The Biggest, Badass Swims in the World - The Oceans Seven

The Oceans Seven

Open Water Marathon swimmers take on risks, face death, and climb mountains before the sun rises, in the deepest dark of night, and face conditions that make the best roll-over and go back to sleep.

Self motivated, driven and battle tested, open water swimmers get the job done.

We swim with the sharks every day.

Early Marathon Swimming in USA

Early Marathon Swimming in the United States

Friendships cast in the belly of competition, team sport outlive today's trials and tribulations of fast paced life and distance for Steve Conder and Don Macdonald. 

In the summer of 1980 then standout high school swimmers, along with a third (Craig Kercher) and coach (John Gibson) who had all swum for Bryan Rathke's UN-defeated Goshen Redskin swim squad embarked on what would be their biggest swim challenge yet, joining the early namesakes of US open water swims like John Kinsella, Lynn Cox, and others albeit not at that level but certainly well ahead of a sport that today is exploding.

Macdonald, Conder and Coach Gibson welcoming
the beach after a successful swim.

Marathon swimming

A class of open water swimming defined by long distances (at least 10 kilometers) and traditional rules based in English Channel swimming. Unlike marathon foot-races which have a specifically defined distance, marathon swims vary in distance. However, one commonly used minimum definition is 10 kilometers, the distance of the marathon swimming event at the Olympic Games.^[1]

As in all open water swimming, tides, surface currents and wind-chop are major determinants of finish-times. For a given course, these factors can vary dramatically from day to day, making any attempt to draw conclusions about athletic ability by comparing finish times from performances undertaken on different days meaningless.

One of the earliest marathon swims was accomplished in 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb, when he became the first person to swim across the English Channel. Similarly, perhaps the most famous marathon swim of all-time was accomplished in 1926 by Gertrude Ederle, when she became, at 19 years of age, the first woman to swim across the English Channel. In doing so, she demolished the existing world record for the crossing, by employing the crawl stroke technique.

The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming includes three of the most well-known marathon swims: (1) 21 mi (34 kilometres) across the English Channel, (2) 20.1 mi (32.3 kilometres) between Catalina Island and the mainland in Southern California, USA, and (3) 28.5 mi (45.9 kilometres) around Manhattan Island in New York City, USA.

The Ocean's seven is a collection of seven channel swims: (1) North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, (2) Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, (3) Molokai Channel between Oahu and Molokai Islands in Hawaii, (4) English Channel between England and France, (5) Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Southern California, (6) Tsugaru Strait between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan, and (7) Strait of Gibraltar between Europe and Africa.

Competitive Friendship Builds Life Long Resilience

My friend Steve Conder whom I swam across Lake Wawasee and Syracuse (8 miles) in the early 1980's accompanied by our fellow swim team member Craig Kercher and coach John Gibson did what was barely even known back then an open water swim.

Back then we learned about fueling the hard way.

We began swimming together in grade school along with a whole bunch guys and girls (whom I will not try to name as I would inevitably miss someone accidentally, but you know who you are). These friends became all close and through our parents families included.

After high school we all went our separate ways. Many on to college or not but usually catching up in the summer. Years turned into 10, 20, and 30.  Social Media made it easy to get back in touch, catch up and realize his was the foundation to life long resilience. Warriors in the finest Redskin tradition competing against each other with the highest regard pushing each other well beyond our youthful character to become among the best in the State of Indiana's swimming tradition. Competitive spirit pushed us both to become our best, our friends and coaches (school and family) always supporting us to challenge the next thing, to push harder, to believe in ourselves. Little did we know these attributes would follow us for years. 

We have all shared in personal failures throughout life, felt sorrow for the friends, coaches and family we have lost, but I would say these teachings allowed us to stay on course, persevere and to realize there is no "I" in "We".

Determining Functional Swimming Threshold

Don Macdonald training in 58 f fresh water for the English Channel
with support team under watchful eye of Doug McConnell.

There are a number of training assessment methodoligies. Understanding, especially as we age, how to train effectively, efficiently, and safely is critical to a long life and positive outcome.

TrainingPeaks WKO+ automatically generates training stress scores (TSS) for bike rides uploaded from a power meter and for run workouts uploaded from a speed and distance device. Triathletes who use WKO+ and appreciate this feature often wish that the program could do the same for swim workouts. Unfortunately, the swimming equivalent of a bike power meter or run speed and distance device does not yet exist. However, you can calculate TSS for your swims manually using a method we’ll describe in this article.

