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.