ZimHippo Takes to the Channel: I have finally done what i set out to do

The Channel Swim "WHY?"

The 1st reason

Last year in September my brother must have been bored at work and got hold of me at the office and asked,
“Hey Graeme, how about doing something interesting next year?”
I said
“okay what is it”
Spencer
“How about we swim the channel!!”
Me
“Are you nuts, what drugs have you been on?”

That was the beginning of a conversation that was to change the way my summer for 2008 panned out, much to the disgust of a few friends and much to the detriment of my socialising but hey looking at the summer so far, I suppose it is not a bad thing.

After this conversation, I started to think about where I was in life and that I was a bit overweight: clinically obese according to my doctors. At that time I was training about 10 km a week and the nurse didn’t quite know how to break the news to me about the above fact.

I was also suffering from lower back trouble and it was really annoying me, thanks to the desk job!!!!!

I am the sort of person who cannot just go to the gym so I figured that if I wanted to tone up a bit and strengthen my body in general, this might be a good plan.

The 2^nd reason

The other reason I am doing this is the fact that I will be able to raise some money for the desperate people of a country that has been torn apart by a dictator. With unemployment at about 90% and life expectancy in the mid-thirties, the country has gone from being one of the fastest growing economies in Africa in the 1990s, to having the highest inflation of any country in the world, currently sitting at 1 400 000%.

From breadbasket to basket case all in the space of 10 short years.

This country is Zimbabwe, some of you might know it, some might have even had the privilege to have been there on holiday. For me it is the most amazing country in the world. A country that afforded me so much whilst I was growing up, a country I still call home and a country my heart bleeds for. It is a privilege for me to be able to try and make a difference, in any small way possible to the people, especially the old age pensioners whose pension probably equates to no more than a few pence a month, and that is for the few who actually have or had a pension.

Even for the extremely wealthy, the everyday things like going to the shop to buy milk, bread, meat, eggs, butter, vegetables, fuel. Being able to have a romantic dinner with electric lights as opposed to candles, or just have electricity for more than about 2 hours a day is only a distant memory

Who Am I?

Name :- Graeme Schlachter

contact: g.schlachter@btinternet.com

Age :- 33

Having grown up in Zimbabwe I was fortunate enough to be pretty active and the sports I did included :-

Sailing which took me onto sail in three world championships.

Horse riding as my primary sport in my former years.

My school sports :-

Rugby

swimming for the provincial side, didn’t quite make the National side as I was too lazy. My specialist stroke was butterfly, (there was a fleeting , very fleeting thought about swimming the channel doing butterfly………. sanity got the better of me)

After school I took up triathlons and cycling. I sold a couple of horses to afford my first bike and competed in the All Africa games in the U19 category for triathlons. It was only thanks to my swimming and the fact that I was above average on the bike that got me thus far as I was, and probably still am, the worlds worst runner.

At the tender age of 21 I left Zimbabwe and sailed round the Mediterranean for a season and then moved to London, My two years travelling around the world turned into 10 years in the bright lights of London, too much partying, drinking and generally being seriously lazy and this has got me to where I am now,

Due to Swim the channel on the week of the

21^st to the 27^th Of September

Under the watchful eye of the EnglishChannel Queen- Alison Streeter.

Training Drills

When it comes to training, I have noticed that, for endurance sport there are many varied opinions on how to go about this aspect of your Channel Challenge so What i am putting down here is purely what I have dsigned for myself and may not in any way constitute a full training programme for you.

Firstly if you are training in a pool, you will probably be pushing fairly lengthy swims so counting lengths can be extremely tedious and, if you are like me, you will lose count after about 6 lengths.
To get around this a watch is essential and knowing what you can do certain distances is also essential.

My training revolves around the following times that pertain to MY ability
50m = 45 seconds
100m = 9o seconds (1 min 30 seconds)
200m = 3 minutes
400m = 6 minutes
1000m = 15 minutes

These times are not swimming at my fastest possible speed, these are based on what I feel is sustainable for log training.
I will generally train between 5000m - 8000m each session and I do this 4 times a week and then do long open water swims on the weekends.

With this in mind I vary my training depending on what I want to do. For example stamina training or distance

Set 1

500m warmup
10 x 100m going off every 90 seconds

1 x 200m in 3 minutes or below followed directly by
50m slow (to get your Heart Rate down) Then Immdiately start........
1 x 200m in 3 minutes or below followed directly by
50m slow. (this is regarded as rest

4 x1000m maintaining sub 15 minutes per 1000m

10 x 100m (4 lengths) altering breathing as below
1st lenght breath every 3 strokes
2nd length breath every 5 strokes
3rd length breath every 7 strokes
4th lenght Breath every 9 strokes or not at all
10 second rest between each 100m

250m arm pull with pull boy
250m Legs only altering between strokes

500m Swim down

This makes up 8000m and I aim to do it under 2 hours 15 minutes

Instructions from the general

The Channel Swim "WHY?"

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

I have finally done what i set out to do

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