Winter Update

Some Channel swimmers are already training in the ocean. This is fine if you live in warmer climes but there is still some snow on the ground in the Okanagan Valley....hopefully not for long. I took the kids canoeing in the lake today. The surface temperature is 4'C! It will be May, at the earliest, that I dare wade into the lake donning my Speedo. I have ocean training swims lined up for end of April in Vancouver and late May in San Francisco.

My present training regimen consists of:

• Resistance weight training 1-2 sessions/week
• Run or bike to work 5 sessions /week (8 KM round trip and add an extra 10 KM if I cycle my kids to school)
• Swimming 4-5 days/week

As far as swimming is concerned, I am presently up to 20 km/week. Most sessions are 3 Km in length; and on Saturdays, I am pulling double workouts --averaging 9-10 Km over 3 hours. These are coached Masters' swimming workouts during which I swim a variety of distances and strokes on specific time intervals. The emphasis is on speed, aerobic capacity and technique. Although I will be swimming freestyle (front crawl) across the Channel, I like to swim all of the other strokes like butterfly, backstroke and breastroke. This variety challenges me to incorporate different muscle groups into the mix. It makes you a more efficient swimmer. Freestyle is by far the fastest and most efficient of all the strokes; ergo why I will be swimming it across the Channel. Butterfly is the most technically and physically challenging stroke. It is my favourite, but I am only good at racing it over a 100 to 200 m distance. The 200 m. distance is pushing it....it often feels like someone is throwing a piano on my back for the last 15 m. of that gruelling distance....and to think that some Channel swimmers have swum butterfly for the entire distance! That is truly impressive.

Here are some sample workouts from the past week:

Session One

600 m warm up (swim, pick, pull x 200 meters each)

1500 m freestyle (moderate speed holding 1:23/100 m)

12 x 50 m kick (IM order fly, back, breast, free)

600 m of freestyle stroke drill

1500 m freestyle (fast pace holding 1:18/100 m)

200 warm down

Repeat the above set for a total of 10 km

Session Two

800 m Basic (swim, kick, pull, swim)

200 m freestyle stroke drill

3 x (10 x 100 m) freestle on 1:45

* 1st 10 holding 1:17 pace

* 2nd 10 holding 1:15 pace

* 3rd 10 holding 1:13 pace

- the goal is to hold a consistent fast pace with lots of rest in-between to aid aerobic recovery

200 m warmdown

total distance 4.2 KM

I am using these pool workouts to prepare me for my one and only swim meet of the year....the Provincial Masters Swimming Championships in Kamloops, mid April. I have certain goal times for the 1500 m free and 100 m fly. Achieving these times will give me lots of confidence heading into the final stretch of my preparation for the Channel.