Have had some exciting news this week - there is a chance the swim might come forward and actually happen this weekend (2-4 March)!! There is supposed to be a swimmer in this tide spot but they might possibly get their crossing out of the way early in the week and leave the Friday/Saturday free for Al and I. I am really beginning to look forward to the swim and feeling confident about my ability to complete it, partly because I had such a great race in the Rangitoto swim at the weekend, coming 5th out of about 360 swimmers. So now we are just waiting to hear from Philip. I have my bag packed ready to head to Wellington - jelly beans, Powerade, V and, of course, my Happy Valley honey sandwiches will be the final addition. One complication - I am in Brisbane for the next couple of days so may have to fly direct to Wellington from there, arriving in at midnight and grabbing whatever sleep I can before potentially swimming early the next morning. Saturday would be my ideal day, but we go with the weather and tides to work out the optimum time - to be honest I don't know how much sleep I would get the night before the swim anyway!
So, if you haven't already entered the Big Swim competition, get your time guess in now or it might just be too late..
www.bigswim.co.nz
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Week 40 - 13th February
This week saw a milestone I don't think I have ever knowingly passed before. Al and I have now clocked up over 1000km in training so far! Awesome!! It is quite unusual to have a partner when making a crossing over Cook Strait as you need to be almost exactly the same pace as one another as there will only be one support boat. So, in answer to those who have been wanting an idea as to how long the swim might take so that they can put a good estimate into their competition entry (www.bigswim.co.nz), here are a few hints!
Currently Al and I train in sets of 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m. Our aim is to maintain a pace of 1.30 per 100m, or 15mins per km. At this pace we are not going so fast we will be exhausted and not going so slow we will get cold. Assuming we will be reasonably direct and swim only 26km this means it would take six hours, thirty minutes to make the crossing. HOWEVER... every half hour we will pause briefly to drink or eat something for 30 - 60 seconds which will add extra time on. And, of course, the most important factors that could significantly speed things up or slow them down are the wind and currents. Our guide and mentor Philip Rush will be the one to make a decision as to which day will have the most favourable conditions so wind and current will have as little impact as possible. I am open to any weather predictions so if you are an ace long range forecaster please let me know what you think it might be like in the Strait area between 27 March and 3 April! Last year I spoke to well known NZ weather predictor, Ken Ring, and he emailed me after checking to say that, in his opinion, 2 April would be the perfect day for our crossing. So here's hoping - not least because that coincides with World Autism Day.
Right, hope that helps you with your guesstimate and all the very best luck with winning yourself a fantastic Fijian holiday!
Currently Al and I train in sets of 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m. Our aim is to maintain a pace of 1.30 per 100m, or 15mins per km. At this pace we are not going so fast we will be exhausted and not going so slow we will get cold. Assuming we will be reasonably direct and swim only 26km this means it would take six hours, thirty minutes to make the crossing. HOWEVER... every half hour we will pause briefly to drink or eat something for 30 - 60 seconds which will add extra time on. And, of course, the most important factors that could significantly speed things up or slow them down are the wind and currents. Our guide and mentor Philip Rush will be the one to make a decision as to which day will have the most favourable conditions so wind and current will have as little impact as possible. I am open to any weather predictions so if you are an ace long range forecaster please let me know what you think it might be like in the Strait area between 27 March and 3 April! Last year I spoke to well known NZ weather predictor, Ken Ring, and he emailed me after checking to say that, in his opinion, 2 April would be the perfect day for our crossing. So here's hoping - not least because that coincides with World Autism Day.
Right, hope that helps you with your guesstimate and all the very best luck with winning yourself a fantastic Fijian holiday!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Week 38 - 30 January
Friday this week was our biggest and hardest swim to date - of my life in fact! Al and I met at Takapuna Beach just before 7am to begin our 6 hour session. Conditions were not the best, to put it mildly, an overcast day and a 2 metre swell on the water! We fed every hour and probably needed more but we had no support boat today so could only eat when we got back to the beach after each lap. The swim was made harder by the lack of a boat as the swell made it extremely difficult to sight the buoys and we had to breathe very high to ensure we were going in the right direction. Six hours was tough and tiring but was also a great confidence booster in that I was sure I could continue and complete the last 6km that would take us to 26km and the whole distance across the Strait. A cup of tea and snacks, and the support of Jane Logan, one of our coaches, hit the spot as we finished! Now I find I am impatient to do the actual swim but there is still a couple of months to go..
The other big event was the launch of the competition that will raise funds for the Autism Foundation at the Manukau Steamers event on Waitangi Day. You can now enter this at www.bigswim.co.nz - for $10 you can guess the time that I will be in the water for on the big day and the closest estimate will win flights and accommodation for 2 people to Fiji! Enter now, and let all your friends know too so they can have a guess. We may be able to coincide the swim with World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April but that, of course, is dependant on the weather! Meanwhile back to the training...
The other big event was the launch of the competition that will raise funds for the Autism Foundation at the Manukau Steamers event on Waitangi Day. You can now enter this at www.bigswim.co.nz - for $10 you can guess the time that I will be in the water for on the big day and the closest estimate will win flights and accommodation for 2 people to Fiji! Enter now, and let all your friends know too so they can have a guess. We may be able to coincide the swim with World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April but that, of course, is dependant on the weather! Meanwhile back to the training...
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