The last few days have been spent in Melbourne, and whilst they've been challenging and exhausting, they have been great for my mental and physical preparation for the challenges that lie ahead.

I arrived on Thursday and spent the day with Peter Hendricks and Pat from "Swimwell" - an Australian branch of the "Total Immersion" school of swimming developed by the now legendary Terry Laghlin.  Some of you may recall that back in September when I realised I was no where near fast or effective enough as a swimmer to even vaguely contemplate success at The Channel or any other marathon event, I took a month off normal swimming and tried to rebuild my technique from scratch using Terry's DVD.  I swam an hour of drills per day for 30 days, and managed to go from struggling to swim a two minute 100m, to cruising at 1:45 easily.  Whilst I've continued to improve over the last 6 months, improvements have been hard to come by, and I've become increasingly frustrated at not knowing how to get faster.  I've known what I should be doing (e.g. fixing my catch), but not how.  So, after lots of research I decided to spend a day with these guys.  We did three sessions - including lots of video analysis, drills training, and an open water session.  It was brilliant, and I can already feel some serious differences, and importantly when doing long open water sessions, I now have four or five "focal points" that I can think about and work on for periods, allowing me to constantly fine tune and adjust my weaker areas.  

The rest of the squad I came to Melbourne with have already noticed the difference, and I was comfortably able to keep pace with guys whose bubbles I've been eating for months!  Somehow seeing (on video) the things I do wrong, has enabled me much better to connect with them, and deal with them!  Thanks Peter & Pat!

Now, the other reason for the trip was a cold water training camp with Vladswim, and all the other Sydney based swimmers aiming for the Channel this year.We had a gruelling agenda (thanks Vlad) including three hours with the "Icebergers" at Brighton on Thursday morning, two hours yesterday afternoon, and 6-8 hours today with the "Black Ice" crew (complete cold water nutcases).

By Melbourne standards the water is still relatively warm at 14-15 degrees celsius.  However, the water is never this cold in Sydney so it was a real  shock to the system.  Swimming with a constant ice-cream headache, numb hands, occasionally the "claw" where you can no longer hold your hands stiff to catch the water, and numb legs, is a very new and unpleasant experience!  Remember there are no wetsuits involved, just Speedos, cap and goggles.............

All Channel applicants have to certify that they can swim at least 6 hours in water that is 16 degrees celsius or less, to today's swim was to be the qualifier for many of us.  We started at 6am, in the pitch black, with the ocean illuminated only by the stars (which were sensational).  Amongst the 12 or so of us, only three had flashing lights on their head (must get one), so for the first hour or so we played a ridiculous game of "follow the leader", stopping periodically to either aim for a green flashing light (fellow swimmer), or yellow flasher (navigation pile / buoy!).  Very bizarre indeed, particularly given we're in the open ocean!Anyway, for me the first three hours was mentally immensely tough.  As usual I was searching for excuses to justify getting out.  To her credit coach Charm talked me down (or more accurately yelled at me) and kept me in the water.  I was very glad i stuck it out, as when the Sun came out and rose in the sky, everything seemed to improve.  I swam well, and could have carried on beyond the six hours required.  I did however get out though, partly to preserve myself for next weekend's ordeal, and partly because I had a free pass for Qantas lounge and I was desperate for a meal, beer, and shower.  Couple of points to make here; the Qantas food and welcome is exceptional, and just what I required (four helpings of wholesome pasta with boutique pale ale); the shower's great but if you're tempted I strongly recommend reading the small sign which says you need to go to reception to get a towel, BEFORE getting into the shower.........I had a hysterically painful experience trying to dry my tired, sore, sunburnt body with handtowels........!

Anyway, later this week I'm off for another challenge at the opposite corner of Australia!  700km west of Darwin (in Northern WA) is Lake Argyle.  A mammoth body of water, this stages one of the most scenic marathon swims in the world.  I will be one of nine people swimming 20km, which will be a massive challenge in fresh water (less buoyant therefore more plough-like than boat-like).  Apparently the lake is full of fish and freshwater crocodiles.  I've been told I'm too big for them to find appetising.........let's hope so!

More next week.  Ben

It's been seven weeks since my last post.  Let me bring you up to date. 

