A remarkable achievement, read Jim’s account here:

http://www.h2openmagazine.com/readers-swims/jim-bouchers-second-english-channel-crossing.html

We are sorry Hugh didn’t achieve the “Mount Everest” of swimming, but really pleased for him that his fundraising has been remarkable and he’s enjoyed the experience….and redicovered our lovely Lido.

We look forward to seeing you in the Lido enjoying it purely for pleasure next year Hugh and well done on all your achievements this year.

It may seem incredible to many but there are some FOGLs for whom swimming the English Channel and pounding up and down the Lido just isn’t enough exercise (or challenge, or cold, or whatever else it is that pops into the minds of these guys). This weekend FOGLs Jim Boucher and Rory Fitzgerald will be braving the chilly waters of the Irish Sea to make the 35 mile crossing between the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Jim gives us an outline of what’s ahead:

“We are building upon the successful challenge of last year’s IoM “End-to-end Swim”(E2E) that covered a comparable distance from Pt of Ayre to the Calf Sound. However last year we were sticking close into shore and benefitted from a few changes of tide that helped a little. We are the same team of 4, myself, Rory, Carole Laporte, a French lady and Mark Gorry a Manxman, all representing the combined Gaelic nations.

In the aftermath of the E2E swim, we considered the next step and the distance from Peel to NI is only slightly more (on a dodgy map). The target is a landing in the vicinity of Ardglass on NIreland’s Co Down coast. This is home soil for myself and Rory, albeit a few miles to the south. We can’t go much further north as the outflow from Strangford Lough is extremely powerful (the tidal movements provide one of the first tidal energy prototypes in UK). We don’t expect much tidal influence as we are passing into the area where the tidal flows north and south of Ireland cancel each other.

We are going early in the season to try and avoid the jellyfish that come in as the water warms up – although they did put on a show last year which was around this time. Likely water temperature is 11-12C and we will probably go for one hour relay legs as the cold will probably prevent us using longer legs. The ultimate choice will depend on weather. We have a team of experienced sea-kayakers who have previously assisted us in IoM waters and we have a small deep-sea fishing charter boat as our “mother ship”. We start at 4am hoping to make maximum use of the long daylight hours and are anticpating 16-18 hours swimming time. We are in standard “Channel” kit, ie a costume, goggles and a hat, unlike a team of 8 Irish who by pure coincidence are swimming the same day in the opposite direction….in wetsuits.

We wish everyone well in this challenge and will post up details here and on our Facebook page over the weekend as news comes in.

On the 1^st May I headed off to Guildford for an early morning radio interview with BBC Surrey regarding my upcoming “Channel Swim” attempt. I decided that after my interview I would head down to Guildford Lido to train for a couple of hours, as this was the first day it was open to the public this year.

Whilst in my car and listening to BBC Surrey Radio, I heard of the charity “Channel swim” organised by Jim and so on arrival at the Lido I thought I would go and introduce myself. I was made very welcome by those involved, and was subsequently invited to join in with the task of completing the channel distance. Amongst so many fantastic and dedicated swimmers, I thought I’d better rise to their challenge and offered to complete 6km for them.

Although not the fastest of swimmers, I did “grind out” my 120 lengths and continued to do a few more to complete a 2 hour training swim. The pool was fantastic, the water warm and fantastic quality and the weather held out (I didn’t even notice that it rained for a period of time whilst I was swimming).  

I was immediately captivated by the Lido, and although not swimming there since a child (over 25 years) I knew I would be back very soon. True to my word, I have found the early morning opening times great for when I’m not trudging around a lake. Mondays and Fridays at 6.30, the pool is quiet (well at least at the moment) and great for carrying out various sprints, stroke technique and long distance sets without bumping into people. And the showers are lovely and warm……….Hugh.

We are very pleased that Hugh is supporting and enjoying the Lido and  even more pleased to help Hugh in any way we can to boost his fundraising for his 2 chosen charities: 

CICRA – Crohn’s In Childhood Research Association and the NACC – National Association of Colitis and Crohn’s 

If you would like to know more about Hugh’s big swim, please visit www.hughsbigswim.com 

 Hugh has kindly agreed to keep us up to date on his training over the next few months, check the link on the right for further news.

Guildford Lido is the most wonderful place to swim recreationally and, in better weather, to bask around the pool and on the grassy surrounds. On busy days there isn’t much room to swim in a straight line, but with the increased opening hours this season there are plenty of times when the pool is quieter; then the Lido comes into its own as one of the best, “regulation distance” pools to exercise and train in.

It’s by no means necessary to be a competitive swimmer to grind out the lengths. Swimming, even with a modest number of lengths per session, remains one of the best ways of maintaining health and fitness and to be able to do so with the sun beaming down (or through the clouds) adds to the pleasure. Some people will favour a pre-determined number of lengths, maybe just using a favourite stroke, on a regular basis. Others start off modestly and session by session build up the number of lengths they swim, both as result of increased fitness levels and also as a personal challenge.

Making the most of the lengths

It’s quite usual to see people swim continuously for their pre-determined number of lengths. However, whether we’re a fast swimmer or a plodder, inevitably we all suffer some degradation in stroke efficiency the further we swim. Many “wannabees” to the extreme marathon that is the English Channel frequently ask how far they should be swimming in their training sessions, eg “is a 10,000m swim a good idea each week?” etc. The equally frequent answer is that concentrating on stroke and stroke efficiency through a number of repetitive swims is better than big long continuous swims for stroke and for improving fitness. The same also applies to regular lane swimmers. In other words swimming 20 lengths as 10 x 2 lengths may be better for us than a straight 20. And much easier to count too!

