Seemed appropriate for the weather of the day!!!

There’s a saying that goes along the lines of ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choices!’ I suspect some who were training would challenge that statement this weekend!

Your pod leaders generally make good clothing choices so that we can stay out on the beach in any conditions. In our Saturday briefing, this was the outfit that seemed to fit the weather forecast for they day as demonstrated by Mandi!!

It didn’t stop some impressive swims though. The Class of 2021 continues to be impressive.

The Class of 2021 is the latest in a long line of classes. Unfortunately, we lost one of our own in the last week. Cathie Colwill lost her battle with cancer. Cathie swam the channel in 2010 and has since completed many impressive swims around the world. She was loved by many and taken too soon. Pam & Catherine took some flowers into the water in memory of Cathie this weekend and swimmers all over had a little dip in memory of Cathie.

Your pod leaders’ observations

Our training plans for each weekend take some thought and planning. Our aim is to get your to your chosen event fit and healthy and to work with the weather to do that.

That’s why you won’t find a decent book that lays out a 12 week approach to training for a channel swim like you would for a 5km, 10km or marathon run.

We continually reassess the plan based on a number of factors including your attendance, how you’re coping, what the water temperature is and what the weather forecast is.

For those with early swims or who are planning longer or colder swims, it can be a much quicker ramp up. In all cases we aim to fulfil multiple aims:

Give you opportunities to complete any qualifying swims
Follow a cyclical training plan with periods of building up and also recovery weeks
Complete a short taper
Minimise risk of overtraining and associated illness & injury

We’ll encourage you to do more when we think it’s in your best interest. Equally, if we think that less will actually prove beneficial we’ll aim to hold you back. You can trust us to make the judgement on what is right for you. Just know that we’ll never ask you to do more than we believe you’re capable of or that is beneficial.

This is far easier to do with those people who are with us each weekend. If you’re an occasional visitor, it is more difficult which is why you’ll often hear us ask you what you’ve already done and we’ll aim to work within the training programme that you have crafted if we think it’s safe & sensible.

This year has started colder than ‘average’. It does generally catch up though. We’ve also had more than ‘average’ grotty days of wind & rain. This is all great training. When the warmer, dryer and sunnier days do come, I’m sure you’ll appreciate them all the more.

And relax……

For many swimmers, this weekend was a recovery weekend. This time we held the previous week’s durations. For some we still pushed on a bit more as your training plan is more condensed with earlier dates or we’re making the most of the colder water whilst it’s here for your colder swims later in the season.

For a few intrepid swimmers, it was time to knock off some qualifying swims. Well done to Katherine Chapman (North Channel qualifier completed); Sarah Hempenstall (English Channel qualifier completed); and Nick Murch (no actual need, just a 6 hour swim to support others).

In true DCT style, and despite the rain, the six hour swimmers were greeted at the end of their swim with an arch of honour. Our roving reporter, Deborah, shared the video footage on our Facebook Group.

Melanie Holland also completed an impressive 5 hour swim and Annie Maggs did two three hour swims.

Teamwork award has to go to our visitors from up north. Beth Murphy completed her target of 2.5 hours on Sunday in challenging conditions and the team of Ally, Sarah & Jane who, without being asked, set to helping her get dry and changed. Seamless teamwork. Ally is much accustomed to helping swimmers and was a great help on the beach with others also. Sarah & Jane had also swum and were on hand to support their team mate. It was fabulous to watch.

Some victories, like these bigger swims, are very obvious and play out in front of everyone. There were also personal victories too. You know who you are. Whether that’s doing the same as last week, in the same temperature, but recovering quicker or breaking a previously hard to beat milestone, I witnessed quite a few personal victories. Well done to you.

Persistence, resilience and team work were the order of the weekend. Well done to everyone who supported someone else either in the water or from the shore and to those who accepted the help. Giving and receiving help makes us all stronger. One story that I heard from the weekend was of a swimmer who stayed in a bit longer in order to help someone else. The swimmer being helped was very grateful because they achieved what they needed to, but didn’t think they could. What they may not have realised is that by accepting help, they were also helping the other swimmer to be distracted from their own challenges and so really, you helped each other.

Swim stats

Note: Water temperature taken during the swim session in the harbour. Air temperature, wind direction & wind speed taken from the Port of Dover app.

