Jennifer Figge, a 56-year-old endurance athlete from Aspen, Colorado, plans to swim 2,100 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to Barbados, between Puerto Rico and Venezuela. She will swim behind a sailboat in a giant shark cage for 6-8 hours per day, hoping to finish in 60 days. She swim will begin December 1st. 

More on 10kswimmer.com.

Ride stats today

• 129 miles
• Fins to South Paris; completing 10 Degrees Latitude
• Our most gorgeous bike day yet, a suitable end to an amazing journey
• 0 sheep, 5 buguettes, 2 barets
• 2 huge smiles and cigars at the end

Our journey took us 14 days of biking and 1 day of swimming across the English Channel. This works out to be 1000 miles on bike and 25 miles in the water. It was gorgeous, stunning territory, and the good thing about traveling as we did was that we really got to enjoy the countryside, see the people and smell the smells (most were good).

We have so many people to thank. Our support crew made our adventure possible. Our bike crew (Flora and Bob), our swim crew (Tricia, Amy, Flora, Laura, Dave, Teresa, and the entire Ocean Breeze crew) and our home crew (Michelle, Andrew, Ava and Joshua) were awesome. Our Cadence Cycling coach Mike Kuehn was super supportive. Our sponsors are all amazing people. Everyone treated us so well through the entire journey.

Here are some parting pictures from our final days in Paris. We took our final pictures at the Arc de Triomphe. A fitting end to a stunning journey.

14 hours 23 minutes

We made it! Everyone helped! It was awesome!

It was a gorgeous day for a swim from England to France. The middle map pretty well tells the story of our relay swim across the English Channel. We started the morning off strong on Shakespeare Beach and finished the day cold and weary just as the sun was dipping below the ocean horizon. Aches, pains, cold, and sea sickness took their toll, but they all disappeared as I walked up on the shores of France. Stay tuned for a longer trip log with more color. For now we are working through all these wonderfully supportive emails from loved ones and sponsors. Thanks for your warm vibes, we felt them in the cold channel!

A shout-out to Suunto, especially our friend Martin Schamboeck, Sports Marketing Manager. Adam swam with a T6 and Neal swam with a Core. Whether we’re defending presidents (as Adam has) or climbing Everest (as Neal has), Suunto is on our wrists. They also have this really cool software that we used during our bike rides to chart heart rate, speed and distance.

In this blog post we wanted to give a SHOUT-OUT to all the folks out there who are reading us:

• Katie/Holly/Greg/Matt/Marie & all our sponsors who make our adventures possible
• AlexF/Mark/AmyF/Amber/DavidH/Karah & all our athlete friends
• Jim/Betty/Karen/Jessie/Isaac/Tom/Chris and the rest of my wonderful family
• Mark/Tina, Chad/Kylie, Tim/Megan & so many of Adam’s/Amy’s close friends and family
• Lindy/Ben/Jac/Dan/Anthony/Carla/Jonathan & all our bullish Wharton Friends
• Paul/Chad/Steve/Bruce/Barney/Richard and the highly valued Powerset gang (now MSFT)
• Joe/Mike/Maggie/Wendy/Tracy & everyone else in Edina, Minnesota
• Camile, Isaac/Nicole and so many other of my friends from Chaska, Minnesota
• Brandon/LateralLine
• And of course Zoe (with the two dots) who is busily greening our world so 10 Degrees Latitude can continue for centuries more.

Thanks for your support and warm vibes. Stay tuned.

• Cambridge to Canterbury
• 80 miles
• Not much elevation gain
• Even fewer animals
• 20 mile an hour headwind
• 2 sore bums, 4 strong legs, 2 dirty bikes

Today was our last day on the saddle for a while. This last circuit brought us within distance of the gorgeous white cliffs of Dover. From here our swim across the English Channel will begin.

Another mechanical failure… My Speedplay pedal broke in the same exact spot that Adam’s broke. These Speedplay pedals are sure lightweight, but I think the company needs to work on reliability. It is unreasonable to assume riders will replace these $300 pedals every 800 miles. We are now both riding non-Speedplay pedals because there are ZERO local bike dealers that stock Speedplay. Boo.

A shout-out to Cadence Cycling & Multisport, especially Matt (founder), Woody (tech), Brady (coach), Luke (sales) and Mike (coach). These guys run shops in Philadelphia and NYC — and there are rumors of California expansion soon. They replace guesswork with science, and are definitely the Lexus of bike shops. Thank you guys!

