I like swimming in the sea when I am not frozen. At the moment I am comfortable enough for the first hour, during which my mind can wander. This feeling of flow gets interrupted every now and then. The assailants are random thoughts that only happen while swimming. Like uncontrollable puppies with muddy paws on just changed sheets. Sometimes it’s a song, sometimes a saying, sometimes a fear. Here's ones that surface most swims....
What if a shark gobbles me up?
The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that….
Would foam rolling after a sea swim be a good idea, being numb and all?
1,2,3 breath, 1,2,3 France! 1,2,3 breath
Could I get tangled up in sea weed?
If I get swept out to sea, will Dad say “I told you so”?
At what point am I actually in danger?
Even a paper cup will get to France. Eventually
Could I die from a jelly fish sting?
I can do this, I have twin boys for feck sake
Does cold water swimming make your hair grow faster?
Why on earth did I choose this goal?
Why is that family staring at me?
If that dog swims out, would he be able to bite me?
Is that a sand bar or a storm water outfall?
Yesterday, my swim was consumed with the notion of jellyfish. My goggles were a bit foggy so my vision was obscured. I am also a natural worrier so given that the cold wasn’t too disturbing, I was hijacked by phantom jellyfish. My internal conversation went like this
Is that a jelly fish?
Oh god it is, it is. I don’t have a first aid kit with me.
OF course I don’t I am in the middle of the sea!
Swim faster, swim! Swim!
Okay I can calm down a bit now.
How silly am i?
Did something just sting my foot?
Or did I just kick it with my other foot?
Right I will try and kick myself again.
Ouch.
Yeah it was just a kick.
On the plus side, these distractions are a great way to pass a few minutes, but on the other hand, it might mean that I am going mad. It’s not talking to myself that gets me worried. No, it’s the person that’s answering …. Sheesh does she have issues!
Showing posts with label Catherine Sheridan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catherine Sheridan. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
My introduction to open water swimming
Being from Cork seems to give one a head start in the open swimming stakes. Call it a cluster effect if you will but when so many people around you are swimming in the sea and aiming for a big swim, it is a natural follow on to join them. There are so many overlaps between sports in Cork - we may be the real capital of Ireland, but we are a relatively small population. Dean and I train with the Cork Triathlon Club, Sandycove Swimmers, Source Swimmers, Tour De Munster, De Ronde Von Cork Cycling Club and Midleton Running Club. None of these clubs are exclusive, each club has members in common. To this end I was trying to figure out my first actual open water swim. Was it Schull Triathlon 2006 which , where Dean and I celebrated our wedding anniversary that day by doing the course together. Incidentally we nearly got DQ-ed for drafting during the cycling section, not because we were being tactical but because we hadn't a clue! Dean's hybrid had a carrier for feck's sake!
No my introduction to open water swimming was on Friday 13th June 2003. I had the honour/ luck/ idiocy to take part in a reality television show called Cabin Fever - Cabin Fever Wikipedia Link The premise was ten of us sailed around Ireland on "ye olde boate" Ratings weren't good so they decided we should crash. Er... no they didn't really.
Howeverm it was Friday the 13th!! Unlucky for some? Why yes, yes it was. Other nautical superstitions include
Women on board a ship make the sea angry - tick
Don't store bananas on board - tick
Don't change the name of a ship - tick.
So that was four for four then. Like a real life Irish Joke, off we set from Tory Island and within an hour of sailing out and back and stuff, it became apparent that the boat was going down! Options were stay on board with a swinging boom or swim to shore and it wasn't really that far to go. So, I swam to shore, easy peasy lemon squeezy, must have been all of 500m. Arrived safely to shore, international laughing stock, tabloid jokes, blah blah blah.
So .... if anyone is thinking of bringing a friend for their first open water swim, maybe a shallow strand with a parallel to the shore swim?
