Thanks so much guys for contributions to date, fundraising is at 45% of my target. If I hit my target I'll be swimming in some garish pink speedos so there is a little way to go yet!
Link below to see the figures...
http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Newell/
Friday 31 July 2009
Questions...where are they?
I can't believe none of you have any questions. Come on fire some at me and I'll try and answer them. We have just sent off a list of our own to the skipper taking us across so out with it.
Grinding out the hours in the river...
Have managed 3 sessions in the river this week, all roughly an hour apiece which will be the rough time for each stint in the water before we hand over to the next swimmer.
Training has been at a pretty steady pace this week and activity in/on/around the river has been pretty quiet. There was an old man by the side of the river bank this morning who just stopped and stared at us with hands on hips and mouth open whilst we stroked post. I think we all increased the pace a bit so we looked that little bit more impressive!
Joining us in the river were around 6-7 triathletes today all training for upcoming triathlons. They don't have to worry about the cold as much as they sport their nice warm wetsuits.
Reality is starting to dawn on us a little bit in that the swim is less than a month away and there isn't much time left now at all. We are most concerned about the cold as the channel could be anything from 15-19 degrees celsius depending on what the weather does so I am praying that the muc anticipated heatwave hits so the water warms up! I got a thermometer to meaure the water temperature in the river thinking that it would be around 16 degrees (ideal training zone) and was surprised to find that it was about 18 which is a very comfortable temperature. We have swam in colder water but possibly not for an hour at a time so this is a bit of an unknown and scary prospect. I don't want to be hitting the water in the channel for the first time, hyperventitlating because of the cold and looking like an idiot! I'm not sure what we can do between now and the swim to sort this.
Breaking news...have just googled a website to see if I can find the temperature at the moment and have found a very cool website which links to a buoy just off Calais which measures the water temp! The recording is now 17.4 degrees which is fine!! Great news and I'll be keeping an eye on my new fave web page. Sad or what!!??
We still have not managed to have a session with all four of the team in the water in the same time due to commitments and are hoping that we will have a team session next Monday. I'm trying to get some press coverage sorted to help with the fundraising so watch this space!
Going for a long swim tomorrow morning at liquid leisure and will try to do at least 90 mins. Aim is to get the legs to not cramp so will be rubbing deep heat into my calves to see if this helps. If not no worries, love the smell of that stuff. Till next time...
Training has been at a pretty steady pace this week and activity in/on/around the river has been pretty quiet. There was an old man by the side of the river bank this morning who just stopped and stared at us with hands on hips and mouth open whilst we stroked post. I think we all increased the pace a bit so we looked that little bit more impressive!
Joining us in the river were around 6-7 triathletes today all training for upcoming triathlons. They don't have to worry about the cold as much as they sport their nice warm wetsuits.
Reality is starting to dawn on us a little bit in that the swim is less than a month away and there isn't much time left now at all. We are most concerned about the cold as the channel could be anything from 15-19 degrees celsius depending on what the weather does so I am praying that the muc anticipated heatwave hits so the water warms up! I got a thermometer to meaure the water temperature in the river thinking that it would be around 16 degrees (ideal training zone) and was surprised to find that it was about 18 which is a very comfortable temperature. We have swam in colder water but possibly not for an hour at a time so this is a bit of an unknown and scary prospect. I don't want to be hitting the water in the channel for the first time, hyperventitlating because of the cold and looking like an idiot! I'm not sure what we can do between now and the swim to sort this.
Breaking news...have just googled a website to see if I can find the temperature at the moment and have found a very cool website which links to a buoy just off Calais which measures the water temp! The recording is now 17.4 degrees which is fine!! Great news and I'll be keeping an eye on my new fave web page. Sad or what!!??
We still have not managed to have a session with all four of the team in the water in the same time due to commitments and are hoping that we will have a team session next Monday. I'm trying to get some press coverage sorted to help with the fundraising so watch this space!
Going for a long swim tomorrow morning at liquid leisure and will try to do at least 90 mins. Aim is to get the legs to not cramp so will be rubbing deep heat into my calves to see if this helps. If not no worries, love the smell of that stuff. Till next time...
Sunday 26 July 2009
Sea Swim - I Survived!!
What a fantastic event that was! I survived my first 5k sea swim down in Bournemouth and had a blast. The sun shone all day and the sea was much warmer than I imagined (18 degrees)and in the end it was a lot warmer than the river we've been swimming in.
