Day 241 - Friday 29th April 2011

Today is the special bank holiday Friday for the Royal Wedding. The forecast was for rain and mist all around London , however, the sun shines on the righteous and it was pleasing to see a bright blue sky and around 20 degrees. Luckily the same could be said for Brighton and a glorious day was had.

I started the day at 6.45am at the beach and was in the water by 7am. Others were there; Leo, David, Shoichi, Paul, Martina, Evo & Amp; Bella; some stayed close to the pier and some went around; I, however, like yesterday swam on my own really hard and kept the pace the same throughout and went to the West Pier and back again. The tide was going to the East, so I was swimming against it going and with it coming back. The odd thing was though that it took me 17 minutes to get there and 23 minutes to get back; really it should have been the exact opposite; but there you have it, the sea does what it wants. Like yesterday I enjoyed the swim a lot, it is just so great not being in a pool with others all around you and swallowing up cupfuls of chemicals. The sea may not always seem the cleanest of places and certainly it has its fair share of salt, but one thing it doesn’t have is chlorine and other shitty stuff like that in it. The temperature was an average of 10.1 degrees, which was fine to swim in, but it meant I was shaking like Shaking Stevens when I was driving home to have a hot shower. Sharon commented that it was because I was only wearing a T-Shirt; it is possible of course that she was right!!

After my shower I helped Sharon get the kids dressed and then while she headed up the road to our neighbours for a Royal Wedding garden party, I headed off to Falmer for an hour with Ross. Once again it was an hour full of shoulders, chest and abs, which after my sea swim made it a really good challenge.

An hour later, feeling all worked out and healthy I headed home, got changed, downed a protein shake and was up at the neighbours just in time to see the Royal couple say the “I Do’s”. Whilst I was not that bothered about the whole wedding business to start with, actually it was a beautiful wedding and they seem a great couple and how refreshing to have the TV on and it be in aid of something good, positive and happy.

That should have been my day done and dusted, but oh no; Mr “I don’t like heights” here, ended up having to climb a 30 foot ladder at a tight angle and shimmy off the end into my bathroom window (which thank goodness was open). I am not exaggerating when I say it is 30 foot, in fact I think it’s a little higher and all I had was my brother-in-law at the bottom with his foot on it to try to keep it steady whilst I climbed as fast as I could and did my best to keep my eyes focused on the wall in front! All that had happened was Sharon's dressing gown had got stuck in the door, but it was enough for it to not be able to open from the inside, so I had no choice but to go in through the window. All I was thinking of as I was climbing up was that if I slipped I wouldn’t be able to do the channel swim! What a stupid worry to have; surely dying may have been more of an appropriate worry! As Roy Castle used to sing ; “dedication, oh oh dedication, dedication, that’s all we need………”

Day 240 - Thursday 28th April 2011

The funeral yesterday afternoon (was meant to have been today, but last minute change to yesterday afternoon) was far from a morbid affair. Uncle Lew was a grand old 96, although it has to be said that losing someone dear to you is sad no matter their age. He was one of the most positive and happy people you could ever have met; he even did an impromptu saxophone concert at the rest home to the other residents just last week; at 96 that is something. As amazing as that is, his “older” brother Ben was at the funeral to say goodbye to him. Ben is 102 and doesn’t even use a walking stick. These family genes are amazing; my problem is I don’t think I could financially afford to live that long!! A very inspirational bunch my family.

Back to today and my swimming. I was at the Arch by 6.50am and the only people there was Leo, Charlotte and Jamie. With the Easter holidays just gone and an extended 4 day bank holiday this weekend (starting tomorrow) for the Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton (I was sorry to turn down their invite, but I have swimming training to do tomorrow and you can’t be everywhere can you!) It seems a lot of people are away on holiday taking advantage of the extra days off work, if only!

I was still very achy this morning from my very tough gym session on Tuesday, plus a decent swim yesterday in the sea and a 15k run when I got back from London; so I had planned to just swim to the Brighton Centre and back; being on my own I wanted to hug the coast again rather than go out into the void (staying sensible). This morning for some reason I felt really strong in the sea and I ended up going all the way to the West Pier, right up to the 4 legs jutting out the water like pillars in the earth, then turned around and swam back again at speed. I kept the speed the same the whole way there and back, a good strong stroke throughout and at no time was I too cold or tired to do it. The temperature averaged 10.2 degrees, the sea was relatively flat, but the air temperature was down to around 7 degrees and the wind was quite brisk. The way I swam today, if the temperature had been maybe 12 degrees, I could easily have gone all the way through to the Marina and back without a problem. Hopefully next week I can do that.

After the swim I got back to the Arch and found it heaving; must have been double figures in there. It seems that my early morning swims may have meant me missing the crowds; I don’t mind though as I’m happy with my own council most of the time. After my shower I did suddenly get cold and was shivering for a good 20 minutes afterwards; very shaky hands. However, I had to get myself over to the Sea Life Centre straight away because the photo shoot was moved from yesterday to today; the shoot was a media preparation ready for the Shark Swim in a couple of weeks. It was actually really interesting because I have never been in the Sea Life Centre when it’s empty, a really fascinating place. I had to put on a wetsuit, which was my first ever time wearing one, and having now done that I really can’t see why I’ve refused to use one all winter! It was easy to get on and easy to get off and was bloomin warm, I really should invest in one in case the sea takes a long time to warm up as I could stay out for hours in that, silly me for refusing too! Once I was all suited up it was off to the shark tank for some photos, which took about 20 minutes and then it was back into my civies and back to work. All in all an interesting start to the day and a good strong swim.



