December 2013 - Arch to Arc

Hi Friends,

I had some spare time today so thought I'd write another blog to keep you in the loop to how my Arch to Arc triathlon training is coming along.

My biggest challenge to date has been trying to work out a routine that is sustainable. It does get difficult sometimes juggling full time work, coaching and my training; but I'm making it work. I am actually glad it does get difficult at times because this is what makes me a stronger athlete.   I believe athletes that don’t have to overcome any obstacles or have any challengers in the lead up to their event are not as mentally tough. In endurance events mental toughness is always overlooked even though it’s such a big part.

Being a swimmer my whole life I have never really needed to use my glutes before and as a result I don't have any. My first step in transitioning from a swimmer to a triathlete has been to try and build my glutes as fast as I can. As it turns out they are very important for running and cycling. My triathlon coach, Chris Weier has his work cut out for him.

Since my favourite thing in the world is racing, I've entered in couple of small aquathons early next year. I would love nothing more than to start racing triathlons right now, but if I start doing that before I have built my legs up to those distances it will just cause injury. Towards the end of next year I'm hoping to have at least one ironman under my belt.

I have recently found out my friend and fellow Australian, John Van Wise has also signed up to the Arch to Arc where he is attempting to break the world record as well. John is booked in for 2014 so I'll be following his attempt very closely to learn as much as I can. I met John Van Wise back in 2011 when he gave me some great advice on how to prepare for the English Channel crossing. John has swum the English Channel a number of times and has done heaps of other crazy ultra-marathon events too.

My plan for Arch to Arc is to complete the 140km run in under 24 hours, then have a short rest before taking on the 34km English Channel swim in under 10 hours, then having another short rest before getting through the 290km cycle as fast as I can.

This last week I've spent in the Northern Territory (on a training holiday) with my mate Justin Hanby. I've gotten some good running in, we ran Urulu, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon!

“A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more." – Steve Prefontaine

Happy New Year!

Trent Grimsey

English Channel Record Holder

www.grimseysadultswimfit.com

Date:  31^st December 2013

 

                                                                                                             (The top of Ayres Rock!)

London to Paris, Enduroman Arch to Arc Triathlon

Hi Friends,

I have some exciting news to share with you today. I have signed up to complete the London to Paris triathlon in September of 2015. This event is known as the Enduroman Arch to Arc ultra-distance Triathlon. Starting with a 140km run from London's Marble Arch to Dover on the Kent coast, then the 34km English Channel swim to the French coast, it finishes with a 290km cycle from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The sheer distance of this triathlon is why only 13 athletes to date have ever completed the distance. The world record currently stands at 73 hours 39 minutes and is held by Englishman Mark Bayliss. I will be attempting this record!


Why am I doing this?


Since deciding to hang up my togs and retire from swimming earlier this year in January, I'd started to fall into a bad place. I had no goals and had lost all motivation to do any form of exercise anymore.


You hear all the time about ex professional athletes suffering depression after retiring and having a hard time trying to adjust to life after their careers. I thought for sure this wouldn't happen to me. I had a loving family, beautiful girlfriend and supportive friends. I had nothing at all to be depressed about, but it was happening. I was too embarrassed to speak to anyone about it because I didn't want to be seen as weak or have people change the way they thought of me. Every month it seemed to get a little worse. I was very unsocial, moody and completely unmotivated to do anything.


I guess September was the turning point. A few things happened in this month one after another that made me think I can't keep going like this, something has to change. I really had two options: I could have stayed on the path I was on or I could try and get my life back in order by setting myself some new goals and challenges.


On a recent trip to England with one of my friends I heard about this crazy triathlon athletes did from London to Paris. It got me thinking would I be able to do something like that?


Being an endurance athlete I really couldn't see a better endurance event then this ultra-distance triathlon to make my new goal. I already have the connection with the English Channel so it made sense.


What will be my biggest challenges?


Not having ever run seriously before or having never ridden a road bike will definitely be my two biggest challenges. I'll spend the next 6 to 8 months learning the ropes on the bike and getting my running technique down pat. From there I'll slowly start building up the kms. I could have booked in for 2014 but decided to hold off for 2015 as I'm going to give this thing a real crack!