I was there for less than 48 hours, and Neal and I spent a good deal of that time training. We got in two decent swims on Saturday, and then we both participated in an open-water “race” put on by the Dolphin Club. We had to check in for the race by 6:00, which meant that the alarm clock went off at about 4:30! We took a boat from the club to the San Francisco Bay bridge, and once dropped off, it was an all-out sprint back to the club. The front group was ultra-competitive, with the winning swimmer completing the 2 ½ mile course in under 40 minutes (current assisted). Neal wasn’t too far behind at around 45 minutes, and I straggled in about 3-4 minutes after that. Many thanks to all of the volunteers who rowed beside us making this event as safe and as fun as possible.

We took a few minutes to bring our core temperatures back up to human levels, and then bee-lined for the airport. It was a fast and furious weekend, but all-in-all a great time!

I moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco. I’m new here, and one of the big parts of moving for me is finding a new place to workout. I know about the Dolphin Swim Club in San Francisco, so I went there to check on their latest activities. While I was at the Dolphin Club I heard about two upcoming open water swims.

Both swims are open water swims. Both are relatively short (1-2 miles). And I’ll be doing both with my friend Paul who works at Facebook. I’m super stoked about both! It will be a fun way for us to mix-up workouts, and a good way for me to get in the race mindset prior to the English Channel, which is coming up SOON!

	Wind Direction (WDIR):	SSW ( 210 deg true )
	Wind Speed (WSPD):	15.9 kts
	Wave Height (WVHT):	3.3 ft
	Air Temperature (ATMP):	50.2 °F
	Water Temperature (WTMP):	50.2 °F
	Wind Chill (CHILL):	44.2 °F

[UPDATE] Another online service provides a color map of sea temperatures.

Special thanks for Mark Robson (fellow blogger and Channel aspirant) for clueing us in on the NOAA website and the color map.

For our training here in Philadelphia these bikes have been seeing a lot more action now that the weather is sunny and warm. The river in the background is the same river that we swim.

[UPDATE] Friday April 25, At day break today we took the bikes out for a 50-mile ride. On the way back we watched a guy get struck by a car on his Kuota carbon. The guy’s shoulder and his anodized Fulcrum wheelset bore the brunt of the impact. We helped him collect his stuff and check his wheel. He was OK and biked away from the accident. Close call that one.

He who wants to find the sea should take a river for his guide.

We are training in the Schuylkill River! We’ve done it 3 of last 4 days. Today we swam for 80 minutes. And after doing those miles we plan to swim more and more. Here’s why we love it…

• It’s cold. Cold is important for us to acclimatize our bodies. The water temps in the Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River has been 58-64F, which is pretty close to the water temps that we’ll see in the English Channel which is 56-58F. So far the cold is treating us well and only our toes are cold during the swim.
• It’s beautiful. And a fun change of pace from the pool. Keeping the mind busy lets us forget about our shoulders and biceps.
• It’s clean. Despite popular belief it’s a very clean river. The Philadelphia Department of Water has a website with daily coliform/bacteria counts, water flow, and water temp. These three together form a proxy for water quality. Nothing instills confidence that the river is safe like that big green banner on the Rivercast website!

The green banner means the water is safe.

From behind the camera the river is idealistically beautiful! Up close there tends to be more duck weed and gunk. But we still like it.

Here’s my poolside review.

And a video of the player in action.

So as you can see from the review we think Finis is pretty awesome. They’ve wonderfully offered to lend us extra players if we wear them during our 15 hour swim across the English Channel. I suppose it’ll be the first time that anyone has had the opportunity to rock-out during a channel crossing.

[UPDATE] The Channel Swimming and Piloting Association (the org that certifies channel swims) voted in 2007 to ban MP3 players on official swims of the English Channel. I think the Association’s decision is overly nostalgic, but c’est la vie. At least I can use the Finis during my training swims. The vote from the association’s minutes looks like this:

MOTION 3 “The use of MP3 players shall not be allowed by the swimmer while swimming during any English Channel swim attempt” Prop. – D Carter, sec. – C. Golding. 15 for, 2 against, 3 abstain – carried)

As part of my acclimitization I swam in the 45-degree Atlantic Ocean this weekend. You see, my two good friends Rick and Carla live smack-dab on the ocean, so my training was a great excuse to visit and spend some time with them in their home. I was the only swimmer on the beach and the fisherman thought I was bonkers. Truth be told, with the wetsuit it wasn’t all that bad. My core stayed warm and my cognition was clear (cold water sometimes prevents us humans from thinking straight). Here are some pictures of me and my good friends.