Funny how your state of mind can really effect your mood and your training; a bad mind set and you get negative and feel you can’t swim and a good mind set and your positive and could swim every sea in the world. Gotta keep the mind focused and relaxed; that it seems will be the key to my success.

Day 239 - Wednesday 27th April 2011

Not much of an exciting blog today; sorry about that, but it is just a regular Wednesday in many respects.

As I have to leave work early to go to London today I was down at the beach at 6.00am for an earlier than usual swim. Very much on my own today, not even the usual splattering runners or dog walkers on the seafront this morning, in fact I only saw three cars – spookily odd. Despite the air temperature having dropped down to around 16 degrees and it being a bit more windy, the sea conditions were pretty much the same as yesterday; as was my swim. I did go a little further passed the Brighton Centre today; in fact I actually felt I could have gone to the West Pier and back as my swimming was very smooth and controlled (despite my aching shoulders from the gym), but I needed to be at the office by 7am to clear the mountain of paperwork before heading of to London (which I’m about to do).

Tomorrow I may head out a little further again. I need to do a West Pier and back asap, so that next week I can do a Marina and back. Once I have them done I can then start to extend it further so that by end May I am in for hours at a time – the sea rather than the pool is so much better for me on so many ways. In fact this morning I still had a very bad throat which I believe is a result of the pool swimming I did all last week!

Day 238 - Tuesday 26th April 2011

What a beautiful Easter weekend it has been; a magnificent 4 days off work and the sun was as bright as it could possibly have been. The whole weekend was a joy; with visits to Groombridge Park (what a fab place), BBQ’s at home and kids just outside from dawn till dusk – simply brilliant.

As I never swam on Good Friday I hit the beach on Saturday instead. Sharon and the kids came along to sit on the beach whilst I did a 25 minute leisurely swim around the pier. The water temperature was as high as 11.5 degrees around the pier and it averaged 11.2 degrees for the whole swim. I simply had forgotten how warm that feels on the skin. That was all the exercise for the week as I had really done a lot already by then.

Yesterday, being bank holiday Monday, was another family day so I didn’t put any exercise in the diary. I had another amazing family day, including a fab BBQ at home for the family (and some extras – always plenty of food at a Starr BBQ). I did however grab a 45 minute run in the gym at home plus 10 minutes on my Swim machine, so not a total exercise free day.

Today, being Tuesday and a day back at work, started with a sea swim. Unfortunately it was a 6.20am swim as I had a presentation to do at 7.45am to 50 businesses in Brighton, so I had to be done early. The sea was back down to 9.2 degrees, but it was fairly calm and a gentlish tide to the west. I swam on my own as no-one there at that time, so I avoided going into deep water as it’s not a sensible thing to do on your own in all honesty (even though I’ve done it lots of times already of course!) So I headed into the tide and swam towards towards the West Pier, stopping just passed the Brighton Centre and then turning and heading into the tide back to the pier, through and under the pier and around back to my beach. Total swim circa 40 minutes.

After my last work meeting at 4.30pm I headed to Falmer and Ross really put me through my paces in the gym. As it’s getting close to my swim date now he is concentrating on exercises that will strengthen my core as well as building up strength in my shoulders; boy did he work me today!

Tomorrow I’ll have to have another early morning swim as I am then heading off to London, as unfortunately, today my Mum’s Uncle passed away, a fantastic chap who I loved dearly, and tomorrow afternoon is the funeral. Uncle Lew truly was a remarkable man and even though he reached the grand age of 96 it is still too soon for the world to lose such a wonderful positive man. On the plus side it means he can be with Dad and share a large scotch and listen to some fantastic jazz – gonna miss you mate xxx

Day 237 - Thursday 21st April 2011

A quick dip in the ocean this morning as I’m off to London on meetings all day. Was at the Arch by 7am and in the sea by 7.05am. Swam on my own again, which means that I don’t push myself as hard with speed, but I do tend to stay in a little longer and go at a pace I enjoy. Rather than swim around the pier this morning I swam out to the helter skelter and then sideways along to the donut groin to the West and then back to the pier; total swimming time 38 minutes. Temperature was 9.2 degrees, so still heading upwards. The sea was calm and flat, but still had one of those very strong under currents pulling towards the east, so whilst a nice swim you did have to still swim hard to get back in. When I finished my swim I saw Little Bob finishing his (nice to see you swimming rather than paddling my friend!!) and we calmly strolled up the beach together.

After my shower I was about to leave the Arch when Jamie Goodhead came in from a swim. Jamie is the chap who is swimming the Channel this August and who we crewed for last year in his abortive Channel attempt. Really nice guy and a very decent swimmer. It was great to chat to someone else swimming the Channel this year and to hear how he is doing. He suggested a trip to Dover would be good for me next month, especially in terms of feeding ideas; I’ll speak with Fiona on that.

As for the day ahead, as the sun is shining and it’s expected to be in the mid twenties it should mean a lot of smiling faces all around, which certainly makes the day a lot happier. Unfortunately I’ll be in London on meetings, which will mean a hot day in a suit, however, on the fortunate side one of the meetings is with a potentially fantastic new client so hopefully that will go well and I can head back from London with a smile of my own.

