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About carpenter

Movies

Coyotte Ugly
Summer Holiday
Harry Potter
Die Hard

Music

Eurythmics
Rod Steward
Queen
Pink

Interests

Swimming
Eating out
Cars
My dogs
Helping people achieve

Personal Wishes from Sharron Davies

Having met Lisa in 1997 I’m not surprised she has set herself the solo challenge of swimming the English Channel. This sort of challenge takes a huge amount of mental and physical strength and Lisa has both.  Believe you can do it Lisa and you will. The training, dedication of time and constant tiredness will bring reward in the best form, achievement.   Lisa’s personal interest with the charity Action Duchenne makes the challenge even more worthwhile and I have every confidence she will reach her sponsorship target of £10,000. Give it your all Lisa, I know you will.
With my personal best wishes,
Sharron Davies
29 July 2011

Training diary June 2011

Lisa’s channel swim training diary:
June 16th 2011

Lisa’s training has been going well to date, although a little chilly! Open water swims have included the Tri20 lake at Reading, a 7mile river swim down the River Arun to Littlehampton to raise money for the RNLI & Portland with the assistance of Roly Crook, owner of RJC Construction & the Wantage Diving Club’s RIB. Temperatures have ranged from 14 degrees to 18.6 degrees and the 6 hour swim at Lake Windermere at the end of June is expected to be closer to 14 degrees… oh joy!

I’ll be meeting my Pilot on the 24th June for the first time when I’ll be heading out across the channel for a 4 hour swim. This will give me a taster of what to expect, although I don’t mind surprises, I really don’t want any biggies on the day.

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far & a big thank you to my corporate sponsors The Recycling People, RJC Construction & Wantage Diving Club. These people and companies are supporting me with funds to cover the costs of the swim and time & equipment to help with the training.


Lisa’s channel swim training diary:
June 28th 2011

Training in the cold water pool at tfd for the past two weeks has been a great help and has meant I’ve been able to avoid the flesh eating parasites from some of the open water training lakes.
On Saturday 25th June I met my Pilot, Fred Mardle, a fisherman who has been escorting channel swimmers since 1973. He said I should get in for a swim early that morning so at 6am when the rain was at its heaviest downpour of the day, I jumped in to the 14 degree swell with force 4 gales for what Fred called ‘a bit of reality!’.

After 2 ½ hours, he suggested I’d done enough and preceded to tell me that it wasn’t channel swimming weather today! Great news for the support crew though, there is a loo on the boat!

Feeding during longer swims has been my most recent challenge as being horizontal and face down makes it an interesting experience but one I had six hours to try out yesterday at Lake Windermere.
The six hour lake Windermere swim is a prerequisite set by the Channel Swimming Association to test your reaction & endurance to cold open water swimming without a wet suit. The water was 16 degrees which is what I’m hoping for in September. Apart from a one sided sun tan and a dodgy swimming hat tan mark, the swim went without a hitch with my husband, Jason being my support on the shoreline. My next open water sea swim will be off the shoreline in Bournemouth then on 16/17 July I’ll be heading to Portland for some back to back swims from Portland harbour to Lulworth Cove, which is approximately 7 miles. The plan is to swim 28 miles over the course of the weekend which will be excellent preparation as long as the conditions are not too extreme.

Mental strength is even more of a challenge than I thought but I’ve got over every one of them so far with the help and support of my family & friends.

Training diary July 2011

Lisa’s Training update
July 16th & 17th
Portland with Roly & Jason
Saturday
Left at 9am for a lunchtime dip and landed just on time! Water was a warm 17 degrees but the wind was set to get up to force 5 with gusts upto 35mph. Under the shelter of the harbour walls some areas were ‘calmish’ but across the openings, the swell and chop was tough to get through and felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.
Feeding after the 1st hour – Gel pack then the plan was to feed every half hour on hot carb drink with Ribena and half gel pack. The gel was starting to make me feel bloated but I needed to see what it was like over a period of time. I also tried some peach slices but they didn’t seem to do much for taste or energy for me – so might have to leave that to Julie!
Stroke rate was averaging 68 – 72 per minute – good strong strokes & consistent
Tough going through very choppy waves
Sprint finish with still lots of power left.
Total time 3hrs 40 mins – 6.7 miles
Portland to Weymouth

Sunday
Up at 7am, breakfast at 8am, pack up and leave the Heights Hotel in Portland for the harbour again. Dropped in boat and back in the water by 9:50am! Today Matt joined me for a bit of company. Matt was planning on doing the Bournemouth Peer to Peer swim on today but it was cancelled due to rough weather! As we are hardcore, we just went for it anyway. Tongue swell, salt taste, gusty winds, two metre swells & choppy in places makes it a real test of the brain. The general default is reasons to stop & get out but you have to keep taking control over it and keep telling yourself what it will feel like when you get to the end! The feeling of ‘i did it’ rather than ‘I gave up’ is enough to keep my mind focused. I don’t do ‘giving up’.
Stroke rate similar today 65-70 per minute – consistent and strong all the way. A better approach to crossing the harbour openings – head down and swim like a fish is the only way!
Matt stayed in front of me or by the side of me and I found that really motivating. Another person I couldn’t let down and that kept me going!
Feeding included Jelly Babies today as I was finding the gels a bit too much to take another day. I had a couple of caffine & carb gels and hot strong ribena... my fav!
Total time 3hrs 30 mins
Total distance 7 miles
Portland to far east end of Weymouth bay

Previous Events [1]

• Lisa's Channel Swim for Adam - 05 September 2011

  I will be swimming across the English Channel this year to promote & raise funds for Action Duch...

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