Whereas before when I was swimming I was a 'professional' athlete, things this time around will be very different. I now have a full time job and my part time coaching on top of that, so I obviously have to work my training in around all of that. Time management will play a big roll but that's what excites me about this new challenge.


I thrive on that feeling of being under pressure. When things seem near impossible, it's when I perform my best.


I'll keep regular blogs and updates between now and race day to let everyone know how I'm traveling.


You can also follow my journey on Facebook. Make sure you 'like' my page: Trent Grimsey - Marathon Swimmer.


Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence - (Helen Keller)


Regards,


Trent Grimsey


English Channel Record Holder
2012 FINA Grand Prix Champion
2012 King of the Sea


www.grimseysadultswimfit.com

Summary of 2012!

Hi Friends,

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and New Year!

I should have really done this blog a couple of days ago but I guess late is better than never. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the support I was given in 2012. Looking back I couldn’t have imagined it would have been as successful as it was. Starting 2012 I had two goals: to win the Grand Prix Series and to break the English Channel record. I was lucky enough to have achieved both those goals and much more. Below I have my full race schedule and results from 2012:

King of the Sea 4km (Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro) – Gold

King of the Sea Sprint Race (Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro) – 1st

State New Zealand Harbor Crossing (Auckland, New Zealand) - 1st

State New Zealand Piahia Classic (Piahai, New Zealand) – 1st

Noosa Eyeline 1000 Ocean Swim (Sunshine Coast) - 2nd

Burleigh Ocean Swim 2km (Gold Coast) - 1st

Burleigh Ocean Swim 1km (Gold Coast) - 1st

Queensland Swimming Open Water 10km Championships (Kawana) - 1st

Queensland Swimming Open Water 5km Championships (Kawana) - 1st

Great Australian Coolooangatta Swim 2.2km (Coolooangatta) - 2nd

Brisbane Swimming Open Water 10km Championships (Kawana)- 1st

English Channel - NEW WORLD RECORD - 6 hours 55 minutes

BCT Gydnia 18km (Gydnia, Poland) - SILVER

2012 FINA Grand Prix Champion

Lake Ohrid (30km) Grand Prix (Ohrid, Macedonia) - SILVER

Lac Megantic (10km) World Cup (Megantic,Canada) - 4th

Lac Magog (34km) Grand Prix (Magog, Canada) - Gold

Lac Magog 2km Sprint (Magog, Canada) - 1st

Lac Saint-Jean (32km) Grand Prix (Roberval, Canada) - GOLD

 Trans Tahoe Relay 18km (Lake Tahoe, California) - 1st

Capri-Napoli (36km) Grand Prix (Naples - Italy) - GOLD + NEW WORLD RECORD -6.29.03

Oceania Championships 10km Open Water (Noumea, New Caledonia) - GOLD

Oceania Championships 400m (Noumea, New Caledonia) - SILVER

Oceania Championships 1500m (Noumea, New Caledonia) - SILVER

Oceania Championships 5km Open Water (Noumea, New Caledonia) - SILVER

Noosa Blue Ocean Swim (Sunshine Coast) - 1st

Australian Surf Life Saving Nationals - Taplin Relay (Gold Coast) - 1st

Mt. Maunganui Sand to Surf Ocean Swim (Mt.Maunganui, New Zealand) - 1st

Mooloolaba Eyeline 1000 Ocean Swim (Sunshine Coast) - 1st

Australian Nationals 5km (Perth) - SILVER

Hernandarias - Parana (5km) Grand Prix (Parana, Argentina) - GOLD

Hernandarias - Parana Sprint (Parana, Argentina) - 1st

Santa Fe - Coronda (57km) Grand Prix (Santa Fe, Argentina) - 5th

Santa Fe - Coronda Sprint (Santa Fe, Argentina) - 2nd

New Zealand Open Water Nationals 10km (Taupo, New Zealand) - 1st

Dicky Beach Ocean Swim (Sunshine Coast) - 1^st

 

 

A shout out to all my sponsors that helped me in 2012: Strathpine Physio and SportsCare, Finis, The College of Health and Fitness, PreMax, Belgravia Leisure and 1Vigor.

 

In 2013, my goal is to win a gold medal at World Championships. I honestly believe I have the best team around me to make it happen. Thanks again for all your support. I have a good feeling about 2013!