Day 236 - Wednesday 20th April 2011

Let’s begin with yesterday after work shall we; I ran from my office to the Brighton Marina, through the marina to the top road and then back to the office. Total distance 16.6 kilometres, 21 degrees heat, no water (must stop that!) and total time taken 1hr 05min 49 seconds. Considering I had swum the pier in the morning and then worked all day I was pleased with that time. I do need to be doing this at least once a week and improving my time; I should be able to get under the hour to be honest; I think water and food would help with that as I was getting tired at the end which slowed me down. Luckily when I got back to the office I had the water machine waiting for me with ice cold water and I managed to find an Easter Egg in the Trust room and gulped it down in one. I did feel a bit bad afterwards as it was probably a donation, so I really must get to the shops today and replace it super fast!! But I needed the sugar and it was sitting there just begging me to unwrap it!!

Onto today! A decent night’s sleep as no visitors until Jesse appeared at 5.00am and he jumped into our bed and went straight to sleep. Just like Monday I wasn’t completely sure I would make the pool today as I was still achy from all the exercise from Sunday onwards, but by 6.20am I was up and at it. I was in the outside pool by 6.55am (very handy living so close to the gym) and was swimming by 6.56am! The aim was 3 hrs, but like Monday when I got to the 3 hr point I decided to keep going for the 4 hr, which I did with little problem. The first 90 minutes actually flew by, in fact I didn’t even stop for a drink it went so quick. The next 90 minutes wasn’t as quick, but still; not actually a problem. The last hour did drag a little, so I broke it down into two 30 minutes slots and had a banana in the first and water in the last. The thing about the pool swimming is that the thought of doing it is usually worse than the doing it and if you get your mind clear from the start and make sure you are in a very “positive” frame of mind it can actually be enjoyable to a point (can’t believe I am actually saying that!). So now with two 4 hr swims, 2 sea swims, an 8k run and a 16k run since Sunday I am feeling like I’ve had a good training week this week. As for the rest of the week, I will do a 40 minute sea swim in the morning before heading to London and then will do a 1 hr speed pool swim in the evening. Then Friday (bank holiday) I will just do a sea swim in the morning. As I haven’t done a gym yet this week I hope to get Ross to give me an hour on Saturday on my core; then I think that will be that.

Having looked back over my blog just now I noticed that my first sea swim training was on 26th April 2010; basically in 6 days time it will be a whole year since my first dip in the big blue. The 26th is next Tuesday, first day back after the bank holidays and I have a 7.30am meeting. But no-way I can miss a sea swim that day, my full year, so it will have to be a 6.30am dip; that was a quick year.

Day 235 - Tuesday 19th April 2011

Back in the sea today after too many days away from it.


After our large dinner party last night we still managed to get to bed before midnight, which was a relief. Also the kiddies were up until past 10pm, so that guaranteed no visitors at all during the night – maybe that should be the plan of action going forward!!! I was down at the Arch before 7am and all alone; only Leo was there about to get ready to go in as I marched down the beach with purpose. The sea was very shallow today, so much so that I was still walking when I reach the silver ball half way down the pier; the water was up to my shoulders at that point but I wanted to see how far out I could walk (or subconsciously I maybe fancied walking rather than swimming today!). As the sea temperature was averaging 9.1 degrees it was cold rather than painful, certainly an improvement there. Once the water was above my shoulders it was time to bring in the arm movement, raise my body to its flat position, start kicking the legs and do the thing I now consider my daily routine; swim. I carried on heading out to the end of the pier, went around the big yellow buoy that has turned up about 50 meters passed the end of the pier, swam around anti clockwise against a weakish tide, back down the other side, through the pier under the silver buoy and was standing again in no time at all. By this time, some 22 minutes from first walking in I was surrounded by eight BSC members all enjoying the blue sky, shallow sea and raising temperatures. If only I’d not planned an 8am meeting at the office I would have hung out a bit longer with them. On a day like today it really is a joy to be out there; a tad warmer would work of course, but still it is a pleasure.

This afternoon, after work, I’ll be popping on my running clothes and heading from the office down to the seafront for a run on flat ground for a change. I need to get back to running at least once a week now and being on the seafront from work really takes away any excuses not to. A run from the office to the Marina and back is probably about 8 miles I would guess? Currently my shoulders, neck and upper back are aching from the Sunday workouts and the big swim yesterday, but hopefully a long flat run with deal with that. Then tomorrow it’s back to Falmer for another pool swim; 3 hrs probably.

One thing to mention is that on 11th May, my 42 birthday (looking and feeling 42 at the moment with all these aches), I will be swimming with the Sharks at the Brighton Sealife Centre as a fundraiser. That’s definitely a first for me! Hopefully the sharks will already have had their pilchards for breakfast and won’t be interested in my skinny legs! It should be a good fun event as a number of businesses and supporters of the Trust will be there as well as local and national press. Also it should be a chance for not only more awareness but some actual fundraising; in fact I believe some companies and individuals have already said they will sponsor me on this day. We are now already just over £35,000 towards our £100,000, so fantastic so far but still a HUGE way to go.

