Swim Camp 5

I join the Red Top swim camp in Croatia prepared for a week's worth of.. swimming.. including the six-hour qualifier required for the Channel which has been on my mind for some time. What on earth does one think about ? 

But before this, I catch an early 6:30am flight to Zagreb, eying a few middle-aged dudes with Speedo bags, none of us ready to engage so early in the wigwam. We are met at the Croatian airport for the two-hour drive to Optija with its lovely coastal line and a modern aquatics complex with two 50-meter swimming basins, clean and fast at 3-meters deep. The USA swim team will be here for two weeks prior to the Olympics.

There are 15 campers of whom two are swimming the Oceans 7 (only 27 have done it), one Loch Lomond (the longest lake in Scotland0, one an EC-return and the rest of us the Channel one-way.

Over the course of six-days we will reach c 87 kilometres of swimming.  Happily a lot of the pool time is focused on technique and recovery rather than grinding out hard repeats. Each day has at least two practices including one open-water swim of c two-hours. We eat a lot of carbs. I go to bed early.

As for the six-hour swim, I finish without difficulty and cannot recall a single thought.

I'm the one checking his watch but who's competitive ?