 

Trent Grimsey

English Channel Record Holder

2012 Grand Prix Champion
2012 King of the Sea

 

www.trentgrimsey.com

 

 

 

 

September 2012 - English Channel World Record!

Hi Friends,

 

 

Wow - what an absolute whirl wind the past two weeks have been. I'll try and start from the begining... I arrived in London late at night on the 27th of August with my coach Harley Connolly. I'd just competed in a different marathon every weekend for the past 6 weeks so I wasn't feeling too crash hot. When we arrived we picked up our hire car and drove to our first hotel in Folkestone. We arrived at around 11pm so as soon as we got to our room we crashed straight away. It wasn't until the morning when he woke up that we discovered just how dodgy our hotel was. The room was tiny and I could hardley even fit my bag in there - there was no shower so we had to take baths all week and the beds must have been about as old as the run down hotel. As disappointing as it was we tried to stay positive because we were only going to be there for about a week before switching to the Varne Ridge Holiday Park. I had been told before coming over from a friend and fellow channel swimmer that the best place to stay over there was the Varne Ridge. It didn't disappoint. David and his wife Evelyn who own the place were great they did everything they could to make us feel welcome. All the people that stay at the Varne Ridge are channel swimmers, so it was cool just to walk around talking to the other swimmers and finding out their story and why they wanted to swim the channel. It was like one big family, everyone was so supportive of each other.

 

 

Pretty much everyday I was there before I actually swam the channel was exactly the same. Wake up in the morning have breakfast, go training, rest, have lunch, rest, go training again, then have dinner... It was very repetitive and boring but that's what we needed to do to swim fast. I swam at the Dover pool for most sessions and the lifeguards there were great. When they saw me come in they'd clear a lane for me so I'd always have a lane to myself. The other public swimmers were also great they all knew I was going for a record attempt so they didn't have a problem with me having a lane to myself. Some days in the lanes either side of me there would be up to 6 people in each lane. I did train in the Harbour at least once every three or four days to get my body ready to the cold water, but I much perferred to train in the pool. The first day I swam in the Harbor nobody else was in there and I was too scared to swim too far by myself so I just decided to swim about 100m back and forth very close to shore for about 45 minutes. I absolutely hate swimming in an ocean by myself. It was very weird that no one else was in the Harbor at that time because there are normally other channel swimmers in there all the time. The next time we swam in the Harbour I made my coach Harley hire a kayak and paddle next to me. Thankfully the third time I swam in there my support swimmer Damian Blaum had arrived by then and it was much better having someone else to swim with out there. Damian arrived in on the 5th of September. For anyone that doesn't know Damian has been one of the best marathon swimmers in the world over the last 10 years now. He finished second to me this year in the 2012 Fina Grand Prix ranking. I was very lucky have him there helping me out!

 

 

It was on Thursday the 6th of September when I was half way through one of my training session when I got the call from my pilot Mike Oram saying he wanted to meet up to discuss when we should plan to swim. We met up an hour later on his boat down in the harbor. He gave us all the information he had on what the weather conditions were going to be like that week and we decided that Saturday morning at 5am would be the best time to swim... I had been dreaming of this day for so long and now it was going to finally be happening. That night I didn't get much sleep at all because I was far too excited so I spent the early hours of the morning reading my Bradley Wiggins book I'd bought earlier that week. Bradley Wiggins was the guy who won the Tour de France this year. Friday I made all my drinks/feeds and we picked up some last minute things we needed from the shops. I had already packed my bags with everything I needed a few days before because I knew I could get the call up anytime and I wanted to be ready. My sleep Friday night wasn't much better than the night before. I was still far too excited to sleep so again I was up in the early hours of Saturday morning reading my Bradley Wiggins book knowing it was only a matter of hours before I'd be swimming the English Channel!

 

 

After getting to the boat at 4am and speaking with Mike, he decided it would probably be best if we pushed our start time back to around 6.30am. This gave us time to head back to the Varne Ridge for  about an hour's more sleep before driving back down to the boat. After getting some last minute advice from Mike, I put my suit on and started greasing up. We got to the start line around 6.30am and Mike said be careful when you jump there is only about a meter of water under you. Not wanting to dive too deep I did a kind of retarded side roll into the water then swam to the beach about 50 metres away. I did a few arm swings, a last minute pee and then stuck my arms in the air to let Mike know I was ready to start. I got the count down from my crew, then once I heard the horn I ran into the water and started swimming. I can't really remember too much more from the start of the swim . I was kind of having an out of body experience. I just remember thinking this is the coolest thing ever, I'm swimming the English Channel!

