Not sure how I'm going to get to sleep tonight. Spent the evening with fellow swimmer friends and the charming Michael Read, who has swum the English Channel 33 times. We had BBQ, and then a lovely chat about open water swimming, he was gracious enough to take questions. His secret to having the mental focus to keep going on and not give up = make sure to have a pretty lady on your support craft to hand you feeds. He believes the same tactic will work for the ladies should you be able to have a handsome gent on board, but has yet to test the theory.
Two best pieces of advice from the evening were 1) train/eat what works for you because needs are totally individualistic and 2) walk yourself through the math of the first half (I'm 1/10 done, now I'm 2/10s done) until you reach halfway - at that point, you've "broken the back" of the distance, and the rest is smooth sailing because you'll be so happy that you're making it happen. Grateful to have been invited, and to get the chance to spend a great evening with swim friends...
Link to Michaels' Openwaterpedia page
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