Fat Percentage: 34 % (should be around 30%)
Water: 48.4 % (should be at 50%)
Left Bicep: 31.6 cm
Right Bicep: 32 cm
Back: 105. 9 cm (I think I am back on track with measuring...)
It's been suggested I put on my BMI and my house mate has acquired a weighing scale so snazzy that it works out your BMI, water percentage and body fat percentage (I've no idea how-it appears to be just some scales to me) I came out slightly better than I anticipated, although that may be because I may have added an inch or so to my height. I should also start measuring my lung capacity. I might do that by timing how long it takes to blow up a paddling pool.
Songs: For the previous two swims, no song. Although for jogging it quite frequently is a song by my friend The Lone Taxidermist http://www.myspace.com/taxidermistsmanchester who sings a song that goes 'Wobble bum in poo pants. I love to jog' (yet to be added to her page)
Jogging?
As part of 'the training' I have decided to attempt to jog as a an alternative to swimming- because Gertrude Edele did, because it is completely out of my comfort zone and because I seem to be surrounded by people that are training for the London Marathon. What follows is a bit of a cheat as it was written when I first started trying to jog at the end of last year...I probably have more to say...
They say (someone said, sometime, somewhere) that you are either a runner or a swimmer. Swimming for me makes me sleek and graceful. Running is humiliation, uncomfortable.
But in beginning to read more about the female swimmers that first attempted The Channel, I know I should start running. Pounding the pavement for all too see.
I have a complex history with running, team sports and exercise in general. Swimming is the only sport I have ever been good at, apart from one brief moment in a game of netball when I was B team captin and fell to my knees while scoring a pointless but dramatic goal.
I wanted to be good at football, as a feminist stance even at 8 years old (my mother's daughter) but I was essentially to lazy and too afraid of not being that good.
Sportsday, Leavesden Green Junior School, I was perhaps in the infants at the time. I used to be able to run. Run like the wind. Run through the playground. Into British Bulldog. Away from the boys with sloppy kisses and into the arms of the boys I wanted to kiss.
So I had a good chance of winning, eager, eager to beat Kim Dibble, eager to show off to my older brother and his friends.
Mr Petherick raised the start gun (now this might not have been a gun, but memory adds shades and explanations where necessary, so for this sake of this, it was a start gun)
The gun went off and I ran, ran as fast my legs would take me, knowing my brother would be proud of me, not feeling any beat of the feet behind me. Shouts cheering for me. I was winning by metres, by miles, out ahead, the star of the day. When I turned, and no one else had left the startline. They were shouting me to stop. A false start. A false start in an infants 100 metre race.
And from that moment on running was no longer my thing. But for training purposes to keep up fitness levels that I didn't know I needed, I should take up jogging.
Beneath a pair of ill fitting, ill advised red glittery winklepickers I finally find my running shoes, purchased four years ago in a town out of this City. The first steps in the attempt to match a then boyfriend of a new found running passion. I wore them once to run in. Humiliations and regret with every step.
The theory of running, the principle of running of it, I agree and enjoy. Heart beating faster, drowning out the voices that bounce around the head. Sweat down the back of the neck. Satisfaction on completion.
In physical exertion; walking, lifting, swimming, I can carry on past the point of no return. But running just makes me want to give up. I'm happy to fail, let shame and humiliation fill my bones.
What makes a runner? And what makes a swimmer? Both lone occupations a step away from team sports and group feeling. Both require a certain amount of happiness in being in your own head, fine to listen to the voice that talks, there's no ball to distract you, no point to score, a stretch of water, a stretch of road. Or an ability to zone out. Forget the voices, go all Zen.
The rytham in swimming allows me to think methodically about situations and fantasies. Dream up new events. Get angry at things that haven't happened. The idea of running appeals to me because it obliteration. Its running away, it is not laps.
Barely able to run for a minute it is obliteration, but it is not running away. Red faced, I can feel my bottom half two feet behind me.
I ran on Tuesday, an excuse for not swimming, but I didn't sleep that night. A conversation with a friend at the weekend put fear into my logistics, my bed sweaty with panic about the reality of the swim, here's the time frame I am looking (stolen from the channel crossing website http://www.channelswimming.net/ ) at my reality rising...I'm looking at, at least £5000
A Guide to the successful booking procedure 1. Select the year and tidal period you want to book.
Check with the pilots to see which pilots have places free. Confirm the reservation with the pilot for the tidal period you want.
2. The pilot will then hold the position (if it is available) for a short period
and e-mail you the booking request.
3. AGREE TREMS and confirm your acceptance of the position offered .
4. The pilot will confirm the reservation and send you instructions and a
contract for the position.
5. Sign and return your pilots contract with your deposit or booking
fee to Finalise your booking.
5. Let the CS&PF office know you have everything sorted with the pilot
and your swim position is booked.
6. The pilot will also tell the office when the booking is finalised and
the contract and deposit has been received.
Note the deadline for paying the pilots deposits or any deposit balance
is usually 31st December in the year before you swim.
This is the deadline - earlier payment will give you peace of mind and
conformation of your booking. After the 1st January the pilots can re-book any places not confirmed with
a signed contract and a full deposit. Should you cancel your place after
you have confirmed and paid any fees these fees paid are non returnable. Make sure you are definitely prepared to commit yourself to booking the
place before finalising it. Please note the pilots deposits are non
returnable and required to confirm the place bookings. NOTE - When the office has conformation of your pilots booking we will
then send you the CS&PF application and medical forms.
These are sent out from the end of December in the year before you swim. Both these forms must be completed in the year of your swim.
(That's after 1st January) and before the deadlines below.1st MAY for application - MID MAY for medicals. 31st MAY for everything to be completed. Ratified 6 and 2 hour swims latest is 14 days before your swim tide period starts.
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