Did you see the back handed complement from the gal that holds/held the current world record? She gives her some props, the goes on to explain that she did hers in the ocean, and that she got the ocean WR, and we will see what the powers to be award Sarah.

Personally I think she is right, ocean and fresh water swims should be two different categories and have their own records. Completely different animals when swimming in salty, fish infested waters. The common denominators of course is the time spent swimming, staying awake, and fueling. But that is where it all stops, I don't think you could ever find any ocean to be that calm for that long, and of course having salt in your mouth for that long is a whole different event..

I will be waiting along with the other record holder to see what they do, what does everyone else think?

Ya, it seems to me that the fresh and salt water swims should be diff categories for record setting purposes. The thing that gets me is not only swimming for 56 hrs but also in 70* water for 56 hrs. I get cold after a 2-hr swim in 74* water in the pool so, even with lots of grease and some acclimation, i can't see myself lasting more than 6 hrs in 70* water. I do fine in the heat but cold tends to bother me. Of course, if marathon swimming would just allow neutral buoyancy wetsuits, I'd be OK but they will never allow that. Oh well, I'll stick to warm water swims like the 12.5 mi swim around Key West in June with 80-ish water. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Hi! I just stumbled on this site and saw the questions about my calorie intake! Thought I'd answer! :-)

I use a product called CarboPro - it's straight maltodextrin. I consume just a hair over 200 calories/hr, with a little protein and electrolytes in 16 ounces of water. I stop every 30 minutes for a feed. So, 100 calories, 8 ounces of water everytime.

After 30 hours on this swim, I was feeling a little hungry, so we tried some carrots and some cookies. But, what did the trick was some warm rissotto. I had about 8 bites over the last 20 hours or so. Seemed to sit nicely in my stomach after all the sweet flavored things and liquid.

I did use an electrolyte supplement with caffeine on the second night- Nuun energy. It seemed to give me the extra boost I needed after 36 hours awake....

Hope that helps!

Hi!

I started ramping up training for this in March. I spent quite a few weeks at 50k/week, then to 60k. My max was 93k in a week, about 3 weeks out. I had about 4 weeks total right around 80k. I had a few "recovery" weeks in there and hit a lull at the end of June, where I was just off for about 3 weeks. It freaked me out, but I was able to get back up in yardage.

I was in the pool 2-4 times/week and open water 4 times/week.

I have a full time job, so I was forced to 2-3 hour swims during the week and longer swims on the weekend. I probably hit about 30 hours of swimming or more in my biggest weeks.

So. Much. Swimming. :-)

No kidding! I have nothing to add other than props on an amazing accomplishment!

There was some comment on here about calorie deficit, did you track any change in weight from start to finish or ballpark your caloric deficit?

I can't even begin to express my admiration for you--an incredible feat, to be sure, but what impresses me most is the week-in week-out day-after-day training while working.

My biggest congrats, and many thanks for the personal response.

- from a would-be long-distance swimmer and definitely your top fan in Asia!

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Yanti Ardie of Y Tri Multisport & Majick Juice for lasting critter defense & skin soothing
~ World Open Water Swimming Association Coach & Official
~ IRONMAN Certified Coach (Founding Member)
~ Triathlon Australia Professional Development Coach
~ 3 by the Sea: my Journey from death to ...

I didn't have a scale handy on either end to weigh myself, so I can't make a guess there. Probably lost a pound or two, but I wouldn't think much more than that.

Wow, that is amazing!!! How much weight did you lose during the swim??? I would guess that you were on at least a 600 cal/hr deficit, so 600*56 = 33,600 cal/3500 cal/lb = 9.6 lb plus maybe 2 or 3 lb water so I'd guess around 12-13 lbs. Am I anywhere close???

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I didn't have a scale, so not sure. Highly doubt it was more than 5 pounds. Swimmers usually do have a little more fat to burn through than the average triathlete/runner, though.

I'm trying to find a start and finish picture for you- maybe you can decide what you think? :-)

Let's see if I can make this work:

Start: (https://www.facebook.com/...p;type=3&theater)
Finish: (https://www.facebook.com/...p;type=3&theater)

Way to go Sarah, you have a lot of fans here on this site. Even though it is triathlon centric, we discuss and follow just about all endurance sports, one of the very few sites that do. A lot of us here can "really" appreciate what you have done in this swim, I can't tell you how many nights I have spent on a boat watching people like you try and do the impossible, and then do it!!!

Thanks! I was surprised to see this thread here- but I was happy for all the cheering and support I could get! Not many people really get it- so it's nice to find a few out there who do! Seemed like at least a few of you knew a lot about marathon swimming, which was awesome. And thanks for watching people swimming- we all need lots of people like you! I hope to spend more time on boats myself next summer.

Well, kind of hard to say just from the pictures but let me ask you this: were you not absolutely freezing after 56 hrs in 70* water??? Shoot, I'm pretty cold after a 2-hr pool swim in 74* water so can't imagine 56 hrs at 70*!!! Also, when you do relatively short swims of 2-3 hrs, do you take in any calories or do you just swim???

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."