Day 177 - 26th January 2011

Miracle of miracles we only had one child visitation last night! Jesse came in at 1am and I took him back to him room at 1.20am and that was that! It was a real treat to wake up in my own bed and with just Sharon and I. I felt refreshed and ready for my morning fix of a little BSC & Saltwater.

7.00am at the Arch just as Shoichi and Paul were showering after their in the dark dip; they said it was fine out there and that they did almost 10 minutes. By 7.20am I was in the water with the two Bobs, David and the usual crew. Big Bob, Paul Smith (Swim club UK) and I swam out to the Helter Skelter near the head of the Pier. Just like Monday it was an easy swim out and a hard swim back. Unlike Monday, however, it was not low tide so there was no walking in or out and as such we had to swim from the shore and back to the shore without the aid of knowing you could pop your feet down if you needed to. This does make it a much harder physiological swim because once the cold starts to bite and your arms start to feel heavy and your breathing becomes laboured you look up and see that the shore is still some way off; your head and heart do start to react. I guess I was back to the silver ball when my heart started to really take notice of my thoughts and started to race much faster than I would have liked; it took me about a minute of slow and steady swimming & breathing to get my head back to a sensible place (basically understanding that I can get back no problem at all) and then my hear beat slowed back to its normal rhythm and I was able to swim back to shore and start to enjoy the experience. Sea swimming, particularly in cold water, is really so much to do with mind control rather than physical ability. This is what Fiona has said to me so many times and she is spot on. The see temperature was 4.6 degrees, so still extremely cold; apparently another cold front is on its way so we may see a dip in the temperature again.

When I was back in the Arch, David (our old warrior of the sea) remarked that someone had told him that I am still not eating before my swims; he was not pleased to hear this. Of course he is absolutely right and again it highlights to me that despite my best “intentions” I am still not stepping up to the mark with my eating. He went on to say that they are counting on me making this channel swim and I needed to start taking my eating seriously. For me to hear him say this was really nice as I am still a new boy to BSC and it is really nice to hear that they are rooting for me; it makes me feel I am becoming accepted as one of theirs at last. How nice to belong.