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!