Saturday:

Swimmers: 46
Water temperature: 11.5C (12C by ferry wall)
Air temperature: 10.5C
Conditions: Dry to start, a lot of rain later! Lumpy at ferry wall at the start. Generally choppy. F3 SSW.

Sunday:

Swimmers: 35
Water temperature: 11.7C
Air temperature: 10.2C
Conditions: Partly cloudy to start, choppy by ferry wall. Swell throughout the harbour. Chilly breeze. F5 (gusting 6) SW.

Start time

There’s definitely more practice required with croc throwing!

Volunteers & beach crew

Thank you to the pod leaders and to our volunteers. Jennifer was on the rota for Sunday and thank you to everyone who helped out on both days. Jennifer had a very busy day with 5 dips counted in the end. Some to support swim with swimmers who needed a buddy.

Mel has received her coveted DCT volunteer badge for sessions done both this season and last year.

Reminders

Remember to book your sessions online. Bookings close 24 hours before the session.

The system doesn’t arrange automatic refunds, so please message me if you cancel ahead of these deadlines and I’ll arrange a refund.

You don’t need to sign into the website to book a session - just pop your email address in to the booking system and it will remember you. Remember to click into the discount code box if you are a subscriber and it will auto complete your discount code. If you are a pay as you go swimmer and are also a member, remember to use your discount code to get your membership price.

Please remember to give your number in when you get out, when you get back in for a second swim and when you feed. This is arguably our most important safety process. Please be patient too, we can only process one person at a time!

Remember to give your band in at the end, it is a back up check for us, as are all crocs being claimed. We’re thinking there may need to be Mandi minutes for repeat offenders - you have been warned! We now have a visible reminder in the form of the band boards - created by Jon - weren’t they awesome!

Collect any shop purchases from Emma, this includes the personalised hats which have now arrived.

Remember to cancel any subscriptions when you no longer need them.

Pod Ponderings: Bar Stools

We saw a few ‘Bar stool’ issues this weekend. No, I don’t mean people with hangovers or drunk. I mean mental bar stools or demons.

Picture this. Imagine that you’re going to the bar and something gets between you and the bar …… A BAR STOOL. You can’t get to the bar to order your favourite tipple because this darn bar stool is right there in front of you, blocking your progress. What do you do? Do you give up and turn round, without your drinks? Of course not. Without even really thinking about it, you would move the bar stool out of the way and place your order.

The demons in your head that tell you that you can’t do what you need to do in the water are just like bar stools. It may be something that you’re trying for the first time or at a new temperature or in new weather conditions. It may be something that you’ve done many times before, but something, and you may not even be sure what, stops you in your tracks on this particular day. What do you do? Give up? Get out? Fill your goggles up from the inside?

If this happens to you, stop a moment and take a close look. Do you need to get out? Have you really forgotten how to swim? Or is this simply a bar stool that needs to be carefully picked up and moved to one side so that you can carry on along your way? Maybe you have your hands full and could do with some help from your swim buddy of the day or anyone in the group - we’re all in this together after all. Once you start to move bar stools, you’ll be amazed at how easy it can be. ‘Ha, I see you bar stool, out of my way!’

Now consider this, if you are in a bar and something gets in your way, it MUST mean that you are moving forwards. If you are stationary, nothing can actually get in your way because you’re not moving. So if you find yourself confronted by a barstool or two, smile and realise that you are making progress. You are moving forwards. This bar stool is only in your way because you are making progress.

Demons and bar stools can be moved and these moments pass. Break it down to as small a chunk as you need. You’ll often hear us talk about swimming from feed to feed. Sometimes thinking about the whole swim, be that the big day or a training swim, can be too much, so break it into chunks. Let me share a couple of stories from my training history.

To the wall and back

In my first year of training I struggled, a lot. I could never seem to do what I needed to. I felt pretty overwhelmed by the whole experience. I remember being asked to do 4 hours on the Saturday and, ta-da, I actually managed to do it. Yes, I had finally cracked it. I came back on the Sunday confident that I could finally get back on track. However, demons can be pesky things and I just wasn’t feeling it. I tried to search my mind for a reason why I needed to get out. “Are you cold?” Actually, no, I’m not cold. “Are you injured?” No, surprisingly, nothing actually hurts. “Do you need to be somewhere urgently?” No, I have no plans for the rest of the day, nothing important anyway. After all, I had planned to be here. “What is it then?” I just don’t want to be here. So, at 1hr 45mins I swam to the beach to get out. “What’s up?” asks the beach crew. “Nothing, I just can’t do this today.” “Swim to the wall and back and come back to see me again.” They then walked off. Right, ok. So that’s not how I had it in my head.

