Merry Christmas Everyone..x



Big Ricks Open Water Swimming Team 2010..
Christmas Jolly....!!

Its been a bit of disjointed week, with The Bad Snow, The Team`s Injuries , The Teams Laziness, The Children's School Carol services  ,The Office parties etc,,,You know its all the normal stuff that goes on in the week leading up to Christmas..!!. 3 sessions were done by some, and what was done as helped us reach our goal of being prepared and ready for the 5th Jan 2011..when everything will start  for real..!!!

On the sponsorship front, there is still not that much joy i`m afraid ...but we have had  a few positive inquiries so we are very hopefully in weeks ahead there might be some better news ,.! there was positive news of the British Hear Foundation who can adapt the Walsall Appeal leaflet to include the words about our swimming challenge and include the information on the defibrillators

We do have some Great  News , Our good friend and  Walsall`s  No.1 Sports Star., Olympic Swimmer  Nick Gillingham has agreed  to lend his support to Big Ricks Team., It  can only do us good to have a 2 time Olympic medallist and former world record holder on board with us.. Cheers Nick your  a true friend.! ,



Nick Gillingham MBE, Double Olympic Medallist,

 World Champion,  And World Record holder...



Saturday when  Morning Training was over...It was Big Ricks 1st Christmas Jolly...,We had a great time, 9 of the Team Braved the cold and very bad snow to celebrate a great 1st full  Year for the Big Ricks open water Swim Team,,lets hope its the 1st of many to come .!!! .. 

Sadly a few of The Team couldn`t` make it , Flabby Chest daz was trapped in Liverpool because of the snow, The Meat Brownjohn was over in Sweden seeing his partners family and as for   The Captain "Chunky Boy"" Cashy.??? well we just  don`t` know ..as he never turned at swimming in the morning or at the  pub for afternoon Drink with his TEAM MATES.!!!!Mmmmm.! well lets just say we will sort a Massive forfeit for him ..don`t you worry. !

The Usual Suspects..!!

The only thing left to say  is to wish you all a Fabulous Christmas and a Magical New Year..!!xxx

see you 2011......

                      Now in the words of  Walsall`s Most Famous Band

                             Its Christmassssssssssssss..!!!!!!

If you wish to support 'Big Ricks' English Channel challenge in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK,then please log onto our Virgin Money Giving Page;

                              Big Ricks Channel Swim 2011 Virgin Money Giving

This Weeks Sessions:

Monday 13/12/10

Warm up..400 ( 300 free 100 back)

Main Set 8 x 400 ( 12, 10x2, 8x4,6x6,4x8,2x10,12, 12x1) mixing the set up, fast and slow, different strokes.

Warm Down 400.

Thursday 16/12/10

Warm Up..400M (choice drills)

Main Set 6x600 (1st set  600,2nd set  200,2x100,3x2, 3rd set 3x4,3x2 4th set 6x1, 200 6x1,5th set 3 x200, 6th set 600) working of a 100 time of 1.30.! hard set..

Warm Down 400

Saturday 18/12/10

Warm Up 400M drills

Main Set..3 x 600M...fast ..going of 1.20 per 100 pace..( very hard, lots of rest ) follow that with 12x1 sprint drills( 50-50 sprints, under water and then sprint etc)

Warm Down 400M...

                                  Saturday morning 6.45 am..,and  its a bit fresh....!!

Its Been a Tough Week..14/12/10

Come On...!!! Anyone who has ever swam at the Walsall Gala Baths knows
  The temperature  never goes above -5 EVER..! so god knows
where 29 degrees comes from Mr Pugh..lol

 Its been a funny old week .The training part of week has been great, everyone in Big Ricks Team (apart from Gary with his bad back and old Flabby Chest Darran with his illness )  , really are starting to get there general swimming fitness back to level

where we can really push on with the much harder and longer swim sessions  in the new year without any worries, which is great news, as the 100% Swimmers in the Team  thought  the Water Polo Boys Richard and Rob might take until the End of January  to get back up to speed.!!  but that's so not the case.., sorry for doubting you guys.... ,