Day 234 - Monday 18th April 2011

Not a bad nights sleep last night; I think all the garden time wore the little mites down. We did have two visits (Mia & Jesse), but it was early on, so we still got a good 6 hours sleep, which for me is way more than my usual maximum. Waking up at 6am I looked at the clock, felt all the back and shoulders ache from yesterday and rolled over to go back to sleep. By 6.10am I was up, dressed and heading for the car!! Gotta love that resolve. I was in the pool by 6.40am, swam past my 9.40am target and kept going until 10.40am – 4 hrs in the bag. I stopped on the half hours for a small slurp of maxim gel followed by water, both of which made the swim doable, but I really need to work out how I can eat something “before” my swims. Unlike the running on Sunday, which whilst only 40 minutes in total, I could have (I didn’t of course) stopped and walked a while and even popped into a shop for a snack – no chance of doing that in the sea! Not wanting to be a “food bore” once again, but I think it’s time I dealt with this problem and start to take it seriously. I’m in the sea tomorrow morning for a 30-40 min swim (dependent on sea temp and conditions) so am not needing a breakfast, but I’m back in the pool Wednesday for another 4 hr swim and I think between then and now I need to work that out.


As for the rest of today; no more exercise now until tomorrow. I’ve got a longish day of meetings and paperwork to catch up on, followed by an ECG at the Dotors at 5pm for my Channel Swim medical assessment, followed by a meal tonight at my house for 18 people! Yep I did say 18!! Don’t ask!!!!

Day 233 - Sunday 17th April 2011

I don’t normally blog on a Sunday, but I thought it was time I mixed it up a little; why be obvious!

A glorious day today; the sky was very blue, the temperature was “hot” and it wasn’t a work day – what could be a better mix than that. Last night was a somewhat restless sleep, culminating in around 2 hrs of broken sleep (I shan’t say which child kept us awake as they all played their own little part). Sharon went for a 40 minute run whilst I did the breakfast and dressing duty and then when she returned I popped on my trainers and hit the road myself. I did a total of 7.8 k in 40.40 minutes, average of 5 minutes 18 seconds per K. Considering I hadn’t been doing much running of late, only 2 hrs sleep max, hadn’t drunk even a glass of water and eaten even a crumb and the sun was very hot (around 20 degrees) I was pleased with the pace I did. I went up Dyke Road, down Woodland Drive, around Hove Park twice, along Goldstone Crescent and then straight up King George (which I swear keeps getting steeper) and then back down Dyke Road to home. Now I do know it’s not clever to do that without eating or drinking anything before or during, however, it is good to know that I can still do it in those conditions even at my old age of almost 42!

The rest of the day ended up very physical as well as it turned out. When I got home I ended up in the garden with mower in hand ready to take on the ridiculous grass we had been cultivating! Since moving back home in February and having a new lawn laid we have not mowed once, as such it was about a foot high. It took a staggering 3½ hours to just mow it!! Then another hour to pick up all the grass and edge it! Meanwhile, Sharon and the kids, along with my sister and nephew were creating more piles as they were weeding and pruning. So 5 hours after I started the mowing we were done and my back and shoulders were certainly tanned and well worked on. You would think that would be enough for the day, but oh no, this is the Starr household. So on the arrival of my Mum, my in-laws and a family friend we did an impromptu dinner for all, followed at 9pm (after they left and the kids were in bed) with me tackling 2 weeks of ironing that had built up whilst Sharon was working in the studio.

A tiring but fantastic Sunday.

Will I have the energy for my planned 3 hour pool swim tomorrow? In all honesty I really hope I do as it’s in the diary, but at this moment in time I wouldn’t put hard cash on it!

Day 232 - Friday 15th April 2011

This morning my plan was a 4 hour swim, but I figured as I have started the week badly I may as well end it that way!! Actually I did do a swim this morning, but only managed 3 hours rather than 4. Last night was another one of those restless ones, with Mia being up I think it was five times and Jesse at least three times. Then to top that off some kids down the road decided to use their trampoline in their garden at 2.30am in a somewhat noisy fashion. Anyhow this morning I went to King Alfred instead of Falmer as I wanted to try a different pool just to see how it felt; also I had a meeting afterwards right next door. As they only have an indoor pool it mean that I had to suffer the chemicals again and unfortunately whilst they are not as bad as Falmer, they still are not great. In fact I could feel the chemicals affecting me within the hour and already I am stuffed up in my nose and my chest is slightly tight. I was aiming for a 4 hour swim today, but I think that the chemicals and my lack of sleep had an effect and after 3 hours I was ready to come out. In terms of physicality I felt absolutely fine, not an ache, and in terms of my mind I felt fine as well. The reason I stopped was that I was yawning a lot (have you ever seen a swimmer yawn !!) and taking down water and then by 10am the pool started filling up with kids on half term and it was simply impossible to keep a steady pace. However, at least I did 3 hours, which is not to be sniffed at (although all I am doing is sniffing) and tonight I’ll do an hour in the gym with Ross on core work – so not a total disaster I guess.


Next week I will be back at my beloved Falmer, the pool I know, and will do my two long swims as instructed by Fiona. I think that swapping pools simply confirmed to me that I should stick to the one I know. Also Falmer have much nicer changing rooms and frothier cappuccino.

Day 231 - Thursday April 14th 2011

This morning was a pool swim as planned. 6.30am – 9.30am; a dull sky and air temperature lower than it’s been. The outside pool was somewhat busier this morning than usual, in fact I was swimming the main area with two others for nearly an hour before I was able to get my usual private lane at the side. I really should put my watch back on and start counting the lengths to make sure I’m increasing it each time.