 

 

I was feeding every 20 minutes and my crew was constantly communicating with me the whole way via a white board and pen. After the first hour I was told by my crew I was 3 minutes under the record. I couldn't believe I was that far under after only an hour. I felt very comfortable so decided to pick up the pace. This whole time my crew was writing me motivational comments on the white board and letting me know some messages my parents and friends were sending me on twitter from back home. When I took my 3 hour feed my crew let me know I was now 7 minutes under the record! They kept reminding me to relax, stay strong and keep in rhythm. At the 4 hour 30 minute mark I was told I still had 7 minutes up on the record and I was holding the same pace Petar had. This was great -while I wasn't gaining any more distance I wasn't losing any either. This is where I started to fall apart. After 5 hours I was struggling mentally and physically was starting to really hurt. I was getting annoyed and distracted at every little thing. I could feel myself slowing down and there was nothing I could do about it. My crew could see I was going through a rough patch and they tried to help, but all I did was get more angry and I even yelled at them a couple of times - which I'm very embarrassed and ashamed of now. I'd been swimming as fast as I could for 5 hours and now I had lost it mentally and was trying as hard as I could to hold it together. I think there were two things that happened around the same time that helped me through this hole I was in. The first was my crew had let me know Petar Stoychev was on the phone to Mike my pilot. He was checking how I was going... The second thing was that my crew had held up a sign letting me know I only had 4.4kms left to swim in under one hour ten minutes if I still wanted the record. My next sign said I had 2.7kms to swim in under 44 minutes. With about 35 minutes left to swim I told Damian, my support swimmer I wanted him in with me. Just after Damian jumped in I got another sign saying I had 1500m to swim in 30 minutes. I was in a world of pain by this stage. My stroke had gone out the back door well and truly by this stage and I was just throwing my arms over as fast as I could. The next sign said 500m to swim in under 10 minutes. It wasn't until this sign that I knew the record would well and truly be mine. As I got to about 10 meters from the French coast I started lifting my head to look for a good rock to climb up on. The clock doesn't stop until you are standing up on both feet stably. When I found my rock I grabbed it and pulled my body up. It was so hard to get my feet up because it was a little slippery and really sharp. I have quite a few cuts and bruises on my feet, legs, elbows and hands because of it, but when I finally got up I stuck both hands in the air to let my boat know to stop the clock. After I did this I heard a loud horn and I knew I had finished. I didn't really know what to do after this. I didn't know what to think or feel so I just sat down on my rock and stared into space for a few minutes. I was having another out of body experience. Damian was there trying to talk to me but I couldn't hear a word he was saying. I just sat there wondering how I should be feeling. When we finally got back to the boat everyone was congratulating me but again I wasn't taking anything in anyone was saying to me. My offical time was 6 hours 55 minutes flat. The boat ride back to England seemed to take forever and I was getting really boat sick. At one stage I had my head between my legs but I ended up being alright. When we pulled up at the dock in Dover I thanked Mike again and he gave us a copy of the course we took. There was one journalist there waiting for us and after the quick interview we were all in the car on our way back to the Varne Ridge.

 

 

Once we got back to the Varne Ridge David and Evelyn were there waiting with a heap of the other swimmers with champagne for us. It was awesome. A couple of days before David told me if I did break the record he'd put my plaque in the prime position just above the office. When we got back there was a piece of paper over the old plaque that was there saying 'Trent Grimsey World Record holder - 6.55' !  It was unreal! Again I was still having a bit of an out of body experience, so I can't really remember too much more from then. I was up all that night with interviews and reading all the tweets, emails and support I had received from everyone. I've been having interviews from Saturday afternoon to right up till now, it's been every tiring but I've loved every minute of it. I returned back to Australia early Wednesday morning to about 30 or 40 little kids and their parents from my swimming club and lots of family all cheering for me at the airport!!!

