During the week of preparation for this weekend's swim we were slightly worried about the amount of training we were going to be able to fit in. Thanks to the beautiful weather we have been having the lakes are all now a toasty 16-18 degrees, which unfortunately is an awful lot warmer than the sea is right now and trips down to the coast before work are slightly unrealistic. Having overheard our conversations, Keith (Daddy Johnson) got to work and kindly converted his beloved hot tub into a ice bath, with the help of our local butchers George Arthur who supplied us with lots and lots of ice to get the temperature low enough and who are probably still freezing large vats of water for us as I type. On one of our many mornings sitting in the cold tub and chatting (the later an activity we are repeatedly told off for when harbour swimming, but is a great way to pass the time and actively encouraged whilst partaking in ice bathing) we were discussing the effects of numbness and what it really feels like. Kirsty then showed me a quote she had found in Sally Friedman's book about channel swimming which I want to share this with you all as I think it pretty much sums up our thoughts every time we have to submerge ourselves in the ridiculously cold water."numbness" is generally defined as the absence of feeling, but the process by which one achieves it is invariably painful and when one arrives, it is clear that numbness is nothing more than agony in a different form!Ice baths done and successfully following our instructions from Rebecca T about what to do the week before the qualifiers, which summed up was to rest and eat lots, we were ready to go!Another early start on Saturday morning saw the team making their way down to the infamous Dover Harbour. As half the team had completed their 2 hour swims the week before the pressure was now on for the final 3 team members to get in the water and stay in order to qualify to swim the channel crossing in less than 3 weeks time.We were lucky enough to be joined by some members of Thames Turbo and Uni mates of Kirsty's who provided encouragement both in and out of the water. So after our briefing with Frieda and advice on how to avoid the many sailing boats taking part in a regatta in the harbour (good practise for the open sea right?) we stood on the shore waiting for our watches to reach 10am. Once in the water we all swam together for the first 1hr and 20mins, at which point the girls who have already qualified (Rebecca T, Hannah T, Carolyn and Mandy) made their way back to the shore and took Kirsty in to the shallow waters so she could have a drink of hot Maxim (this is allowed whilst swimming as long as you stay in the water), Kirsty was then joined by Nick and Prendy to complete her 2 hours. Meanwhile Tilly and I had headed back over to the far harbour wall. Having gone most of the way there and with half an hour to go we stopped to decide whether to go even further out or turn round and head back. At this point I was shaking from head to toe and my arms had become so stiff I could barely feel the water or lift them to continue swimming. I can only assume Tilly was feeling all or more of the pain I was in so we headed back towards the shore so as not to be too far out if we got into difficulty. Once over by the other side of the harbour, as far as we could go without being knocked out by a sail boat, we looked at our watches to discover we still had 10minutes left. Now 10minutes sounds like nothing right? How wrong you can be. Tilly and I discussed tactics and decided we'd swim into shore get someone to give us a hot chocolate and stay in the shallows until our time was up. We headed back for the shore only to be shouted at and sent away by everyone telling us we only had 5 minutes left and to get back out there! Unable to hear them or probably and without any acknowledgement of our requests for hot drinks we turned tail and headed back out for another not so quick lap to the buoy. By this point my arms and legs had stiffened up so much I was finding it very difficult to swim and was very relieved when I looked at my watch and found it was finally time to come in. Upon my near arrival back at the pebbly shore I was informed by Keith that Kirsty was only a few metres behind me and wondered if I fancied swimming back out a bit so we could swim in together. Now I love my sister dearly but after 2 hours in the water and having safely arrived back on dry land I could barely stand up enough to get out the water, let alone contemplate getting back in or attempting to swim any more, even if it was only for another second.Again with much assistance, supportive words and lots of hugs, we have all completed our 2 hour qualifiers and received our certificates, which if the girls are anything like me, has taken pride of place on the fridge door!I feel that I need to say thank you again to all the friends and family for their continued support. A big thank you to the two boys who were able to push Kirsty through to the finish, at a time when none of us would have had the strength to do so.And finally one last thank you to every member of Deja Vu, our channel swimming team. We push ourselves to our limits every time we train and have all been there for one another at various points in this process. The training for this challenge can be horrific at times but with the support of all the other girls, in the water, during the week via email, and snuggling in sleep bags at the end, it makes it bearable. You are all amazing and I feel so privileged to take on this challenge with you all. Congratulations to you all on your Qualifying swims, only 3 weeks to go. Good luck girls.Written by Rebecca Johnson
