I’ve always been of the belief that you can turn your biggest failures into your biggest feats! Who else thinks like me? What biggest flop have you turned around? One of the strangest learnings of my 55 years has been since my dear Mum (and friend Fran Crippen) passed away on 23rd October 2010. More so the past eight months I have grappled questioning my purpose and self-worth. Questioning the meaning of all of “this”? I fought the good fight (“funny that”, I hear you saying, for those … [Read more...]
Reboot Your New Year Resolutions…
Can you believe it is February already... and we've all had a month of opportunity to give our New Year’s resolutions a good red hot go. New changes and new habits have been made and you are all feeling good about the “new you”. Wait. What? Oh you haven’t quite achieved what you set out to do. You are not quite the “new you” you had imagined. Hello... you’ve had a whole month, what have you been doing the past 31 days? In all seriousness, I know this can be disappointing. You … [Read more...]
Blind Swimmers Swim From Alcatraz To San Fransisco
Open water swimming can be challenging and gruelling for most of us - but imagine the added challenge if you were vision impaired! A group of awesome swimmers have completed the swim across the San Fransisco Bay - from Alcatraz Island to San Fransisco. And each one of them is blind. This was a history making swim as it was the first ever to be completed by a vision impaired swimmer. PHOENIX (CBS5) - Three blind swimmers from the Valley have completed a historic swim across the San … [Read more...]
Miracle Open Water Swim In Ice at Zero Degrees
When most of us think of open water swimming, we imagine the ocean, or parcels of water that are not enclosed in concrete - or follow the black line. But imagine swimming in water that is zero degrees! A recent article published on www.dailynews.openwaterswimming.com poses the questions to the remarkable Ram Barkai what he was thinking during his 1.7 km swim in 0°C water: The mind was a critical part of this swim because the hands and fit were gone after few minutes. Ryan and I swallowed … [Read more...]
Conquering Your Everest – How to Win the Mind Games Part II
Okee Dokee It is less than 48 hours until the starters gun goes off!!! Here are a few Champion Mindset Mental training techniques- simple to use and easy to implement - to help you prepare for the big day. I developed my own visualisation routine that helped me achieve 7 years ranked World No.1 Marathon Swimming Champion & still to this day .... the only woman to achieve a World Ranked No.1 for both men & women; when in 1991 I was crowned "World No.1 Ranked Marathon Swimming … [Read more...]
Conquering Your Everest – How to Win the Mind Games – Part I
This blog is dedicated to all the 1/2 Ironman Busso competitors on 11th May 2013 The starter’s gun is about to go off, and before you know it you’ll be taking off in pursuit of a personal record. It’s only natural to be nervous, but if you’re a nervous wreck at the starting line you’re hardly in a position to compete at your best. What goes on beneath those swim caps is crucial to perceived success and enjoyment of your next competition. The motto, "if you think you can, or think you can't, … [Read more...]
Mother of All Comebacks!
Today I got asked how's my swimming going and what it feels like to back in training. It is just fun to be back in the pool and training with my buddies that I grew up with and shared in Western Australian State teams in the '70s! It makes me feel young. Swimming is a sport you can do at all ages. It never has left me or my soul. I know, for me, it’s part of who I am, being in the water... and when I'm away from it too long... it's like the air has been taken out of my lungs! Swimming makes … [Read more...]
Mind Over Matter – Never Give Up The Battle
This morning as I snuggled up to my warm doona knowing the thermometer was struggling to reach 3 degrees Celcius... I shook my head thinking it was not that many years ago, I thrived on mornings like this, clocking up 10kms in the ocean or river... at least. "Well Shell you got up yesterday and swam. So why did you struggle today?" I asked myself. With the cold, winter weather hitting us, the number of swimmers showing up at swim practice each day is dwindling. So the cycle goes. It has … [Read more...]
Want to overcome your fear of the Open Water in 2012?
Hello Open Water Swimming Dreamers & Achievers –in-waiting! Have a fear of Open Water? Panic stricken the night before a Triathlon? Shaking in your wetsuit at the starting line? Frustrated that you can’t remain calm...no matter how hard you try? Overcome with anxiety ... and you don’t know why? Improving your OWS skill set in 2012 is one of your goals? Well fear no more... Santa Shelley is here … [Read more...]
Isn’t Life About Determining Your Own Finish Line?
None of us want to be wrong, make mistakes and we like to win and succeed. Who am I kidding ~ this is me I am describing! However, sometimes you have to try the impossible, not achieve it and stretch your comfort zone to be a bit bigger. During the month of September the world sat back in awe of the amazing, age-defying, 62-yr old, American Marathon Swimmer, Diana Nyad, as she went for her Xtreme Dream; attempting to swim 103 nautical miles (160+km) non-stop and unassisted from Havana, Cuba … [Read more...]