Saturdays (11/12/10 ) swim  really was promising , We had a go at our very First hour long none stop swim, Dougy and Paul managed to do over 4000m, ( well they are both still swimming pretty much full time still , well ok 2 times a week.!! ) Richard did a great swim around 3600m and Captain Cashy was doing great until he slopped of after about 50 minutes,because as we later learnt   his good lady wife was going Christmas shopping and he was told Don`t Be Late Home Or Else.!! .!( and as we know Chunky Boy Cash  always does as he is told .!!!!! like most husbands i guess.) Big Ricks 2 amazing reserves Nick and Nicky ( or as they are better known  Mr Average and Sloppy.!!) also  swam great Nicky doing about 3500 and Nick 3200..the great swimming done by the team,  shows what can be done after just  3 weeks of  training, just think what we can do after 7 months..!!!

So Our Record attempt To Do The Fastest English Channel Relay Crossing for Team (over 40)  really is Very Much The cards in 2011.!!!

The Tough part of the week has been all to do with Sponsorship ,or should i say the lack of it..!! We have Gently been approaching some of the Multi National Companies that are based in around The Walsall area for help and support  .You know the Super Market Chains, Banks, DiY stores..etc..., but sadly we have very little success at the moment .!!, and those who have replied have wished us well, but have also given us a big fat NO where help is concerned .!! i  know that all of them are doing amazing things for charities through out  the U.K , pledging many millions of pounds in the process which is we know is fantastic and long may it continue in these tough times!, and we also guess  these companies  must get 1000`s of requests for help such as ours every week .!!! So We won`t take a few knock backs to personally, and we certainly will not give up asking for help..!!

                        Saturday 7am , just before our 1st One Hour Time trail.!!!

If you wish to support 'Big Ricks' English Channel challenge in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK,then please log onto our Virgin Money Giving Page;

                              Big Ricks Channel Swim 2011 Virgin Money Giving

This Weeks Swim Sessions;
Monday 6/6/10
Warm up 400  (200 easy, 200 drills)
Kick Set..600..( 6x100`s  Freestyle ..1st length hard, 2nd recover 3rd hard..30 sec rest between each 100)
Main Set..7x400 (  straight 12, then 10x2,8x4,6x6,4x8,10x8,12) short rest between each 400, try and mix up the 400 with another stroke not  freestyle..!!)
Warm down..12x1.( breathing set..... breath every 6, 7,8,9,10,11 straight,11,10,9,8,7.. keep an eye on how many strokes it takes you..!! will come use full in the weeks ahead.!!)
Thursday 9/12/10
Warm Up 800..( 200 swim kick pull swim ) choice stokes.
Main Set 3 X 1200 ( 3 x 400 of 6 minutes)
                               (6 x 200 of 3 minutes)
                               (12 x 100 of 1min 30 )
try and make all the sets comfortable, using it as way of swimming an even pace.
Warm Down..6x2 ..breathing every 5..long stroke..counting strokes again
Saturday 11/12/12
Warm UP. 400 mixed strokes..
Main set ..A straight  1 Hour swim.. (looking to pace yourself throughout the swim..!! its not about the distance , all about the time.!!)
Warm down..200 Easy backstroke.. 

WHY Are We Trying To Raise £10,000..........??

                                                                                                                                         
   If you wish to support 'Big Ricks' English Channel challenge in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK,then please log onto our Virgin Money Giving Page;

                              Big Ricks Channel Swim 2011 Virgin Money Giving               

Extreme Winter Training Week....!! 4/12/10

 
<>

"Our Winter Training Home The Gala Baths.."

This week’s training has been difficult to say the least, I guess we in the West Midlands have been very lucky Compared to rest of the U.K, but still with the ice and snow and it’s not been easy to train. But its surprising where there is a will there is always a way..!!! so we some how managed to get 3 sessions in again this week, and very Good sessions at that. The only down side to things  at the moment is that we are only a team of 4 at present.. Sadly Big Gary Edgington ( The Silver Badger.!) has had a recurrence of back trouble and has been signed of work for the rest of the year., Hopefully with a few weeks rest over Christmas the back pain will ease and He can start  his training in Ernest in the New Year... Our other missing member is our very own Super Star..!! Mr  Darran "supper chest" Dyke  ...who sadly is suffering a very painful illness which he always gets about his time of year , I`m  think some of you may of heard of this deadly illness ... LAZYITIS....!!,  so at the moment he's more fondly known as Flabby Chest..!.!! So he had  best  Get his ass into gear and get to  training ASAP before  he gets his old  Man Boobs BACK.!!! ( other wise we have to Take shocking measures and publish picture evidence of the old man Boobs ..SCARY.!)

