Channel Blogging II

So maybe, just possibly, the last blog was a bit heavy?! It’s now 3 weeks till the swim, so, it isn’t going to be easy, but i’ll try and lighten the mood!

Guy’s swim is due to take place this Friday though we don’t know for sure as the actual swim day is very much weather dependent. He spoke to the channel pilot today (Reg) and apparently the winds might be a little strong until the weekend. But all the months of training seem to be reaching a climax very quickly!

Of all the events we’ve endured so far one of the definite highlights was a training camp that Tim set up for us in Turkey a couple of months ago. A small group of us from RedTop Swim headed out to Canakkale for an introduction into cold/open water swimming. No matter how well my pool training had gone so far this served as a massive wake up call at the enormity of the task I am about to undertake….

Canakkale, Turkey – Cold Water Training

200 hundred years ago Lord Byron decided it would be a good idea to swim from Europe to Asia. It might sound tough but there’s actually a stretch of water in Turkey where this distance is around 4 to 5 km – a reasonable distance for open water swimmers. Each year an annual race takes place in August to repeat and celebrate this achievement. In April of this year, given it was the 200th anniversary, swimtrek organised the same event to take place which would be exactly 200 years to the day. The water in April is colder than August and would therefore be great channel training.

In a normal year the water temperature in the Bosphorous in April is around 15 degrees. It should have been perfect training as the channel should be around 15 when I attempt my swim in early July.

Having spent a day and night in Istanbul visiting several churches/mosques I was very ready for the flight to Canakkale where the swimming would start. We’d arrived 3 days prior to the main event so that we could get the training in. Paul, Sarah and Mel were cracking on with solid open water training for the upcoming triathlon year and the other long distance events. Guy and I were going to properly start the acclimatisation process for the channel.

The plan was for a 2 hour morning swim, lunch, and a 2 hour afternoon swim on day 1. Day 2 would be a longer single swim and would largely depend on the conditions and how we were coping.

Tim had arranged everything. All the supplies were ready so we traipsed the half hour walk to the beach front with water and energy (gels, drinks, bars, chocolate) on our backs. The weather seemed great. A little chilly with the wind but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The boat had been arranged for 9am but by 9:30am we were still waiting. With people getting impatient we decided to start the swim without Tim tracking us in the boat – the Turks aren’t the best time keepers but it should turn up soon! Guy again waded in with the rest of us more hesitant but following closely behind.

By this stage I’d only experienced one cold swim in the serpentine. It was for 40 minutes and was cold but nothing crazy. The temperature of the Bhosphorous seemed similar so we started tracking along the coast as advised by Tim. We turned at around the half km mark and headed back to find the boat had arrived. Tim and Fumiko were packing on the supplies so we continued swimming quickly realising that treading water wasn’t an option as we rapidly lost heat.

The first hour past by quite quickly. Tim called us in for a feed. As he threw me the bottle and I started drinking I wasn’t expecting it to be warm maxim. Legend! He knew what we needed. He asked how we were but I was struggling to talk. My body seemed ok at this stage but I had lock-jaw and so I was dribbling as if I was just post-op at the dentist. We’d stopped for just two minutes when Tim pointed to a new direction so we were off. Another 30 minutes and he’d sort another feed. He could see we needed it.

It started getting tough in this period. I’d not been above the hour mark before in the cold so I was now forging new territory. As we came in the for the second feed the shivers had started. It was around my hip flexors so treading water at the feed was difficult. Warm maxim again was really needed. Just another 30 minutes – come on boy. The last 30 minutes were a different world. I was disoriented and the pain in my core and around my hips was huge. Trying to keep the stroke long was difficult. I was completely lost. As we came back to the launch pier at the 2 hour mark I hadn’t even known we were close. I was in a dark place. Walking onto the beach I didn’t know how to get warm. The wind was blowing and my body was convulsing and shutting down. I couldn’t talk and don’t really remember but Tim guided me back to a shower room where the girls were. I was thrown in to the shower but couldn’t tell if the water was hot or cold. I was assured it was hot! It was the best feeling ever. This is honestly no over-estimation! I stood under the boiling hot shower for the next 40 minutes. I was still shivering as I got out and put on all items of clothing within sight.

Lunch was dark. Was the channel really going to be like this? Is it possible to get used to cold like this?