 

 

Below I have some pictures from the trip:

  

 

 

After my first swim in the Harbor

 

 

 

 

My support swimmer Damian Blaum and I

The Gallivant

My coach Harley Connolly, myself and Damian Blaum

Greesing up to stop chafe and try to keep me a little warmer

Last minute carbohydrates

The sunrise just minutes before I started my crossing

The duck tape is to keep me from losing the swimming cap

The start line (Dover, England)

The White Cliffs of Dover in the background

One of my 28 feeds, they only took 2 or 3 seconds each

I saw this picture being taken so I thought I'd smile

Mike Oram giving me a mouth full when I started to fall off the pace!

France!

Damian Blaum and I just as we got back on the boat

The offical paper work

My whole crew - Donal Buckley, Harley Connolly, myself, Owen O'Keffe and Damian Blaum

The kids from Lawnton Swim Club

Here are a couple of cool articals and vidoes post swim:

Daily News of Open Water Swimming

Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation

Channel 9 News

Today Breakfast Show

Channel 10 News



I have so much respect for my pilot Mike Oram he definitely lived up to his reputation of being the best pilot. My crew which consisted of Harley Connolly, Damian Blaum, Donal Buckley and Owen O'Keefe were absolutely awesome and I couldn't have done it with out all of them.

I would like to thank all my sponsors for the support they have shown in me this year: FINIS, Straphine Physio & Sportscare, Premax, The College of Health and Fitness, Genesis Fitness, Belgravia Leisure, Juice Plus. Swimming the English Channel is a very expensive thing to do so I need to say special thanks to BWO Group and 1Vigor for their financial assistance they gave me with my crossing!

Now I'm back in Australia I will be having a two week break before starting my training up again. It's going to be awesome to just be a normal person again and relax. I plan on spending most of my time in bed sleeping and watching TV!


Peace'

Trent Grimsey

2012 Grand Prix Champion
English Channel World Record Holder

www.trentgrimsey.com
 

August 2012 - Seven marathons in eight weeks

 

Hi Friends,

Today I have some spare time on my hands so I thought it was a good time to do up my next blog. I'm currently in Dover (England) waiting for good enough weather to swim across the English Channel, from England to France. This has been a dream of mine for a very long time. As training for this and getting my body ready, I've competed in a different marathon every weekend for the last six weeks now...

Marathon number one: Trans Tahoe Relay 18km (California, USA) 21/7/12

 

 

This was an awesome race and is probably one of my all time favourites. It's a six person relay race across Lake Tahoe. For anyone that has never been to Tahoe it's the most beautiful place in the world. I competed in the 'Sydney Tattersals' team, Codie and Ridge (my two younger brothers) were also in the team along with our captain, Peter Theil, Alex Studzinski and Yoelvis Pedraza. We ended up winning by seven minutes and we also broke the old record. The Olympic Club organise this event and they did a great job. Click 'here' for the post race story.



Sydney Tattersals - Team Australia!

 

 



Lake Tahoe!

 

 

Marathon number two: Lac Saint Jean Grand Prix 32km (Quebec, Canada) 28/7/12

 

After Tahoe, Alex and I travelled together to Roberval to compete in the Lac Saint Jean Grand Prix. This is the most prestigious marathon of the year, it's worth the most amount of points and prize money on the Grand Prix circuit. Lac Saint Jean is known to be very cold and the conditions can be quite tricky too. For this race Alex and I stayed with Alain and Annabelle Ross. They were a fantastic host family and did everything they could to make us feel welcome. I also stayed with the Ross family last year for the same race.

This race is a very tactical race and it always starts off super slow. Sometimes it's just as hard to swim slow as it is to swim fast. Swimming slow in cold water makes you more cold and the more likely chance that you'll get hyperthermia.

I made my break after four and a half hours and ended up winning by seven minutes. After the race I dedicated my win to Francine Harvey, Alain Ross's wife who passed away one month before with cancer. I know she would have loved to have seen this race! Click 'here' for the post race story.



Winning Lac Saint-Jean, the most prestigious marathon in the world!


 

My coach Leandre and me in our Mustang at the post race celebrations!