Tomorrow morning is pool again, 4 hours is the plan. The Monday pool again! I might see if I can fit in a sea swim Saturday or Sunday as otherwise I’ll have too many days away from the sea and that’s not good for the mind!!

Last night I didn’t get home from London until after midnight, so I was a tad tired this morning. We saw Darren, my brother-in-law, in an Opera in Covent Garden. He was the lead in a new piece by Terry Jones (Monty Python); he played a Medical GP Dog – don’t ask, this is opera after all. Darren as ever was fantastic and even though I’m not an Opera person by nature, the piece was funny and easy to watch. My brother-in-law is seriously talented!!

Another great thing to recall from yesterday was this email I received –

Good afternoon


I have recently moved to Brighton and am keen on raising funds again for a local charity.
My wife in fact ran the marathon for you and raised around £1,300. I know its not a huge amount but it is only the start. A little bit about me. I have always been very keen on fund raising but as you know everyday life tends to take over and before you know it weeks go by. I broke my back playing rugby when I was younger and decided to change my perspective on life. I now have 2 young kids who are very happy and
we would like to help others and as your company says "put a smile back on childrens faces".
When we have the time would it be possible to come and say hi and introduce ourselves? I would also like to help out occasionally if possible and come up with some good fund raising ideas.I helped raise £100,000 when I stepped into a boxing ring for the Royal Marsden http://www.davidadamsleukaemiaappeal.org/David_Adams_Appeal/Home.html


Mandie Adams is a very close friend and she lost her husband to leukaemia a while ago. Now I am not saying that I am willing to get beaten up again :) but I would like to run the marathon for you next year (not looking forward to it) but I am willing to do it to raise some money. I would also like to donate a small % on every sale that I make through my company each month. My business is small at the moment but I am growing slowly and it could help one or two children each month.

Would it be possible to have your logo so I can put a page on my website? I will also create a just giving page if thats the easiest thing to do?  It would be great to meet one day soon and I hope I can help, even if
its a little bit.

Have a great day.


How amazing is that!! From out of the blue we have some more money raised for the Trust towards our 21 projects plus we have new supporters. People really are special and as ever I am in awe of their generosity.

Training this week and next

 This week done

Monday – Sea 32 mins hard swim

Tuesday – Sea 32 mins hard swim plus 1 hr gym on core, plus 40 min run plus 1 hr speed(ish !) in pool on own

Wednesday – Sea 32 mins hard swim

Thursday – 3 hr pool plus will do some gym tonight at hom

Friday – 4 hr pool

Next week planned in diary

Monday – Pool 3 hr

Tuesday – Sea at least 30 mins, hopefully more if temp allows. Evening 1 hr run

Wednesday – Pool 5 hr

Thursday – Sea at least 30 mins.  Pool evening 1 hour speed

Friday – sea at least 30 mins.  Gym at home 1 hr evening.

Fiona's responce - GOOD BOY!!!!!! I approve, that's more like! x

At last a positive from my trainer!!

Day 230 - Wednesday 13th April 2011

After yesterdays somewhat negative start to the day I ended up on a better note; a pep talk and a more structured plan from Fiona certainly helped. After work I went to the Gym with Ross and did a 50 minute core workout (those abs are burning today), then I did a 40 minute uphill run, then I did an hour speed swimming. So all in all yesterday I did a 30 min sea swim, a 50 min gym, a 40 min run and a 60 min pool swim. What I need to do for the next 3 months is up my swimming time to include 2 x speed swims, which I can do in the sea, plus a 4 & 5 hour swim, which can be a mix of pool and sea dependent on temperature and sea conditions.

After yesterdays mammoth amounts, today is just a sea swim; also as I’m in London from 3pm until late it makes more exercise impossible. This morning I was already in a good frame of mind as we had uninterrupted sleep last night; after I put Jesse back into his own bed at 11.30pm we had no visitors at all until Jesse came back at 6.30am as I was leaving the house. Heading to the Arch at 7am, Bob, Shoichi and I did the same swim as yesterday; through the pier towards the marina for 20 minutes against the tide, then back to our beach with the tide in 12 minutes; total swim 32 minutes. It was a good power swim as you really can’t beat a swim against a moving tide, it really challenges you to push through it. The sea itself was very flat with the only waves being right at the shore. The temperature, however, had dropped since yesterday from 8.7 degrees down to 8.1 degrees, which certainly made it more challenging in the arms and feet. There was one oddity out there today; when we were about 15 minutes into the swim we could smell burning. It was really strong, almost like burning wood. Stopping for a minute to look around, all we could see was dry land or sea; is it possible we were swimming so fast that we caught fire!! Shoichi and Bob maybe, but me...... hardly!

Tomorrow I’m in the pool for a 4 hr morning swim, then Friday a 5 hr swim. As Fiona keeps telling me, I must do two of these a week whether I want to or not; and whilst it’s certainly a “not” vote, I will do them nevertheless. Only 3 months to go so I need to really knuckle down and get the pool hours in.

Swimming Day 229 – 12th April 2011

Still not feeling my best, which is most annoying. I can’t work out if it’s a physical thing or a mental thing as I am very bogged down at work at the moment and have some huge projects on the go and some major changes to put into place. Either way it is leaving me somewhat not at my best.

