Week 10 in review

It was lovely to see the Aspire swimmers again this weekend. It’s wonderful to see the team spirit that was evident and some cracking swimming.

This week we were ‘On Tour’ to Ramsgate on Saturday due to the Dover Town Regatta. Ramsgate is a beautiful location with the added advantage of beach lifeguards in situ for a small part of our course. A rare chance to experience a gently sloping, sandy beach. It was also an opportunity for some swimmers to find the love for the location again after an unexpectedly changing & challenging session a few years ago! This time it started a bit bouncy and ended up beautifully sunny and calm. Bliss.

Sunday was back to our beloved Dover Harbour and it was the first time that our typical ‘washing machine’ was switched on by the ferry wall. The jellyfish remained, but in less force than last weekend.

Take a look at the photos before the start. One of the swimmers asked for a photo before starting and it seemed rude not to take the opportunity for a ‘special’ photo. Take a look at Keith and the red bucket, carefully full of water the doused the swimmers - not once, but twice!!

A big call out to Mandi and her quick reactions to save the life of a toddler who was playing in the shallows and fell in. Given that she went up to her chest to rescue, it’s safe to say that the outcome would not have been as good had the team not been engaged with feeding at that very time. The mother was given advice to watch the child for the next 24 hours in case of issues. We were surprised to see the toddler go back to the place the incident took place, but all was well, all he did was throw his little spade at the water in disgust!

When it comes to you and your swimming, there is very little to report. The class of 2023 is a force to be reckoned with who gets in, swims and gets out with very little drama. Well done. Keep up the great work!

Monday saw our final farewell to Ady in a beautiful service with standing room only in person and also supported by friends and family globally. The stories and memories were funny and sad in equal measure. So many comments made that day summarised Ady, like he made everyone feel special. We are blessed to have known him. I think the world would be a far better place if we could all be a bit more Ady. Rest in peace Ady.

We have a lot of swimmers in their final approaches to the big day. I predict some mega tracking fests in multiple swim locations in the very near future. Some people may share all the details and have a way for us to have a window on their day. Others may wish to go quietly and under the radar. Both are fabulous approaches and it’s your choice which way you go. In both cases we do want to hear all about it and I’d love to invite you to write a news article about the relay or solo swim for the website. I’d also encourage you to come back to the beach so that we can hear all about it in person and celebrate with you.

I’ll start planning the tracking recovery programme for the end of the season now! I think we’re going to need it. 🤣

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 (plus Aspire)
Water temperature:   17.8C
Air temperature: 19.7C
Conditions:   Force 4 initially, reducing to F3 W. Bouncy at high water, calm later. Moody sky.

Sunday:

Swimmers:   15 (plus Aspire)
Water temperature:   16.8C
Air temperature: 16.4C
Conditions:   Force 6 gusting force 7, SW. First ‘washing machine’ session of the season by the ferry wall. Jellyfish still present, though not as bad as last week. Sunny / cloudy ~ changeable!

The protection afforded by the harbour walls was very evident this week.

Shout outs to …..

You’re a talented bunch. I suspect there were many quietly amazing moments. Here are a few of the big swim achievements:

• Jack D; Kevin McC; Mark P; Mel H for your 5 hour swims

• Mark K for your 5 & 4 weekend

• Jon S; Lucy AP; Martin J for your 6 hour swims

• Ania P; Chris M for your 7 & 6 weekend

If I missed you, I apologies, please shout about it. As well as the achievements that are measured in hours or badges, there are also those more important personal victories, I’d love to hear about those as well.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following volunteers who were on the rota for the weekend:

• Level 1: Mandi B

• Level 2: Emma F, Halani F; Nicola B

Thank you to all Level 3 volunteers who helped out a little or a lot. We have made a lot of change to how we run things on the beach and behind the scenes and you are the core of these improvements that everyone benefits from. Thank you 🙏🏻

We are looking to expand our Level 2 volunteer team, if you are interested, visit our volunteers page or contact our volunteers lead.

Channel Swimmer on the beach!

I love this part of the season when people come back to visit after their success channel swims. You may have seen that I’ve introduced a news section and I’d be delighted to show an article about your successful solo or relay swim. So if you trained with us, let me shout it from the rooftop for you.

These are the swims that I heard about in the week of this blog:

• ‘Trust us’ English channel relay with Helen B; Shannon B; Stuart G and Wendy P on 24th June with Reg Brickell

• Merry Southenders English channel relay including Conny B on 30th June with Reg Brickell

• Epsom Salts English channel relay including Deborah V and Catherine S on 30th June with Stuart Gleeson

Walter’s Worries

Recovery (from illness & injury)

We’re almost half way through the training season and much further through the training season of those who have their swim during the earlier parts of the season.

I know that Emma advises building a training habit ahead of the season to minimise the shock to the body when the big open water swims start, however, sometimes even if that’s been done, we are all only human. Most people juggle training for these big and audacious goals whilst juggling a career. Very few people get to do this as a professional athlete and with all the support that goes with that. So even when we don’t seemingly over train, the kind of illnesses and injuries that you’d connect with over training can still occur. This is because we have to consider not only the training volume and load but also everything else that a swimmer is juggling.

It’s the reason that Emma never gives a precise training plan all planned out in advance - because we have to adapt to the here and now and how each person copes with the training load.

Pushing training to the limits can compromise the immune system and so colds and infections are possible. Whilst we have guidance that there should be no training if the infection is below the neck, we need to also consider the speed at which we come back to training AFTER an infection.

I’ve had a few swimmers whisper in my furry ear about their concerns on how to come back from illness & injury.

