Day 198 - Monday 28th February 2011

End of February already; no idea when that happened. Is it me or is life going very quickly at the moment??

After my long Friday swim I was most pleased that all I had was aching shoulders; and to be honest they didn’t even ache that much at all. The mind took a few hours to switch back to normal (I think I prefer water logged to normal though), but aside from that I was absolutely fine, no need even to see my Physio. Friday night, rather than an early night and recovery mode, Sharon and I went to Hurstpierpoint for an Indian meal with friends. Ended up having a very relaxed evening, some useful “fatty” foods and then getting home after midnight. On the advice of Fiona I had to then have a few days off from exercise, which I would like to say I had done. However, with Sharon out all day Saturday I did have 3 children to look after, so if one can consider that no exercise then I guess I complied. Sunday I did use my gym a little and did a 10 minute slot on my Vasa swimmer; so not a total relax, but nothing I would consider “planned exercise”.

This morning I was at the beach by 7.15 am, having had a basically decent sleep as the kiddies all behaved last night. The air temp was 5 degrees, the rain (which was quite heavy) was cold and the sea was a calm 4.9 degrees. Not a crowded Arch this morning, just a few of us, Big Bob, Little Bob, Mike, Sean, Shoichi, Charlotte, Bella and Martina; only 9 morning sea swimmers in a town of millions!! Big Bob and I swam to the cafe half way along the pier, right up to the pier struts, then turned and swam back past the groin the other side and then back to our beach. It was about 13 minutes, but that was plenty as the cold sea definitely was setting into the bones by then.

The rest of this week, apart from my usual plethora of meetings in Brighton & London; will consist of 2 Esporta Gym sessions, 2 home gym sessions, 1 x 12k run, 3 sea swims, 1 x power swim with Bob & Fiona and 1 x 4 hr pool swim on Friday. Next week I’ll do another 7 hour swim or if time allows a 4 hr swim one day followed by a 5 hour the next.