Thankfully I tend not to worry too much and, also, I can sleep anywhere! After lunch was ordered I lay like a gecko in the sun – still wearing all available clothes – and slept.

I was woken an hour later with the news we needed to start getting ready again. Not ideal but it’s really amazing how quickly you forget the pain. I guess it’s like child birth – there’s no way most women would get pregnant a second time if they could remembered the pain from the first time around!

So we got ready, again, and got in the water, again. And, again, the first hour felt fine. I was far more aware of the time and the space. Open water swimming is a real skill but I felt I was picking it up quickly so I was relatively positive. The pain started at the hour fifteen mark again. But both Guy and I pushed on and got to the 2 hour mark. I was in pieces yet again but I was more aware – one upside.

It had been a tough day. Beers were needed. Guy and I had been questioning the temperature all day and he managed to find a hardware store on the way back to the hotel with a thermometer. As we went back down to the front promenade for food and drinks Guy and Sarah ducked out to the harbour to measure the water.

Guy walked back into the restaurant with a smile on his face. “How much man?”.. “Guess..”, “No idea, cold, but no idea”, “Ok.. we did two readings. The first was 11 degrees. The second was 10.5 degrees!”

10-11 degrees!!!! All I could think, even though I’m not religious, was “Praise the lord!!” This was so much lower than the channel should be and we’d managed to survive 4 hours so far.

The mood lightened massively at this point as we’d all secretly hoped this was the case but we’d not discussed it in depth. Despite the relief I pretty much wanted to pass out after 3 sips of beer so we had some food and got an early night in preparation for day 2.

Day 2 started in much the same way. The wind seemed to have picked up a little but the sun was out. Could this have warmed the water overnight? As we got down to the beach it became apparent that the wind had picked up a lot and the sun hadn’t warmed the water at all! It seemed colder than the day before. I tried to block it out but the dodgy turkish kebab, doing cartwheels in my stomach, wasn’t helping! Anyway, we cracked on with the swimming. The boat had arrived marginally more on time today so we were being tracked further along the coast soon after we started. Within 30 mins we found ourselves playing with the wildlife. The thought of the heat generated by a jellyfish sting was becoming appealing but Tim assured me it wouldn’t help so we turned back. The cold was getting me quicker today. By 1hr 20mins we were back toward the shore and I was in real pain. Guy looked over at me and stopped as I was convulsing uncontrollably in the water. He said he thought I should get out. I agreed and stumbled back to the beach. Once again I didn’t know how I could get warm so sat in a ball hoping the sun would heat me. Before I knew it Tim was out of the boat. He grabbed me and carried me back to the changing rooms.

I stood in the shower getting warm as the others pushed on through. It was obviously a real low point. Alone – I questioned everything. I wasn’t getting better at this cold thing – I was getting worse if anything! But there was nothing I could do. Except push on and keep trying. So that’s what I did.

I ate at lunch and then rested as much as possible. And then we got back in the water. And it was a lot better. I still don’t know why, but, my stroke was longer and I didn’t feel the cold half as much as in the morning. I was actually properly leading out for the first time. Maybe you need to hit that trough to see how far down it goes – and then start digging yourself out?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still wasn’t half as fast as I am in the pool but it was a start. And, more importantly, it was a lesson. This channel thing really needs some respect and that’s what she was going to get.

Turkey Training Camp Conclusion

OK. Sorry – perhaps not as light as I promised but I said it wasn’t going to be easy! Turkey was an amazing roller-coaster. Many more of the RedTop team flew out for the Lord Byron race but, sadly, I had to head back to London as I’d arranged to meet a mate over from New Zealand 6 months previously. I was gutted not to race. It would have been an excellent climax to the weekend but wasn’t to be.

In the race Guy came second in the non-wetsuit category. Mel won the girls wetsuit. RedTop swim overall did amazingly well getting many more medals. The conditions were super challenging across the main shipping lane as the “chop” really kicked up. Sarah got lucky as she decided to go without a wetsuit and just landed the right side of hypothermia! The doctor said a few more minutes and she might not have been so lucky. But she still came 2nd in the non-wetsuit – strong!

Lord Byron – Until next year!

[flickr album=72157624284328592 num=30 size=Square]