After I successfully completed my Windermere 2-way swim in 2021 I wanted to set myself another challenge. I wanted it to be or include the English Channel solo because it had always been a dream of mine. Whilst deciding on a challenge I had read about Tom Chapman who had swum the Bristol channel 3 times and done 3 different routes in 2021.
I liked the idea that you could do multiple routes in the Bristol Channel and although not a well known swim, it could, potentially be suitable for myself and many more swimmers than the English Channel due to there being multiple routes of differing distances. I thought by doing it, it would be a step up from Windermere and give me a chance to do my first long sea swim before I committed to the huge challenge of swimming the English Channel solo. Obviously, I ended up doing the English Channel 2 years later and before Bristol, so, now I am going back to Bristol and am doing the longest route!
Firstly, I thought it would be helpful for me to answer some of the most common questions I keep being asked about the Bristol Channel –
Why Bristol?
I discovered the Original Triple Crown of Open water swimming after my Windermere swim. It includes the English Channel, the Bristol Channel, and the North Channel. At the time, no female and no one with a disability had completed the challenge, and it sounded impossible, it made me want to see if it was possible and my challenge was set.
What is the distance?
The distance varies depending on which route you do. For the Original Triple Crown, you do the longest route which is approximately 26.6 miles (15 nautical miles) in a straight line. Obviously, the distance you swim varies slightly depending on tides and currents during the swim.
Where from/to?
I will be swimming from Glenthorne to Porthcawl (or vice versa). For The Original Triple Crown, you must start or finish west of the River Ogmore and start or finish either North or West of Devon. Other routes may be considered if the route is continuously swum, and the distance exceeds 27km.
Onto my training so far –
After my English Channel Swim, I was back swimming and pleased with how I was doing but in early November I strained my bicep and since then I have been recovering from a Bicep injury and that has meant no swimming at all since October. Going from swimming 4 or 5 times a week to being unable to swim was odd to say the least. I was going insane, I missed swimming and training so much and I lost a lot of my strength and gained weight in the process.
At the start of January, I finally got to see a physio and was given resistance band exercises to help me, I stuck to them religiously and started to see some progress but not as much or as quickly as I would have liked. I kept going with it and slowly started adding more training in, starting with increasing the intensity in my personal training sessions, then it was time to add some swimming in.
I knew once I was in the water, I would just want to keep swimming so to stop me going all out I turned up to the pool session late so that I would only have 20 minutes of swimming time. Although I knew each step was progress, it didn’t feel like I was training, it felt like training to get me ready for training, so it was a bit silly and pointless, but I knew building it up slowly would be the best thing for me.
A week later I started doing a full and more ‘normal’ training sessions in the gym and I did a full hour-long swim in the pool. That was followed by adding an open water swim on top to try and start getting me acclimatised, it still didn’t really feel like training though.
Finally, this week I feel like I am actually training!
The really important thing for me right now is to establish consistency in my training. I need to be training more frequently, consistently, and effectively. This week I was happy to complete a 1 hour, tough, personal training session, 2×1 hour pool swims and an open water swim. This is my minimum weekly training I want to be doing going forwards.
This weeks training was as follows:
Monday – Honestly, I struggled. I was exhausted and in a lot of pain, so I didn’t want to get out of bed. However, I am now at the point where I know it is crucial for me to swim more frequently so after convincing myself to go to the pool I kept it nice and simple with 4x500m. My aim was to try and see where I am in terms of my pacing, I have obviously lost speed as a result of losing strength in my arms, but that wasn’t important. The important bit was that I swam those 4x500m at a similar pace and apart from the first rep, I wasn’t far off so was happy enough.
Tuesday – My usual personal training session, blimey it was hard work. We are still trying not to put too much pressure and weight through my arm as I am healing. Saying that, we upped the difficulty of my exercises and boy did I know it during and afterwards. Alongside building strength back in my arms with sledge push and pulls in my wheelchair we are working on more functional exercises to try and improve my balance, mobility and specifically my walking. My hope being I will be able to walk out at the end of my Bristol Channel Swim!
Wednesday – With the rain we weren’t sure we would be able to get a river swim in but we went and gave it a go! It was more swimming on the spot but to be honest, the swimming wasn’t the important bit for me, the important thing was being in the cold water (7.6 degrees) for 15 minutes. Open water is all about acclimatisation right now.
Thursday – Rest day, making sure that I remember that rest is just as important as the physical training days!
Friday – My second hour long swim of the week and the fact I was trying it felt like an achievement, but that didn’t stop the anxiety over not knowing if I was pushing myself too hard too soon. I kept it a very simple session and was hyper analysing every twinge and niggle I felt but, in the end, it felt better than I have for months!
I did a very simple set – 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m freestyle and ended with 500m of trying which drills I am currently able to do without an increase in pain, the answer; not many! It felt like a tough session, and I did have some minor pain in my arm but nothing at a range that meant I needed to or should have stopped.
In summary – right now, I wish I could say that I am swimming a minimum of 10km a week and feeling amazing. Sadly, that’s not the reality when returning from injury and it’s important for me to remember that. It also important to remember that is not just in my case but it’d be the same for anyone with an injury, so I need to stop being so hard on myself!
For now, my plan is simply to keep healing and try to hit swimming 5km during the week, consistently over the next 2 weeks!
Bristol Channel Training is a go!