Where do the hours go? (by Andy)

Training since January has been a challenge to fit in four hours a week around work, travel and refurbishing a house. The last six weeks have had a constant ache across shoulders from swimming or calves from running. The worst has been getting to Sunday lunchtime knowing there was still another discipline to complete before the end of day light.

As April comes to an end, is the end in sight? Not really. From training for the first Channel Swim the Open Water swim was a clear milestone when the training routine changed to be less often but longer (and colder). At the moment I know the water is 1 degree Celsius below the seasonal norm and its going to be Cold, and I know that each do three hours a week of the other disciplines on top of that as well. I am sure after my second swim the event date will seem with reach and some of the mental milestones will have been crossed.

To most sports training I would have been happy to have stripped off 10lb and dropped two belt sizes, but I know that for the Open water I need every ounce of extra padding that I can get so I have managed to eat a few more pastries !

Dover Harbour beckons! (by Mike)

How easy one forgets the pain of the first open water swim in the freezing cold waters of the English Channel. Dover harbour may protect you from the waves but there's no escaping the ice cold grip of the cold dark waters. 4 years ago I recall entering the harbour down the pebble beach thinking how bad is this going to be.

Well the answer was .......very bad, very bad indeed. You soon forget the discomfort of walking barefoot on the polished surface of the pebbles as you visibly recoil from the shock of the sea water as if swooshes round your feet. Everyone looks at each other in semi disbelief at what lay ahead. Fortunately peer pressure and the sight of some truly crazy individuals who dive straight in is enough to keep you edging forward. You move in further and find your instinctively walking on your toes. Finally you have to take the plunge!

Those first few strokes and breaths are like you have never swum before. A mild panic flashes across your mind as you try to warm up by moving arms and legs quicker whilst keeping your head above water which is not a natural style. Your body starts to ease into its new icy environment and to swim properly you have to let your head drop into the murky waters. Next is the ice cream headache across your forehead but you accept that and the erratic breathing. You buddy up and start to focus on the task ahead....

Swim done getting out is as hard as getting in, only this time your body is so cold some lose motor functions and the ability to balance on two feet. Others need to help you dry and put clothes on. Others stand towelling off as though getting out of the bath.

The good news is that you have an hour to stop the uncontrollable shivering before going back in again!! Great!

Roll on this Saturday, whats not to like :o)

Training so far...(by Sue)

I've woken up to a beautiful sunny day, it's supposed to be a rest day for me but I really want to go running!!

So training is going brilliantly. I feel fit and strong. I'm eating well, drinking less and not smoking at all (finally kicked that habit).

Being the only girl on the team, I'm very determined not to be the weak link. So physically I'm good but mentally I'm scared of 'hitting that wall' as they say. On the Channel 5 crossing in 2006, I was the only team member who caved in. The only one who said "I'm not going in again" and I meant it with every fiber of my being.

Luckily we reached France and I didn't have to go in a fourth time! What if that happens again? The boys do seem to be made of more grit (don't tell them I said that) than me...or being male do they feel the same only don't say it?!

The first dip down in Dover is fast approaching. I'm kind of sacred, kind of excited. I'm telling myself I've done it before and I can do it again. It's only freezing cold water afterall!

I'm really looking forward to the team being back together, enduring the cold and most of the warm, half asleep drive home having survived. And then eating a massive lunch having burnt a zillion calories.

Really like to say a huge thank you to Ian for supporting me again through this new challenge which he does with a big positive attitude which we all love him for. We have been through the mill over the last couple of years, in our financial meltdown, the Sound Sanctuary not working out, moving house etc etc. I'm so glad he is part of the support team this time. When I hit the wall, he will be there to push me over it...

We have a plan...or do we? (by Julian)

The ArchToArc2010 team met for their monthly meeting at Mike & Liz's for dinner. As usual a veritable feast appeared which was nearly as large as Mike's agenda. We discussed logistics, training (well done Sue on winning the month's training prize - a "head torch"!), the plan for the route and, of course, the most important question - when exactly will we do it?

The entire event relies on the swim - it is the hardest part by far and entirely dependent on the weather. A nice warm day is great. A small tidal flow is perfect. Mike had sourced the relevant tidal information from an expert within the Environment Agency and we established that based on that, Tuesday 6th & Wednesday 7th July are the ideal tides - nice and low 3.3m "height of tide". This means that the flows of water up the channel from the Atlantic into the North Sea will be as small as possible and therefore the minimum drift as we make our way to France.