　

Marathon number three: Lac Magog Grand Prix 34km (Quebec, Canada) 4/8/12

 

After Roberval, Alex and I picked up a new travelling buddy, Anna from Russia. The three of us somehow managed to squeeze into our tiny car with all our luggage and drove to Magog. Peter and Jackie were our host family for this race, they were fantastic! The water temperature for this race is a little warmer than the week before but it's 2km longer. Again this race always starts off so slow. I remember my coach holding up a sign after two hours letting me know that we had only swam 7.5km, no one wanted to lead. I ended up breaking away at the half way point (three and a half hours). I won this race by six minutes. I also won the 2km sprint race they had on the day before! Click 'here' for the post race story.



The last few hundred metres of Magog!





Our secret training pool in Magog!

Marathon number four: Lac Megantic World Cup 10km (Quebec, Canada) 11/8/12

 





After Magog, Alex went back to Germany - so it was just Anna and I travelling together to Megantic. I didn't have a good preparation leading up to this race. All week I'd had trouble sleeping and I had niggles in both my shoulders from the race the week before. I knew my speed would be affected from the two marathons I'd already done so if I wanted to win I had to take a big risk. Just after the start I took a different line from the pack. It didn't quite pay off for me, I ended up 4th but I was still happy with the result. For this race my host family were Marc and his partner Martine - they were great hosts. On my last day in Megantic, Marc and I went fly fishing, I'd never been fly fishing before so that was pretty cool... I didn't catch any fish, just a log! Click 'here' for the post race story.

 

 





 

The parade before the race we were all given different cars with our country flags!


 

 

Marathon number five: Lake Ohrid Grand Prix 30km (Ohrid, Macedonia) 19/8/12

 

 

After the twelve hours in transit I finally arrived in Macedonia but I was unsure whether or not anyone from the organising committee would be there to pick me up from the airport... lucky for me someone was there! I had never been to Macedonia before and I never even knew it was a country until three years ago when I met a Macedonian but it's a really beautiful country. Everything is cheap!

 

I placed second in this race to Petar Stoychev. There was a pack of five of us until about five hundred metres to go when Petar started his sprint. I just didn't have the speed I needed to match him. Click 'here' for the post race story.

 

Because this was the last Grand Prix race of the year they also awarded the overall point score winners and as I finished on top I was awarded the 2012 FINA Grand Prix Champion. Petar Stoychev is the only other person to have ever won this award! Click 'here' for the story.

For all three races in Canada and also this race I had Leandre Lapointe as my coach/feeder. Leandre was my coach in these races last year too. We make a great team and I'm very lucky to have him!

  

 

 

During the race in Ohrid

 

 

 

 

2012 FINA Grand Prix Champions!









My coach Leandre!

 

Marathon number six: BCT Gydnia Marathon 18km (Gydnia, Poland) 25/8/12

 

 



I travelled from Macedonia to Poland with my friend Pilar and her father Mario. Here I met up with my home coach from Australia, Harley Connolly. This is the first year this race has been run and the organisers did a great job with it. We swam the 18km from Hel to Gdynia in cold water passing millions of jellyfish. Again I placed second in this race to Petar, I just didn't have the speed to go with him. While swimming all these marathons has improved my endurance it's also taken away my speed, after each marathon I've done this last six weeks I can feel my speed has slowly been disappearing. I would have loved to race Petar in Macedonia and Poland when I was fresh, I think the races would have been a lot closer than they were! Click 'here' for the post race story.

 

 

 

Thomas (race organiser) and me!





Gdynia Beach- After the race!

 

 

Swimming the English Channel is quite expensive and trying to find sponsorship proved to be very difficult but I would like to thank DWO Group and 1Vigor for both contributing. At the moment the weather is not too good over here but hopefully I'll be able to swim the channel in the next few days. My fingers are crossed!

This is the cake my swimming club made for me just before I left Australia!

 

 

Peace'
 

 

Trent Grimsey

 

 

June 2012 - Capri-Napoli Grand Prix, Italy

Hey Everyone!


I returned home this morning from Italy. It was a super long trip, 30 plus hours in transit, Ahhh...


This was a very successful trip for me as not only did I win the race but I also broke record for the fastest ever crossing, it was set back in 1982 by Paul Asmuth in a time of 6 hours 35 minutes. I swam 6 hours 29 minutes. The next day Paul sent me an email congratulating me, which was very nice. Thanks to everyone for their messages of support this last week, I've really appreciated it!