 | radio_1_recording.amr | | File Size: | 279 kb | | File Type: | amr |
Download File
Saturday started early with a text message from Bex before the alarm even went off saying we were about to be on Radio 1. A quick scurry round to find a radio, a general shout to get everyone out of bed and we were soon huddled around the radio waiting for Rebecca to come on air….she didn’t disappoint and gave us all the lift we needed for the long morning ahead.It was to be the biggest challenge for the team so far, two hours in the water! It was to be broken down into two one hour stints with a gap of an hour in the middle. Sounds easy enough, but forcing yourself back into the water once you have managed to get yourself all warm isn’t easy! We arrived to a team Déjà vu camp…equip with a large tarp and two tents…who says you cant train in style! Once we had all got our hats on and been grease up, we set off. The first swim started off well, but it wasn’t long before the rain started and the waves picked up…perfect training for the actual day…but not so good when your trying to keep and eye out for six other people!! The first swim done, we all stumbled out in high spirits, got changed, fed, watered and then all seven of us bundled into a two man tent…not exactly comfortable…but great for keeping warm! The second swim was, as expected, much harder. With heavy hearts we all dragged ourselves down to the shore with Freda ordering us to “get on with it”! Atlantic Dan lightened the mood by joined us in the water and taught us all the art of tumble turning of the piers at Dover. Definitely an entertaining interlude as we tried to keep up with him as he ploughed his way through the water. I think, or at least hope, that everyone enjoyed themselves on Saturday. From the ever diligent parents who’s only jobs are to chauffeur, feed and cloth us, as well as the swimmers themselves. I wonder what next weekend will bring….written by Rebecca Tunstall
WOW, where do I start. Well after a very disturbed sleep due to nerves we all set off from various locations on the long trip down to Dover trying not to think about the torturous swim that lay ahead of us. All week Rebecca T has been providing us with weather forecasts and up to date water temperatures and unfortunately none of them left any of us feel particularly optimistic.
Upon arrival we were greeted by a thick mist and approximately 100 other channel swimmers who had all turned up for the opening of the season ready to sign on and dip there toes (and the rest) into Dover harbour. Whilst we were queueing for our registration cards we got chatting to a guy called Dan Martin who I will refer to from now as Atlantic Dan. Atlantic Dan is taking part in a world triathlon, which involves him becoming the first man ever to swim the Atlantic Ocean (hense our nickname for him). The Atlantic will be approximately 6 degrees and Atlantic Dan has had to put on quite a few extra stone in weight for this event, so after a few jibes about our lack of sea swimming blubber he left to get ready to join in the harbour swim.
We donned our new wonder woman suits posed for a few photos (photo shoots are becoming quite a regular occurrence so make sure you check out the gallery), then took it in turns to have a random person with a blue glove and a rather large tub of Vaseline rub the contents onto various parts of our body and finally made our way down to the water front.
The sight of 100 people dressed only in swimsuits making their way into the very cold water must have looked impressive. Most people went for the running/brisk walk entry, I personally found getting in very difficult and edged my way in up to my waist and then took some encouragement from my sister Mandy to make the final plunge. We swam approximately 2.5k in total heading out to the harbour wall and back again. At first the pain of the cold water is all you can feel and can only manage a few practise dips at putting your face in as that seem to be the hardest part, but slowly your limbs start to go numb and you can get your head down and start swimming. I really struggled with the cold as we got back towards the shore and started to feel quite unwell. My heart rate had slowed right down and I was overwhelmed with the urge to sleep. This worried me a fair bit as my body was shouting at me to stop but my mind was still telling me that stopping in the middle of a freezing cold sea could never be a good idea. Mandy was there again with encouragement and we both eventually made our way on to the shore and got wrapped in towels. I struggled to speak coherently but once out the water was definitely feeling better. The other girls who were out and dressed already helped us get out of our wet costumes and into some dry clothes.
It was a very strange feeling once you were out of the water as you have a few minutes where you regain the use of your body and can stand up, walk, pick up things but you then hit another wall where all these functions are suddenly lost again and you have to hold on to people so as not to fall over and a collection of people are helping you dress. You start to shiver quite violently and after kindly being handed some hot ribena from Hannah had to give it back as I was unable to hold the cup still enough to not spill it all.