We don’t have the benefit of a pace clock, but there is no need for technology nor big science to enjoy the benefits of repetitions. Find a pace that you can comfortably hold over two lengths and set yourself a goal of doing 4-5 repetitions at a pace you feel comfortable with. No need for heroics, no need to indulge in lung-busting sprints as, with these being in what’s called the anaerobic region, this tires us very quickly. So stick to a steady pace on the first attempt and concentrate on maintaining pace and a good stroke. When you finish each repetition, count roughly 30 seconds and go again.

If we’ve set too easy a pace we’ll notice as quickly as if we go at it too quickly. If we can remember to do so, working the last 15-20 metres a little bit harder is always good.

When swimming, by all means take in the scenery, but one useful tip is to count the number of strokes – it doesn’t matter if you count single arm pulls, or breaststroke kicks, just give yourself a reference for each length. Periodically do a check on the number of strokes and try to reduce the number taken. Whatever the efficiency of your stroke and however fast you may be, one less stroke per length will always be a sign of increasing efficiency and fitness. And the counting gives something to focus the mind on too……

Mixing up the strokes is good. Few of us – me too – will consider 50m butterfly so if you see anyone doing that in the Lido this season, they’re a pretty good swimmer! Backstroke is probably the worst stroke to swim in an outdoor pool. The absence of a ceiling and also finish ropes means it’s easy to lose track of where you are in the pool. It can be the most disconcerting stroke for swimmer and those around and it’s advisable to use one of the lane ropes as a convenient point of reference. Front crawl (freestyle) is the most efficient stroke that allows us to build up distance. Using a “float” or “kickboard” and throwing in a few 50m or 100m stints to ease the stresses on the arms is good to incorporate. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t seem to go anywhere using legs alone – many competitive swimmers don’t either, especially the older blokes!

There are many ways of covering considerable distances but they don’t have to be big, long, continuous swims. The pattern:

1 length ,2,1,2,3,2,1,2,3,4,3,2,1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 etc with ten seconds after each swim will add to a long swim and the most you ever have to count is 5 lengths. Superb for aerobic training.  I’d discourage most people from trying repetitions of 800m and above preferring the use of 200m and 400m for building stamina. But there aren’t any pre-set rules for those of us concentrating on building and maintaining fitness.

We can bemoan – and do – the lack of space to swim lengths, at busy times. With a bit of give and take, and co-ordination, it’s easily possible to get at least a dozen swimmers into one lane width. Even when lanes aren’t fitted, swimming up one side of the black lines on the bottom of the pool and down the other side will create a “virtual” lane. Simple etiquette such as moving aside when we sense a faster swimmer approaching will always be acknowledged as a friendly gesture.

What goes through the minds of those who, seemingly swim length after length? What are they doing it for? Where is it all leading to? Is it monotonous, and if so how do they alleviate the monotony?

I never find swimming in the Lido monotonous. In the early mornings I get to imagine what each guest is having for breakfast in the hotel at the traffic lights. The smell of an English Breakfast is worse than the songs of the Sirens to the early morning swimmer. The changing weather is always something to enliven me. Counting strokes per length is important and from time to time I sense a “second wind” when I again feel at ease with the water and can decide to up the pace for a few lengths.

There are all shapes, sizes and ages of swimmers grinding out the metres this year – do come and join in as there is plenty of room and all ranges of abilities too. We have at least one swimmer aiming to swim the Channel this year, a few aiming at swimming Lake Zurich where the 26km will be swum in water that’s warmer (yes honestly) than the Lido’s minimum, there’s at least one doing her first organised open water swimming events, the Great East and Great North Swims later in the summer and plenty of regulars who just love the buzz of being in the water in the open air.

See you there!

It wasn’t all about the older swimmers. We were delighted to welcome Samantha Tierney, one of Guildford City’s competitive youngsters. Pride of place goes to the Petrie lads – Gus, Cal and Brodie – who came all the way down from London with their parents Al and Lucy. Al and Lucy were “representing” our friends from the mighty Tooting Bec Lido and are one of the few (possibly only) husband and wife teams that have conquered the Channel. The boys added ten lengths between them.  We “found” a 2010 Channel solo hopeful, Hugh Thacker, thanks to BBC Radio Surrey and Hugh contributed 6km as part of his Channel training.

Progress was swift and we clocked 35K by 1:30pm. With other swimmers booked to swim later in the day we carried on to clock up a magnificent 49km.  Well done to all, and for the record, the roll of honour comprises:

Christina Victor, Victoria Starr, Rory Fitzgerald, Cllr Marilyn Merryweather, Cllr Anne Meredith, Jim Miles, Janetta Bensouilah, Michel Bensouilah, Helen Wolstencroft, Hugh Thacker, Ellery McGowan, Lucy Scott-Petrie, Cal, Brodie and Gus Petrie, Al Petrie, Russell Atkins, Peter Hall, Steve Kinder, Stephen Ruseler, Samantha Tierney, Philip Newman, Stuart Watson, Jim Boucher.

Once we’ve had confirmation of how much money was raised for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, we’ll post it here. Thank you everyone for making such a brilliant contribution to marking the start of 2010 Lido season.

A Lido reunion event for all FOGLs Channel swimmers must surely be in the diary for next year?