What will you do over the next 6 hrs?

Wow What A Week - Since I launched this blogspot 8 days ago I have received just over 1,000 visits, with close to 40% of visitors making a donation to support my chosen charities. To see people from as far afield as Russia and the USA  prepared to support individuals and families in the U.K. is just simply fantastic!!

A massive THANK YOU goes out to everyone that has donated and kindly offered their support.

I must also say a big thank you especially to my niece Lauren who text me this week to say;
"You are very inspiring and I am proud to be your niece"

....Aside from the massive benefits that any monies raised would bring to individuals and families, I had never really thought about what impact my activities would have on others? I have never believed that you could motivate somebody, I believe that comes from within, but I have always believed that you could inspire people, I'm glad that my efforts may also inspire others? 

What will you do over the next 6 hours?

Last Saturday, 14th July, I entered the water at 06.00 hrs (oops 06.15hrs..I was late!!) to join fellow English Channel aspirant  Lewis Young in Dover Harbour to complete our 6 hr qualifying swim. Thanks Lewis for the early start, I've never known a 17 year old who wanted to get up that early before?

As a Channel Swimmer you must complete a 6hr swim in cold water, 60F (15.6 c) or less and get it rectified before you make any attempt to swim the English Channel.

Just to make absolutely sure my coach,( yes Tanya again www.doverlifeguard.co.uk and www.cpsf.co.uk ), is taking us to swim Lake Windermere in the Lake District at the end of this month to do a 10 hr qualifying swim...at this rate I might just do a 'two-way' swim...I think not?  

Anyhow, back to the 6hr qualifying swim? I have tended to suffer cramp within the 1st hour of my swims so I have ensured that I have upped my fluid intake the days before these big swims and have eaten well.

My pre swim meal constitutes of porridge, eggs on toast, toast and marmite, a banana, eccles cake, a cup of tea and plenty of water at least 1 hr before I swim, followed by sucking on ginger as I drive to the harbour to combat seasickness and then eating another banana 5 minutes before I swim?

Checking into the 'Beachside Lodge' and with my support team, Alison and Sarah, I  confirm my feed patterns, once after the first 2 hrs and then every hour and I quickly grease up my neck, armpits and between my legs to avoid the inevitable friction burns ( I learnt the hard way that its best to always shave before swimming??) 

Due to my late entry into the water, I only glimpsed Lewis at feed times and once in 5 hours of swimming in open water, ( I always worry about Lewis because he appears to have hypothermia in the first 10 minutes but he won't need long to swim the channel, he swims with the elegance and the speed of a dolphin... me by comparison..I can only liken myself to an oil tanker...heavy and slow!!)

The 1st two hours of the swim was very tedious and seemed to take forever. The water was warm and thankfully no cramp but everything and everyone was still asleep.The sky was grey, no seagulls flying and no shore side activity aside from the support team watching through binoculars from the 'Beachside Lodge' tent that was flapping in the wind and an inquisitive seal that swam underneath me and popped up alongside to say good morning (about an hour later that same seal chased a swimmer out of the water as he tried to get in...perhaps he left me alone because he could see the resemblance lol)?

Eventually Dover awakened and a cruise ship entered the harbour about 08.00 a.m. which set me off thinking about where it had been or was going, but at least it killed another 30 Min's? At 09.00 a.m. I was joined by the other channel swimmers...I took some great delight knowing that I was already 3 hrs into my session and these swimmers had 4 or 6 hrs to do..the benefits of  starting early..thanks Lewis?  






Hourly feed times were great, Maxim, chocolate..more chocolate,  more maxim and bananas ... I emerged successful, fed and watered at 12.15 hrs after 6 hrs of swimming ....surprisingly I was not that cold or nor did I have any aches and  I even gave a little jig of joy at the end!





Lewis had already completed his swim and was now sitting in the car waiting for his mum, Well done Lewis - you can do it?

I must give another big thank you to the staff at the 'Beachside Lodge' for their support and for feeding me.

Once they had packed away the tent and departed I sat on the beach enjoying the delights of my sandwich box and flask; chicken soup, sausage rolls, egg sandwiches and best of all my much treasured 'Real Lancashire Eccles Cake' the main stay of my channel swim diet www.lancashireecclescakes.co.uk

As for this week, swimming was cancelled due to the Olympic Torch relay and I have not been running as I have had visitors from Holland, my good friends Twan van Brussel and Annerie. So I took them to my local library......

A week off is perhaps a good thing!
   

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Iconic or Moronic....?

I am scheduled to swim the English Channel on the 28th August 2013 starting from Shakespeare Beach in England to Cap Gris-Nez in France. To tackle this most iconic of swims I first dipped my toe in the waters of Dover Harbour on the 3rd May 2011 and "screamed like a girl".

I remember looking at my coach and shaking my head thinking this was such a moronic idea! I was so surprised and even embarrassed by my reaction that I vowed never to be so ill prepared and naive again.. attempting to swim the channel is serious sh!!t !! 

Today I continue to train hard, be committed and dedicated to achieving my goal driven on by my channel swim coach Tanya Harding, who is also the open water swim coach for Dover Lifeguard Club www.doverlifeguard.co.uk


Over the months Tanya has tirelessly transformed me into some resemblance of an open water swimmer - our training sessions at St.Margaret's Bay Holiday Park swimming pool have been most amusing especially when I have to share a lane? www.park-resorts.com

My first season of swimming included many highlights including increasing my time in open water to 3 hours, swimming at night, swimming with a seal and getting used to suffering from the symptoms of hypothermia. I even bought a larger thermal flask in order to maintain a sensible fluid intake - the importance of not over filling your cup is one of the key lessons that you learn early on?

