Week 5 - Go big or go home
Weekly Review
NB Please scroll to the bottom for a selection of the photos taken
This season is currently much warmer than average. That’s a real blessing for those with early swims. Right now it’s also a challenge. For anyone who hadn’t yet completed their qualifying swim, time was definitely ticking. Would this be the last weekend? Based on the increase in temperature over the first 4 weeks it might well have been. However, the wind direction has brought cooler temperatures and the water temperature also held for a week.
All being well we’ll have another week (maybe two) of qualifying temperatures.
However, that didn’t stop lots of you making the most of the chance and go big this weekend.
For soloists, that means you now have a recovery week to look forward to - an extra incentive when the going gets tough.
It may sound easy, it wasn’t. The forecast suggested that whilst there maybe a strong breeze, the forecast wind direction should have provided some shelter. However, forecasts aren’t always accurate!! Saturday was pretty challenging at times. It was choppy, with scatterings of white water in the harbour at times. The sun was also hiding much of the time.
So well done to everyone who stuck with it - you really were impressive and remain a force to be reckoned with.
Shout outs
Congratulations to:
Adele, Halani & Piers for your back to back 7 & 6 hour swim
Nicolie for your back to back 6 hour swims
Jill, Jon & Zoe for your 7 hour swims
Hayley, Helen, Anita, Drew & Tony for your 6 hour swims
Billie, John, Julie, Nina, Patrick, Charles, Rachel & Barney for you relay qualifiers
Learnings
Practice the process
What we aim to do is help you practice the process that you’ll use on the big day.
As standard we can offer 100% maltodextrin, UCAN, water, sugar free squash or tea as your feed. If you want to try something else (e.g. tailwind), please bring it along with any instructions and we’ll gladly feed it to you. We could write a book with all the concoctions that have been brought along over the years!
We don’t offer treats on every feed. This is for the same reason. On the big day, treats will slow you down and could add hours (yes hours) to your swim and not minutes.
We will provide treats once in a while and that makes sense on the big day too - it can give a nice psychological lift. It’s also advisable if you’re going to have an ibuprofen. So, if there is something random that you want to test drive in training, feel free to bring it along. We will encourage you to make it just once or twice in a long swim rather than every feed. We are simply helping you practice the optimal process for the big day.
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: 37
Water temperature: 14.3C
Air temperature: 12.6C
Conditions: F4 NE. Choppy. Patchy clouds, wind direction changed making it very choppy at times with a real wind chill.
Sunday:
Swimmers: 26
Water temperature: 14.4C
Air temperature: 11.4C
Conditions: F3 gusting F4 N. Swell. Grey clouds.
Volunteers & beach crew
Thank you to everyone who helped out this weekend - either a little or a lot. Thank you to Mandi, Paul, Andrew and Nicola and for everyone else who rolled their trousers up and helped out.
If you have appreciated the support that you’ve received in the past, why not come along and volunteer for a session or more. Whilst we’ll accept any help on the day, it is really helpful to know that we have support.
Our group is only sustainable at current pricing with your support.
If you want to join the fun, why not pick a date and join the fun on the beach!
The adventures of Dover Dave
Dave continues to live his best life! He had a fantastic week with Jill and all her connections. This week he’s will Adele, I wonder if he’ll come back with a northern accent?
If you’d like to host Dave for a week, please let us know on the beach. We’d love to see a photo diary of Dave’s summer in our Facebook Group.
Paddlefish Ponderings - Athlete vs Participant
“The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”
Athletes enjoy more success
My observation is that people who adopt the mindset of an athlete rather than a participant tend to enjoy more success.
Each summer we see swimmers who:
persistently get out early in training
only do some weekends
repeatedly waste back to back opportunities by getting out early on the second day, perversely risking over training rather than under-training as we need to repeat the session
who try to juggle multiple social engagements
We also see swimmers who:
prioritise their training and recovery
who seek to learn as much as they can
who do all is asked of them and do it with a positive attitude
who understand that growth happens outside of the comfort zone
Can you guess which group enjoys more success?
One is the attitude of a participant, the other an athlete.
Let’s take a closer look.
Athletes
An athlete does what it takes
An athlete is continually looking for ways they they can maximise their chances of achieving their goal. They do what it takes rather than just what they want to doMake sport their priority
Many of us juggle multiple priorities at any one time. An athlete not only wants to achieve but is prepared to make the things that will make a difference a priority over other life challenges.Make choices & some sacrifices
We can do many things and not everything. Trying to balance everything leads to compromises in everything. Athletes will assess all they are juggling and make choices & some sacrifices in order to be successful in their goal.Make decisions based on their development
There are many aspects to a successful channel swim and various foundations that need to be in place. An athlete will know where they need to focus their efforts at any time in order to maximise their chances of success.Take opportunities that are available
An athlete will take any opportunity that presents itself that is likely to increase their chances of success. In areas that are currently weak, they will seek out opportunities that will address that weakness.Listens to their coach
An athlete sees feedback as a gift and actively seeks it out. They listen to their coach / mentor or other trusted advisors in order to improve and maximise their chances of success.Train well every session
An athlete sees each training session as a way to be the best that they can be. Each training session has a purpose and is approached with intent. An athlete reflects on a session to see how they did and if there is anything that could be changed for next time.Ask questions
An athlete asks questions, lots of them! They have a thirst for knowledge so that they can prepare in the best possible way.Look to maximise their talent
We all have unique strengths & weaknesses. An athlete seeks to exploit their strength and develop in areas where they are less strong to minimise the risk of failing their target.
