I tried beating Jamie Patrick's challenge of 29 miles of swimming in three days and it was BRUTAL. I learned a lot during the process, including a tremendous amount of respect for ultra swimmers who do this on a regular basis. There where many, many times when I thought, "This is freaking CRAZY! I'll never finish this!" But, I finally did and here's the breakdown:
- I took my estimated pace and then slowed it down by a bunch. Using that, I figured that I would have to swim 5 hours every day for three days in a row to do it. That's around 10.2 miles or 16,500 meters per day!
- Swimming 5 hours is a lot like a 5 hour bike ride. It's zero impact, so it's all about pacing and fueling.
- Jamie said to fuel and drink every 20 minutes. I kept my fuel mix by the edge of the pool and wore a watch to keep track of time.
- I swam all but 1 hour of this in a 50 meter long course pool to minimize flip turns and simulate real open water as much as possible.
- I also learned quickly that bilateral breathing was the only way to go. Breathing to just one side wrecks your neck in short order.
- Ok, go time! Every swim was good for the first hour. After that, it was a battle of willpower.
- When fueling goes bad, your mind turns towards the negative. In fact, aches and pains and negative thinking is a sure sign that you need to adjust your fueling.
- After the first day, I felt great. I was only a little bit sore and I was doing it! Still, it was pretty tough going.
- After day 2, I was beaten. I finished ok, but it wasn't pretty. This was getting really tough! How was I going to finish day 3?
- On day 3, I felt amazing! I attribute this to figuring out my fueling. I actually swam faster on the third day than the first two! Not only that, I felt great afterwards with tons of energy.
- I had sleep on my back every night. If I rolled on my side, the weight on my shoulders when I woke up was like being shot with a rifle. Ungh!
Ok, so here's the fueling breakdown:
Day 1: 3 scoops of maltodextrin per hour. Also, 3 servings of Hornet Juice, some flax seed oil, some sea salt, and one caffeine pill spread out over the 5 hours. Felt sick to my stomach from overfueling.
Day 2: 2 scoops of maltodextrin per hour. Also, 3 servings of Hornet Juice, some flax seed oil, some sea salt, and one caffeine pill spread out over the 5 hours. Felt weak from underfueling, so added in some Perpetuem solids to get in some extra calories. And felt sick from the oil.
Day 3: 3 scoops of maltodextrin per hour. Also, 3 servings of Hornet Juice, some sea salt, and one caffeine pill spread out over the 5 hours. Supplimented with Perpetuem solids on rare occasion in case I wasn't feeling super strong.
Using the Goldilocks method and three days of back-to-back long swims, I was able to finally nail the nutrition and felt like a rocket!
End the end, I was able to take years of bike fueling training and figure out how to do long swims, totalling 30.75 miles in three days. Long swims are AWESOME for getting in aerobic work while giving your legs a rest. And most importantly, it gave me the confidence needed to do the 20 miles across Tahoe. Now, dealing with the cold? That's another story. Brrr!
Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 11:24PM 
