need sleep zzzzzzzzzzzz

Okey dokey, landed at Manchester late last night, arrived home via KGB taxis by about 1.30 am, up for 7am and now we are packing to leave for The Dover Regatta 2000 metre race (some are calling it a sprint, but I a not so sure about that) another 340 miles down the road to go, I managed to get a few swims in Egypt but no real quality training as such, had a meeting with a 'jelly' at one point or so I thought, then realised it was a plastic carrier bag ....panic over ! the weeks rest has probably done me good, I am flapping a little about the change in temperature from 33 degrees to maybe 16. Whilst I know that is not cold, it will be a little shock to the system after a glorious weeks weather. Will update the blog on our return with pics and race report. Really looking forward to getting on swimmers beach.

Eating Egypt

Here we are in Egypt at Naama Bay just 500 metres from SHARKS BAY !!, and I can tell you that it is ridiculously hot. Charlie and I have been swimming/snorkeling in the Red Sea where the marine life is amazing, Charlie was really brave and swam beyond the drop off, more than would have ever dared at seven years old. It was and is almost too warm to at 34 degrees. The pools are even hotter, its like being at home in the bath, so much for the cold water acclimatisation we had been doing. I feel like that was a complete waste of time now, the 2000m freestyle race at Dover Regatta will certainly be a shock to the system after this. We are just having a little respite from the midday sun, so thought we would drop a line or two onto the blog. I am reading Marcia Cleveland's Dover Solo yet AGAIN ! its still a great read after 3 or more times, check Marcia's website to obtain a copy. We are going to try our best to get up earlier in the morning to do some laps before the water becomes too crowded and prior to the over protective lifeguards being about. The one bonus is that we or rather I am getting plenty of high calorie food down my neck in my weight gain efforts!! Best be off to drink some more beer and eat some ice-cream and cakes.....its a hard life.. but someone has to do it!!

Far out man

Our friendly lifeguards keeping an eye on us... I swam another 36 mins at 14.4 degrees, in what actually felt warm for seventy percent of the time, also for the first time I didn't shiver at all on leaving the water, that has got to be a good sign on both fronts. The sea gulls were a little inquisitive though! and I had to politely ask them to go away as they swooped down on me!! Look how far the tide was out ! As a result of which I managed to get hold of a year long tide table and spoke with a local fisherman regarding high waters and lunar influence on the heights. That should be a great help to my plans. It has been suggested I do the Dover Regatta 2km race in the harbour on 11th August, so it has been a mad rush to get the entry sorted as I didn't have a ASA member number, its sent now, so fingers crossed I will make the deadline of July 28th. The only downside being that Charlie and I will have been swimming in the lovely and warm Red Sea for the week prior, so I can just imagine the shock to the system afterwards on return to the UK. Should be able to get to the North Sea tomorrow with a bit of luck too.

36 mins @ 14.4 degrees

Jumping Jetskis

Sunday 23rd July, another wet weather forecast for the majority of the UK, I had Charlie my little man with me until lunchtime, then work at 3pm. So it was all a bit mad, we decided to make a dash for the same area of coast as midweek, stopping off at MacDonald's en route to fill the flask with Hot Chocolate! On arrival at the beech, it looked utterly miserable, the tide was right out and the swell and breakers looked rather rough. Still, I had promised Kelly that I wasn't going to mess about as we didn't have the time to do so. Off we walked down the beech, strip off and in, noticeably cooler than Tuesday but that could have just been in the head as the sun was nowhere to be seen. I swam about 4 laps of the of the usual route, however after 2 laps the breakers were invaded by a group of rowdy jet ski users who had no idea of my presence, I didn't really fancy a collision so had to stop and tread water for a while. eventually moving into shallower water to voice my concerns to Kelly, she had however already spoken with the lifeguards who responded rapidly on there own jet skis and basically told the young lads to naff off, they (the lifeguards) were excellent and completely on side as far as swimming goes. Once again the ocean was my own, though by now I had cooled off and had to do a few sprints to get warm again. The whole episode only took a minute or two but that was well enough for me to get cold. That kind of knocked my concentration too, I did a couple more laps and called it a day. Wrapped up to get warm, drive home, bath and work. I hate rushing....Whilst at work I visited another swim area slightly further south at Redcar and spoke with Coast watch, they confirmed the sea surface temperature for me at 13.7 degrees. They also gave me the OK for swimming under their watchful eye anytime I wanted. So...35 minutes today, overall am happy with that, a little longer in cooler much more difficult conditions. Weekly total 14,750 mts.

35 minutes @ 13.7 degrees

Return of the Salt Water

After the weedy experience on Friday the 13th, we decided to attend the coast after work on Tuesday 17th July to check out the conditions, the rain had actually stopped for once, the tide was out, but that didnt matter, the water looked inviting enough and at 14.4 degrees was much more pleasant than the sub eleven degrees I had been swimming in prior to Austria. I only did 25 minutes but left the water feeling really fresh and gagging for more. Its just a matter of building the time and tolerance little by little from now on. Not sure if I will make it back on Sunday due to work and parental duties. If not will post the weekly totals Sunday night.

25 minutes @ 14.4 degrees

Wet n Weedy

So... we got back from a logistical nightmare at Ironman Austria on the 9th July 2007 and have been hitting the 25m pool at the gym most days. We re started the open water swims on, yes you guessed it Friday the 13th! The location being a small lake really close to home, the pic to the right shows how still the water was that day, with a temperature of approx 17 degrees, however that wasn't the whole story, the lake in places was almost overgrown with weeds, so I didn't particularly enjoy the swim, the proximity to home makes it easy access but I think we will stick to the North sea as that's only about ten miles away. After all there is no subsistute for the taste of salt water in the mouth.