To Finish on a positive Note, there is some great news, Big Ricks Team Have Coach.!! ( A real coach sorry Paul) The A.S.A Legend Dave Marsh has offered his services to act as coach/team manger for training at the Pool, Lake and Sea Sessions( i wonder if he knows what he has let himself in for.!) , Dave has also agreed to come  on the boat  and keep us in order, when we attempt our ""Record Breaking Crossing"" in July 2011. Dave has  been coaching at Club,Midland, National and international level for over 50 yrs at least..!!! we are very lucky to have him to help us..

"The Coaching Legend That Is Dave Marsh"

.!



Dave 1st advice having looked at our First few weeks of Training..were.-
Hi Big Ricks Team.!!,
I think that you need to up the cardio vascular element of the training.  I would suggest some FC Kick with fins.  Not because you need to train your legs but the Quads and Hamstrings are the largest muscle groups and will burn a lot of oxygen.  Work off heart rates instead of rest times.  Push the heart rate to near maximum, this will vary for each of you and start the next set when it has dropped to normal + 50%.  I would suggest that this be included after the warm up and then go on to the distance work when you have done the cardio vascular.  This will increase your lactate tolerance which you will need.  You still have to keep up the mileage.

If you wish to support 'Big Ricks' English Channel challenge in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK,then please log onto our Virgin Money Giving Page;

                              Big Ricks Channel Swim 2011 Virgin Money Giving

This Weeks Swim Sessions
 ( we will be taking up Dave`s Advice from next week  ) 
Monday 29/11/10
Warm up: 800( 200 swim, kick, pull, swim )
Main Set: 25x100 (going off 1.35 ) swimming at 80% do some of he set with paddles, and pull buoy.
swim down: 400 skill drill..
Thursday 2/12/10
Warm up: easy 400m choice..
Main Set: 3x400,4x300,6x200...done as one swim..! no rest. showed i like this because we swam at 2 paces..with out stopping..so for the 3x 400 is was 400 hard 400 skill and recover and 400 hard, then onto the 300 and so on..its hard swim.!
Swim Down.400 skill drills.
Saturday 4/12/10
Warm Up : 1000 drills ( 200 swim,kick,pull catch up swim)
Main Set: 100% effort swim as Coach Marsh advised.
500m (100%) 100m recover swim (we still did drills on the recovery swim)
400m ""            ""
300m ""            ""
200m ""            ""
100m ""            ""
50 m  ""            ""
1 L     ""            ""
Swim Down 400m easy drills.

                                             " Extreme Channel Training"

Snow..!! 27/11/10

6.30  Saturday Morning, its showing -5 in the Car, and its Snowing...!!
But Nothing will stop The Channel Training.!!

This week it really does  feel  like everything at last  has  fitted into place perfectly,  we  really are swimming the channel in 2011  WOW..!!!!
We have set up our  sponsor site with Virgin Money      http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/bigrickschannelswim2011 
We have decided to swim for 2 amazing Charities; The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research . ( more details to follow why we have chosen  these  Charities ).

Breath In Chunky.!!

Okay; as for training this week has been a good start.. most of the team have done at least 2 swims and some have even managed  3 and more..it's still early stages in our  training programme at the moment ,  currently we are just trying to ensure that all  the teams fitness levels are about  the same.., so when January 1st comes around we  really can start our training in earnest  .  As you can see from Captain Cashy  above..the next few weeks of warm up swimming  are much needed..!!

A short Video of the start of this Morning 5000m Swim..

Paul at 6.30 am Saturday Morning.!!

If you wish to support 'Big Ricks' English Channel challenge in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK,then please log onto our Virgin Money Giving Page;

                              Big Ricks Channel Swim 2011 Virgin Money Giving

This Weeks Sessions....