No my introduction to open water swimming was on Friday 13th June 2003. I had the honour/ luck/ idiocy to take part in a reality television show called Cabin Fever - Cabin Fever Wikipedia Link The premise was ten of us sailed around Ireland on "ye olde boate" Ratings weren't good so they decided we should crash. Er... no they didn't really.
Howeverm it was Friday the 13th!! Unlucky for some? Why yes, yes it was. Other nautical superstitions include
Women on board a ship make the sea angry - tick
Don't store bananas on board - tick
Don't change the name of a ship - tick.
So that was four for four then. Like a real life Irish Joke, off we set from Tory Island and within an hour of sailing out and back and stuff, it became apparent that the boat was going down! Options were stay on board with a swinging boom or swim to shore and it wasn't really that far to go. So, I swam to shore, easy peasy lemon squeezy, must have been all of 500m. Arrived safely to shore, international laughing stock, tabloid jokes, blah blah blah.
So .... if anyone is thinking of bringing a friend for their first open water swim, maybe a shallow strand with a parallel to the shore swim?
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Getting fat/ feeling phat!
Imagine having a perfectly good reason to eat all around you with the emphasis being on having enough calorie intake to not get sick, be able to get through your weekly schedule and put on some insulation for an upcoming event?
That’s how I interpreted being pregnant back in 2006/2007, delighting in rasher and marmalade sandwiches every morning, chocolate and many snacks to be carried on my person at all times, washed down with a bottle of gaviscon to counteract the hearburn. Which was probably from the rashers as much as forty toes kicking my stomach daily.
I went up to 84kg in the space of seven months. I got so big that I literally popped at 33 weeks. Being this size really freaked me out and I felt like I had been eaten by and was trapped in another persons body. Or a person and a half if you will. Does this fall under pregorexia or preggers body dysmorphia? Who knows?
While I left the hospital at 72kg, it took me a while to get back to 62kg and feeling like myself again. Marathon and triathlon training brought me down to 59kg which felt like me –too thin? Why thank you! My head too big for my body? Oh, you’re too kind!
However, I don’t want to fall into the trap of being “too vain to gain” so I’m up at about 65kg presently. Despite my best efforts to tell myself it’s not my weight, that it’s only borrowed, it does bother me a bit.
I am not sure men training for the channel have the same self image problems as women. Hell, I’m not sure women have the same problem as me!! Objectively, I’m fascinated by how much my body has changed in the last year. I’ve gone from a size 10 to a size 14 within the space of 10 months. On my shoulders and back, it really does seem to be muscle, so that’s cool and I feel like an amazon woman.However, and to continue the rasher theme....
There’s my BLT - butt, legs and tummy – or my “womanly bottom half” (a direct quote from a Monday night swimmer to my husband!!) My consternation came to head last week when I heard a distinctive ping and the button holding my favourite shorts closed gave up his epic battle and made a run for it. I saw another slightly harassed mother in Disney,who may have “let herself go” since “the kids” I smiled in acknowledgement. At my reflection!
Because yes, it’s not just my arse that has taken the brunt of the channel attempt, I also look tired, am redfaced from chlorine, black eyed from goggles, grey and bestraggled from lack of hair dresser time. There is only so much that make up can do, and let’s be honest – who has time for more than slapping a bit of foundation on?
Speaking of foundation use, I recently used it to cover Oscar’s chicken pox so we could board a plane. We were coming back from Disneyland Paris, which was fun, a good break from training and has me invigorated for the 123 days between me and my channel attempt.
In other statistics, I’ve managed my first double lap of Sandycove for 2012, completed my first freshwater swim in the Blackwater and am up to 1hrs8min in openwater in my togs. Looking forward to boosting these numbers this Easter Weekend. Eggciting times ahead!
That’s how I interpreted being pregnant back in 2006/2007, delighting in rasher and marmalade sandwiches every morning, chocolate and many snacks to be carried on my person at all times, washed down with a bottle of gaviscon to counteract the hearburn. Which was probably from the rashers as much as forty toes kicking my stomach daily.
