Most of you have chosen swims and goals that stretch you well beyond a comfort zone into a realm of the totally unknown which includes fear, doubt, anxiety, challenge, exhilaration, and triumph. The truth is we experience a wide spectrum of emotions and motivations throughout training and into the swim day. Some that know me, know that I do not agree with the train to “just finish” philosophy. Why not put yourself into the position to excel in context to capture all the beauty of the event and feel your power from within instead of slogging through an event just to get to the finish line?

His last stroke fell still. He crossed the dreaded line. Far from the shore, his swim was complete. Tears flowed into the salty water…

…The irony isn’t lost to my teacher, the cold water. I realized day after day of pushing the limits of time and distance against the real limits of hyperthermia, I quit virtually every day. Joyful and grateful for the time I enjoyed…

For me, a glorious mysterious joy during a long swim is the “threshold,” hidden energy within the shadows, designating the middle becoming the end….The threshold is earned at its chosen moment. Suddenly, without warning, it arrives as a kinetic prayer for invincibility and grace being answered.

Why can’t I simply ride the current in the direction it flows? Somehow, and I don’t know why, I feel more alive swimming upstream….Lately, chaos rules the state. So within. So without. Through entering a state of 38F water I explore the chaos within, seeking an antidote to reflect an ordered without. I employ 2 mantras; let the water hold me and be one with the water…my heart must first open…

It’s always been about the swim. Strip away all the crap that surrounds it and what remains is you and the water.

Thoughts from an Open Water Swimmer and Father: I wrote these thoughts as a guide to myself through the next months, and beyond. It is not complete nor a gospel, only thoughts of how I can live more fully and authentically today. Tomorrow will be different. My goal is to practice as many as possible, knowing a good day may only be three or four.

Cold Water Swimming Requires 100% Mental

Race Day is here. Go Time! How often have we heard, “It’s 90% mental, only 10% physical?” What if your event required 100% mental concentration to begin?

An official ice mile swim is a documented and observed 1 mile swim 40F or below….

Imagine a world so mysterious in which you are weightless, yet it holds your entire body with an effortless force. A place where darkness becomes light and opens to you the freedom to explore the depths of the minutiae of your being or wander freely and mindlessly through nothingness….