Week 30 - 5 December

Well, the open water season is well and truly under way now. I am doing two events per week and sometimes an extra one on the weekends and have been pleasantly surprised by the temperature of the water - nowhere near as cold as I was anticipating! Pool work is still going well, and I am clocking up around 40km a week.

However, Al and I have decided we needed to bite the bullet and get serious! So, on December 10th we arranged to do a five hour swim, from Maraetai to Waiheke, up the coast a bit and back again. This took a little more organisation than usual as we need a boat to accompany us - thank you very much Mike Tate! - and snacks and drinks to keep up our energy and hydration levels. We were also lucky enough to have Marty Blandford come along and keep us company in the water - albeit in a wetsuit and with fins! Thank you too, Marty, it was great to have you there and we hope your cramp is finally easing up!

So, the swim began at 7am in much rougher conditions than we were anticipating - white caps on the waves, cloudy skies and a fair wind - probably not a bad simulation of Cook Strait. Reaching Waiheke took just over an hour and a half and we stopped briefly for a cup of tea (what a pom). Then we swam down the coast for an hour getting pounded by the waves, before heading back home in conditions ever rougher. We ate or drank every half an hour - I can definitely recommend the honey sandwiches, courtesy of Happy Valley Honey, a real energy boost - plus jellybeans to get rid of the salt taste in our mouths and isotonic drinks. The last couple of hours were really hard work and it was good to get back in. However, 16km in four and a half hours is pretty much on track for how we want to swim the Strait, and we'll be going for a 6 hour swim next time we do a long one

Then it was off home for a well earned rest and a bath to remove the lanolin I had smeared on - not an easy job, or a single person job! And, of course, another nice cup of tea. There have been no after effects and it's been straight back into training this week, so all good and a real confidence boost!

Week 27 - 14 November...

Now that summer is definitely around the corner the ocean swims have begun in earnest. I am competing in two different weekly competitions - Tuesdays at Takapuna, and Thursdays at Kohimarama. Both are only short distances, just 1500-2000m but I am competing when possible without a wetsuit and adjusting to the sea temperatures. Training inbetween is still going well, the weekly distance remains around the 30km mark, and I am really feeling in control of my stroke and pace.

The first State competition was held on 13th November and involved crossing Auckland Harbour, from Bayswater to the steps by the new drawbridge in the Viaduct Harbour. There were approximately 1400 swimmers in the water so I was pleased to finish 137th overall, 3rd in my age group and 16th of the non-wetsuit swimmers. My time was a little down on last year but as a wetsuit can take 10% off your time it wasn't too bad - it was also affected by my heading off towards the Harbour Bridge and having to be gently redirected by one of the patrol boats! No wonder I thought I had nice clear water, everyone else was heading in the other (right!) direction...

Week 24 - 24 October

Al and I started this week with our first dip in the ocean - no wetsuit, of course! The water was 17 degrees in the shallows and 16 degrees further out and after the first few minutes was surprisingly pleasant to swim in. We only spent about 30 mins in there this time, swimming to a boat and back off Maraetai Beach, but felt relaxed and warm when we got out. Luke had also spent the same amount of time playing and swimming in the water closer to the beach - so, if a 7 year old can put up with the water temperature then we have no excuses!

I have been struggling with a bout of golfer's elbow - swimming related obviously, it must be 8 years since I last played golf! The physio has given me some exercises to help strengthen the joint so I am doing these 2-3 times a day.

Saturday saw our longest, and biggest, swim to date. Four hours in Rosehill Pool, covering 14km altogether - 2/3 of the total distance we will swim across the Strait. Although I was tired afterwards I still felt as though I had more swimming in me, and it was a real confidence booster. There will be more of these long sessions coming up and it gives us a chance to check out nutrition and hydration options.

On Sunday, just after Auckland Marathon, the first official ocean swim of the season took place and we swam round the head at Devonport. Wetsuits were mandatory as the organisers felt it was too cold still to go without so there was no chance to try out the longer distance 'naked', but it was a nice race and I felt relaxed throughout. I came in 13th overall, not a bad result, just over 2 minutes behind the leader which I was pleased with as the focus to date has been on maintaining a steady speed over distance, rather than swimming fast.