The Capri-Napoli Marathon is one of the most prestigious on the Grand Prix circuit. It's from the Island of Capri to Naples (the mainland), 36km. It's a beautiful race, water is clean and the scenery is awesome.


During the race I was involved in a three person break away early in the race with two strong Italians - Andrea Volpini and Edoardo Stochino. We worked really well together and managed to open quite a big lead over the rest of the field. At the five hour mark I stepped up the pace and the two Italians both fell behind. I end up winning by 3 minutes from Edoardo, then Andrea was in third. Click ‘here’ for the post-race article.



I'm now ranked third on the overall Grand Prix rankings. I've only competed in two of the four races so far this year, the two in front of me have competed in all four races but I'm not far behind them on points. A strong performance next month in Lac Saint-Jean can potentially move me to number one. Fingers crossed!

For this race I had one of Italy's best ironman triathletes Edith Niederfriniger as my coach/ feeder. She did a fantastic job, I couldn't have done it without her. Thanks Edith!

Edith (my coach), Pilar and me

As usual for most Grand Prix races some simple Fina rules were not followed. No lead boat was provided even though I brought up in the pre race meeting that they should have one. The race was also started before all the coaches had boarded their support boats. My coach was one of the last to get let onto her boat which meant I didn't get my first feed until about 45mins into the race, most other swimmers have had three feeds by that stage. The race should never have started until every coach had been let on their support boat. Other than these things it was a great race...

Over the next four weeks I'll be doing a lot of hard training and big kms with my brothers - Codie and Ridge, before my next trip away to compete in the World Cup and Grand Prix races in Canada. I leave Australia on the 17th of July.




Preparations for my English Channel attempt are coming along nicely, everything is starting to fall into place. I'm swimming really well and putting on some decent weight. The races in Canada are going to be very important for me to get my body used to swimming in the cold water for long periods. Click 'here' for the latest news.


Special thanks needs to go to my physio Dean Sullivan for seeing me the day before I left for Italy. I'd hurt my neck and couldn't turn it. It was a public holiday but Deano still made time to see me!



Below are some cool pictures from Capri and Naples...

Here are a couple of youtube clips during the race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnI0T1w7Mx8&list=UUQh95m0OuYA6jzF1T2rjiuA&index=1&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh_LmRRr2As&list=UUQh95m0OuYA6jzF1T2rjiuA&index=2&feature=plcp

"No person was ever honoured for what he received. Honour has been the reward for what he gave." ~ Calvin Coolidge

Peace'


Trent Grimsey

June 2012 - Oceania Championships, New Caledonia

Last week I travelled with the Australian Swim Team to compete in the 2012 Oceania Championships that were held in New Caledonia. I was lucky to be able to compete in both the pool and open water events.

The last few trips I’ve done lately I’ve travelled solo so it was good to be part of a team environment again. It was a slightly younger team that was picked for these championships, so it was great to meet some of the new up and coming swimmers Australia has.

The first day of these championships was the 5km open water event. In this race I finished second, 4 secs behind my fellow countryman, Rhys Mainstone. When it came down to the final 200m sprint, I just didn't have the change of speed I needed to go with him.

The next day was the 1500m free. We didn't have to do heats and finals for this race - just a final. I placed second again in this race but this time to teammate Jarrad Poort. It was hard having to back up from the 5km the day before, but I still managed to swim 15.32. Jarrad swam 15.30... In the 400 free I picked up my third silver medal of the championships.

The last day of these championships was the 10km open water event. Again it turned out to be a battle between Rhys and I until the last lap when I managed to break away and ended up winning by two and a half minutes. Swimming the times I swam this week after the big kms I've been doing lately, i'm very happy. Everything is starting to come together nicely!

Finishing off the 10km race - Oceania Championships

Two weeks back I received my pair of the new Finis straples spaddles. These paddles are great. The advanced design of these paddles helps teach swimmers the correct palm position. Due to the paddles strapless design, incorrect technique will cause the paddle to fall off your hand. I've been using these paddles every day since.

I leave in just 10 days for the Capri-Napoli Grand Prix in Italy. It's a 36km marathon from the Island of Capri to Naples. I'm really looking forward to this race!

"I'm going to work so hard that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it." - Steve Prefontaine

Peace'



Trent Grimsey