Next weekend I will try the same swims without the wetsuit — such swims have been done by our friend (Mark Robson) for several weeks. He is also training for the English Channel swim.

10 tips to liven-up your (crusty old) swim workout:

1. Listen to music while swimming. We like the waterproof mp3 player called Swimp3.
2. Eat a mid-swim snack. I swim harder if I have a delicious mid-swim snack. We like bananas and Gu Energy Gel.
3. Bring toys. Is it just me or are swim hand paddles a ton of fun?! I feel like a speed racer when I use them. We like the stuff from Tyr.
4. Count your laps. We like this simple little $24 lap counter from SportCount.
5. Vary that workout. Here are 50 workouts to test out.
6. Bring a friend. I swim harder and longer if Adam, Lauren or Jenn is swimming with me. Or, if you’re me you can even be so lucky as to meet your girlfriend in the pool!
7. Join a team. I joined the Penn Masters Swim Club and is has been a lot of fun.
8. Go outside. There are great outdoor swim places near Philadelphia. Be mindful of the water temperatures.
9. Get a coach. Improving your technique gives you something to think about. We sought advice from the Head Coach of Penn’s Varsity Swim Team.
10. Be held accountable. Tell your significant other and family how you plan to train. They will keep you on track. I can’t tell you how many times this has been the only thing that got me out of bed at 630AM!

Hope this helps. Have a good workout!

1. How far in miles:

The short answer is 25 miles. The English Channel is 20.3 miles wide at its narrowest point. The common start and end points for swimmers widens this a little to 20.6 miles wide, as the crow flies (lucky crow). Unlike crows, swimmers contend with tidal currents that weave them off-course. Weaving makes the actual distance across the channel closer to 25 miles for most swimmers. Some particularly lucky or experienced swimmers manage to swim direct, traveling only 21 miles. Unlucky swimmers have gotten caught in especially powerful tidal currents and end up swimming up to 30 miles to cross the English Channel.

2. How long in hours to swim:

The short answer is 14 hours. Time is a factor of speed and distance. Adam and I have swum together for many hours averaging 1.5 mph. At this swim rate, a bee-line (21 miles) for France will be a 14 hour swim. If we zig-zag (28 miles) it will be a 19 hour swim.

Here is a quick map mock-up of two swim routes and our projected swim times if we follow each route. For more swim route maps check out this link.

One hundred 100s Workout
10 x 100 (400 warm-up, 6x 25 IM)
5 x 200 (crawl, back, breast, back, crawl)
4 x 300 (pull)
2 x 400 (kick)
4 x 500 (crawl)
2 x 400 (kick)
4 x 300 (pull)
5 x 200 (crawl, back, breast, back, crawl)
10 x 100 (6x 25 IM, 400 cool-down)
= 10,000 meters (6.2 miles)

Adam and I will leave notes in the comments when we do this workout. Meantime, a question for the comments: What are your favorite swim workouts?

The past couple of weeks I’ve had more free time than usual, and my goal was to use that time to put some heavy yardage under my belt. Overall I guess it was a success, and I felt pretty good about myself. That is until I read Mark Robson’s blog (see below). I punished my body a bit and I feel pretty strong coming into the final six months of training.

Now, here’s what a real athlete does during Christmas. A while ago I found this guy, Mark Robson, through some English Channel swimming avenues, but he got my attention because he has a similar background as a triathlete and is training for a 2008 Channel attempt. We’ve been chatting back and forth behind the scenes for a little while, but I wanted to draw everyone’s attention to his blog. It’s very well put together, and he’s much better at being interesting. Check it out when you get a chance.

The family truly wants my Channel crossing to be a success. One of my major concerns has been my ability to keep weight on as I prepare my body for the 58 degree temperatures in the English Channel. Well, they can’t get in the pool and swim for me. They can’t get on the bike and pedal for me. But they sure as heck can fatten me up! My holidays were filled with feast after feast prepared by every relative who’s ever stepped foot in a kitchen. And in between the feasts, there was plenty of Christmas baking to benefit from. My goal is to put on about 20 pounds before I get in the water, and thanks to my loved ones, I’m well on my way. Here’s to keeping that weight on in the new year!

It’s all lined up and we couldn’t be happier. Thank you all for your feedback and anecdotes relating your experience with your pilots. The one thing we learned from all of you is that all of the pilots are great. We did not get a single negative story about a pilot. Even those of you who had unsuccessful attempts, had nothing but the best to say about your pilot.