But the most important thing is the lack of wind. Because wind on tide, creates wonderful waves as any sailor knows. And waves and swimmers aren't great bed fellows. So whilst we will hope to perhaps "Run on Sun, Swim on Mon and Cycle on Tuesday" at the start of the July...it will all remain in the lap of the gods as to whether the weather will let us.

So unable to plan the exact date for the event, we turned to the route. Our objective is to have the fastest runners run the most times and then put the strongest swimmers into the channel first so that they will swim the most times on the day. We found a great tool on the internet in "MapMyRun" and plotted the entire route in from Marble Arch to Dover. The site provides great information like the elevation along the route (see graphic below):



A few spreadsheets later and we had the right order. I run least. Mike & Sue run most. I swim most along with Mike & Alex. Perfect. Except now it appears that I am running up all the hills...oh well back to the drawing board.

Rain & punctures (by Julian)

I cannot believe it is a month on from the Winter Training Camp and it is back to snow, ice and now continuous drizzle. February was a great month - I finally triumphed in the monthly training competition by being "green" on every single discipline over the entire month.

The "reality" of being "green" on each and every week is punishing. If the week is busy with meetings, travel and dinners then it is tough to fit in 1 hour 40 minutes of running, 1 hour of swimming and 2 hours of cycling...so the weekend becomes like a training Boot Camp with 1-2 disciplines each day!

This works fine - until the house is warm and the rain is arriving in curtains of drizzle outside. But eventually you have to get on the bike and out for that 2 hour cycle ride. An hour and a half in and you begin to see the end in sight. The rain has finally lapsed and you are ready for the last big climb back to Ide Hill...

...when the bike hits one of the many, many, many potholes in the roads around us and the tyre bursts. A call to the emergency services - otherwise known as Stu Gosling - and the bike is garaged, the bedraggled rider is returned home and a "green" for cycling is missed. Ahhhhh

Winter Training Camp (by Julian)

As the training schedule set by our glorious leader gets longer, it is increasingly hard to go out in the snow and rain to do an hour or so running or cycling. Luckily half term intervened and a long planned trip to our "winter training camp" with the children...

...to the Caribbean for diving courses. It was hard to get the bike on the plane but new running shoes were purchased on the island and the running/swimming schedule was stuck to rigorously. Running along 7 miles of sandy beach is hardly the same as the ups & downs of Ide Hill. Swimming in the sea is hardly the 20 strokes, turn, 20 strokes, turn.

But it turns out that Winter Training Camp is not all sun, sand and sea. Sand is tough to run on and an hour slipping on it kills your calves. Sea brings with it salt burns and once again those lovely friction burns scars return. And add in a bit of wind and it felt like being back in the "washing machine" of Dover Harbour - being chucked around by the waves for an hour.

GREAT fun and so much more fun when the water is 70-80F!

Snow stops play (by Julian)

A few centimetres of snow and the whole country comes to a halt. Admittedly it was more than a few centimetres up in Ide Hill but did all transport countrywide have to stop?

Unfortunately cycling up hill is hard enough without it being covered in sheet ice. Running doesn't work as well either. And swimming is hard to get to. So "snow stopped play" for training as well.

Whenever the weather did break over Christmas then it was back out there. Christmas Day I cycled over to Speldhurst for Christmas lunch with Granny & Grandpa...owing to Sarah having to turn back for the presents, I actually beat the rest of the family. But this was a short lived burst of enthusiasm before more snow set in.

Eventually snow cleared and last week training was back on...except of course, work also needed catching up on. The result - no training until the weekend...and then a 1 hour cycle, 1:15 hour run and 106 lengths in 2 days. Exhausting.

But critical - because we had a team catch-up on Sunday evening...and it appears that it wasn't only me that put a burst on to have one week of "green" against our training programme! Everyone was a flurry of "black" (completely missed!) or "purple" (our team leader's tactful way of "red" or below target!)...until that week when lots of "green" suddenly appeared.

Continuing the trend, this week I was out every night for school or work related activities and achieved a big round ZERO on the training programme. But a cycle yesterday and a run today, with a swim to come this evening will hopefully see me slide in under the bar!