I went up to 84kg in the space of seven months. I got so big that I literally popped at 33 weeks. Being this size really freaked me out and I felt like I had been eaten by and was trapped in another persons body. Or a person and a half if you will. Does this fall under pregorexia or preggers body dysmorphia? Who knows?
While I left the hospital at 72kg, it took me a while to get back to 62kg and feeling like myself again. Marathon and triathlon training brought me down to 59kg which felt like me –too thin? Why thank you! My head too big for my body? Oh, you’re too kind!
However, I don’t want to fall into the trap of being “too vain to gain” so I’m up at about 65kg presently. Despite my best efforts to tell myself it’s not my weight, that it’s only borrowed, it does bother me a bit.
I am not sure men training for the channel have the same self image problems as women. Hell, I’m not sure women have the same problem as me!! Objectively, I’m fascinated by how much my body has changed in the last year. I’ve gone from a size 10 to a size 14 within the space of 10 months. On my shoulders and back, it really does seem to be muscle, so that’s cool and I feel like an amazon woman.However, and to continue the rasher theme....
There’s my BLT - butt, legs and tummy – or my “womanly bottom half” (a direct quote from a Monday night swimmer to my husband!!) My consternation came to head last week when I heard a distinctive ping and the button holding my favourite shorts closed gave up his epic battle and made a run for it. I saw another slightly harassed mother in Disney,who may have “let herself go” since “the kids” I smiled in acknowledgement. At my reflection!
Because yes, it’s not just my arse that has taken the brunt of the channel attempt, I also look tired, am redfaced from chlorine, black eyed from goggles, grey and bestraggled from lack of hair dresser time. There is only so much that make up can do, and let’s be honest – who has time for more than slapping a bit of foundation on?
Speaking of foundation use, I recently used it to cover Oscar’s chicken pox so we could board a plane. We were coming back from Disneyland Paris, which was fun, a good break from training and has me invigorated for the 123 days between me and my channel attempt.
In other statistics, I’ve managed my first double lap of Sandycove for 2012, completed my first freshwater swim in the Blackwater and am up to 1hrs8min in openwater in my togs. Looking forward to boosting these numbers this Easter Weekend. Eggciting times ahead!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Mild Hypothermia in a Sauna
This week I turn thirty five - it feels like a milestone for some reason, I'm now in the "35-39" age category for petes sake! Mid to late thirties - I think it just snuck up on me! Anyhow, my parents spoiled me with a three month membership for Garryvoe Leisure centre. This means I can be from the sea to the sauna in maybe five minutes. It is funny though as no-one expects someone to be recovering from mild hypothermia (shaking limbs, teeth chattering and bloodless feet) whilst in a sauna!
This probably tips me into the wuss section of aspiring channel swimmers, but it really is bliss to be warm and functioning within a half hour of finishing a swim.
Saturday I swam for forty two minutes and Sunday I upped it to fifty, my pb for the year. Really hoping to break into an hour on my actual birthday. I was a bit spoiled this weekend with family support. Dad walked the beach while I swam Saturday. He doesn't normally look like this but it was St. Patricks Day after all!
Sunday Dean swam with me and it was reassuring that he found it cold in his wetsuit! I reckon the first time you swim in the sea in winter/ spring is going to be a shock to system even if you were in a "drysuit"!
Which brings me to discuss Lisa Cummins and Finbarr Hederman. Both accomplished marathon swimmers but still, their 3hours40mins in 10deg water is simply astonishing to me, and totally inspiring!
Two new blogs to add this week! Fellow aspirants training with Eilis are Colm Breathnach and Jennifer Lane, the latter who is training for this challenge on a vegan diet no less!
Finally, Dean reckons there are at least one pair of my togs in each load of laundry. On the plus side it means he's doing laundry! On the downside it means that i'm wearing out my togs. Quite embarrassing when you realise AFTER swimming how threadbare your pair was!
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