Open water swimming is a solitary sport but without a good team around you reaching your goals is impossible.
Team photo...
What an awesome team to swim under...left to right - Phil (skipper, spotter, logistics), Narelle (food and social media), Pauline (paddler, spotter), Craig (navigator, photographer, spotter), Andrew (coach, paddler, spotter), Dave (paddler, spotter), Kane.
Open water swimming is a solitary sport but without a good team around you reaching your goals is impossible.
Open water swimming is a solitary sport but without a good team around you reaching your goals is impossible.
Yesterday...We swam it...!
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Wow what a day yesterday...we covered 21.3km in 6 hours and 43 minutes.The day started off at 3am with lots of apprehension about what was ahead. I knew this was a big event but it was not until i reached Cottlesloe Beach that i realised its enormity here in WA. Live TV, politicians, celebrities, it was huge and a real buzz to be part of. There was 268 solo swimmers and 1800 team swimmers.
The first thing for the morning was to get the sunscreen on and the grease applied. With all the team out on the water Jen, had that terrible job. I am happy to say there was not one chafe mark on my body...awesome job Jen.
After a quick warmup we were off at 6am. The premier of WA fired the gun and away me and about 100 other swimmers went in the solo male's seeded wave. The start was very gentle compared to the trash-and-dash swims and in no time i was past the 500m mark where Andrew could join me in as the support paddler. We were soon at the 1000m mark where the support boat join us without incident. This was a great effort by all the team and immediately took away my fears of not finding everyone before the 1500m (this is where you have to wait if you are not joined up).
From there I started to settle into a nice breathing rhythm and by the vibrations on my watch i knew i was moving at a pace of about 3.5km/hr. At about the 3km mark i was told to slow down, which at the point felt terrible but as the k's rolled on felt better and better.
After practising for months and months the food was going down a treat. A bottle attached to a rope flew out in front of me every 20 minutes, then it was 15 seconds to put it down and away we went again. The only tough part was getting the sea sickness pills down, we had awful trouble with that and i really felt for the support team who were trying their best but the waves kept on washing them out of our hands. This also contributed to the paddlers capsizing..of which i felt terrible that i could not help them (we were just lucky we had a boat of very accomplished swimmers onboard who could look after themselves).
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| hundreds of these stinger welts |
At about the 7km mark we got the 'bloody' jelly fish. I must have been stung 100 times in about 10 minutes. They are not ovally painful just very very uncomfortable, although the one that got in my nostril did hurt...and still hurts! Here is a photo of the result the next morning...
After passing the stingers we got into a rough patch of water where the messages of support were well received. It was just hard work and it seems like it went on forever. I was told later that this is the tough part of the race because its shallower here which results in increased waves.
Toward the mid to end it started to get congested with boats, kayaks and swimmers; remember every swimmer/team has a boat and a paddler, thats a lot of boats. After getting through that area the sea floor started to rise, the coral appeared and i knew we were home then!
So I now go into the record books as the 1559th swimmer to cross that 20km stretch of water.
Thanks for all the messages of support along the way, they were all gratefully received!
I could not have done this by myself; here is the TEAM..!
Christian (middle man who has all the contacts), Jenny (chief WA organiser, host), Phil (skipper and owner of the boat), Craig (navigation, photographer, spotter), Pauline (paddler, spotter), Dave (paddler, spotter), Andrew (coach, spotter and paddler) and my wonderful wife (logistics on the boat, social media).
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The course we took across to Rottnest Island. Perfect Phil...!!
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| Dave, making sure we kept on course |
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| The 1559th swimmer to cross the channel with the 1st swimmer |
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| Solo swimmers photo |
Local TV coverage
Paddler change
Dave's back in the boat feeling a bit sea sick. Andrews in the kayak now...Kane's still in the water
Hypothermia
One swimmer withdrawn with hypothermia. Keeping an eye on Kane. All is good. Our spotter is a paramedic so all is under control
8.8 km
Hit the 8.8 km mark. Few jelly fish around and has been bitten. Taken some tablets and continuing on. Still going strong
New Kayaker
Changed kayaker. Dave's in now. Apparently the water is cold now. Have some tea ready if he wants to warm up.
Overboard
Pauline's in the drink. Andrew going to help her get back on the kayak. Kane still swimming. Pauline is back onboard. All is good.
Change over
First food stop done. Kayaker changed over and Pauline in water. Going at 3.3 Kms. Little bit quicker than planned but doing well.