Why not simply use the same calculation for swim TSS that is used for running, in which the metric of pace is also used to quantify the training load? Because water presents more resistance than air, so the physiological stress of swimming increases with increasing swim speed faster than the physiological stress of running increases with increasing running speed.

The simplest, if not the most accurate, way to account for this difference in calculating TSS scores is to weight the “intensity factor” of swim workouts differently than it is weighted for run workouts. Specifically, we suggest, it should be cubed as opposed to squared.

Determining Functional Swimming Threshold Speed

Training stress score calculations in running and cycling are scaled according to the individual athlete’s current functional threshold pace (running) and functional threshold power (cycling), which correspond roughly to the lactate threshold running pace or cycling power. The lactate threshold can only be determined through laboratory testing, while the functional threshold is determined through field tests that are known to yield roughly equivalent results.

Similarly, the functional swimming threshold pace is a stand-in for the laboratory-determined swimming lactate threshold pace. There are two approaches that are most appropriate for the determination of swimming FTP. The first is the straightforward timed effort, where you swim as far as possible in a given time (e.g. 30 or 60 minutes). So, if you swim for 30 minutes and cover 1000 meters, then you can use the value of 33.3 m/min. as your FTP. Since the actual FTP is closer to the one-hour effort, it might be more advisable to perform a 60-minute test, or to take the value obtained for 30 minutes, multiply by two and subtract 2.5 percent (as most trained swimmers swim roughly 2.5 percent slower in a 60-minute maximal effort than in a 30-minute maximal effort). So again, if you cover 1000 m in 30 minutes, your 60-minute FTP would be 1900 m/hr or 31.7 m/min. This may seem like a minor difference, but due to the resistive aspect of swimming, small differences can have a substantial impact.

If you are not inclined to perform such long, exhaustive efforts in the pool, you may alternatively perform a critical velocity (CV) test. This method consists of two test efforts at different distances (200 m and 400 m) separated by a complete rest. Because complete rest is required for the results of a CV test to be valid, it is best to perform the first all-out effort at the beginning of one workout (after warming up, of course) and the next at the beginning of another. Record the time required to complete each effort and simply plot the results on a graph as distance vs. time. The slope of that line is your critical speed. Alternatively, a simple equation yields the same result:

Critical speed = (Distance of longer test swim – distance of shorter test swim) divided by (Time of longer test swim – time of shorter test swim)

For example, suppose you swim your 200m test swim in 2:02 (2.04 minutes) and your 400m test swim in 4:21 (4.35 minutes). Your critical velocity, then, is (400m – 200m) ÷ (4.35 min. – 2.02 min.) = 86.6 meters/min.

The results of your critical speed determination should yield a result that is very close to a 60-minute test or a laboratory-determined lactate threshold pace. Either of these results can then be used as the FTP for determination of TSS and performance modeling.

Calculating swim TSS

Now that you know your swim FTP, you can easily calculate the TSS for any swim workout using the following procedure:

1. Measure total distance covered for the workout

2. Determine time to cover total distance (not including rest periods)

3. Express distance vs. time in m/min to obtain normalized swim speed (NSS), which is analogous to the normalized power and normalized graded pace in cycling and running, respectively

4. Divide NSS by FT to obtain IF

5. Swim TSS = (Intensity Factor cubed) x hours x 100

For example:

Once you have determined the swim TSS, you can manually input values in Training Peaks WKO+ and then use the program’s analysis features for swimming as you do with running and cycling. Let’s look at an example of a specific workout. First, let’s suppose that your swim FTP is 75 m/minute. Next, let’s suppose you complete the following workout (remember, rest periods are not counted):

Warm-up: 200 m @ 3:20, 30 sec. rest (3:20 total)

Drills: 4 x 50 m @ 1:00, 10-sec. rest (4:00 total)

Main set: 10 x 100 m @ 1:15, 20-sec. rest (12:30)

Cool-down: 200 m @ 3:20 (3:20 total)

Total workout distance: 1,600 m

Total workout time: 23:10 (or 0.386 hours)

The average pace for the complete workout is 1,600 meters divided by 23:10 (23.16 minutes or 0.386 hours) or 69 m/min. The intensity factor for the complete workout is the average pace (69 m/min.) divided by the athlete’s functional threshold pace (75 m/min.) or 0.92. To cube IF, multiply it by itself three times (So, in this example, 0.92 x 0.92 x 0.92). So the TSS for the workout is So the TSS for the workout is 0.778x 0.386 hours x 100 = 30.1.

