Swimming Day 257 – Saturday 21st May 2011

Old Red Eyes is back!!

Saturday morning and an early start. I was up just before 5am, leaving Jesse and Sharon asleep in our bed (or I should say Jesse’s bed as he seems to take up all the room) and I crept down the stairs as quietly as I could so not to disturb Asher or Mia. My bag was already packed by the front door with my clothes for after my swim and my wetsuit was waiting patiently by ready to assume its position as my fake skin. In the car by 5.05am, wetsuit on up to my waist and bag on seat next to me and at the Arch by 5.10am (roads completely empty at that time), makes me realise how lucky I am to live so close to the beach. I drove my car right down to the Arch entrance, quickly dumped my bag on the bench for later and hoped back in the car and drove to my in-laws house; right by the Hove Lagoon. Having parked in their drive and left the key in their porch I did a quick 10 minute walk down the street, over the road, down to the beach and was standing in the sea by 5.30am all ready for the task ahead. The only problem was that I was sure I had forgotten something!

It wasn’t food as I had eaten some fruit in the car on the way down (best I could do at 5am!), it wasn’t the wetsuit as that was firmly wrapped around me and it wasn’t my Arch key as that was secured tightly in the wetsuit. Then it struck me like a thunderbolt! I’d forgotten my bloomin swimming cap and goggles! That was a serious error as I had intended to try to swim from the lagoon all the way down to the marina (around 8k) and then back to the pier; no way I could do that with no goggles or hat! But the only option was to walk the 10 minutes back to the car, then drive the 5k back to the Arch, grab them from my bag and head back to the lagoon! I thought about it for about 30 seconds and then realised that as soon as I got back in my car I would end up going home! Also I knew that Leo, Tom, Damieb=n and Angus were planning on a lagoon to pier swim at 7am and I wanted to be done and finished before they got there as I really needed to do this as a solo and not be pressured into the whole "I've got to keep up" thing I do to myself. So nothing else I could do but head out to sea and just take it as it comes.

Luckily the sea was fairly calm, the tide was heading East (to the marina) and I felt happy to be there. The swimming itself was a tad uncomfortable in so much that each time I put my head into the water the sea really slapped coldness into me; it proved to me completely how much warmth one gets from a swimming cap. Then there is the salt; plenty of it in the sea for sure. So I ended up swimming with eyes getting redder by the minute and my neck aching from having to swim with my head so high. All that aside there was a positive to this. To be able to look at the coastline and the birds and the sky and the clouds without goggles on was really amazing; first time I have really been able to do that; goggles definitly dull your senses.

I kept really close to the shore for the whole swim as it was a long way and I was on my own; I was never more than half a dozen strokes to standing; apart from when I swam around the West Pier of course. Being on my own in the sea and being under no pressure to do it in a certain time or to catch someone up or even to complete the swim for that matter actually made me really relaxed. I just plodded along (probably not going to slow truth be told) and apart from the sore eyes and cold head I really enjoyed it. I got to the west pier in about 1hr 30 mins, I got to the Palace pier in about another 25 minutes and then got to the marina wall in about another 45 minutes; so probably around 3 hrs the whole swim. When I got to the marina I actually felt mentally and physically strong enough to turn around and swim back against the tide to the palace pier; unfortunately the eyes at this point were already too sore to swim back, especially against the tide with waves hitting them. The sea temperature was a decent 14 degrees and for most of my swim (up to the palace pier at least) the sun was shinning and the air was warm. It did get cloudy and choppy when I heading to the marina, but it wasn’t too bad. Having touched the marina wall I swam back to the adjacent beach and basically jogged all the way back along the shore (which was mostly just sand) to the Arch; about 1 ½ miles I would think. Back at the arch after a quick shower and dress and a little chat with Evo, Paul and David, I grabbed my bad and power walked the 5K back to my car.

So a circa 8k swim, a 2k jog and a 5k power walk; and all on a Saturday morning between 5.30am – 9.00am. This week I have swum 6 days and used the gym 3 times, so a very decent effort. I think that deserves the rest of the day off.

Some hope! The rest of the day was spent with the kids being a right royal pain in the …… and Sharon and I in garden centres with them and then digging up a million weeds in the garden. No rest for the wicked. Tomorrow however the wicked will not swim or gym; Sunday is after all the day of rest is it not!!