For our readers not familiar with this segment of the universe, the Channel piloting world is very small. There is only a handful of folks that do this, and they’ve been doing it forever. A couple of them are 2nd generation pilots. It’s an everybody-knows-everybody community, and most of them have close personal friendships with those they have taken across the Channel. The pilot also serves as a motivator and a coach. They know how to keep a swimmer motivated for 14 hours of pain and cold. They now how to manage nutrition, and they know how to spot and prevent hypothermia. They try to help alleviate all of the external factors that can affect the crossing. Now all you have to do is swim!

So here’s what we got…

Adam: Dave Whyte (Ocean Breeze)

Neal: Chris Osmond (Seafarer)

Our swim dates are 7 – 19 July. This block now gives us a target to start the first cycling leg of the expedition in the last part of June.

Here is one particular email that stood out to us from a well-seasoned open-water swimmer. It was so good we had to post it for every one to benefit. It’s well worth your time to read it to the end.

Email Excerpt.

***********************************************************************
ADAM & NEAL –
Fascinating project! I’m sure you’re having a blast coordinating your efforts and travel plans. You’ve certainly captured my imagination with all the possibilities….

Here’s one swimmer’s thought about escort pilots in the English Channel: IT BARELY MATTERS WHO YOU CHOOSE.

ANY of the certified English Channel pilots will steer you across. You could swim it a dozen times, under each one of them, and discover the
success of your crossing relies… upon you.

It’s up to you to be the successful swimmer. If you’ve trained properly, acclimated to cold water, learned to consume enough fuel while treading water, learned how to keep that fuel in your stomach while floating in a horizontal position, and built your open water endurance, you’ll be able to swim the English Channel. No matter which certified pilot you select. In fact, they’ll be thrilled to have 2 swimmers who’ve done the arduous — but necessary — training. Their job becomes relatively simple: Pick the right day and guide the swimmer from point A to B.

Therefore a “successful swim” relies 100% on the swimmer’s shoulders. Literally and figuratively. Likewise, a swimmer who doesn’t make it must take a look in the mirror. There is NO ONE else to blame.

Your pilot’s fee goes toward their knowledge of negotiating the currents and choosing the proper day to make an attempt. The tidal currents are strong, but your pilot will account for this as s/he guides you. Again, any of the dozen English Channel pilots are fully capable. They are well-trained and experienced in handling swimmers in the open water. With negotiating the shipping lanes. And knowing when to “pull” a swimmer.

Swimmers don’t make it across for 5 reasons. Illness (nausea), Injury (shoulder – cramps), Hypothermia (core body temp drops leading to
confusion), Exhaustion, and a collapse of mental fortitute. In other words, THEY QUIT.

***
I encourage you to pursue your dreams. I think they’re magnificent. So place that deposit with one of the Dover pilots – NOW. Actually you’ll need two pilots for two swimmers. Or one pilot escorting you on separate days. Then, for the next 6 months, don’t think about your pilot(s) — not even once.

Instead, focus on these 5 marathon swim training essentials. I trust you know how to train for a multi-day 1200-mile cycle… I am clueless
there. But I know a few things about how to prepare for a long swim:

PACE– It’s imperative you swim your first mile at the same speed as your final mile. Your pilot steers based upon a steady pace. If it deteriorates, so does your chance at success. Like a triathlon, your goal is to conserve your energy! The currents near France are the worst. You’ll need to muster even more effort to succeed in those final miles. MANY swimmers don’t and fail.

COLD– Hypothermia is a very serious issue in the English Channel and official crossings are without a wetsuit. It is REQUIRED you swim non-stop for at least 6 hours in 60-degree water well in advance of your attempt. There is no skipping this “test swim”. It is for your safety!
Some marathon swimmers “grow” additional layers of insulation by over-eating. This could become a challenge, considering you’re training
for a long-distance cycle and marathon swim. Still, try to carry as much excess weight as you can tolerate. Skinny swimmers usually don’t make it, unless they’re super-fast. To avoid hypothermia, you’ll need to train months in frigid waters. Eventually, your body acclimates and protects against painful & potentially deadly drops in core body temperatures. The warmest the Channel becomes is 64 degrees (Late August). The cold days are 58 degrees (early July & October).