I went down with Pete Frost (and my wife Jay) and our aim was to get some valuable sea experience in as the channel swim date is now fast approaching. The event was very well organised and upon registration we were handed our numbered caps and various limbs had our race number scrawled upon them so that our times could be recorded. The time to race soon came and before I knew it we were in the sea ready to swim the buoyed 1.25k course 4 times. The first lap was a bit of a shock as we were swimming to the first buoy (of 4 in a rectangle pattern) against the current whilst being battered by waves. I couldn't believe how long it took to get there! Thankfully coming back along the top of the course the current was pushing us along so it was a lot quicker coming back. I had a good battle around the course with one of the female swimmers (no 19 I think) and we kept each other going swapping positions every so often. I put in a final push along the back straight on the last lap and thought I had done enough but upon going to my legs badly cramped up and got overtaken right at the death!! I guess that it the way it goes sometimes so at least I have learnt that for a long swim I need to take some anti-cramping measures.
I finished in 1hour 16 mins which I was pretty happy with. There were around 60 swimmers who took part and that put me around 20th or 3rd in my age group category of 8 swimmers.
I've put a few pictures on of the event and will be back in the river tomorrow morning.
http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Newell/
Friday 24 July 2009
5k Sea Swim Tomorrow - Help!!
I have entered a 5k sea swim tomorrow morning down in Bournemouth with another member of the team, Frosty.
This will be my longest swim yet (in terms of time) and I expect it will take around 90 mins to complete. I am more worried about the temperature as I expect the sea to be very cold and a bit of a shock to the system. This will be the biggest test yet without a doubt so I am approaching tomorrow with some trepidation. The swim starts at noon so think of me then! I'll be happy to just complete the swim.
Had a great swim this morning in the river managing just over an hour. Not bad after last nights swim. Fair bit of traffic in the river and along the bank today. As I had time whiles swimming along (what else is there to do) I listed what there was to give you an insight of who uses the river:
2 x kayaks
1 x rowing scull (down and back past us)
4 x joggers
2 x walkers
1 x dog
30+ swans
3 x ducks
1 x cow (checking us out from the bank and mooing loudly as we swam past)
If it gets any more exciting that this I'll be sure to tell all here. I'm sure I won't be able to top the morbid tale that we were told last night about finding a dead body in the river.
This will be my longest swim yet (in terms of time) and I expect it will take around 90 mins to complete. I am more worried about the temperature as I expect the sea to be very cold and a bit of a shock to the system. This will be the biggest test yet without a doubt so I am approaching tomorrow with some trepidation. The swim starts at noon so think of me then! I'll be happy to just complete the swim.
Had a great swim this morning in the river managing just over an hour. Not bad after last nights swim. Fair bit of traffic in the river and along the bank today. As I had time whiles swimming along (what else is there to do) I listed what there was to give you an insight of who uses the river:
2 x kayaks
1 x rowing scull (down and back past us)
4 x joggers
2 x walkers
1 x dog
30+ swans
3 x ducks
1 x cow (checking us out from the bank and mooing loudly as we swam past)
If it gets any more exciting that this I'll be sure to tell all here. I'm sure I won't be able to top the morbid tale that we were told last night about finding a dead body in the river.
Race Result
The race went quite well last night, I came ninth out of 80. Was swimming a lot quicker than I plan to during the channel legs so it was a bit of fun really. For anyone interested the results are posted here:
http://www.openwaterswim.co.uk/
From our channel team, Jezza also took part swimming with no wetsuit (hardcore) and was just a minute or two back from me. This highlights how quick a wetsuit is as we'd normally be fairly evenly matched!
The next race to be held there is on 27 August which is in our swim window for the big one so we'll have to see about availability.
http://www.openwaterswim.co.uk/
From our channel team, Jezza also took part swimming with no wetsuit (hardcore) and was just a minute or two back from me. This highlights how quick a wetsuit is as we'd normally be fairly evenly matched!
The next race to be held there is on 27 August which is in our swim window for the big one so we'll have to see about availability.
Monday 20 July 2009
Thursday Race
I've entered a 1500m race at liquid leisure on Thursday which looks to be a good fun event. Too short a distance to really help too much with the channel training so will be wearing my wetsuit as it is loads faster and warmer ;-) I'll post the results after. The lure of a post race bbq and jacuzzi sounds pretty good at the moment.
Did an hour in the river this morning which was again cold after the weekend rain. I thought we were supposed to be having a heatwave this summer!!??
Did an hour in the river this morning which was again cold after the weekend rain. I thought we were supposed to be having a heatwave this summer!!??
Mount Snowdon
I have just got back from a very enjoyable weekend in Wales where we climbed Mount Snowdon. For those of you that have done it we went up the Pyg Track and back down the Miners Track. Unfortunately about half an hour before we reached the top we were in the clouds so the view from the top was extremely limited!!
It was a pretty hard climb up which worked the legs fairly hard but was still pretty manageable. I got a good overall aerobic workout with a lot of leg work (my absolute least favourite). There were some gorgeous lakes to swim in as well but I resisted the urge as it looked bloody cold - something which I'm going to have to get used to I think!!