There are some important limitations of our do-it-yourself method of swim TSS calculation to bear in mind. First of all, although this simplistic approach can be effective, it should be noted that by simply tracking distance and time swum, the effects of rest periods on the sustainable efforts are neglected, whereas in cycling and running they are not, because power meters and speed and distance devices capture coasting and non-movement as part of the workout.

Similarly, our rough-and-ready method of calculating swim TSS lacks the exponential weighting of higher intensities that is done automatically with pace and power in the digital calculation of normalized cycling power and normalized graded pace, and which is an important means of capturing the exponentially greater stress imposed by higher intensities. That being said, the cubed weighting of the IF counterbalances this limitation to a certain extent.

These calculations ignore the differences between different swim strokes and the rather substantial differences in efficiency that result from good or poor technique. Finally, the impact of flip turns and push-offs is essentially neglected using this approach.

Still, it’s a lot better than nothing, which is what triathletes interested in logging their swim workouts on WKO+ have had up to this point!

This article was reprinted from and co-written by Matt Fitzgerald and Stephen McGregor, PhD. 

USMS National Open Water Championships 15K

USMS National Open Water 15k (9.3 mile) Championships from the perspective of kayaks, support crew and chief enthusiast me and several hundred other national caliber swimmers, coaches and avid supporters.

The beginning of any open water competitive swim can be frustrating for the calm and experienced, nervous for the un prepared, and nerve racking for the newbie no matter how capable. This is my 5th or 6th one of these both as a swimmer perspective and kayaker and I can say in the end its a team effort, including those that host the event. 

Our hosts from GRIN and NASTI masters teams in Indianapolis really do a nice job, giving up their potential to swim to help others become champions. This is one of the hallmarks of our sport, giving back.

This year was no different, than those of the past, stormy and grey weather threatened but held off. a few years ago when we did the 25k, swimming this many miles in hot water makes for a long day. 

The calm waters of Morse gave way to after winds chopping up the South End as usual, so much so I ran over Doug twice trying to stay close as a guide through the maze of buoys that makes up the turn/finish area for another lap. 

As you can see in this picture the shoreline undulates back and forth requiring the swimmer to be very precise in sighting. 

Here is Doug Mcconnell and myself heading up the East River last summer while circumnavigating Manhattan Island for a good idea of how close we operate.

A really strong fast swimmer can easily fall behind lifting their head too often, burning energy from dragging their hips low in the water. Experienced swimmers realize quickly that having an experienced kayaker is really critical, using them as a sight line on one side and the tree for example on the other. It's a choreographed dance on water.

In the end we had great fun, saw many old friends, made new ones and created hope for the future of our sport and the next race or chance to swim across a big body of open water.

Diana Nyad - Never Giving Up

Never Ever Give Up

My advice for living your healthiest, most fulfilling life—even if you’re not swimming across 110 miles of treacherous open ocean

By Diana Nyad ON LABOR DAY, 2013, I WALKED out of the sea onto Smathers Beach in Key West, becoming the first person ever to swim all the way across the Florida Straits from Cuba without a shark cage. It was a journey of 110.86 miles, and it took me 52 hours, 54 minutes. I was 64 years old at the time. Walking onto that Florida shore from Cuba didn’t become a reality until my fiſth try. I failed four times, and each of those attempts was public and each was crushing. I had put in hundreds of grueling, lonely training hours. A team of 44 people had sacrificed a great deal in the name of adventure, friendship and history. In the end, it was a 35-year saga of discovery, life lessons and grand experiences on an epic journey. Envision your dream and don’t give up until you get there, or at least get so close that your own effort inspires you.

The reason I was able to do something that many younger athletes had attempted and failed—myself included, back when I tried for the first time at age 28—is that I don’t believe in imposed limitations. Nobody knows the full power of the human spirit. If you are willing to accept the statistical parameters for your age, your gender, your economic situation, your whatever, you are flat-out saying you’re not interested in soaring toward your potential.

