Tony Cherrington Cup and 'teabags' with sunglasses

I thought I would show off the impressive trophy that I won in the Lido sprint. The largest trophy I have ever won by some way and yet relatively probably one of my least impressive swims. It was neither a particularly fast time nor did I beat a vast field of sprinters to secure the title. Still as in life the reward doesn't always match the achievement.

The opening of the Lido has meant most of my training now is in this wonderful outdoor 50m pool and I am enjoying the cold mornings and still relatively quiet attendance. I was amused to note that in the Lido the 'teabags' (people who just bob up and down the pool) can sometimes be seen wearing sunglasses while swimming. I use the term 'swimming' loosely as I don't believe you can really claim to be swimming if you are trying to keep your face and hair dry, wearing sunglasses and sedately breastroking up and down the pool. Instead what you are doing is really just a form of floating. Perhaps 'directed floating' would best describe this activity. I've never held breaststroke in high regard anyway, it's clearly not a real stroke if you can do it with sunglasses on instead of goggles.

My biggest achievement this month has been the 3kg of weight gain I have achieved. Finally I am seeing some results. I think I have achieved this by switching from a stuff your face at mealtimes approach to an 'eat constantly through the day' philosophy. The girls at work are getting sick of me whinging about how hard it is to put on weight as I munch a large block of chocolate each morning and a packet of biscuits each afternoon. They think it is grossly unfair and now I have started asking them for sponsorship they are asking why they should be paying me to torture them on a daily basis.

Off to Greece for a week. It is a holiday really but it should be a great training week, the sea temperature should be high teens, perfect for comfortable sea swimming and I hope considerably clearer and more attractive than Dover Harbour.

Well over 600km now for the year, 3kg of insulation added and now a trip to the Mediterranean, May has been a very positive month, only a little over 3 to go to the big swim.