The next few weeks are much busier work wise but there is lots of swimming planned - the Rugby World Cup slowed business right down, but allowed for lots of time to swim and plenty of time to watch rugby and enjoy the performance of our awesome All Blacks! Congratulations to the boys and Graham Henry!

Week 18 - 12 September

The last couple of weeks have been up and down - a flu bug has seen me having to miss a few sessions as I have been just too tired and achy to make swimming a good idea. Things are returning to normal now though, so I am picking up the training again and am looking forward (in a strange sort of way) to a 12km swim with Alastair on Thursday.

There has been quite a bit in the media over the last couple of weeks about long distance swimming. The first item was about Roger Allsop who, at the age of 70, became the oldest swimmer ever to complete a crossing of the English Channel. It took him 17 hours and 51 minutes which is an awfully long time to spend in the water. By the time he reached France he was so delirious he mistook the beach for a cloud and thought he'd arrived in Heaven instead!

The second big swimming story was comedian David Walliam's sponsored swim for Sport Relief in the UK. David decided his latest marathon effort would be to swim the length of the River Thames! A distance of 140 miles that he planned to take 8 days to complete, swimming around 20 miles per day, an awesome effort even given that the current would always be assisting. Astonishingly he completed the swim on schedule - and I say astonishingly because fairly early on he was laid low by the dreaded 'Thames Tummy'. Can you imagine not being able to keep food down AND swimming?? And, even worse, having diarrhoea whilst wearing a wetsuit? They're not quick to get off! At least Al and I will know that no-one will be dumping 500,000 cubic metres of raw sewage into Cook Strait before we get in it! David raised a massive 1.1 million GBP for Sport Relief, a truly awesome effort.

So, on we go, with only a few weeks to the beginning of the open water season and our first outdoor sessions of the year - looking forward to it!

Week 15 - 22 August ..

Well, the swim is becoming much more real now - Alastair and I have been allocated dates for crossing Cook Strait next year!! Our slot is 28 March until 3 April so we have fingers, toes and anything else crossed that we will get a swim in during this period. The calmer, flatter and warmer the better!

Training is still going well - at least 30km per week and we are starting to introduce longer swims. This week it was a 10km session, next week I aim to do 12km. Obviously the pool is a very different environment to the open sea but it's great to know that my body is coping with this.

Looking forward to the beginning of spring now as that means it won't be long until the open water swimming season begins. At that point I will have twice weekly competitions in Takapuna and Kohimarama, and Al and I will put in some longer distances by ourselves too.

One interesting side effect of all this swimming - my legs are no longer as hairy! The extra exposure to chlorine has bleached the hairs and started making them fall out! That might not be ideal, it would be good to have an extra layer of warmth in the sea...

Week 11 - 25 July..

Rather than telling you about my training I thought I would show you some glimpses of what it's like to swim at 5.30am when the air temperature is only 2 degrees! You can tell by the steam rising from the surface that the water temperature is a bit warmer.. Up to 30km in the pool per week at the moment and it's all going well.

Week 6 - 20th June..

The last three weeks have been hectic on all fronts. Work has involved a lot of travelling both in New Zealand and Australia and I am getting to know the whereabouts of the good training pools in the major towns and cities of both countries! I've swum at the Ian Thorpe pool in Sydney, at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre - both great facilities, but the majority of my pool time is still in Papakura with Pedro and Jayne. I have picked my average yardage up too, from around12km per week to over 25km per week and aim to maintain this for a while as it is still around 8 months until the swim.

I had a really interesting chat with a good friend of mine, singer/songwriter Monique Rhodes, who is also a Buddhist. I had been feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the whole idea of the Cook Strait, thinking about what I needed to get done before attempting the crossing. I was even starting to worry about the huge sets we were doing in training, trying to anticipate what I needed to do next and worrying whether I would be able to finish a set strongly, or if my stroke and speed would die off before the end. Monique offered me a couple of concepts from her Zen background which I have started using:

1. Live in the now. Stop thinking about the past or the future.
2. Enjoy the journey. Focus on the process of getting there, not the end product.

I took these thoughts with me into a 50 minute set of 8 x 400m freestyle (not normally a favourite!!) and found that I felt great throughout each swim, without my usual fear or thoughts like 'help, I'm not even halfway through yet!'. Enjoying the now was a new concept for me whilst training and it's been a huge help - thank you so much Monique.

