The good, bad, and ugly

As I get ready for my upcoming English Channel swim on July 20–27, 2018, I reflect on the past 2 years of training.

Start of 8 hour swim

The Good.

1. Community. I joined the Dolphin Club in 2015 and found an extended family of generous, kind-hearted, and badass open water swimmers and rowers. Thank you for piloting so many early mornings.
2. Scenery. If you’ve never explored the Bay Area by boat, kayak, or swim, I highly recommend it. Watching the sun rise behind the SF skyline is breathtaking. Plus, there are whales!
3. Strength. Being able to swim 3 hours in 51 degrees was unfathomable to me a year ago. The physical and mental training has made me the strongest I’ve ever been my entire life. I have serious back muscles.

The Bad.

1. Relationships. When you spend most of your non-work hours in the water, you find little time (and energy) for anything else. We’ll hang out soon Justin!
2. Pain. Ultra-marathon training is incredibly rough on your body. You take thousands of repetitive strokes. Technique, rest, PT, and anything that helps you prevent injury becomes key to ramping up.
3. Sick. I’ve gotten a cold every month this year. It could be from a whole number of factors — sleep, stress, not resting enough, temperature fluctuations — either way, I’m excited to have my weekends back soon.

The Ugly.

1. Sea Lions. The Bay is their home and we’re just visitors. Still, the fear of a sea lion bite is enough to make me sight too much while swimming.
2. Nausea. It can get very choppy in the water. If you swallow enough salt water, you eventually throw up. This happened to me after my 6-hour Angel Island swim. I threw up A LOT. Not fun.

English Channel Bon Voyage Party

I can’t believe it’s almost here. It’s been an incredible journey. Thank you for supporting me.

My GPS tracker: https://track.rs/laurenau/