Club member Lynsey Dunne will be taking part in a relay swim of the English Channel. The Channel swim, due to the distance and tides is considered the pinacle of open water distance swimming. Lynsey will be providing regular updates on the blog of her preparations.
The type of training for an event like this is very interesting (and tough!) and well worth reading.
Thanks to Lynsey and we wish her the best of luck in her preparations.
"As some of you might be aware I am currently training to swim the English Channel as part of a two person relay team. Our crossing is due to take place between the 01 - 06 Jun 2011, the exact date will be tide and weather dependent.
The swim from Dover (England) to Calais (France) is approximately 19 nautical miles or 35 kilometres (35000 mtrs) as the crow flies. However, because the direction of the tide changes every 6 hours most swims are in excess of 40 km. On average channel swims take somewhere between 12-18 hours to complete with the fastest ever swim taking a little over 7 hours and the slowest nearly 29 hours. As a two person relay we will take turns swimming two hours on and two hours off until we eventually/ hopefully reach the French coast. During the swim water temperature is likely to range from 14 to 16 degrees celsius and all we can wear are swimming togs, a swim cap and goggles (No wetsuits allowed!). During the swim there are many things that we will need to contend with. As one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world there will be plenty of tankers, boats and ferries that our crew will need to navigate us around and protect us from. We will also have to contend with plenty of marine life including jellyfish, the cold water for extended periods of time, the chance of hypothermia, currents, waves, sewage, sea-sickness and plenty more!!
I am currently entering the 5th month of a 12 month training plan, which is split up into 3 periods; Early, Main and Taper. In the main period of the plan I am now swimming 6 times a week, which includes one long swim and 5 smaller (2 – 3 km) swim session. Each month the long swims will increase by 1 or 2 km. To date the longest swim I have completed is 8 km. The main focus of the long swim is to gradually increase endurance. For this I typically do a continuous swim at a pace of approximately 3 km/hour, with a short 30 sec break every km for some fluids. For the shorter swims I usually try to do two drill sessions one with the Tri Club and the second one practicing the drills covered in the club session. Then for the remainder of the short swims I typically do 600 m warm up at an eat easy-moderate pace, followed by a main set of 1600 – 2000 m where I alternate between easy/moderate/hard paces and then a 400 m easy-moderate warmdown. So far the training is going well and I am enjoying most of the swims! Fitting all the swims in from a time point of view and the monotony of lap swimming for the winter months are my main concerns at the minute. All of which is likely to get more challenging over the coming months … so I’ll keep you posted!
Lynsey"