We all decided not to stay and do the swim again in a couple of hours time and made our way back to our separate cars to start the journey back home. Now I imagine my next description will be true of all the cars returning from Dover that morning. Most of us were accompanied by at least one parent who had volunteered to do the driving and slightly unexpected dressing ritual, now these parents had not been in the sea and therefore remained a normal temperature. After our brief dip in the baltic sea us swimmers were still quite a few degrees colder. This leads to the slightly difficult situation of what temperature you have the car at. Our car had the heating on full blast, heated seats and us all still shivering covered in blankets, our parents on the other hand had now removed most of there clothes and were frantically fanning themselves whilst trying not to overheat. Unfortunately it takes a good few hours to get your body temperature back up to normal so a heads up to anybody who may decide to join us on one of these trips, no matter what the weather is doing outside, bring your summer clothes for the way home. Definitely think there was a few strange looks on the motorway on the way home as people drove passed the car and saw half of us in woolly hats and blankets and at least one person stripped to their underwear. If you spot one of these cars in the future then you will know where they have been.
2.5k in 9 degree sea swim...............check!! Well done girls!!
A big thank you to all the parents who came down to Dover and helped with driving, drying, dressing, feeding, watering, photo taking and general moral support, it was very much appreciated.
I'd also like to say a special personal thank you to Mandy who was a complete star and I couldn't have done it with out her. Thank you Mandy.
Written by Rebecca Johnson
Bright and early Saturday morning we all arrived at Princes Club in Staines for our first open water swim of the season, and for some of us our first open water swim of any season!
Having spent quite a few minutes squeezing into out wetsuits we all hit the water only to be told less than 5 minutes later that we were now to remove them and get back in without them! The water temperature was a very fresh 14 degrees and within a few minutes most of us could no longer feel the cold, mostly due to difficulty feeling anything really. Hannah, Rebecca T, Tilly and Carolyn headed out into the depths of the lake, whilst Kirsty, Mandy and Rebecca J continued to swim laps slightly closer to shore.
After about 20 mins we all got out and shivered our way to the changing rooms to enjoy a nice long warm shower to defrost our hands and feet. So far quite a nice start to our cold water adventures!
Written by Rebecca Johnson
Zoggs have very kindly offered to sponsor us for the swim by providing us with everything we need for the longs hours we are going to have to spend in the water building up to the channel crossing. So last Saturday we all made our way over to The Marist School Pool in Ascot to take part in a photo shoot to say thank you.
We all arrived at the pool around 5.30 and were greeted by Claire (Publicity manager) with a kit bag full of goodies from Zoggs. When we opened our bags it was like Christmas had come early! Zoggs have provided us with their new endurance costumes which are fantastic at withstanding chlorine and should last us through all our hours in the water. They have also given us hats, goggles, water bottles, towels and even a very cool bag to store it all in!
So once deciding from the selection what colour costume, hat and goggles we were all going to wear for the shoot we all descended on poolside ready to go. We started off with some group underwater shoots which sounded very easy, all we had to do was submerge underneath the water, look at the camera and smile, simple right? Well after multiple attempts Simon (the photographer) was finally happy with the shots and we then spent some time doing some above water photos which again involved a lot of laughter. A very enjoyable experience and we are all incredibly pleased with our new costumes which I’m pretty sure all of us have spent a few ours in since the shoot! A big thanks again to David from zoggs for so generously supplying us all with training kit and to Claire and Simon for their time and patience. Please check out the photos and look out for the finished article in magazines!
Written by Rebecca Johnson
Rebecca spent Sunday at the festival of all things triathlon, cycling and running...TCR10 (http://www.tcrshow.com/) at Sandowne Park. Zoggs have kindly sponsored Deja-Vu with kit for our Channel Swim and so on Sunday she donned her Zoggs swim cap and suit and got in the endless pool to swim while Olympian Karen Pickering (http://www.karenpickering.co.uk/ ) passed judgement! It was quite an experience and one she won't forget for quite some time! After a nice relaxing warm up, her fellow Thames Turbo buddies bribed the man holding the speed controller to make the current stronger and stronger! Needles to say, long distance swimmers aren't sprinters so her performance, no doubt, proved entertaining to many a spectator! Rebecca also got the chance to catch up with our other sponsors Cherry Active. All in all a great day!
Written by Rebecca Tunstall
Well so far we have all started our training for the swim, aswell as numerous hours in the pool, we have all been taking part in other activities for general fitness, including; running, cycling, dancing, off road motorbiking and im not sure how trampolining is helping specifically but maybe conquering the fear of a front somersult and still landing on the bed will help should any sealife pop up to surprise us!
Written by Rebecca Johnson
|
RSS Feed