FUEL– Marathon swimming brings a unique challenge for fueling. Not only are you tossed on the waves but a swimmer’s body position causes your stomach & mouth to be on the same horizontal plane. It’s very simple for the fuels you pour “down” your mouth to travel back the WRONG direction. Vomiting is commonplace. Therefore, your fuel must taste decent both directions. Find an endurance fuel drink. Train on it as if your life depended upon it. Like a triathlon, an English Channel swim is as much an eating competition as an athletic event.

FEED– Different category of the same problem. Swimmers can’t touch the boat and supporters can’t touch the swimmers. So FEEDING becomes a unique problem to marathon swimming. How will your support team deliver your fuel from the boat to water level? Some use rope tied around a bottle. Others use a basket attached to a pole. I have used a fishing pole. My liter bottle, half-filled with fuel, is lowered to water level. As I chug and drift with the currents, the fishing line is free to unfurl. As soon as I finish, I drop my Nalgene bottle in the water and my support member reels her in. Like any endurance event, quickly feeding is essential. The currents are not working in your favor in the English Channel. Every minute wasted while feeding is another 100+ meters of swimming. Over the course of a dozen hours, this becomes a serious disadvantage.

TRAIN– Nearly 1000 swimmers have crossed the English Channel. I suspect they’ve done it 1000 different ways. Find your path. Tailor your days, weeks, months to your school schedule and lifestyle. Make and KEEP your priorities. I am a proponent of swimming the “Channel distance” every single week. I suggest 40,000 meters. In addition, once a month, you’ll want to choose one day to swim non-stop an increasing distance. Starting this month, until a few weeks before your scheduled crossing. Make that final training swim at least 16-miles
straight. Ideally, under similar conditions: cold, open water, escort boat with fuel and feeding device. We’re in November, and I’m guessing you’ll swim July 2008. That requires 4-miles non-stop this month, 6 miles in Dec, 8 in January, 10 Feb, 12 March, 14 April, 16 miles in May. June you’ve started your cycling challenge. July cross the Channel!

Does your February 10-mile training swim become your REQUIRED “test swim”? That’s a brilliant way to double-dip. IF you spend at least 6 hours in 60-degree water. I cannot stress enough: This REQUIRED test swim is for your safety. Hypothermia is likely in the English Channel. Do not discount its effect. It is potentially deadly.

I hope this helps. You’re asking the right questions. You’re obviously smart enough and strong enough to surmount the challenge you’ve laid before you.
**********************************************************************************

WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK!!

If you’ve completed the swim…
1. Were you on a spring tide or neap tide?
How did it affect you? Did it matter?
2. Which pilot did you use? Tell us what you thought?
3. How many days were you in England waiting for the go-ahead from your pilot? (tell us your story)

If you’re currently training for the swim…
1. What have you heard?
2. Do you have a pilot reserved? Who are you using?

If you have no interest in ever swimming the English Channel…
1. Post your comments anyway. We’d love to hear from you. It makes us feel better.
2. Check out www.channelswimming.net. You will find a new respect for those who have done it. Next time you meet someone who’s accomplished it, pat them on the back.

Everything about this trek is moving in fast forward. We are in the final stages of securing our pilot boats. These are the boats that will drive next to us during the swim. Although we are not allowed to touch the boats at any time, they are there to protect and feed us. They are extremely excited to be a part of 10 degrees. For those of you who are new to the swimming world, the English Channel swim requires the services of a pilot boat. Weather and tides can be a killer, and a good pilot is crucial to navigating both. Many say that a successful swim is 25% your ability, 75% pilot’s ability.

My favorite moment in the movie:

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”

Here is the trailer for On A Clear Day:

Most of the questions surround our swim of the English Channel. Here are some interesting facts that we’ve found out.

• 21 miles from England to France, but most do a zigzag path of 26 miles.
• 811 people have swim the English Channel since 1875. This is not a lot of people. By comparison, Mount Everest has been climbed 2049 times
• 6 people died swimming the Channel, zero of which are Americans. I think this number is small given the cold water (see next fact). By comparison, 8 people died on Mount Everest during the 1996 tragedy
• 10% success rate. Is that a lot or a little? You decide
• No sharks – occasional threat of jellyfish and oil spills
• Wetsuits frowned upon – they add too much buoyancy
• 
• 59-62 degrees is the average water temp of the Channel. To be This is warmer than the springtime 52-degree San Francisco Bay water where I’ve been training. Temp map at right.
• 13 hours is the average time to swim the channel
• August is the most popular month to swim the Channel. Here are the percentages of successful channel crossings: 20% in July, 59% in August, 19% in September
• 30 is the median age to swim the Channel. This is pretty cool since Adam will be 31 and I will be 30 when we swim it. I know what ya’ll are thinking — you’re probably thinking this looks a bit like a mid-life crisis thing. Well, it’s not. Because I plan to live to be 100 years old. So it is a quarter-life crisis

