Birmingham and back

Got up Friday having stayed at my Uncle Noel and Auntie Margarets house and went for a couple of mile run more as maintenece than anything else.

Visited my Uncle Brendan (he lives next to Noel and Margeret)in Birminham on Friday(20th of March). He was my sponsor for my confirmation and i have always felt very close to Brendan and enjoyed his company. He is very ill with cancer and is going through chemotherapy at the moment. Was nervous before i arrived as i didn’t know what to expect and i also didn’t tell him i was coming up as i wanted to surprise him. Must admit we both shed a tear when i arrived but more laughter was shared than tears of sadness. Spent the day with him and was really glad to be there.

Caught up with my cousin, Brendans daughter Margherite and spoke to Brendans other daughter Lisa on the phone and also saw Tony, Brendans son. Went out with my other cousin Seamus and his wife Marie on the friday night(Noel and Margarets son & wife) and spoke to Jackie their daughter on the phone. Was really great to catch up with all of them and left me feeling inspired to crack on.

Said goodbye to everyone Saturday morning and headed home around 9am after a heart breakfast. Will not leave things so long before i return again!!

Higher Ground

No the title dosn’t depict that i’ve changed from swimming the channel to climbing Everest, it’s just a mental note that after my swim on Tuesday where i managed to acheive the 275 lenghts at speed that i feel like i am taking things to another level. Whenever i exceed my regular training it normally leaves me feeling a little bit weird for a couple of days and this is no exception. Double checked the distance as well and realised that it is actually 3.3 miles not 2.76 so that was a bonus as well.

Had a coaching session yesterday needed a double expresso before i started as was zonked from the day before and went for shorter more intense swims, for example started with sprints of 6 x lengths each to be done in 45 seconds, any time under that would be rest time, managed the first few sets to quickly so Leslie shortened the time. After the 6 did 5 slow lenghts then took the sprints down to 5 x 2 followed by another 5 slow, down to 4 x 2  and so on. Ended up please with the session and the results. Was due to meet with Tim(Channel swimmer) but unfortunately he had to cancel and we have re arranged for next week.

Am travelling up to Birminham later on today to visit my uncle Brendan who unfortunately has got cancer. Don’t want to get heavy but more and more i realise what family means to me and it is a large part of why i am doing this in memory of my brother. Life is to short to be sitting on ones arse worrying about things you cannot affect or change. It is much better to get up and try and do something to make a difference.

Train for life

Yesterday, Monday the 16th did 100 lengths, don’t really know why but didn’t power on to the 150. plenty of sit ups and press ups last night, more this morning so feeling good. Today however am up for that and more. Will be looking at the supersets that Leslie gave me. This is layed out as 100m with 1 minute rest followed by 200m, 300m,400m,500m,600m,700m,800m,900m,1000m all with a minutes rest between. The aim is to keep the gas on and maintian a good/fast average speed. 5500m in total which is 2.796 miles. Off to the pool to do it shortly.

Am I mad or just plain crazy

I was given a no’ by my swim coach of a man called Tim Strange who has swum the channel. Decided to give him a call and arrange to meet. In my breif chat with him yesterday afternoon he expressed that a large part of completing the task is in the mind. We had a chat for about 10 mins and i think it was the first time that i realised the enormity of what i am doing.

He used words such as stubborn and childlike to express mindsets that could help me acheive this. He gave me examples of olympic trained swimmers that have failed and average joes that have succeeded. He told me a story of a paralympian swimmer who was pulled out of the water unconcious after 25 hours of swimming just 3-4 miles from finishing.Her mindset so strong that she wouldn’t allow herself to stop and yet beaten by the conditions her body gave out.

Everyday i swim, i love doing it, i love the feeling when i get out of the pool, the way my body has become fitter than it has been for many years but i now know that i have to train my mind as well. This i now realise will change my life in more ways than i realised. There is no turmoil here , just a will to succeed. maybe you have to be slightly mad to even want to do this but sometimes as was expressed by Tim the less you think about the task and just focus on what is ahead of yourself  the more like you are to move forward towards a successful outcome.

The time is drawing near

Training going very well. Am of to do my daily train in 10 mins and will be meeting with my coach to look to improve times and stamina. Consistently doing the 150 lengths during the week. Missed a couple of bike rides recently but got a long ride planned for tomorrow. Press ups and sit ups are now daily at 100 and happy that upper body strength is good. Chest/breathing good and finally feel i am managing to get my head clear from this lingering cold/flu!

Looking harder and diet and will seek out some advice on that, Jim if you are reading this please give me a call?

Pushing harder for sponsorship now and will hope that people will get behind this coming up to the latter stages.