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.