Last night I planned to use the gym and pool at home; planned an hour in each. As it turned out I ended up doing about 1½ in the gym and not using the pool; mind you I sweated enough to make me think I was in the pool – it was a hot one yesterday afternoon. This morning, whilst still bright outside, was actually quite a bit colder in the air; down from yesterday 18 degrees to around 9 degrees. The sea temperature averaged about 8.4 degrees, which is way better and heading in the right direction at last. I was down at the Arch before 7am and waited for the others to turn up; David, Bella, Little Bob, Mike and Martina were doing their things and I headed off at 7.15am with Big Bob, Shoichi and Damien for a longer swim than usual. Rather than head around the pier today, which I said I didn’t want to do as I wasn’t feeling up to a “deep” swim, we headed against the tide under the pier towards the marina. We swam fairly hard, although I was lagging behind today, and swam for around 20 minutes. Then swimming back to our beach with the tide the return journey took about 12 minutes; so I guess a 32 minutes swim. Certainly the longest sea swim this year. Shoichi is particularly fast, although both Damien and Bob are hardly slakers either! On a very good day I could keep up with Bob and Damien, but not Shoichi. I like to think that in a distance challenge I am the one who could keep going and going; I am certainly the only one out of us four who has done over 5 hours in the sea and over 6 hours in the pool; but in a day like today with my mind as it is I felt like the one who was struggling to just do the half an hour! Very frustrating. !

The long swim and my physical feeling meant it took me a while to warm up today; probably a good two hours if I’m honest. This afternoon I have a gym session with Ross at 4pm and was not going to do anything other than that. But I think it would do me more good to go to the pool first of all and maybe do a fast hour training session; the ones Fiona & Bob have been doing with me. The thought of hitting the pool again is not exactly exciting me, especially as it would mean leaving the office earlier than I had planned, but I think it would be a good idea both physically and mentally. As for work, well I always catch up well as I do work very fast and will end up working tonight when I get home into the wee hours probably.

Tonight Fiona is doing a Pier swim at 6pm with Big Mike and Tom; she suggested I join them. All three are crazy fast; Fiona and Tom both successful channel swimmers and Mike’s arms and legs are twice the length of mine. I would love to join them but I think that the fact that they will be hitting the shore just as I round the pier will not do my mind or ego much good.

Little Bob – Marathon in under 3.40 I think he said and Lindy in under 3.20 I think. Astonishing! Not to give any ages away, but Little Bob is out of his 50’s and Lindy, whilst looking like a very young lady is probably a couple of years older than me (sorry Lindy if I’m wrong!!!!). I certainly couldn’t do sub 3.30 in a marathon and I’m super fit at the moment and do a lot of running; what an amazing achievement.

Day 228 - Monday 11th April 2011

Not the best of starts today as I woke up with rather a bad headache. Not able to get up at 6.00am, let alone go swimming, which was a bummer as the weather certainly dictates a sea swimming day. No reason for the headache other than perhaps being over tired. Was at the office by 7.20am feeling much better, but annoyed that I didn’t go (that demon guilt again!). I’m office bound most of the day as I’ve only got one meeting at 3pm, so if that finishes early enough I’ll either head down to the beach for a half hour swim or to the gym; really don’t fancy the pool today. I will get a 5 hr swim in the pool this week, but think I’ll leave it until the end of the week, maybe Thursday, so I can get my head in the right place for it.

Aside from the ropy start this morning, the weekend was just glorious. The sun was out from early morning until late evening and we basically stayed at home the whole weekend. The kids were in the garden from 10am until after 7pm, we had various friends around the whole weekend, the new BBQ was up and running and life was/is good. The one downer for me, and boy did I feel so bad, was that Asher hurt his foot and I lifted him up to check it out and his arm pressed the side of the bbq. I’d stopped cooking about an hour before but it was still way too hot and the split second caused him two burns marks on his arm! He was amazing, hardly any fuss at all and they stopped hurting him within a minute (after plenty of aloa vera gel was applied of course). I felt (and still feel) awful about it! This morning he came running in our room to show me his burn marks and to put my mind at rest that they don’t hurt at all, not even that much!! Bless his heart. But I feel rotten that it happened; it’ll NEVER happen again, not on my shift I can tell you!

The rest of the week in terms of exercise will include 3 gym sessions (2 with Ross and 1 at home), 1 pool speed swim and 1 pool 5 hr swim and hopefully 5 sea swims (if I can squeeze Saturday or Sunday in). I did manage a sea swim this Saturday at 7am with Damien. Once around the pier in about 23 minutes. Temperature was up a little to 7.8 degrees, but the sea was choppier than the few previous days. Not crazy rough or anything, but choppy enough to bash you around a bit. A good swim though and nice way to start what turned out to be a glorious weekend.

On Sunday it was the Brighton marathon and we had some people running for the Trust – Tim Piatt & his girlfriend, Jane Baker, Nev and a friend and one other (sorry I am rubbish at names!). Five in total which was fantastic. Also my sister Tracey set up a Family Fun Day at Varndean school with bouncy castle, car boot sale, cake sales etc. A great success. I had to pop to Falmer for a short while to help with a certificate giving for the young swimmers who had achieved their goals; apparently I was the guest of honour! How weird is that.

So a happy week ahead to all and let’s hope that the sun keeps shinning.

