Channel bound...well, not so much

To some this will come as surprise, to others less so. After months of training and a gazillion yards swum, I have decided not to attempt an English Channel crossing. My reasons for this are threefold:

1) I've been rather unsuccessful at finding sponsorship. I have not looked all that aggressively and certainly have not exhausted all my options in this area, so if this were my only reason or even my main reason, I wouldn't let it stop me. I could also *gasp* work longer hours at my day job. Holding 1 extra therapy session a day between now and the end of the school year would be enough to cover boat and pilot fees, the most expensive part of the trip. But, as convenient as it is to use finances as an excuse, I have to be honest with myself. Even if I won the lotto tomorrow, I still would not do the channel. Luckily, I've invested nothing but training in preparing for my goal so far, so there's little to lose by backing out at this point.

2) I'm not handling the cold well. While I'm fine when the mercury is above 60, as soon as it hits 59 I begin to suffer, even during swims as short as 1 hr. Temperatures in the channel typically range between 58-62, but can dip down further in cold patches. I worry about becoming hypothermic, especially when I am exhausted from hours of swimming. Boxing has made me lean, as least for a cold water swimmer. Perhaps I no longer have the insulation to handle the cold. My mom was very lean when she swam the channel, but her stroke count was over 90 strokes a minute. I swim at a similar speed, but my stroke count is only about 55 strokes/min. I don't have the turnover speed to generate as much heat as my mom did. But, as with issue #1, if this were my main concern, I would not let it stop me. Continuing to cold water train through the winter would help. I could also wait until after nationals and then spend some quality time with my buddies Ben and Jerry. An extra 10 lbs of insulation would goal long way towards keeping me warm. But this brings me to the real issue...

3) My heart just is not in it. I'm swimming faster that I have since high school and I don't want to give that up. The thought of doing 6 hour training swims fills me with thick dread. I am a distance swimmer, but I'm not the endurance machine that my mom is. Doing super long swims breaks me down and this takes me a long time to recover from. I don't like the cold and I hate swimming alone. I've been swimming about 25,000 -30,000 yards a week, but to get ready for the channel, I would need to swim about 50,000 yds a week. To build up to that kind of yardage, I would need to give up a lot - time, speed, sanity, and other activities I love, such as boxing. It just isn't worth it. I'm much more excited about other things - USMS nationals, next year's open water season, maybe one day learning to spar and box in the ring.

I want to thank everyone who has helped and supported me in pursuit of my goal. I couldn't have come this far without so much support from my family and teammates. Really, without you guys I would have given up after week 1! I can't say that I regret my decision to attempt to swim the channel. It's been a good year and I'm glad to be back in good swimming shape. One day, I might decide to attempt the channel again - probably when I am 45 years old and in the midst of a midlife crisis. If I do, I will go into it with a very real understanding of the kind of commitment it takes to pursue this goal.

I plan to continue blogging, but maybe should find a new name for this blog. Any ideas??