The answer is generally slower than you think and almost certainly slower than you’d like.

Did you ever have a scab as a child and continue to pick at it, making it bleed? Your parents may have told you to stop picking - you’ll get a scar. It’s the same. Let it heal. I know it can be tempted to push it and see if there is a reaction, or even push it until there is a reaction, but this is daft and just slows down your recovery.

With physical injuries, take the advice of your medic to get the best advice on what you can safely & effectively train through and what requires rest or adaptation in what you can do (e.g. kick only).

With infections, post viral fatigue is a risk. You don’t want to go there. Emma tells me that post viral fatigue can be challenging to spot because unlike injuries where you get instant feedback to stop an activity or action that causes pain, issues from post viral fatigue can be delayed. You may feel fine whilst training (you may even feel amazing). The issue can often appear after training or even a day or two later. Once post viral fatigue gets hold it can be a very tricky path to navigate. If you find yourself there, slow and gradual is the way to go. It’ll be the quickest route back in the long run. If you’ve done the training, you can afford to allow your body to heal. My advice would be to do a very short pool session (say 30 mins) and leave it a couple of days. If there are no issues then you can do longer and again wait for ‘feedback’. If there are any issues in that path back, go back a step and be patient.

If you have a Garmin watch (other brands are available) you may find some useful statistics that help you navigate your way through this complex time.

Some things you just can’t short cut. Still, even if you can’t train, there are still things that you can do. Did you know that visualising training fires off the same neural pathways as physical training does? So, if you can’t physically train, relax, recover and whilst you do that, visualise.

A few years ago, there was a swimmer who had a persistent chest infection. Weeks and weeks went by when she could not train. She had a background of training ‘in the bank’ and practiced patience. Whilst doing that she used some visualisation techniques that Emma provided. It was a good news story and she went on to become a channel swimmer.

If you have concerns, whisper in my ear or perhaps join the community call. There’s always someone to help you work through your worries.

Paddlefish Ponderings

Boundaries

Walter’s talk about recovery and post viral fatigue hit a nerve with me. I’ve said before that I have long covid and I can indeed confirm that navigating my way back from that is both frustrating and challenging. I realise now (hindsight is a wonderful thing) that I pushed on when I should have pulled back and I’m paying the price now.

Thing is, I’m not used to it. I’m used to feeling invincible. I’m used to being proud of having a reputation for being able to juggle more than the average person.

I look back and wonder how the heck I managed to work full time, run DCT and train for swims.

In reality it was all a compromise. None of those things were done to the best of my ability.

I talked about boundaries last week and I need to do the same with myself. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that my boundaries were blurred at best, and battered at worst. I put others’ needs ahead of my own. I could do some deep analysis about why I did that, and it doesn’t matter. That’s what I did and it wasn’t wise. Until now I’ve been good at spotting other people ignoring their boundaries but have been shockingly poor at defining and protecting my own. We can all learn together. I’m motivated by the desire to get back to health where I too can swim again. I’m motivated to get back to health so that I can better support you.

Signs of over training

Walter talked about how you recover from illness & injury. That’s useful and essential knowledge. I’d like to remind you about the signs of over training as over training can lead to illness & injury. The challenge is that you need to tune into that still small voice that tells you to slow down. The signs tend to be subtle until they’ve very unsubtle and too late. We learn to push through the tough times and there’s a time and a place for that. There’s also a time to have that duvet day. That isn’t lazy. It is sometimes the best thing that you can do to progress your training.

Signs of over training:

• Sleep disturbances

• Positivity about the training plans you have that day

• Positivity about your future training and swim

• Diminished energy levels or chronic fatigue

• Loss of appetite

• Aches & pains

Your smart watch can help with stats like:

• training readiness

• heart rate variability

• sleep quality

Don’t get me wrong - the big day IS the day to push through. It is the day that all the sacrifices were about. On that day, feel free to push the envelope!

Looking ahead

On Tour

Once a month we will be On Tour on on a Saturday:

• Saturday 15th July

• Saturday 19th August

• Saturday 16th September

The location will either be Hythe or Ramsgate, depending on the weather forecast. The final decision will be made on the Thursday evening before this swim. These sessions are shown as ‘On Tour’ in the booking system, they are considered ‘standard’ training sessions and are included in training packages.

Night swims

There are no further night swims planned for this season.

Spotlight in the shop

As you get close to the big day, and plan all the kit that you’re going to take, we have some very useful kit including:

• carabiners

• feeding bottles (though milk bottles work very well)

• feeding reels

• adventure lights (or replacement batteries

We have a popular feeding bottle. It’s soft and squeezable with a handy strap to attach to your feeding reel.

A great alternative to this is a simple milk bottle!

Photos

A few photos from the weekend….

Key Contact methods

1. On the beach after training. Our Level 1 volunteers will be happy to chat whilst not engaged in core safety processes.

2. Weekly community call. This runs on a Monday evening from January to September and is hosted by a member of the leadership team. We've set this time aside for you. You can find details of these call within the membership area and within the booking system.

3. Membership queries can be directed to our Membership lead

4. Safeguarding concerns should be directed to our Safeguarding Lead

5. Other queries that can’t be answered at the community call should be directed to the Swimmer Liaison lead.

Other more informal routes to support:

1. WhatsApp groups these are open to all members and you’ll find details of how to join one or more of the groups within the membership area

2. Social media channels. You’ll find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Reminders

Remember to book your sessions online. Bookings close 48 hours ahead. Any bookings after that will need support and that comes with a £5 admin fee.

Bookings can be cancelled or rescheduled up to 48 hours ahead. 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.

Please remember to cancel your membership when you no longer want it.