Race Briefing...
The race briefing was this morning...
Everything points toward good weather for the swim tomorrow; sunny with a tail wind for 3-4 hours followed by a few hours of calm before the Fremantle Doctor kicks in after lunch. The water temp will be in the low 20's and the current coming from the south. With the wind and current conditions it all sets up for a dead straight straight swim and a total swimming distance of under 21km. If conditions are not as described above we will be forced to take north or south hook path which will mean more than a 21km swim.
Started on the sea sickness and nausea pills last night...I am trying to avoid that horrible Townsville experience - sorry again Matt for throwing up on you!
Everything points toward good weather for the swim tomorrow; sunny with a tail wind for 3-4 hours followed by a few hours of calm before the Fremantle Doctor kicks in after lunch. The water temp will be in the low 20's and the current coming from the south. With the wind and current conditions it all sets up for a dead straight straight swim and a total swimming distance of under 21km. If conditions are not as described above we will be forced to take north or south hook path which will mean more than a 21km swim.
Started on the sea sickness and nausea pills last night...I am trying to avoid that horrible Townsville experience - sorry again Matt for throwing up on you!
Jelly fish galore...
Practise swim today of a rather short 450m... My shortest swim of my entire year. The reason, I got absolutely nailed by jelly fish today...I must have been stung 10 times by the clear stingers and once by a blue bottle.
We decided it's not worth risking Saturday so out we came and just sat and admired the beach view and tended to our stings.
We decided it's not worth risking Saturday so out we came and just sat and admired the beach view and tended to our stings.
Rolling the arms over
After a huge sleep i got up and found a nice beach to finished the first of two oceans swims before Sat. I went down to Coogee beach for a 4km session to 'get the arms back rolling over'. The water was stunning; clear, warm'ish at about 21 to 22 degrees, lots of little fish, 1 stinger (it touched me but forgot to sting me) and 0 grey shadows...!
Back to Jen's to continue resting...thank god the winter olympics are on!
Back to Jen's to continue resting...thank god the winter olympics are on!
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| Coogee Beach |
Sri Chimnoy Lake Swims
This morning I did some spectating and support for some of the Exceed swimmers. In fantastic conditions for all but one rain storm there were some exceptional performances out there today. For the Exceed guys with Ann coming 1st in the 5km, Margaret and Tara coming 3rd, and Adriana, Leigh and Richard all putting in very nice performances and swim times.
With the water warm I was itching to get in for a swim today but today is not the focus and rest is absolutely my best friend at the moment.
The box of goodies
I am leaving on Monday to fly to Perth so I spent this morning getting everything boxed up for Narelle to bring over on Thursday.
What is in the box?
What is in the box?
- 17km worth of carb drink
- 6km worth of a fruit drink
- Seasickness pills - non drowsy
- Nausea pills
- Anti Histamine pills (for Jelly Fish stings)
- Stinggos Cream (to easy Jelly Fish stings)
- Anti Inflammatory pills
- Hydrolight
- Zinc clear cream
- Thermos for a warm green tea
- Safety thermo blanket
- A few lollies as treats along the way
- External battery for tracking device
- Camera backup battery and SD card
- Rope
- Funnel
- Tape and Scissors
- Spare pair of goggles
- Anti fog for goggles
- Spare thick silicon cap
- Race book containing
- the race information
- food and drink schedule
- sea sickness plan
- jelly fish identification book
- hypothermia plan
Second Tapper Session
Off to my favourite pool today for some build sets, speed sets and hypoxic sets. Chris joined me today which is always good because his pace pushes me. About 3km's into the session we decided on a 500 build set. My objective was not to get lapped so i started the build a little earlier. Much to my surprise out popped a non drafting 500m PB of 7:57...WOW! I had about 15 seconds of excitement before i realised the big guy was about to power home through 600m in 8:20'ish...HOLY CRAP!
I got my start time for next week today. Its a decent 6am start. The sun won't be up at that time so finding Andrew in the pre dawn light might be an issue we did not think about. Off to do some research about what others have done before.
I got my start time for next week today. Its a decent 6am start. The sun won't be up at that time so finding Andrew in the pre dawn light might be an issue we did not think about. Off to do some research about what others have done before.
First Taper Session
First taper session today and with my energy climbing back to about 80% swimming felt good tonight. Two of the 500's were at 8min flat and the last 500 was at 7:36min (a "drafting" PB). I was even getting close to touching Duncan's toes - but just couldn't get there though. I will do it one day!