I've put a few pictures on so that you can see what it was like.
Thursday 16 July 2009
Back in the river
Last week I was back in the river with 3 morning sessions ynder my belt. Conditions were generally good all week, although the temperature was a fair bit colder due to the recent rains.
There was much more traffic in the river this week and you have to keep your wits about you when there are a few single sculls heading down the river towards you as they have their backs to you. It would also help if they went down the correct side of the river!!
Friday's swim was a nice long hour and I managed to get pretty cold during the swim. My body didn't warm up the entire day and ended up with that horrible aching feeling you get just before you come down with flu. Luckily this passed and I now feel back to my normal self.
I've been in the pool this week which is a lot less exciting (no rowers to watch out for) but happily warmer.
I've entered myself in a race over at Liquid Leisure which is a 1.5k swim on the 23rd. I'll keep you posted.
I'm off this weeeknd to Wales to climb Snowdon. Should be good but won't be getting in any swimming unfortunately. I'm sure the walk up will build some stamina though!!
There was much more traffic in the river this week and you have to keep your wits about you when there are a few single sculls heading down the river towards you as they have their backs to you. It would also help if they went down the correct side of the river!!
Friday's swim was a nice long hour and I managed to get pretty cold during the swim. My body didn't warm up the entire day and ended up with that horrible aching feeling you get just before you come down with flu. Luckily this passed and I now feel back to my normal self.
I've been in the pool this week which is a lot less exciting (no rowers to watch out for) but happily warmer.
I've entered myself in a race over at Liquid Leisure which is a 1.5k swim on the 23rd. I'll keep you posted.
I'm off this weeeknd to Wales to climb Snowdon. Should be good but won't be getting in any swimming unfortunately. I'm sure the walk up will build some stamina though!!
Saturday 4 July 2009
Aquathlon Results
10th out of about 40.
Out of water third. Lost one place in transition and another six places on the run. Will try to lose less next time on the run!
http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Newell/
Out of water third. Lost one place in transition and another six places on the run. Will try to lose less next time on the run!
http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Newell/
My First Aquathlon: Verdict
Well I'm just back from completing this and have just devoured a well earned bacon sarnie.
The event was very well organised and I was surprised at how good the venue was down at Liquid Leisure. The lake was rammed with swimmers when I got there at 7 which was great to see.
The aquathlon event consisted of a 750m swim course followed by a 5k run which was 3 laps around the lake.
The swim went well and I was 3rd out of the water out of the 40-50 strong field which I was pretty pleased with. The transition from swim to run went ok and I managed to get my wetsuit off without too much difficulty and get my socks and trainers on and running top without losing too much time but did manage to lose one place during this period.
Starting the run I reckon my pulse was 180+ and I found it difficult to get going especially with it already being so hot. My lungs were burning and it wasn't long before I could feel my legs aching and the first serious triathlete overtook me. I lost about 5-6 further places during the 3 laps which I guess was to be expected given that I am not bult for running and probably finished in around the top 10.
Overall pleased with the performance and it was a great event. I'll look to do another one.
I'm off down the local brewery for a well earned pint!!
Henley Swim Results
The Henley Swim results are now in...
http://www.athleteservice.com/henley-swim.asp
Just missed out on top 10 but pretty happy with my time and 12th place given the level of competition that was involved this year. The winner was an olympic pentathlete and there were numerous other olympians in the field this year!!
Many thanks to all the organisers for this great event.
http://www.athleteservice.com/henley-swim.asp
Just missed out on top 10 but pretty happy with my time and 12th place given the level of competition that was involved this year. The winner was an olympic pentathlete and there were numerous other olympians in the field this year!!
Many thanks to all the organisers for this great event.
Thursday 2 July 2009
My First Aquathlon
Well I've entered my first Aquathlon on Saturday morning which is at Liquid Leisure in Datchet...
http://www.openwaterswim.co.uk/
It's a 750m swim followed by a 5k run on this Saturday morning. At least it is another chance to use my wetsuit!
Registration is between 6:15-7:30am Saturday morning so that will mean no red wine for me tomorrow night.
Will let you know I get along.
Haven't been in the river since Sunday as have been coaching up at the pool this week so missing out especially in this gorgeous weather.
http://www.openwaterswim.co.uk/
It's a 750m swim followed by a 5k run on this Saturday morning. At least it is another chance to use my wetsuit!
Registration is between 6:15-7:30am Saturday morning so that will mean no red wine for me tomorrow night.
Will let you know I get along.
Haven't been in the river since Sunday as have been coaching up at the pool this week so missing out especially in this gorgeous weather.
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