Participants
Like to be comfortable
A participant will do something if it is in their comfort zone. They don’t like to stretch too far outside of what feels comfortable.Try to do everything
Rather than focus on what matters most to them, a participant tries to juggle everything. What ends up is often mediocrity across the board, which can often lead to a failed swim.Protect time for leisure
A participant is reluctant to forgo their leisure time and will protect time for it. Even if that means that they are not doing enough of the right training. This often compromises their chances of success.Make decisions based on being comfortable
When something doesn’t go to plan, a participant will stop training. They like to remain in their comfort zone. We see less people in training on the days when the weather is not so nice and more when it’s flat and sunny. This is not a coincidence!Only do what they enjoy
Even though a participant knows that they need to do something in order to maximise their chances of success, they stick with things that they like doing and exclude the things that they should do, but don’t enjoy doing.Engage in sessions based on how they feel
You hear participants say things like “I’m not feeling it today, I’ll try again tomorrow”. What if they don’t ‘feel it’ on the big day? Chances are they’ll get out.Is happy with whatever they’re told
A participant will take information given to them on face value. They won’t seek more knowledge or aim to better understand. Often a participant will ask multiple people the same questions and take the answer that is most convenient to their way of thinking.Takes part
A participant is just that - someone who takes part. They don’t push the boundaries, they don’t seek to make things better, they don’t challenge or question what they are told. They just turn up and take part.
So are you an athlete or a participant? Perhaps you’re a bit of both? If reading this you realise that there are tones of participant, what small changes can you make to move yourself more towards the athlete column?
Let’s not get confused with over training. Always knocking out the big swims is not smart training. Recovery is an important part of training.
One of the many challenges of our sport is that we push through some pretty tough barriers. In doing so we can learn to ignore that still small voice that tells you when to pull back. We can push on when that is not the right answer. Now clearly that’s a great skill to have on the big day, but a better skill in training is to learn the difference between your body asking for rest and falling into the trap of becoming a participant. It’s a fine line.
If you’re unsure, chat it through with the beach crew and we’ll help you find the right answer. If it’s a mid-week training challenge, why not pop onto the weekly community call and chat it through.
Reminders
Remember to book your sessions online. By far the easiest way is through the app. This QR will take you to the app where you can book directly and see what you have already booked. You can cancel and reschedule.
Bookings can be made up to 48 hours ahead and be cancelled or rescheduled up to 48 hours ahead also. The system doesn’t arrange automatic refunds, so if you would like a refund, please check out our refund policy and get in touch if you would like a refund.
Those of you with training subscriptions, enter your email address and click in the discount code box and your automatic voucher should appear. Let me know if you have any trouble with this.
Those of you who are members, please remember to cancel your membership when you no longer want it. You can do that within a membership period and still have all the benefits of it, this will prevent it from auto renewing next year. You can do this within your account, by following the link in the confirmation email when you took out your membership, or by asking me to do it for you.
Keith Oiller is the Swimmer Liaison officer for the CSA and can often be found on the beach during training. If you are a CSA swimmer or are thinking of booking a CSA swim, Keith would be delighted to chat with you.
Looking ahead
Night swims
We’re offering one more night swim opportunity this season.
Early start on Saturday 11th June: this is an opportunity for a long swim (maximum of 6 hours) swimming from the dark into daylight
You’ll need to wear two green adventure lights.
As we are not able to assess new swimmers in the dark, we do not accept new (to us) swimmers on these swims. If you want to join us for one of these night swims, you’ll need to join us before as well - that means this coming weekend.
On these swims, during the hours of darkness, we will have additional safety measures in place with a restricted swim zone. This will be explained during the mandatory briefing.
Intensity week
Back by popular demand, we have our mid-season intensity week. If you’re looking for a fun environment to get a solid block of training in, why not come along and join in. We’ll be blending some long swims with some creative ways of training at a variety of intensity levels.
Spotlight in the shop
There’s nothing quite as annoying as goggles that fog up. Foggies are a simple resolution to this. A simple, individually wrapped wipe. What’s more, pop them back in their packet when they’re done, or put them in some sort of air tight container and a single wipe will last multiple uses.
Photos
A few photos from the weekend….
