Tuesday 12th February was a frosty, foggy morning. Kelly had a physio appointment for her spinal problem and I was due to start work yet again at 3pm after a weekend of nights and a quick return on Monday. I was tired out to say the least. Looking out of the window at 7.30am to find the cars frozen solid didn't inspire me to go training, we had arranged to meet at the gym just after ten. I had around 90 minutes to either, go back to sleep, start a session at the pool or just sit and fill my face til she arrived.
Coffee in hand, I had a quick check of my emails and favourite websites to see several pictures and write ups of swimmers braving the cold water. I decided to make use of the spare time and headed to Seaton. It was really thick fog and took much longer to travel the ten miles or so due to the conditions, however, on arrival at the beech, there was not a breath of wind and the Sea was pan flat! it looked so inviting....but I was alone...I could just imagine the reaction of KGB if she knew what I was contemplating, the beech was deserted so I wasnt going to alarm any dog walkers. I 'toe tested' the water through my crocs..Yep it was about the same as expected.. COLD!
Jogging up the sand for 50 metres to generate a little 'inner fire' and get my head together, I returned to my dry bag stripped and walked into the 43degree F water (around 6.5 degrees C) getting to chest height I dipped under to completely submerge, the worst was now over, initially breast stroke followed by regular freestyle, my breathing took slighty longer than normal to control but settled eventually..around the same time as the arrival of my brain freeze! I then spent the remainder of the dip switching between breast stroke and freestyle to save the ice headache. Just ten minutes today after what seems like ages away from the open water, I am completey delighted I made the return and my paranoid guilt has left me once more.
I returned to the gym met KGB and told her where I had been, got the expected reprimand and headed for a pool set, it was worth the telling off, though I would not do it if it was rough. It was just too nice to resist.
Almost forgot, Kelly then had a freestyle lesson and made massive improvements, she will be making waves in the fast lane before we know it!
5 comments:
hey uncle mark[know you hate it when we call you that ha ha] didnt find out you were doing this til a couple of weeks ago. you should get in touch more often!! anyway just thought i would check out your blog and see how things are progressing and by the looks of things everything is going swimmingly no pun intended. i will be checking out your blog regularly from now on so no slacking ha ha. seriously though keep up the good work with all your training etc i know you will be a big success and make us all proud. good luck love stephen x
Cheers Steve, cant believe you hadnt heard about the swim...thanks for the well wishes etc, the blog been going since last summer so you have plenty of catching up to do...
Mark
well done mate. your a braver man than I am Gunga Din !!!!
hey well obviosly the people in our family dont like talking to each other much.ha ha. yeah i have been sat reading all your old blogs and all about your training for ages trying to catch up on it all. think its quality what our doing and to think i thought running the great north run last year was hard. your in a completely different league. massive respect. steve
Thanks Steve...you know me, if you are going to be a bear, might as well be a grizzly ! best tell borodaniels to have a peep too
M
Jev,
I had no idea you could read ! RK a little advanced for me! you will be at it yourself before too long
M
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