Now this was before we had a swim zone and before the new marina was built. As you look out to sea from the beach and look to the right, there was a wall that we used to be able to swim to that is beyond the wall that you see today. For convenience, think of it as being asked to swim to the buoy and back.

“Well, I guess I can do that.” I thought to myself. “I’ll do that, and then I’ll get out.”

So, I swam to the wall and back and a different member of the beach crew was there and they thrust a feed in my hand and I took it drank it and swam on, slightly bemused by what just happened. I’ll get out next time. Same thing, feed thrust in hand, I drank it and swam on. Actually now I only have one more feed to go, I can probably do that. So, I swam my usual hour circuit, came in took the feed on offer and swam on.

At five hours I got out, having completed the target that felt impossible a few hours before. It was broken down into one feed at a time. I could always do just one more feed.

I thought I was alone with my struggles that day. I wasn’t. I later found out that others also struggled. Some got out early. What was the difference between me and them on that day? Not a lot. They were the better swimmers, I simply managed to break it down into chunks that my head could handle.

Twenty strokes

Fast forward many years and there was another bad training day that I remember. It was a struggle from the get go. There are some day when my head gets in the way so much that I almost seem to forget how to swim. This was one of those days. In that year, Julian (aka number 1) was my swim buddy. I must have known I was having a bad day as I avoided going in at the same time so that I could swim alone instead. Sure enough the demons hit. I had an almighty bar stool in front of me that I couldn’t shift. I remember being near the ferry wall and simply bobbing wondering how on earth I’d get back to the beach as I seemed to have forgotten how to swim. Doggie paddle wasn’t going to cut it against the strength of the tide on that day. Whilst pondering what to do I saw Julian. “Oh no, quick hide” but where on earth could I hide in the middle of the water. “Duck” he won’t see you. Don’t be daft, how long do you think I can hold my breath?!! And sure enough, Julian spotted me.

“Swim with me.” He instructed. “I can’t, my head’s not in it, I’m going to get out, you go on.” “Come on”, said Julian cheerfully, “let’s just do 20 strokes". “OK, I guess I can do that”. So 20 strokes and I stopped again. “OK” said Julian. “Let’s do 20 more.” I did 20 and stopped again. This gentle encouragement continued. 20 strokes, then 50, then let’s get to the next pole. Let’s get to the beach. Have a feed, pole to pole, buoy to buoy and eventually feed to feed.

Why am I sharing this? I thought I was all alone with my demons. I wasn’t. We saw some of these demons and bar stools in play this weekend. If you experienced them, you were not alone. If you experience demons, recognise them for what they are and break it down to a manageable chunk. Ask for help from another swimmer or a member of the beach crew. You may find that there’s someone on the beach who’d love to get in the water so you may be doing them a favour too.

Write down what happened, how you got over it. Learn from it. Move on. You’ve got this.

If you had a great swim, and we saw those too, remember everything about it. What you saw, what you heard, how it felt. Pop this in your memory jar and if you have a bad day, reach into that jar and take a look, remind yourself of all the things that you’re already capable of.

Next week

Training is as normal next week. We also have an optional extra short night swim. We’ll get in the water at 10pm on Saturday night, so please arrive early enough to get ready and attend the safety briefing at which we’ll explain the altered course available and the mandatory checking in process. Each swimmer must wear two green guardian lights. The buoys will be lit up with white and red lights. Our DCT inflatable buoys will be on the water also lit up. The kayak will be on the water and lit.

You can book using the button below. Lights can be purchased from the shop.

Photos

A few photos from the weekend….

Spotlight in the shop

There are a few ways to stop your goggles steaming up:

Lick them, dunk them in the sea, put them on and leave them
Clean them with baby shampoo and then thoroughly rinse
Foggies. These are tiny anti-fog wipes that last ages if you carefully wrap them back up again in an airtight container.

Why is this my spotlight this week? Well because my goggles fogged up when I swam on Sunday and it reminded me to sort it out. I’ll be using foggies!

They’re useful to have as part of your relay or solo swim day kit too, so that any goggle issues can be quickly resolved on the day.

They are also part of some of our bundles.

Week 4: There's no such thing as bad weather........