Storm Week before the calm...
Monday
I treated myself to a visit to Dickson Pool, my favourite swimming pool where i got through the set i missed yesterday. Again, it took a good 1000m to feel properly warmed up and before i started feel good and get a nice breathing pattern happening. I suppose this is something to take note of for the competition.
So that is the hard work out of the way and now it time to rest, relax and get my body fuelled up and properly hydrated to swim on Saturday week.
Sunday PM
The Sunday PM swim did not take place because of "water's" opposing enemy..."fire". The unfolding Victorian Bushfire situation and a total software failure of one of our mapping systems meant i had to miss the very last set of my preparation for Rottnest. As you have probably read all the way though i am a pretty risk adverse person so its lucky we (our awesome team of absolute professionals) had built a backup software system for just that situation. So, what could have been grey hairs all around ended up been a slight shift from BAU. I think i actually enjoyed going to work and activating this system more than swimming!
Sunday AM
After two days rest I am feeling back to about 60% energy levels today. Four of us went for a 4km swim in the lake this morning. It was a stunning morning for a swim, the water warm and the pace a gentle 17:40 per km...along with a few long chats in the middle of the lake.
It took about 1500m to loosen my shoulder up this morning and find my rhythm. After that is was as though i could keep that pace going for many hours. I was also trying to concentrate on just relaxing and feeling as though the water can do whatever it wants with me...that is what ocean swimming is all about...you can't fight it! One more swim this afternoon and then its some down time.
Thursday
Dead tired today and my pre-squad and squad swims showed exactly that. I was doing some slow times (1:50 for 100m) but it felt more like 3 minutes! As a result I have moved Saturday's lake swim to Sunday so i can get recharge.
Andrew assures me that this tiredness is all part of the build process and it shows the effort put in over the last 5 weeks straight. Tapper week in two more days!
Wednesday
Todays swim seemed easy compared to last nights squad session. Started off with 3 x 1km sets where i was trying to keep a steady pace and same number of strokes per lap. That all seemed to fall into place and each laps stats nearly looked like the one before and also the one after.
At the 5km mark i jumped out and put on a long sleeve shirt and went for another 1000m. It was hard work but my the time was a little better than i expected at 19:00.
A long warm down and that was another days training in the bank.
Tuesday
After a busy day at work i managed to get in a nice long swim (6 x 1000m) before swim squad. My goal was to try and keep a constant pace of 1:44 until the 4th set. Where I would let it creep out to 1:47 and then onto 1:48. I forgot to bring my pool food today so it was certainly interesting to take note of when my body started to crave food.
I also noted a build up of acid in the arms around 5km. This has not happened before and i can only attribute it to the lack of food and insufficient hydration.
A quick trip the pool cafe and a homemade biscuit and a small chocolate and it was back into the pool. I did the warm up easily and then looked up to see 1000m time trial written on the board. Its actually my favourite set, but after just doing 6 of them this would clearly show me where my endurance is at.
After, losing the lead guy (Gleb) in the first few laps i dug deep to slowly claw back his gap over the next 300m. Once i got him it was then nice to then sit on his toes for a bit to bring the heart rate down. Gleb and I always have a good sprint to end and he knows i always make my move 150m out. But this time i thought i would fox him and leave it to the last 50m. We both got a good turn and as i moved onto his hip he kicked and very soon i realised he had actually out foxed me. The times were in the low 16s, respectable.
Tomorrow, its off to the AIS for a 2 hour swim with Chris. The last 1km is with a shirt on and suppose to simulate the type of tiredness toward the end of an endurance swim. If nothing else it should be amusing!
I treated myself to a visit to Dickson Pool, my favourite swimming pool where i got through the set i missed yesterday. Again, it took a good 1000m to feel properly warmed up and before i started feel good and get a nice breathing pattern happening. I suppose this is something to take note of for the competition.
So that is the hard work out of the way and now it time to rest, relax and get my body fuelled up and properly hydrated to swim on Saturday week.
Sunday PM
The Sunday PM swim did not take place because of "water's" opposing enemy..."fire". The unfolding Victorian Bushfire situation and a total software failure of one of our mapping systems meant i had to miss the very last set of my preparation for Rottnest. As you have probably read all the way though i am a pretty risk adverse person so its lucky we (our awesome team of absolute professionals) had built a backup software system for just that situation. So, what could have been grey hairs all around ended up been a slight shift from BAU. I think i actually enjoyed going to work and activating this system more than swimming!
