The previous two posts dealt with the physiological and environmental limiting factors of marathon swimming. As noted in Part One, non-swimmers and those unfamiliar with the sport tend to see the physiological factors as the greatest hurdles for swimming further distance, often imagining that marathon swimmer’s have some physical capability beyond the average person whereas…
I don’t like dietary supplements. B Complex, multivitamins etc. The little reading I’ve done so far on the subject indicates little or no benefit is gained from commercial multivitamins for endurance athletes But I don’t rule it out… Since my EC, (too late that is), I’ve had a few interesting conversations with an online friend…
Homer understood; “For wreaking havoc on a strong man, even the very strongest, there is nothing so dire as the sea.” But Lucretius was wrong: “Lovely it is, when the winds are churning up the waves on the great sea, to gaze out from the land on the great efforts of someone else”. Joseph Conrad…
Practice everything. Do nothing new on the day. These are the two corollaries of the long distance swimmer’s maxim about preparation. Experienced swimmers learn it early. Plan. So for planning for something like a 24 hour pool swim, experienced swimmers like Lisa & Danny first think about what they will need, and will go back to previous…
Lakes: 1. Abdel-Latiff Abo-Heif of Egypt, voted the greatest marathon swimmer of the 20th century, completed a 60-mile professional solo lake race across Lake Michigan on August 23-24, 1963 during the Jim Moran’s Lake Michigan Swim Challenge from Chicago, Illinois to Benton Harbor-St. Joseph, Michigan. Abo-Heif finished in 34 hours and 38 minutes. 2. Ted…
You’d imagine that successful EC swimmer’s would agree that there is some luck involved? A bunch of us met in Cork at the weekend to welcome Ciaran home and had a great time. There were Liam, Ciarán, Imelda, Finbarr, Lisa & Ned with soon to swim Gábor and signed-up aspirant Liz, with potential aspirant Craig…
Edit: The original title of this post may have been the worst title I ever wrote. And that’s saying something. I’m really bad at titles. Dante wrote that the Ninth Circle of the Inferno was ice. He didn’t seem to consider freezing water, so I guess it might have been the lobby entrance to the…
Well, a milestone passed. 6 hour Channel qualification swim: Open Water: In under 16 Celsius: Done! Whether coach will sign off on it is another matter as 5 of the magnificent seven are currently in the bad books, apparently. It’s not like we won’t be doing it again anyway. 6 hours + in Inishcarragh Lake,…
(WordPress somehow chewed the original of this post, which had followed the Socrates quote, so below is a quick and lazy rewrite). Last Friday we (2010 Channel aspirants) met for a 10 hour pool swim. I had only approximately 4 hours sleep the previous night and was feeling tired but expecting the worst after the…
Another of the joys of Long Distance swimming in salt water is bloating. It’s a combination of factors including Third Spacing, more properly called (apparently), “Third Spacing of Fluids”. Prolonged exposure to salt water causes the body to swell, making marathon swimmers look bloated after a long swim. There is also electrolyte loss causing Third…
I love Saturday mornings. Rest day and after 6 1/2 hours session yesterday, it’s even better. Put on some music, have a fruit smoothie, grind and brew the coffee beans, throw on some pancakes. Not training food but pretty nice for a change. Like being a normal human. The Magnificent Seven, and Eddie, assembled at…
So three plus hour swims are a weekly (or more) feature of training right now (end of January ’10). “Normal” day’s training is hovering around two to two & an half. I did a four hour about a week and half ago, just to see how I feeling. I had been planning to do a…
LoneSwimmer 