Data sources:
http://www.doverlife.co.uk/channelswimming/fatalities.php
http://home2.btconnect.com/critchlow/ChannelSwimDatabase.htm

What Motivates Us

We asked each other what we wanted from an adventure:

• I said I wanted it to have a defined goal, which basically meant it couldn’t just be a hike. I like things that are measurable and have defined ends. I like the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a project. Mountains are pretty good that way. The summit is the goal, so you know when you’re done. And you know when to celebrate.

• Adam said he wanted a project that let him see the world at his own pace. I got the sense that his travels with our nation’s military allowed him to see the world, but he didn’t get to choose when he came and went (and I’m projecting here, so it might not be totally accurate). I’ll addend this blog story after I ask him if this is how he actually feels about his military travels.

Swimming the English Channel

We both liked the idea of swimming the English Channel. It is a 21 mile swim in 56-degree water. Swimming the channel traces its history back to 1875 when Matthew Webb (a naval captain). Wearing a wetsuit is considered “unclassy”, as is taking more than 20 hours to complete the swim. Only 811 people have swum the channel.

Biking 1000 Miles

Somehow we got to thinking that swimming the channel was a good start, but couldn’t be the whole adventure. Firstly, it’s only 20 hours. Secondly, it didn’t fulfill Adam’s desire to “see the world”.

I’ve always had a personal fascination with Edinburgh. It is such a green city, and the home of the world’s first medical school. I knew I wanted to visit it again. So I asked Adam if adding a hugely long bicycle tour to our expedition would be a clever idea. He thought it sounded crazy, and fun.

We were almost all the way there…

Naming Our Baby

Adam noticed that the northern most part of Scotland was at the 58th Latitude, and Paris was at the 48th Latitude. That was 10 Degrees of Latitude. We thought to ourselves, wow that is pretty cool.
Together we decided to name our expedition 10 Degrees of Latitude. The name stuck.

10 Degrees of Latitude visits the 7 Continents

As some of you might know I set out a number of years ago to climb the tallest mountain on all seven continents. I finished this goal in 2005, after climbing Mount Everest. It was an amazing journey, and one that I would love to repeat, with a twist (and with Adam).

Every year 10 Degrees of Latitude will be visiting a new continent. Our first continent is Europe in 2008. Every year we will invite more participants to join us in our journey. We will raise money for important causes on each continent, visit with locals, and experience the world’s cultures first hand. Join us!

One Last Thought

It is fascinating to think we will be traversing distances that are so vast that they are visible on a map. Makes me shiver.

We figured he would know a thing or two about swimming in general. It also happens he had some specific advice for distance swimming training techniques. We came away from the conversation with so much good advice that we thought we would share it with all of you.

Tips from Mike:

1. Keep heart rate below 130 bpm for as long as possible. Endurance training is all about conserving energy. See how long you can keep heart rates below 130, start at 1000 meters, then 2500 meters, then 3000 meters. Keep working up until recovery time is instantaneous.
2. Distance swimmers avoid kicking hard. The distance swimming kick cadence is half the racers kick cadence.
3. Train at least 5 days per week.
4. If you try to just swim for 2 hours straight you’ll die of boredom. It’ll be like banging your head against the wall. Swimming is all about mixing it up. Mix it up with the pull buoy, kickboard. Do sets of 200, 400, or whatever. Mix up strokes and set length. Keep it fresh.
5. Keep rest between sets below 30 seconds, if you need more rest then you are already working too hard and your heart rate is too fast for ideal endurance training
6. Find outdoor swims to train. He recommended Sunkist in Atlantic City to us or swims during the winter in Florida (although this requires travel for us).
7. Pools should be kept between 78 and 83. He has his pool hot because “his boys are fat”. The hotter the water the more you sweat. This struck me, since I don’t feel myself sweating when I swim, but I guess we all do. Makes me think the water is probably pretty close, but I guess there is no sense dwelling on this since I’m going to swim anyway.
8. Distance swimmers typically do 7000 meters daily and 12000 on a double day. 6-7 days per week.

Mike starts and ends every discussion with us by saying “you guys are nuts”. He’s a totally good guy.