We were lucky enough to go and see Monique play last Saturday, along with Shona Laing, at Sale Street - what a fantastic evening. Check out her website - www.moniquerhodes.com - she's amazing!

Week 3 - 30th May...

This week I thought I'd tell you a little about the swim!

Week 2 - 23rd May..

Started the week by celebrating my 57th birthday - with a swim needless to say! Another good week of training, with plenty of distance and an interesting experiment conducted with Pedro, our coach - two half hour swims with 1 minutes rest inbetween at different intensities. The results: a 5% increase in distance swum and a 50% increase in fatigue and pain! The lesson learnt: With endurance events pace is everything.

Had a huge number of emails of support over the last week, which are much appreciated - even if there were too many references to sharks (thanks for the reminders of what might be lurking beneath!). Many of the messages were from people who have taken part in my goal setting programmes, pointing out that I hadn't set a reward and a consequence for my goal! Having given it some thought I've decided that my reward for achieving the goal will be a weekend away with my wife without my kids (so, are there any offers to babysit two mildly active, extremely quiet boys for a couple of days?) My consequence for failure will be to continue with the huge levels of training for another year and attempt the swim again in 2013.

Lots of you also suggested that the swim would be an ideal opportunity to raise some money for a charity and I agree so I'm mulling over some interesting options. Watch this space...

Thanks to everyone who is now following me and thanks also for the comments! My two favourite email comments this week were that it was hoped the Cook Strait would not leave me in a Crook State and that the swim should be advertised as Shack vs Shark!!

OK, back to the pool.... - more next week.

Week 1 - 16th May..

The week started with a 1000m challenge swim at a club session. There was only a 4 second gap between Al and myself, a good indicator that we are swimming pretty much at the same pace and will work well together across the Strait. Now that I have committed to the swim I have been feeling a bit negative, chiefly fearing the distance, the temperature, sharks and, most of all, failure but that is just my initial reaction - having spent the last 20 years showing others how to embrace their challenges and overcome their fears it is time to put all that knowledge into practice on myself! I had a great goal setting session with some Westpac staff on Thursday and told them about my swim - it makes it even more real to have others know too!

Over the course of the week I have swum a total of 16km. Looking back over my old diaries I only averaged 15km a week in my preparation for the Masters World Championships in Italy, so this is good going (although the race then was only 100m!). My body has coped well so far but I know that I am going to have to ensure I am in peak physical shape so I have booked in for regular chiropractic sessions to keep my old back problems at bay.

My distant, and more famous, relative Sir Ernest Shackleton's boat was named Endurance - that's exactly what I'm going to be needing too! It seems like a good sign...

The Challenge

Many of you reading this will already know that I've spent most of my life swimming competitively. Until I came to New Zealand this all took place in a swimming pool - after all, who on earth would want to spend time swimming in the sea off the English coast?? In the last couple of years though I've branched out and moved out of the comfort zone of chlorine and a black line to follow, and into the wide open sea. It took some getting used to - frankly the first few swims were scary! No warm water, no lane ropes, waves and tides, and who knew what might be swimming underneath me somewhere - there's no sharks in pools. No lane discipline here, just hundreds of people all wanting to swim in exactly the same spot that I do! It wasn't swimming as I knew it, more a mixture of surfing and boxing....

Two years on I have grown to love open water swimming, and my distances have increased from 1km weekly races to a 10km swim from St Heliers, Auckland to Rangitoto Island and back. So what is to be next? A swimming buddy, Alastair Hulbert, came up with an idea - how about swimming the Cook Strait, the body of water between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. This would be nearly three times longer than my longest swim to date, at 26km and the water would be cooler than it is around Auckland - also, I would not be allowed to wear a wetsuit! The average time to complete the swim is around 9 hours and you have to ensure that your pilot gets the tides just right. An added incentive is that I will be the oldest person to ever complete the crossing.....

Alastair and I have made the decision that we will attempt the crossing, hopefully in the early months of 2012 - obviously this is tide/weather/pilot etc. dependant, but at this time the sea will be at it's warmest. We have discussed this with Pedro and Jane, our swimming coaches, who are going to come up with a training schedule for us, and this blog will be a diary of our preparation leading up to the swim.