connected powerfully, when I have been 'stuck' with swimming (I can't go any further/ I can't breathe/ I wish I could swim for longer - or whatever negative beliefs come up), it is now definitely in my mind, and having great friends and supporters around me to help me unblock that has been, and will continue to be invaluable.
I don't believe 'no pain, no gain', but i do believe 'one stroke at a time' which unfortunately has a different meaning as my dad had a stroke 10 years ago, and I know, that if he hadn't he would be living by a similar philosophy, so lets do it, for those who can't and especially for ourselves when we "can't" either.
I can I can I know I can...
Saturday 24 September 2011
Our First Dover Swim
OMG, What a fantastic 24 hours, a 4 hour drive to Dover last night, and eventually dinner with Niki and Sarah and 2 bottles of wine to celebrate our first sea swim in preparation for the channel next year.
Freda was waiting for us on the beach (well, she is there every day from May 1 to Sept 30th), there were some raised eyebrows at our wetsuits (wimpsuits, in her words...), and then we stuck it out for one hour 10 mins. I confess we didn't swim the whole time, chatting about the weather, chatting with the yellow hats who've 'done it many times', and getting into the flow of it. Fortunately for me my team mates kept an eye on my progress, and once my brain had slowed down, we swam together, a real team!
45 minutes in, in a moment of madness we decided to 'go native', and dropped the wetsuits, 16 degrees is NOT warm :), but the last 25 minutes was swimming free in a way you can't explain.
What a privilege to swim with Niki and Sarah, and thankfully the universe conspired to create an extraordinary sunny day to aide our first team sea swim, and how, whatever the weather in a years time, we need to create the sunshine for ourselves...
Thursday 22 September 2011
The Journey So Far..
My First Blog which I am inspired to finally write having signed up at the end of 2010 to swim the Channel with Niki Lemon and Sarah Moralee (and hopefully roped in one other Bridget Gisby) in a relay in 2012 when our athletes will be putting themselves through the enormous challenges at the Olympics. We are doing it to raise money for charity, and also to remind ourselves of that wonderful saying: 'Today is a gift, that's why we call it The Present".
My Journey so far: On 22nd March 2011, I met Pete Frost my swim coach, and as a very weak swimmer (I had a fear of sinking, breathing in water, and don't like a wet face..), have spent a gruelling 6 months learning to float, breathe, kick, and finally swim the crawl, Pete has been an incredible coach throughout and I continue to learn sooo much from him!. Ear infections have blighted my training taking me out of action for about 5 weeks, and I am still trying out new ideas to prevent them, currently waiting for an olive oil spray which I have historically only used for cooking...
Key Milestones:
28th May saw my first 20 lengths of crawl (2 at a time).
20th June - my first Mile - 64 lengths of a 25m pool
4 July - my first open water swim at Princes Club - 2 loops of 400m and a face full of algae!
3 August - squeeze into a wetsuit for my first sea swim with my wonderful son Ben - 50 minutes in the waves!
24 August - 60 lengths in 10's and then 16 lengths straight off - am still struggling with keeping going
2nd September - Swim in Hillingdon outdoor pool in a swimsuit in the rain, 14 degrees - sooo cold
22nd September - Tomorrow Niki, Sarah and I go to Dover to do a practice swim early on Saturday morning, having watched Ronan Keating and the celebrities swim from Dublin to Ireland tonight, I was inspired, Jason from the Gadget show was incredible, and I know now, that whatever happens we can do it.
Roll on Saturday 24th September 2011.... Roll on August/September 2012
My Journey so far: On 22nd March 2011, I met Pete Frost my swim coach, and as a very weak swimmer (I had a fear of sinking, breathing in water, and don't like a wet face..), have spent a gruelling 6 months learning to float, breathe, kick, and finally swim the crawl, Pete has been an incredible coach throughout and I continue to learn sooo much from him!. Ear infections have blighted my training taking me out of action for about 5 weeks, and I am still trying out new ideas to prevent them, currently waiting for an olive oil spray which I have historically only used for cooking...
Key Milestones:
28th May saw my first 20 lengths of crawl (2 at a time).
20th June - my first Mile - 64 lengths of a 25m pool
4 July - my first open water swim at Princes Club - 2 loops of 400m and a face full of algae!
3 August - squeeze into a wetsuit for my first sea swim with my wonderful son Ben - 50 minutes in the waves!
24 August - 60 lengths in 10's and then 16 lengths straight off - am still struggling with keeping going
2nd September - Swim in Hillingdon outdoor pool in a swimsuit in the rain, 14 degrees - sooo cold
22nd September - Tomorrow Niki, Sarah and I go to Dover to do a practice swim early on Saturday morning, having watched Ronan Keating and the celebrities swim from Dublin to Ireland tonight, I was inspired, Jason from the Gadget show was incredible, and I know now, that whatever happens we can do it.
Roll on Saturday 24th September 2011.... Roll on August/September 2012
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