Sunday AM
After two days rest I am feeling back to about 60% energy levels today. Four of us went for a 4km swim in the lake this morning. It was a stunning morning for a swim, the water warm and the pace a gentle 17:40 per km...along with a few long chats in the middle of the lake.
It took about 1500m to loosen my shoulder up this morning and find my rhythm. After that is was as though i could keep that pace going for many hours. I was also trying to concentrate on just relaxing and feeling as though the water can do whatever it wants with me...that is what ocean swimming is all about...you can't fight it! One more swim this afternoon and then its some down time.
Thursday
Dead tired today and my pre-squad and squad swims showed exactly that. I was doing some slow times (1:50 for 100m) but it felt more like 3 minutes! As a result I have moved Saturday's lake swim to Sunday so i can get recharge.
Andrew assures me that this tiredness is all part of the build process and it shows the effort put in over the last 5 weeks straight. Tapper week in two more days!
Wednesday
Todays swim seemed easy compared to last nights squad session. Started off with 3 x 1km sets where i was trying to keep a steady pace and same number of strokes per lap. That all seemed to fall into place and each laps stats nearly looked like the one before and also the one after.
At the 5km mark i jumped out and put on a long sleeve shirt and went for another 1000m. It was hard work but my the time was a little better than i expected at 19:00.
A long warm down and that was another days training in the bank.
Tuesday
After a busy day at work i managed to get in a nice long swim (6 x 1000m) before swim squad. My goal was to try and keep a constant pace of 1:44 until the 4th set. Where I would let it creep out to 1:47 and then onto 1:48. I forgot to bring my pool food today so it was certainly interesting to take note of when my body started to crave food.
I also noted a build up of acid in the arms around 5km. This has not happened before and i can only attribute it to the lack of food and insufficient hydration.
A quick trip the pool cafe and a homemade biscuit and a small chocolate and it was back into the pool. I did the warm up easily and then looked up to see 1000m time trial written on the board. Its actually my favourite set, but after just doing 6 of them this would clearly show me where my endurance is at.
After, losing the lead guy (Gleb) in the first few laps i dug deep to slowly claw back his gap over the next 300m. Once i got him it was then nice to then sit on his toes for a bit to bring the heart rate down. Gleb and I always have a good sprint to end and he knows i always make my move 150m out. But this time i thought i would fox him and leave it to the last 50m. We both got a good turn and as i moved onto his hip he kicked and very soon i realised he had actually out foxed me. The times were in the low 16s, respectable.
Tomorrow, its off to the AIS for a 2 hour swim with Chris. The last 1km is with a shirt on and suppose to simulate the type of tiredness toward the end of an endurance swim. If nothing else it should be amusing!
Rest day
Today was massage day. My neighbour is a physio and I get the most wonderful back and arm looseners!
Tomorrow we r back into it, with a 4km set followed by 3.5 km speed set at squad training. Then a swim on wed, afternoon double set on thurs, sat in the lake then a double endurance set on Sunday afternoon. All up about 35km in 5 days.
Everything is ready for the race now with all the logistics confirmed and ready to go. The boat skipper is attending the race briefing tomorrow. He will get the wave times then.
During my Sunday swim I started to think about all the things I have learnt whilst preparing for this swim. I will post them after the swim but I have at least 15 things so far to pass on.
Tomorrow we r back into it, with a 4km set followed by 3.5 km speed set at squad training. Then a swim on wed, afternoon double set on thurs, sat in the lake then a double endurance set on Sunday afternoon. All up about 35km in 5 days.
Everything is ready for the race now with all the logistics confirmed and ready to go. The boat skipper is attending the race briefing tomorrow. He will get the wave times then.
During my Sunday swim I started to think about all the things I have learnt whilst preparing for this swim. I will post them after the swim but I have at least 15 things so far to pass on.
Cole Classic
Cole Classic at Manly today. Early morning trip and back in the arvo for squad training.
Even after a tough week of training i managed my second best time for 2km in the Ocean - 30min 07sec. The conditions after the first 500m were perfect. A nice chop, small swell and some nice long runners at the end.
Even after a tough week of training i managed my second best time for 2km in the Ocean - 30min 07sec. The conditions after the first 500m were perfect. A nice chop, small swell and some nice long runners at the end.
a quick video of the finishing line
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