The major-achievement high achieved with completion of Rottnest was closely followed by an epic lull!  I took a week off afterwards, mainly to allow my horrific sunburn to recover (mainly face so apologies to colleagues who had to deal with my flakes all week).  The subsequent week I went back to training, but struggled to motivate myself, then got a cold!  So, it was nearly three weeks before I was back at squad fully, more than enough time for my turn of pace to have dropped off and me be struggling to keep up again!

Anyway, searching for my mojo over the last few weeks, I have had some great experiences, wonderful advice, deep and (I think) insightful thoughts, and some amazing swims.  I list a few below:

• Seeing my relative lack of interest in swimming having spent so much time grinding out the miles, a friend said:  "take a day off, go frolic in the ocean and body-surf or something - remind yourself what you love about swimming".  So, I did, and felt one-notch more alive.  Thanks James.
• A few others training with Vlad for the channel and I started doing nightswims at Redleaf pool in the harbour (90 x 60m, surrounded by a solid - we checked - old fashioned steel-bar shark cage).  What an amazing feeling.  Almost etherial, swimming in the pitch black, unable to see anything under the water save for amazing phosphorescence when your hands spear into the water.  Again, this really opened my mind to a new sensation, and rekindled my interest in swimming.
• Some friends who also swim with the Bold & Beautiful in Manly at the weekend have really rallied around the last few weeks.  There are a couple of channel veterans, and others who are training for some long swims, and they've really been encouraging me by organising a weekly long swim in the ocean.  This is exactly what I need, and the long swims in the ocean are great for me.  There's a sense of adventure (e.g. we swam from Manly to Dee Why and back yesterday, stopping at each beach for a feed!), cameraderie, but also a feeling of total isolation and self-dependency.  I've found that on these long swims (yesterday was 5 hours, about 15kms), my swimming improves after about two hours, and then as long as I feed regularly I get stronger and faster, the longer we go on.  I really felt like I could conquer the channel yesterday (thanks guys).
• A friend reminded me yesterday that I have already achieved a lot in swimming terms.  A year ago I was a really very average and slow swimming, struggling to do 100m in a pool in 2 minutes, battling to swim a 2km ocean swim in less than 40 mins.  Now I can bash out 100m in 1min 25secs, occasionally less, and can comfortably swim for distances of 10, 15, 20kms..............This progress ultimately due to persistence and open-mindedness on my part.  Several great coaches have been involved, hours of drills, and I have no doubt that this will never end.........the quest for continuous improvement and learning is really what life's about in my view.
  
• I've really learned that whilst speed, efficiency in the water, and fitness are important, ultimately it's my mind that controls how I perform.  When I'm feeling down on myself I swim badly, and I lack endurance.  When I'm confident and positive, I could battle through anything.  It may seem trite that I should observe this - most of us will have heard or read about this many times in our lives.  The difference now is that I know it to be true, deep in my core.  I'm determined to learn how to channel the positive mental energy that I feel sometimes, more of the time.  The power I sense could be unleashed will be the difference between great achievement and failure.  More on this later, I'm about to hop onto Amazon!
• Opportunity International - the funds we're raising (more than $10,000 so far) will really change lives.  We're a long way from the target of $50k, but I have no doubt that we will get there!
  

So, we're less than 6 months from d-day, let me briefly describe a typical week before signing off:

• Swimming - at least 25kms in the pool with squad, 15 in the ocean.  Have covered approx 800kms in training so far! 
  
• Gym - twice a week during the day to strengthen core and muscles required to maintain good form.
• Yoga - sadly only once a week (wish it was more)
• Stretching - daily
• Eating - 7 meals per day, am beginning the fattening up process.............and have gained 5 kgs since rotto!  Only time I really notice is donning my suit in the morning!  Have massively reduced my alcohol consumption to a couple of glasses of wine, twice a week with the occasional more indulgent evening only allowed after a massive swim (e.g. yesterday!).
  
• Sleeping - am in bed by 9.30pm during the week, up at 5am six days per week
• Work - 50+ hours per week!

I'm sure you've heard enough from me today!  I will write more regularly.  I have created a gallery(click here) with a few photos, which I will add to and better organise over time. 

Thanks for your ongoing interest and support.  Ben