I though I would bump this thread.

I have an idea for a MJ adventure.

Idea:
Open water swim at night, with blackout googles, ear plugs and edibles.
The objective is to swim vigorously for a pre-ordained amount of time (or until the shores is reached).


Why:
Darkness and water- are the starting points for many creation myths.
Swimming without any visual or auditory cues - might create the sensation that three dimensional space does not exist.

A person swimming fast through empty, limitless space for an extended period of time - might be a a very potent meditation on self, space, time and origin.

Edibles would increase the space/time confusion.


Results:
A very, very unique strava segment would be created.
It would be a strava segment that might have some symbolic meaning.
A strava segment that might represent some aspect of the human or individual psyche written on geography.
The experience might be somewhat terrifyingly.
Certainly epic!


I am contemplating attempting this somewhere this summer.

With blackout goggles, you might end up swimming out to sea, or into the middle of the lake or river. And if it is dark, you might end up not knowing where you are when you take off the blackout goggles. I know you're a very strong swimmer but you might end up swimming a lot further than you bargained for. Perhaps you should try this in a regular pool with lane lines; you would still have a very diff experience with the blackout goggles and earplugs. :)

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

Or use a lake so no matter what direction you go you know you'll end up on land

But if he swam out in say Lake Michigan and swam far enough not to be able to see the shore he came from, he might go the wrong way and never make the other side. And, even in a small lake, if you end up on the other side, long walk back in the dark and bare-footed. :)

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

Reminds me of a friend who lives on Maui and is avid scuba diver. He said they will go out and ‘black water’ dive at night.

Imagine like 2000’ deep water, then they scuba down 50’ feet or whatever and turn off light and then spin around and get disoriented on purpose .

OMG I can’t imagine. The only way to tell what is up is turn light on and watch bubbles.

I did extreme triathlon on weed for the swim and then mushrooms for the bike at about mile 70...

So, how did that race go for you??? Did you enjoy the swim and bike more??? And then how was the run???

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

I was thinking of Clear Lake in northern CA or Pyramid lake in Nevada.

Both are fairly large lakes that gets tolerably warm in the summer.

I am planning on getting dumped in the middle of the lake by my girlfriend. She will have a canoe.

There is a serious question about how straight one would swim. (See video below)

I am a much better swimmer, and much more in tune with my body, and the world around me- than the myth busters.

But that might just mean that my circles are bigger.

The errant nature of the path I take is definitely part of the experiment/experience.

Question:
I might not need a huge lake.
Should I experiment before I undertake the adeventure?
Pro- many questions about logistics will become more apparent.
Con- part of the adventure is about feeling completely lost- like I am the first swimmer in an infinite empty space. Practice would diminish that aspect.

I wrote this back in August 2019:

I did the big AlaskaMan race again this summer, about a month ago. I felt strong. I had another year of solid training under my belt. I would crack top 10. I had a few tricks up my sleeve. First, home court advantage is worth a lot, especially on this course. There is a section of the run that was endless and horrible so I focused on hitting that section tired over and over this spring and summer.

I was cranking out 15 mile runs easy now with no residual soreness the next day. Getting the volume up took way longer then I thought it would. The weeks leading up to race day were hotter then shit. Global warming I guess but Girdwood has never seen a month straight of 85 deg ever. The week of the race temps bumped up to 90 on race day. And then the smoke… huge forest fires raged down on the peninsula and all of south central was affected.

The morning of the race in Seward the smoke sat thick on the water. I struggled through the swim each breath tasting the smoke. I was 20th or so out of the water but with quick transition hit the road and bumped my way to 10th. I felt like I could not get my heart rate down below 160 and I was aiming for 140ish. Legs felt leaden.

By Moose Pass 40 miles in I have runny nose and itchy eyes and head ache that wont go away. My ego is driving me. I want to stop because it is so counter intuitive of activity to be doing so whole heartedly.

Up in Summit Pass the sky clears a bit and I feel optimistic. Descent to Hope Junction, climb to top of Turnagain. Head ache still there. Time to break out secret weapon. Similar mushroom treat that I had back in mountain race 2 years earlier with positive results. It was such good results that I swore to not use it again lest I come to rely on mushrooms for peak performance, placebo effect or otherwise.

This was a special case. I was 75 miles into 115 mile ride with only the most horrible to to come. I actually planned on taking the mushrooms about 15 miles into run section but things changed. I choked down the fudge chocolate jalepeno hot brownie thing. The air was hot, my water was hot my mouth was now hot. Fun times.

I dropped into the Turnagain Pass descent with renewed vigor. Bombing 50 mph plus along side endless stream of big rigs and motor home towing 30 ft boats. Who has the time and money for something so frivolous as fishing I often wonder. This feels dangerous but my headache is gone for the first time in 4 hours. My legs were strong again and I passed a couple of guys when we got to the flats.

Oh, but then the mushrooms actually kicked in around the Portage Road turn off. The little voice in my head that had been saying Go! Go! For over two years straight began to get quiet. My legs began to get heavy. I was tired and I knew what pain was to come. That was the difference from last year when I was just proving to myself that I could do it. Last year when I almost actually cried with joy upon finishing the swim section as humble adult onset swimmer.

Now this year I knew I could do it but I just didn’t want to anymore. Top 10, what does that mean? It was hot as shit out. I could see Girdwood Valley about 10 miles up shrouded in brown veil of thick smoke. I had to cross multiple highway bridges with no shoulder and big rigs and construction and WTF was I doing out here? I started to notice the reflections in the nice ponds along the highway and instead of thinking of swimming a few laps in there I thought about how I should make time to take my kids fishing. Make time to go camping. Make time to just be there for them instead of cramming every moment with Train! Train! Train! “But that is the part of me that keeps me sane,” I tell myself. Is it really?! What about art, what about writing, what about home improvements. What about maintaining composure when the kids are being annoying as heck and you don’t want to be there at that moment, kind of like this race. Am I building more character or tearing things down at this point?

Girdwood is at mile 90 of the course. My house is a couple hundred yards off course at Mile 90. At mile 85 I knew I was done. I just had to get home and off this highway. It felt overwhelming and dangerous and I felt out of place and I could not comprehend my motivations for having come this far.

After 5 hours of biking I pulled into my driveway and called it a day. A beer never tasted so good as it was like a veil or a curse had been lifted from my brain that day. My competitive spirit had been crushed and I was elated.

Holy. Fuck. That is quite the race report. Roughly what dosage of mushrooms was required for you to experience ego death halfway through an ironman? Asking for a friend.

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Not very much, I think the stress of the event exacerbated the effects.

lol Ego death, it was quite pleasant actually.