Monday 22/11/10

Warm Up: 600..( 3x200..1st 200 Freestyle, 2nd 200 backstroke,3rd 200 choice stroke)

Main Set: : 3600..(6 x 600..1st 600 Straight, 2nd 600 (3x200) ,3rd 600 straight , 4th 600 (6x100) ,5th 600 straight , 6th 600 ( 300x200x100) ) have  almost no rest after each swim..only 10 seconds at most.!!. try to swim at even pace, well within our selves.., looking to double this set this set to 12x600 by end of January 2011.

Swim Down:..Easy paced 400..still thinking of stroke technique even though its our warm down swim.

Thursday  25/11/10

Warm up:..600..( 3x200..1st 200 freestyle , 2nd 200 freestyle Pull, 3rd 200 freestyle )

Main Set...Pyramid ..(100,200,300,400,500,400,300,200,100) working at a good pace..its meant to be a  hard swim don`t be scared of it. working on 1min 30sec per 100..

Swim Down:...nice 6x2..backstroke 1st length choice 2nd length 

Saturday 27/11/10

Warm Up: .. 600 easy paced..thinking bi lateral breathing, thinking a strong long stroke, 

Main Set: ..7x400( 2x400, 4x200,3x4,4x100,6x2) again working at a good pace, maybe 80%.only resting for 5 seconds after each swim..its our way to keep record of the distances we are doing and trying to make it a little more interesting than just doing a 2800m stright off..

Swim Down: Nice easy 6x1 choice..

Most of these sessions are done in an Hour..sadly we don`t have longer time in the water at the moment ..So what we have has to be Quality .!!

We are also  trying to do as much Land Work every week as possible , Concentrating mainly on the areas that help us swim stronger..So its   Back,Shoulders,Triceps and Core work mostly, High Rep`s at the moment...(only Increasing the weight slowly over the weeks), still drop in the odd set of chest,legs and biceps , plus the odd session of  rowing, spin class, X-trainer..etc just to mix things  up.!  

, 

The Start Of Great Things.. !20/11/10

Big Rick channel Team 2011

Okay,...are you sitting comfortably, Then let our story begin....!! It's 6.45 on a Saturday morning, it's dark, it's wet, it's damp and it's freezing !!!  and that's just in the changing rooms.!!!, we have talked and talked about swimming the 'Channel' as a team  for what seems likes years, but today is the day we start the 9 months of training for the big swim on the 19th-20th July 2011 ..!!!!
The 1st team training session took place at Walsall's Gala Swimming  Baths..5 of the team braved the cold water and began the start of the long road to fitness and hopefully glory in 9 months time .!and  after today's  swim, the road is more like a motorway ..but we will get there one way or another.!!

"Big Ricks Channel Squad"

If you wish to support 'Big Ricks' English Channel challenge in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK,then please log onto our Virgin Money Giving Page;

                              Big Ricks Channel Swim 2011 Virgin Money Giving

The First Week Of Channel  Sessions.....!!
Thursday 18/11/10
Warm Up: 800..( 4x200 swim kick pull swim)
Main Set: 6x 500 We are going to be doing a lot of  two paced swimming over the next 3 or 4 months. as  we think its great way to set yourself up for a channel swim . we expect to face different
condition in the channel, so working hard and then recovering whilst  still continue to swim is we feel at must to train for..   ..
So this set is done as a straight  500m swim ..but with in the 500 its broken down  as 5x100`s ,  the 100 hundred at 90% effort ,2nd 100 used to recover but use it as skill hundred and not just a easy hundred so try bi lateral breathing, or catch up or kick,3rd hundred 90% effort, 4th 100 skill , 5th 100 90% . 30 seconds rest the go again until the 3000 is finish.. 
Swim Down: 400 choice any stroke


Saturday 20/11/10
Warm Up : 600..freestyle drills... Chose between catch up, single arm, kick, bi lateral breathing etc..  Remembering  to try and reach out as your fingers enter the water , then and as you pull , remember to finish  the stroke past the hip  of at the end of the pull..even after years of swimming don`t forget your skill sets..poor stroke will cost you time and energy 
Main Set : same as Thursdays set..we enjoyed it that much..!!
Swim Down: 600 Freestyle drills