DCT Week 19 - another one joins the club 👏👏
Quieter weekends yet we’re still knocking out impressive swims
On Saturday this weekend I was away supporting SwimQuest on a Cassie Patten swim coaching session. We had plenty of beach crew though (more beach crew than swimmers at times!). What did I miss? I missed Paul Cross knock out an impressive 6 hour swim. I missed Heather chatting almost as long as swimming! I missed Hayley causing Paul to get 5 Mandi minutes. I also missed seeing John Southey return victorious after another channel solo.
Saturday also saw two protests in Dover and what seemed to be most of Kent police. This was mostly focused on the A20, fortunately.
Sunday saw shorter swims, with a maximum of 4 hours.
We also saw goings on in the harbour that we really didn’t want to see. Later in the afternoon a rib launched from the slipway and proceeded to move around the swim zone at speed, not really in control of his boat. At one point he was moving at speed inside the posts and towards a couple of swimmers. I whistled loudly and managed to get the attention of both swimmers and boat, thankfully. Unfortunately, he then went back to whizzing around, unable to see swimmers from the position he was seated in. I called port control and they sent the launch out to have words.
Slightly more amusing was the boat that broke down in the harbour which was towed most of the way to the slipway by the launch but then needed help in the shallows. Paul managed to tow him in with his kayak. Well done, Paul.
DOVER SWIMS
Saturday:
Swimmers: 5
Water temperature: 18.1C
Air temperature: 16.9C
Conditions: Force 3-4 NW. Sunny, cloudless blue sky with the sun sparkling on the water.
Sunday:
Swimmers: 7 (over 3 start times)
Water temperature: 17.9C
Air temperature: 19.4C
Conditions: F3-4 SW. Partly cloudy.
Quick facts:
We had 8 swimmers join the long swims
No swimmers swam both days
Well done to Paul who swam 6 hours (and 5 minutes) on Saturday and to Josh, Kristen David who swam 4 hours on Saturday or Sunday
Whilst we had no new swimmers with the group this weekend, we did chat with some visiting swimmers looking for advice.
CHANNEL SWIMMER ON THE BEACH
We had more enjoyed a couple of days of this week with:
14 new soloists
7 new relay teams
Of special note we saw:
Jon Southey (beach crew extraordinaire) complete his second solo in a time of 14:38:40, which was just 20 seconds faster than his first crossing. That’s impressive consistency!! It was lovely to see him back on the beach as if nothing had happened!
Vera Rivard (14:10), just sixteen years old, but with a wise and mature head on her. Watch out for her younger sister, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this lovely family.
Craig Kerr (15:02) who had been predominantly using our remote training support option.
Melanie Tyrell (14:44) who has completely owned this season, despite setbacks. She had been due to swim from Jersey to France but COVID-19 complications led to a delay in paperwork and by the time that had been resolved, the weather wouldn’t co-operation. Rather than become despondent, Mel decided to bring forward her 2021 channel solo and put her training to good use. Well done, Mel. That’s impressive resilience.
Big Rick’s Chicks including DCT favourite Melanie Holland for their world first ladies medley relay team swim.
Three more Aspire teams
Well done one and all, you are all legends.
Of course, not everyone gets across. It’s a tough swim and things can happen outside of your control. If the swim didn’t go as you planned, learn what there is to learn and move on. If you need help unpicking it all or planning ahead, please get in touch.
OTHER GOINGS ON
Whilst we were waiting for the session to start on Sunday morning, we noticed a pigeon who looked a class above the rest. It had shimmery / glittery feathers around the neck and far more beautiful markings on the body. Upon closer inspection it was a racing pigeon who I’m sure someone is patiently waiting for. We couldn’t get close enough to catch it in order to reunite it with its owner. I hope it finds its way home soon.
BEACH EYE VIEW
This weekend seemed to mostly about head space for those who swam and visited the beach. Some of our regulars were testing themselves again after COVID-19 forced them to change their plans. Whilst others are playing the waiting / tapering game and taking their place on the Dovercoaster.
Bring it all together and what does that show? The beach crew saw the power of the community and the positive impact of being a team.
VOLUNTEERS
Thank you to Paul, Mandi, Donna, Hayley and Richard for helping out this weekend.
If you’d like to sign-up to volunteer, please use this link and select volunteer rota. There are a number of ways that you can help and full training & PPE is provided. There are just a couple of weekends left, so a low pressure way to learn how things work in advance of next season as next year we will be particularly reliant on volunteers to join us as some / all of our 2020 regular volunteers will also be training.
REMINDER - BADGE WEEKEND
Because of the need to minimise large groups at this time due to COVID-19 restrictions, we can’t hold our traditional end of season BBQ and that is a shame. So what can we do? Well, we thought that if you still wanted to achieve something this year and your other plans had been postponed, then why not get yourself a badge on our last weekend of the year.
Chances are that the water will be too warm for a qualifying swim, but you could still do a back to back 7 & 6, after all, don’t they say ‘Go big or go home!’? What a way to end the season.
So if you’re tempted, book in to the sessions in the normal way. You’ll only be able to select 6 hours, but don’t worry, there will be 7 hour options for anyone who wants them on the Saturday. Badges will be available at £4 each to those who complete a 7 & 6 on the same weekend.
Come on, you know you want to….
The first of the bookings are in. Limited spaces available, so don’t delay, book today!
Book your session here. Choose Dover weekend training sessions. I have now released all sessions for the remainder of the season.
EMMA’S CORNER - GROUP EFFECT
The psychological model of endurance performance explains that any factor that reduces the amount of effort that an athlete perceives at a given level of exercise intensity will enhance performance. There are all sorts of factors that can lead to this including certain social dynamics, including what psychologists call behavioural synchrony. When people work together, their brains release more endorphins than they do when the same task is undertaken alone.
According to the book ‘ How bad do you want it’ by Matt Fitzgerald, this was shown in a 2009 study involving collegiate rowers that was conducted at Oxford University. Twelve male athletes were subjected to a test of pain sensitivity on two occasions, once after rowing for 45 minutes alone and again after rowing for 45 minus in synchronisation with other rowers. The subjects proved to be significantly less sensitive to pain after rowing as a group, probably as a result of greater endorphin release.
Why is this relevant to us? Well, despite channel solos (and other solo swims) are solo events, they really are team events and we can harness this group effect.
Dover training harnesses all the advantages of a group approach whilst maintaining the importance of the individual. I have seen countless examples of when people have worked together to achieve something that one person on their own could not achieve. We normalise what the general population could not even contemplate. We help each other out on days that are challenging. Even on the big day itself, you choose your crew and your pilot and they too make it a group event.
You can also supplement this with sports performance hypnosis to reduce the perceived level of effort (yes really). Using self-hypnosis you can turn down the dial of effort without actually changing the effort, simply your perception of it. Curious? Contact me to find out more!
PHOTOS
A few photos from this weekend.
