Less than 1000 lengths to go...

Hi Everyone. It was family swim day today - Alice even came too. I was a feeling a bit tired so did 33 lengths today, which Mummy and Daddy still say is really good. And now I have less than 1000 lengths to go. Thanks for following my progress. I'll be swimming again on Saturday so I'll let you know how I get on then. Bye for now. Oliver

Thank You Lyn....

Mummy was in London today with Finlay because he was the back up boy for an advert, so Jo Jo's mummy Lyn kindly came swimming with me at school and counted my widths. Thank you Lyn. I did 80 widths today or 800 metres. Mummy got me a new swimming bag from the Olympic shop which I am going to use tomorrow. I am looking forward to my family swim tomorrow when Mummy and Finlay come too.

Another day, another 50 lengths...

Jack Nicholson once said - "Another day, another $65,000" (I think it was on a Parkinson interview in the 1970's whilst referring to his level of pay - at the time he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood). Don't ask me why but it stuck in my brain for some reason.

Over the years, I (daddy) have adopted, adapted and attached it to numerous personal challenges. This time it's the Oliver swim mantra 'Another day, another 65,000 lenghts'.  We are celebrating the first milestone reached - 5.5 miles One quarter of the way to french france, quite amazing when you consider its only taken Oliver just 7 hours to achieve.

For any normal adult that is a fair crack of the whip but for a skinny 6 year old it's remarkable (I know I'm his father and therefore biased, but even if I wasn't I would be astounded).  At his current rate he will complete the 22 mile challenge in just 8 weeks.

The most remarkable thing I find is Oliver's utter determination to complete 50 lengths every time we go - we count up to 25 and down from 25 to 50. He never seems to get tired (unlike his old man) and gets out of the pool seemingly as fresh as he gets in.

I guess what I'm trying to say in a roundabout way is that we are all very proud of the fact that Oliver has taken on this challenge (his idea completely) in the first place, and because he has, he is totally committed to seeing it through to the end with a smile on his face and a steely desire to succeed.  So roll on tomorrow - another day, another 65,000 lengths!

Salisbury Swim

Daddy took me swimming after football in Salisbury today.  We've never been to this pool before, it was really busy so it was difficult to do proper lengths without having to swim around people.  I did manage to do 34 though and afterwards we went on the big inflatable floaty thing - I managed to get all the way to the end but daddy fell off, then we went into the bubble spa and daddy got told off. Daddy is always getting told off, last week he got told off for swimming next to me in the lane swimming bit. Daddy says I'm nearly a quarter of the way to france.

Third swim of the week

I did my third swim of the week yesterday and did another 50 lengths. One of Frome Swimming Club's coaches was also in the lanes with me and he gave me some hints on how to get my 'Lochte Racing Turns' even better - I need to make rocket arms underwater - so I'm going to be practicing this too. 
Daddy was so tired after his swim with me that he had to sit down in the shower afterwards!! Mummy and Finlay did 30 lengths too.

Fast swimming today...

Hello everyone. I had school swimming today - mummy came to count my widths in Warminster pool, I sat next to her on the bus on the way back and Finlay sat next to mummy on the way. 
I did 100 widths while everyone else in Woodpeckers had their lesson - that's 1000 metres. I had to swim really quick to get as much done as possible in the time. I've got under 20 miles to go now, I'm really pleased.
If you've not seen it yet - mummy has added a little progress chart on this page (see right) which shows you how I'm doing.

p.s I'm in First News this week - the national newspaper for children - most schools have a copy so have a look.

52 lengths today

I had swimming squad tonight after school and was really chuffed that so far I have done more lengths for this challenge than my swimming teacher! I think Simone will catch up though. We did lots of breaststroke practice today so I did 20 lengths in squad and another 32 afterwards with daddy. 52 in total.

In the paper again...

No swimming today but I did score 2 goals at football this morning - we had a really good game.
I am in the Warminster Journal this week if you'd like to take a look. Mummy has started putting together a book of all my press cuttings, it looks really cool.
I'll be back training on Monday - I hope to do another 50 lengths - I'll let you know how I get on.
Have a good weekend.

ANOTHER GOOD SWIM

Hello, it's Oliver. Mummy, Daddy Finlay and me went swimming after school today and I managed to do another 50 lengths, Finlay (my older brother) did 30, his bestest swimming ever! We got a chocolate bar afterward for doing so well, but we weren't allowed to eat it until after tea. I had a Twix and Finlay got some white Malteesers.

We met the lady who wrote the story in the Somerset Standard in the pool too, she was swimming as well.  She said she recognised me from the picture in the paper, does that mean I'm famous now.

Daddy says I'm ahead of schedule for this week which is good, he says if I keep going like this I will finish early.

School Swimming today....

I had swimming at school today and was allowed to swim widths while the rest of the class had their lesson. Mrs Priestner kindly counted my widths for me - I did 84 (10m) widths which is the same as 33.6 lengths of Frome pool. Daddy has worked this out and added it to my total, he says I'm ahead of schedule at the moment which is good.

Listen to me (and mummy) on the radio here

Here's the link if you would like to listen to mummy and me on BBC Somerset (you need to listen in from 2 hours 26 minutes, my bit is right at the end)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00jzfr5/

I started my swim...

At last I've started my swim - I did 47 lengths tonight after school which I'm really pleased about. Got my 50m time down to 69 seconds tonight too. 
Thanks for all your messages today.
I was on BBC Radio Somerset this morning at the end of the Breakfast Show - just before 9am - it should be up on the Iplayer tomorrow if you missed it. I will ask daddy if he can do a sound bite of it to add to my blog.

Look what I saw in town today...

Read the news stand - that's me!

See my story in the paper, click below

There's a copy of my story from the Somerset Standard this week, on line - click below and take a look. 
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Oliver-6-deep-end-channel-challenge/story-13291024-detail/story.html
Only two days to go - I can't wait to get started.

Hear me on the radio on Monday

I will be talking about my swim on BBC Radio Somerset an 8.55am on Monday 12 September. Please tune in or listen on line. Let me know what you think.

I'm in the paper

Did you see me in the Somerset Standard today?

I feel famous today.....

What a busy day today, I've had lots of photos taken for local newspapers who are covering my story this week. Just got back from the pool from my final shoot of the day...I can't wait to see myself in the paper.

One week to go....

It was good to get back to swimming squad today, I did lots of work on my front crawl. After the summer holidays my 50 metre time was slower than normal at 77 seconds - I will try and be faster next week. I'll let you know how I get on. 

Daddy did a training swim today to  try and keep up with me when I do my big swim.  He says it didn't go well.

Training in the sunshine today

Last day of school holidays today - just been for an 8k family bike ride. I like to be at the front going fast - it's all part of the training!