Day 64 – 2nd August 2010

Dover on Sunday was cancelled!

I saw Kim my Physio on Thursday and we decided I should not swim Friday or Saturday in view of my Sunday 6 hr Dover swim. My shoulder and groin were not 100%, but not far off, so it felt sensible. However, on Saturday I had a call from Mark (who is in France on holiday) basically laying down the “law”. He said that Kim had phoned him and was worried that a 6 hr sea swim at this time would damage my shoulder to the extent that I could be out of action for months, possible permanently. Mark was very straight and to the point; “no way was this acceptable”. His call was followed by an email from Kim and also a text and then phone call from Fiona; all saying the same thing. Apparently, whilst I am doing swimming distances, my body is still new to the sport and is not used to the movement and punishment I’m putting it through. As such my shoulder muscles are tearing and not repairing themselves quickly enough. It is suggested that I can still swim each morning in the sea, but only short distances, but then must do 2-3 hr pool sessions. The temperature of the pool, being much warmer, and the lack of movement will allow my muscles to tear and heal in such a way that my body then gets used to being a swimmer. The sea movement and temperature apparently does not allow for this. So I can still swim gently each morning in the sea, but need to do two pool sessions a week, plus two gym sessions and one run a week. I have to listen!!

After all these calls Saturday I was somewhat frustrated, so at 7pm I did a 10.46k run, took 1hr1min and averaged 5.46k/min. Basically, I had to run the frustration out! Of course they are all just looking out for me and of course they are 100% right, but very frustrating as I have been really getting it together!

So this morning I did a gentle swim, just once around the Pier. Darren came down and took some photos for the website; I’m sure photos of me in my speedos on a Monday morning is not going to exactly aid our fundraising!

Tonight I’ve got my first planned gym session with Wendy at 6.30pm and hopefully Fiona and I will be at Falmer for a 23 hr swim this week. I may be cutting back on distance swimming in the sea for the moment, but I’ve got to energise myself and up my game in the pool and the gym.