I also (rather prematurely) participated in a successful relay Channel swim on the 29th of September 2011.

Much like the last boy to be picked for the football team there was I sitting on the beach eating my much loved eccles cake and I was approached to make up the numbers of a channel relay team, later to be known as 'The Guns of Navarone' ,a name derived from the 1961 British-American  classic war film - Peck,Niven, Quinn  (you had to be there to understand why it was chosen and the fact that our arms smoked like guns - kiss the guns team).


After an aborted 5hr 1st attempt due to 'bad weather, seasick swimmers, interesting swells' we returned four days later to complete our 5 man relay swim in 16 hrs and 25mins landing in France around 01.00 hrs.  

     
The successful team; Shannon Burgess, Alasdair Bruce, Mr Green, Peter Winfield, Johnny Hewlett and coach Tanya Harding.

To remain accustomed to the sea temperatures I decided to continue to train in open water throughout the winter of 2011/2012 and swam every week as sea temperatures fell to a low of approx  5 C - this was more about conditioning my mind than physical benefit (careful now!)  

And now we are into the 2012 season and no I did not scream, we are at the business end of channel swimming, gone are the days of 1hr swims. I am currently up to 5 hr sessions perhaps once or twice a weekend and on Saturday the 14th of July I undertake my 6 hr qualifying swim which allows me to attempt to swim the channel..hang on guys..but I don't go until 2013?

Training to swim the channel is very selfish and personal and I thank Sezen for all the support she continues to give..but the house is spotless? xx 

On the week commencing the 30th July this year I am heading off to Lake Windermere with two soloist Lewis Young (17) and Sophie Tills (18) to complete their training for an  attempt on the English Channel in August this year. We will all complete a 10 hr swim of Lake Windermere.

 Strangely enough I have trained with these two youngsters this year but hang on Tanya...shouldn't I be doing this swim next year? 

    

A Colourful Life... Mr Green's Bucket List

Sometimes we do not know what is worth doing until we actually do it and reflect upon it.

I have often lived my life based on this principle and it has certainly added a vibrancy and colour that once prompted a family friend to urge me to write a book and call it  'A Colourful Life'... A nice idea Mark but there are still many more songs left in me yet? 

In early 2011 I decided to draw up 'My Bucket' list and set myself a series of challenges that I wanted to achieve by the time I was '50'. It is my hope that by completing these challenges this will not only further enhance my life and those around me but also those many individuals and families that lead extraordinary lives as a result of fighting cancer or a terminal illness.
  
My aim for Part One of 'My Bucket List' is to raise over £1million pounds by the summer of 2015, for the four leading cancer centres in the UK; The Christie Charitable Fund, The Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity and Together for Short Lives, the UK charity that supports young people living with terminal or life threatening illness.

I have written more about why I have chosen to support these charities in the 'My Charities' section of my blog.

Part One of 'My Bucket List' starts with my solo swim of the English Channel on the 28th August 2013 the 21 mile stretch of water that separates England and France. To swim the channel is the most iconic swim to tackle in the world known as the 'Everest of Swimming'.

What triggered me to swim the channel? Driving to Dover everyday seeing the French coastline (on a good day) and saying I could swim that, coupled with being inspired by the 'aptitude and attitude' of the many young unemployed people that I was working with in the town who wanted to change their lives despite the many difficult challenges they faced.

It  also didn't help that my work colleague, Tanya Harding, turned out to be part of the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation www.cspf.co.uk and is now my cross channel swimming coach!! ( I have a lot to thank her for?).   

By the time I swim in 2013, I want to have reached my 1st stage fund raising target of £600,000.  Please refer to my blog - How You Can Donate


In the spring of 2015 I will then be attempting a continuous traverse over all 284 of Scotland's 3000 ft mountains, The Munro's.

Like many before me I fell in love with the wonderful landscape of the Scottish Highlands as a place that infuses my spirit and revitalises my senses, I hope one day to settle there with my partner and of course the dogs!

My journey will be entirely self-propelled; running, cycling  swimming and a little climbing. Based on Charles Campbell ( www.munrorun2000.co.uk) and Stephen Pyke's (www.munros2010.blogspot.co.uk) successful rounds in 2000 and 2010 respectively, the approximate distance covered will be 2.33 miles of swimming (Campbell only as Pyke kayaked), 764 miles of cycling, 893 miles on foot and 411,717 ft of ascent starting at Ben More, Isle of Mull and ending on Ben Hope, Sutherland. 




By the summer of 2015 I want to have achieved the final challenge of Part One of 'My Bucket List' which was to have met or networked with a million people and raised over £1million pounds for my nominated charities.

All I ask is for you to kindly donate £1.00 or more and invite your network of friends, family and colleagues to help me achieve the target - it can be done!



Part Two of 'My Bucket List' will commence in the Spring of 2016 with the running of the Marathon des Sables (subject to acceptance) the 6 day/151 mile endurance race across the Sahara desert in Morocco.

Beyond this and subject to planning and feasibility (after all I still need to work) I have aspirations to embark on a continuous cycle around the coastline of Britain that I hope will lead me onto a undertaking a full distance expedition to the North Pole!

I have yet to decide fully on the number of charities that I will be supporting in Part Two but it will include the British Heart Foundation - this ones for Oz. 

I'm Mr Green, I do hope you will share with me my journey and adventure, your support will be invaluable not only to me but it will help keep families where they belong, together for longer .