Day 227 - Friday 8th April 2011

This morning was much like yesterday morning in terms of sea conditions, air temp and the swim we did. The only differences really was that the sea temp has risen again, from 7.3 degrees yesterday to 7.6 degrees today. Even a 0.3 rise is noticeable, amazingly, enough. Another slight difference today was that there was a diving boat at the end of the pier working on the pier struts. These boats really don't welcome us swimming around them and to be honest we feel the same about them, but the sea is not the preserve of them or us so we simply have to just accept that they are doing a job and are allowed to be there and we are lunatics and the asylum lets us out to swim. It was quite funny swimming passed them and seeing some of the faces looking at us as if we were slightly short of a few slices!!

Once again Bob and I swam hard, more so coming back, and we did the swim in under 21 minutes again. I think that we must have really exerted ourselves at the end because when we were standing on the beach afterwards we both, at exactly the same time, came over a little faint and found ourselves swaying a little and not being 100% of sound mind! It was probably a mixture of cold water, hard swimming and then going from the swimming motion to a standing motion. That I guess would be the most sensible reason. I doubt it could have been the bottle of wine Bob drunk late last night or the two rather large Jack Daniels I drank; surely not?

After work I have a gym session with Ross and he has already told me it’s going to be a hard one! I don’t know how much harder he can push me; my abs are still aching from Tuesdays session. This Sunday it is the Brighton marathon, the second one, and the town is buzzing with it. A few people have asked me why I’m not doing it considering how fit I’ve become – I shan’t put here in my blog my answers to those questioning why I don’t run a marathon as well, am I not doing enough already!

I would like to take this chance to send Little Bob and the lovely Lindy the very best in their run; both will absolutely complete the marathon easily enough as they are super fit – Little Bob gets his fitness from all the time running up and down the beach from the Arch to the waters “edge” and back each day!! Go for it both of you; Lindy lets see if you can break that 3 hr barrier!!!!

Day 226 - Thursday 7th April 2011

Brighton Pier Thursday 7th April 2011

I was meant to be back in the pool this morning for a 2 hour swim to start the day, but if you had seen what I had seen when looking out of my window this morning and looking straight at the sea then you would understand immediately why I ended up at the beach instead.

The sky was beautiful blue, the air temperature even at 7am was already in double figures and the sea was calmer than Mr Calms very calm mind. We so rarely get these days that I simply could not allow myself to miss it. So after our brief pleasantries with Little Bob, Mike, David, Sean, lovely Bella and Martina both Big Bob and I headed out into the ocean. The sea temperature was exactly the same as yesterday, 7.3 degrees, but the tide was almost non existent; a mill pond in the ocean. So to keep with old tradition we swam around the Pier anti clockwise and came back through under the danger sign and headed back to shore. As I need to consider this part of my training as well we made sure that we pushed ourselves and swam at speed. If you consider the total length of the swim from beach, then around the pier and back to beach and add in a chilling 7.3 degrees, then it’s a good effort to keep up the maximum speed throughout. The total swim was just under 21 minutes, which in any temperature is a decent swim.

As I need to keep the pressure up I’ll also use the gym tonight and will also grab a pool swim at home for an hour in the endless pool.

On the Trust side, I had another £1,000 pledge of sponsorship yesterday from a client which is just amazing. People’s generosity still amazes me and brings us ever closer to our target. We are officially a third of the way there now, so a lot still to do, but an amazing job done thus far I’m sure you’ll agree.

Day 225 - Wednesday 6th April 2011

Finally the sea is listening to me and starting to warm up. Sure at 7.3 degrees (this morning) it’s still very cold, but it’s warm enough to go around the Pier. Yep Big Bob and I are back in the room!!

I arrived at the Arch at 7am very much looking forward to my sea swim, but expecting just our usual 15 minute to pier and groin swim. Bob, however, had other ideas and suggested that maybe today was the day we could once again, after months off, swim around the Pier. You should have seen my face; Mike, who was standing next to me, immediately piped up with “well clearly Rob isn’t keen on that idea” – he was spot on!! However, not to be someone who shies away from a challenge I was first out the door and leading the march to the seas edge. Even at 7.3 degrees the sea felt iceberg cold, but in the two of us went. The air temperature was already around 9 degrees (apparently going up to 18 today!), the sky was a beautiful light blue, the sun was halfway up it’s pole and the sea conditions were a low tide, 85% flat and an Eastern pull. Within a minute of walking in we were swimming towards the helter skelter and heading under the pier; going through under the Danger Sign (interesting sign to read that far out) and around the Pier head clockwise. Going under and to the head was quick as the tide was easterly, but coming back around was harder work as we were then swimming against it to the west. Coming around and heading back in Bob and I stayed together the entire swim. It was a decent pace the whole way, neither of us going crazy but neither holding back and we reached the shore some 23 minutes after setting off. Flipping fantastic!! To be able to do a decent swim in the sea rather than the pool is like the best Christmas present ever. I now need the sea to continue to keep the temperature rising and then the pool can be a once a week job and the sea a five times a week job.

Reading back over my blog I found 29th April 2010, being my 4th ever day in the sea and the day I first swam around the pier. On that day I reported it was under 7 degrees and it was an incredible milestone. To think that under a year later I can swim around the Pier without it being a physical exertion on me and I can keep up with Bob the whole way is astonishing for me.

The next 3 months are going to be hard graft, but the end result will be fantastic with me not only completing my Channel Swim, but more importantly having completed a fantastic journey and becoming a swimmer along the way; in fact not just a swimmer, but actually someone who will now never stop swimming.

Life is good and a big thanks to my friend Big Bob as without him I would not be where I am today with my swimming and I certainly would have wimped out on the pier swim today!!.

