How fit do you need to be to spend 8-plus hours in open waters? And how much mental strength is necessary to overcome the challenges that very likely arise in the process?
These two questions have been accompanying me in the last 7 months, i.e. from the moment I knew I had been selected to participate.
Feeling healthy and logging K’s in the pool is necessary. It is the necessary condition, right?
That I have been doing since last fall. Go back to the previous blog entries, if you read this post first ( it is part of a small series).
Foto by Martin Kurth
The tricky part is that it is very difficult to simulate a 8-hour long swim marathon in normal conditions.
Who has the time for it, in the first place? I am a passionate swimmer but swimming is not my profession. Furthermore, having two children limits even more the time to dedicate to that.
On the other side, how does my mind react or act after I have been swimming for, say, 5 or 6 or 7 hours?
Last week I was in North East Germany, swimming with a group of swimming friends.
I logged on average more than 10k a day and tried to take only a few (and short) feeding breaks. That gave me the confidence that I can swim easily twice as much that distance in one go, if rested properly.
In reference to the mindset, the key is what to do when the critical moments arise – because they always do.
My strategy is going to be to focus on each single moment, keep my strokes simple and clean and the pace regular. And stay convinced that the negative thoughts or the tough conditions will pass by.
Foto by Kathrin Huenicke
My plan is twofold: that that Unknown is the most exciting part of the challenge; and that every problem can be tackled singularly.
Surely enough, such an attitude sounds realistic only when the body is well trained and allows for such long swimming sessions.
Lessons from (or to) the World of L&D
If I had to sum it all up, it could simply be ASICS. Only recently I found out that the name of the Japanese brand stands for the Latin say ‘Ars Sana In Corpore Sano’, which translates into something Healthy Performance in a Healthy Body.
If the body is not fit, there is no way you can give the best version of yourself.
At the same time, being healthy is not enough, only the conditio sine qua non (just to drag you along with some more Latin), a necessary yet not sufficient condition.
Photo by Kathrin Huenicke
Marlow’s Hierarchy of Needs comes to mind here and suggests that, at the very least, at the basis of all we need physical safety and well being to be able to learn and act (Generally speaking, I am skeptical of the implications of the theory and did only quote it to provide some reference. Here a short yet good summary of the points the theory is not able to explain, or the bias it is built upon, by Mark Horton MBA, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/critique-maslow-hierarchy-needs-mark-horton-mba/).
Learning or developing your own self, granted the fact you have the time to dedicate to it, requires mental space too, though. That does not only depend on the work related obligations, rather it entails a lot of your life.
To end this post with an advice, I’d recommend to look inside of yourself with objectivity before starting a course or participating in additional activities. And if you see that it is the right moment – or that it feels like too much even before starting – raise the worries with colleagues or supervisor.
Finally, be honest along the process, and admit that some aspects of whatever you are going to try, achieve and accomplish will remain unknown/unclear. At least as long as you will have tried it out first hand.
Now that I know this, I feel much more confident about coming to the end of my swim
Notable readings:
As I swam almost 60k in a single week, I received a prize from the friends who organized the vacation. In the form of a funny wooden statue, as well as in the shape of a book I’d recommend to read to any nature loving open water addict:
Turning: A Year in Water, by Jessica J. Lee
As one of the swimmers is a good friend of the author, I received an autographed German version!
Here once more the link to donate to the Foundation Swim To Fight Cancer.
