11 weeks to go - Dover training has started

Had a good week in the pool (approx 16k) and then this weekend went down to Dover to start acclimatisation and sea swimming.

Sat 1 May 2010

There were about 113 swimmers who turned up for the first day of Dover training. Given it was a bank holiday weekend the weather was holding out - it was mostly overcast but the sun popped out every now and then to remind us it is almost summer. We did 2 swims on Saturday a short swim of about 23 mins and a longer one of about 38 mins. It was a nice day and although the water, at 9 degrees, was about 1 degree colder than the same time the year before it was a fun swim. I travelled down with Don and his wife, Helen. Helen has been videoing the proceedings and is promising to keep a video of the whole season which I am looking forward to seeing sometime in the future. Got back home around 4pm after a KFC and had a lazy evening before getting ready for day 2.

Sun 2 May 2010

The second day of training involved the same 2 swims - the only difference being the weather. It was absolutely chucking it down and it was really difficult to get warm after the swims as no sooner had you put on your dry clothes they were wet. The swims were fine, the water temperature was the same - it was just the apres swim that was not so much fun (although I did have a very nice fry up between swims). We didn't hang around much after the second swim and headed back home and I was back by 3pm. A nice warm bath and a lazy day to follow.