Swimming Day 224 – 5th April 2011

Charity news – Some new fantastic charity fundraisers hit my desk the last couple of days.

1) A lovely lady called Jill (sister of our friend Vinny Shepherd) is having a birthday party and is expecting about 90 people. She is asking for donations instead of presents and all to come to the Starr Trust. What a fantastic thing for her to do.

2) Chobham Rugby – Mike at Chobham Rugby in Surrey has been holding a collection for the Trust from his members. They have raised around £1,200. Amazing. Even more amazing is that one of their supporters has agreed to pound match it! That makes an amazing £2,400.

3) Chobham Rugby – Again from Chobham yet more support. Two of their members (details to follow) are organising a bike ride from Chobham in Surrey down here to Brighton. All sponsorship to be given to the Trust.

4) Dorothy Stringer School - I had a call from Stuart, a teacher at Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton (my old school as it happens). Stuart explained that during the first couple of weeks of July there is an event in Brighton called “Take Part”, which is aimed at encouraging all children and adults in Take Part in Sport. With this in mind Dorothy Stringer School has registered a 21 Hour pool event, starting at 1am on 4th July for 21 hours. It will be swimming, water polo, kayaking etc – the aim is that someone will always be in the pool for the 21 hours. I have naturally agreed to fill some gaps in the night shift as have some of the teachers; perhaps I’ll even be able to encourage some at Brighton Swimming Club members to join in as well (what about it Little Bob & Lindy??) The wonderful thing is that any money DS School raise will be donated to the Starr Trust Swim4Smiles challenge! How fantastic. An amazing thing for them to do, especially as it’s such a big event for them to have to organise.

The £100,000 target we have set ourselves, which is a daunting figure to raise in the best of times let alone without being in the middle of the biggest world recession, is actually starting to look doable at last. We’ve still such a long way to go, but these amazing 4 pledges of support really will make such a huge difference.

Back to today and my training; which is of course four times more important now thanks to the above pledges! Having had an Ok nights sleep (only 2 visits – it’s getting better) I was at the pool in Falmer by 7am and was in the outside pool until just after 9.00am. I was going to do a 3 hour swim, but only managed 2 hours. The brain was not at it’s optimum today and coupled with that was the fact that it was blowing a gail (not the Tilsley variety) and it was raining. Two Hours of rain and wind hitting you is plenty enough first thing in the morning! This afternoon I’m back at the Gym at 4pm for an hour with Ross on weights and then another hour in the pool (maybe the inside one if the rain persists); so that will be two swims and a gym today, which is enough for a grey haired 41 year old father of three babies!!

Tomorrow I’m in London on meetings so no pool time available, so back to the sea for my morning dip with my buddies; already looking forward to it. Funny how the damp and battered Arch at the beach is so much more inviting that the warm, dry and well kitted out changing rooms at the gym!!

Swimming Day 223 – 4th April 2011

With only about 100 days until the channel swim the mind is getting focused! Not that it hasn’t been of course, but as soon as you start counting in days then the mind really starts to focus. The actual date is still not known, but I’ve been told by Reg (my Pilot) its likely to be sometime between 7th - 14th July.

This morning I started at 7.45am with a visit to Kim my physio. It’s been ages since I saw her last so I thought some preventative treatment would be sensible. She said all seemed good and apart from the usual knots there were no problems. She did say I was tight in my back between my shoulders, but I already knew that, as I been aching a bit, but all in all alls ok.

After work I did a 30 min swim in my endless pool at home. I used to use it a couple of years ago before I really started swimming and always enjoyed the temperature, but now Toooooooo HOT! It was 37 degrees (whirl pool temperature) and I couldn’t breath. I did just short of 30 mins but afterwards was drained of all energy, completely drained! Saying that, instead of then taking the opportunity of sitting down in an empty house and recovering, I hoovered the house, folded up the kids clothes and did the big bucket of ironing – somehow and somewhere I have completely lost the skill of relaxing. The pool is now set to it’s lowest temperature, being 24 degrees, which whilst sill warm is actually totally swimmable for an hour.

Day 222 - Friday 1st April 2011

Oh what joy, seriously, no sarcasm needed.

The sea can be described today as follows;

• Rough with large rolling waves, but not dangerous if one is experienced.
• Strong tidal pull to the East, but not so strong that one could not swim hard to the West
• Cold, but at 7.5 degrees not freezing
• Fun

This morning swim was hard work in terms of exercise, certainly the 25 minutes we did in the sea was at the very least twice as physical as the hour I was going to do in the pool. We went in mid beach and swam until we had gone passed the groin (donut side) to the beach on the other side and then let the tide take us back to mid beach. We then carried on swimming for at least another 10-15 minutes; through the waves, under them, over them and through them. The temperature meant we could stay in for a decent amount of time; in fact if we had wanted to, and if we were foolish enough to not be scared, we could have gone around the pier. Crazy Leo, the bravest of us all, did go around the pier, but to be honest I was there to exercise and enjoy, not to be scared or in danger.

A great start to the Friday. The rest of the day will be somewhat long I feel as I now have meetings at work from 8.45 until midday and then off to Gatwick for a meeting at 1pm with someone before he flies on holiday, then a 4 hour drive to Birmingham and overnight stay for an early Saturday morning meeting. Having the sea to start the day though certainly made 1st April a good start to the month.