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.