30marathonswims30days

So this is my challenge - 30 consecutive marathon swims in 30 days. That is, 10km swum every day for 30 days. 

Every swim will be in the Sandford Parks Lido here in Cheltenham. The aim is to promote and support the Sandford Lido and encourage and hopefully inspire people to get down to their local swimming pools. 

I've been a big fan of the Lido ever since I first came to Cheltenham back in 2000. Over the years it has been a huge part of my training swims for various open water challenges from swimming the English Channel to the Channel of Bones in Hawaii to my Manhattan swim. 

The Sandford Lido has had a stuttering start to the year with a major boiler breakdown costing £15,000 in repairs and 3 weeks of heating at the start of the season (I've selfishly enjoyed having the pool to myself at times as the water temp dropped to only 10degrees!).  They have an ongoing struggle with the Cheltenham Borough Council to secure a new lease on the site and neighbouring car park. The public interest and publicity I can generate for the Lido will hopefully help raise some funds for them but more importantly reinforce the importance of this wonderful facility to Cheltenham and the wider area.  

Logistically this will be an interesting challenge. One 10km swim is a long training swim but quite manageable with my level of swimming fitness. Doing it day after day for 30 days becomes a much more difficult proposition. How will my shoulders and back hold up (not to mention my heart!). I can't afford to have a month of work so I will need to fit these swims in before and after work. Without a rest day how will the build up of muscle and mental fatigue affect me? 

I plan to keep a log of my progress here. 30 days of marathon swimming, 300km, 6000 lengths of the 50m pool, approximately 200,000 strokes. Anyone fancy joining me for a couple of lengths?