Extreme Fitness by Chris McNab

Author:Chris McNab
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782741848
Publisher: Amber Books Ltd
Published: 2015-01-15T16:00:00+00:00

Swimming the Distance

Swimming marathons in open seas are gruelling in the extreme. Ingestion of salt water often makes swimmers bitterly ill, forcing them to swim through unwholesome complaints such as nausea and vomiting. The salt water can rub skin raw and cause swelling (the faces of extreme swimmers are often virtually unrecognizable at the end of their events). Debris, including oil from boat engines, can also be swallowed if care isn’t taken. Jellyfish stings are common, and sometimes support teams will have to scare off inquisitive or aggressive sharks that suddenly hone in on the limb movements of the swimmer.

Apart from all these very practical concerns, the swimmer must keep his focus on the sheer slog of repeated arm and leg movements over many hours. The technical details of specific swimming strokes will not be covered in detail here, as anyone considering an ultra swim should have already mastered the techniques. (If not, he or she should not be considering marathon swims.) However, the essential points with any long-distance swimming stroke are that it should be both energy efficient and deliver maximum distance for every cycle of the technique. Typically, the three strokes you will use for an ultra swim are breaststroke, the crawl and sidestroke, with various types of backstroke usually reserved for either a rest or other practical purpose.

Have all your swimming techniques professionally assessed at the beginning of your training so you can iron out any bad habits early on. A critical objective is to make yourself as streamlined as possible in the water, which usually has the ancillary benefit of reducing tension around key areas of the body – particularly the neck, back and shoulders. A slight tension can be endured for the duration of an hour in the swimming pool, but over many hours the pain can intensity until it stops the swim, or at least has a detrimental effect on your time.

Strokes

Breaststroke is the classic distanceswimming stroke, for reasons that become apparent in the U.S. Navy’s swimming manual: ‘breaststroke is generally considered the best survival stroke when one must swim in open water. The advantages of this stroke include good forward visibility, controlled breathing (the ability to take a breath during the trough of a wave and to return the head into the water during the crest) when swimming in choppy seas, a powerful kick while wearing boots or shoes and an efficient energy-conserving glide’ (U.S. Navy, Naval Swimmer and Instructor’s Manual, 8.3). Breaststroke’s excellent seagoing characteristics means that it is worth mastering. The thrust of the legs and kick of the arms should be perfectly coordinated and powerful, and followed by a very smooth glide position, with the head down in the water and the back of the neck properly aligned with the spine. A streamlined glide position means that each power phase delivers maximum travel in the water; your breathing should also be synchronized with the beginning of the power phase, the head just lifting out of the water as the arms and legs are ‘cocked’ ready for the stroke.

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