220 lengths

Last night I swam in a coached endurance session for 220 lengths of a 25m pool. Just over 2 hours of swimming front crawl and quite high level of intensity. I didn't have my buoyant wetsuit or salty sea water that I have become so accustomed to help me out. This was raw swimming monotony.

When I finished I was ravenous, sore and my back was killing me. This back trouble is starting to worry me. My Chiro and Physio say that I developing very tight hamstrings from the swimming and this is pulling on my lower back. I need to work on this fast as swim intensity increases next month. I went out for a pizza and 2 beers afterwards to chat with a friend, lots of carbo's but probably the wrong kind for recovery.

Pool swimming has become somewhat of an anathema, a sacrifice I make to the Atlantic swim Gods, I hate pool swimming, too many people, the turning after each 25m, the cramps I get in my calves from pushing off the wall to quickly, the monotony - it is so much more difficult to switch off and zone out, which is what I can do when in the sea, it is this mental displacement that enables me to swim for so long without getting bored - this is practically impossible to do in a pool.

There is only one comfort though - no sharks.

Shark attack

2 weeks ago I swam for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean. I was at Widemouth Bay in Cornwall, the weather was excellent, the surf was 3 ft and I wanted to swim way out beyond the breaking surf to the deep blue swell. I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to swim away from land in very deep water. I checked with all the life guards about currents and tides and picked the safest time to swim, I had Tasha my safety kayaker with me and so just put my head down and swam out through the throngs of surfers and crashing waves into the deep blue Atlantic Ocean.

What is quite incredible and always seems to hit me after a swim like this (fortunately not before), is how 4 months ago I still had a huge fear of deep open water and it is now only 4 years since I learnt to swim. I seem to have developed this tunnel vision about the swim ahead of me. I had planned to swim straight out into deep water for 40 minutes and swim back for however long it took. This session was about experiencing new conditions, but also a normal training session for me.

I swam out for a mile and half, I wear ear plugs to prevent the feeling of dizziness you can get from swimming for a long time and so I can't always hear my safety kayaker correcting my course or warning me of problems ahead, this scream was different, I quite clearly heard the word shark and in that instant I panicked. A wave of nausea hit me and I instantly brought my legs up into a ball then called Tasha over so I could wrap my legs over the boat and hold on. I wanted to climb out of the water and sit on the kayak but the risk of capsizing was too great and needed the safety kayak to be 'safe'.

Three or so Basking shark, about 4 ft long surfaced within a few metres of me. What I didn't know was that these shark are harmless, but to a swimmer, looking through goggles, lost in his own thoughts a 4ft shark with fin, is a scary thing to see.

It took a good few minutes to calm down, I was just floating on my back in the big blue Atlantic swell, enjoying the peace and solitude, trying to get the sharks out of my head. If I carried on swimming west I would eventually reach New York!

I love swimming in the sea, how I hate swimming in a pool.....

The Tom Crean Society host Irish Explorers

Shaun (my tent mate and Antarctic best friend) and I were invited to give a talk on "Surviving Polar Extremes" recently at a packed out auditorium at Trinity College, Dublin.

The Tom Crean Society was set up on December 12th 2001, the Centenary of Scott's 'Discovery' Expedition. Their aim is to preserve and promote the memory of this great Irish Polar explorer.

Shaun and I gave a detailed and emotional re-enactment of our recent expedition to the South Pole. I believe the audience benefited from the two of us reliving the daily grind and awful conditions of Antarctica, from our own unique perspectives. Whilst we both very much experienced the same conditions, they affected us in very different ways. Shaun and I both agreed afterwards that there were moments when we both felt we were back on the ice and in the tent squabbling about the most mundane of things.

"Dear Jonathon,
I can't express my appreciation for a wonderful evening. The feedback I have been getting is that it was a riveting evening. One man who finds it difficult to sit still never budged all during the presentation, his wife told me!

It was extremely moving on many levels and there was something very important in the experience of being there last night for each and everyone of us. The Tom Crean Society is so grateful to you for coming over and doing this for us. I think it will be the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with the Society.

The very best of wishes

Eithne Casey
Chair of the Tom Crean Society (Dublin Branch)"

The Bandon Awards & Civic Medal

Last week in Ireland the 4 of the Beyond Endurance team met up for the first time since we all left the ice in January. So soon after it had ended, we dispersed and got back to normal life, Clare and Pat were back at work on the Monday after we arrived. Shaun had a week off and is now back at work in Dublin. When I saw him over the weekend - he said he had not really thought much about the 2 months on the ice since we had finished, he has put the whole experience away into a 'cupboard' and forgotten about it, leaving it there until he is more ready to look back and reminisce about our time together in the cold.

It was great to see them all again, but it was somehow.....actually obviously very different, this wasn't expedition life, our clothes smelt and looked nice for a start and we had all shaved. We were gathered in West Cork for the Annual Community and Sports awards. The team were rumoured to be up for an award for the 1st Irish Team to the South Pole and Clare was up for an individual award too.

It was especially great to see Shaun again after so many months. We had spent such a huge amount of time together on the ice in such close confinement, never arguing or falling out and to think we didn't even know each other before the expedition started - quite incredible really. The first few minutes were a bit strange, but then the ice broke and the banter started - we were straight back on the ice. It was great to see him again - you can create such bonds of friendship on expedition (also hatred, but not in our case) that when you go your separate ways there is vacuum. For me especially as I have found it difficult to recuperate, I have been quite ill and the post expedition low has hit me quite hard. I realised that I had actually been on 3 back to back expeditions last year from June onwards, with no break. I had lost and gained over 4 stone in 9 months and in March and April I really struggled to find any rhythm in life. Seeing the team again and celebrating some of the accolades together has been good rehab.

Anyway we won the Supreme Achievement Award as a team, and Clare won Person of the Year, this is the second time she has won this as in 2004 she got it for climbing Everest - well deserved that is what I say, she should have got an award for putting up with the three of us boys too. She has also had a footpath/walkway named after her in her home town of Bandon - how great is that?

On the Monday, 3 of us (Shaun had to go back to Dublin) were presented the Lord Mayors Civic Medal at a special ceremony in County Hall in Cork. I am very honored and very flattered, my thanks to the people of Cork, never having won a medal before for anything (I was terrible at sports at school, along with most other things) this means a lot to me.

South Pole Team Supports Fairtrade

Whilst in Ireland recently, three of the Beyond Endurance team were seen promoting Kinsale as the winner of Ireland's best Fairtrade town.

It was a bitterly cold morning, with an icy breeze, myself, Clare and Shaun were embarrassed by having to shiver uncontrollably to keep warm - much to the amusement of the supporters.

Padraig Fitzgerald from the Kinsale Fairtrade Committee was most kind and generous to us and we were proud to be supporting such a fantastic cause.

The Fairtrade Foundation