But we need to get real. The universe at times dishes out circumstances that even the toughest among us have to accept and come to terms with. My good friend, at the young age of 32, fought cancer of the worst kind with courage and not a drop of self-pity. But when the cancer in the end would not submit, my brave friend had to somehow find the grace to say good-bye to her children. We sometimes are dealt a tough road of physical and other kinds of disabilities. That’s when we still fight labels and yet somehow find elegance in determining what we can and can’t ultimately do.
Dreaming, reaching for stars and personal fulfillment are what drive the human spirit. I don’t wake up in the morning a middle-aged woman, a child of sexual abuse, a human rights activist, even though I am all of those things. I wake up a citizen of the world who refuses to let this cherished life slip quietly by. Don’t tell me I can’t touch the stars, because I just may get there one day. And on my way I’ll be tapping down into the deep well of all I can be.

Don’t Fear Failure ...

The debate about the journey versus the destination has raged for all time. Is the journey a worthy road to travel? What if you never touch that dream star of yours? I may have tried dozens of times more and never successfully completed the Cuba Swim, but I had come to peace with feeling that the journey itself was noble and worth taking, even if I never reached the destination.

During that last year of training in 2013, I kept on my desk that famous Teddy Roosevelt quote about not wanting to be a timid soul. To paraphrase, Roosevelt says he would rather be the guy in the ring who gets bloody and dirty and falls and fails over and over again. Far better, he says, to be bold and fail than to be a timid soul who is afraid and never tries at all.

Dazed when I stumbled onto that beach aſter more than two days of nonstop swimming, the first words I uttered through swollen lips were: “Never ever give up.”
I was living proof that to be fierce in your convictions, to refuse to give up on your dreams, allows you to stand tall, with no regrets that you have not lived out everything in your being.

There were thousands of screaming people on that beach to greet me. They weren’t swimming fans or even sports fans. They were people just like you and me, who fully understand and thirst to live inspired lives, who grasp that perseverance is the key to all success and fulfillment.

... And Never Let Age Define You

I truly believe that the key to well-being, aſter physical health and vitality, of course, is the drive to summon your spirit for something that moves you. Don’t let anybody else’s limitations define you. Envision your dream and don’t give up until you get there, or at least get so close that your own effort inspires you.
By the way, the second thing I said on that beach that day was: “You’re never too old to chase your dreams.”

Today, at 65, I am undoubtedly at the center of the prime of my life. As an athlete, a world-class athlete at that, I am stronger, fitter, more focused, more capable today than I was when setting records for such endurance marks as the fastest to swim around Manhattan Island at the age of 25, 40 long (or short) years ago.

Perhaps we can all of us agree that we mature and evolve for the better in all kinds of ways as we age. We have more perspective; the clock ticking exponentially faster year by year makes us want to grab on to our precious days, one by one. Our sense of appreciation for life and this beautiful blue jewel Planet Earth heightens. So it’s easy to understand an emotional and psychological prime at 65—for athletes and nonathletes alike.

Make this the prime of your life, whatever age you are, whatever life circumstances you find yourself in. It’s a one-way street we’re all traveling, each and every one of us. What a shame not to take this one walkthrough of ours with great gusto. It’s up to each of us to find a way toward whatever shore looms in our dreams.

Widely known as one of the world’s greatest endurance athletes, Diana Nyad inspired millions at 64 with the record-breaking swim from Cuba to Florida described in this essay. Previous feats include circling Manhattan and swimming 102 miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
Her next challenge? Getting a million people to join her planned journey across America—called The Walk—to draw attention to obesity and related illnesses and to help create social change. Her latest book, a memoir called Find a Way: The Diana Nyad Story: One Wild and Precious Life, will be published this fall.

In February she launched a one-woman show, Onward!, in Key West. Diana will tour her stage show around the country and, as we have come to expect, has ambitions to hit the big time—Broadway. For more on Diana, visit diananyad.com.

Exert from Merril Lynch Article

Making It A Game - How to Get Across

Make It A Game

Outtakes from Article by Erin Barker on Navy Seal Training

Don about 14 miles into the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim

In this second part of the series we are breaking apart Erin Baker's article on why Navy Seals are so tough (Resilient) and what the everyday open water marathon swimmer can learn. 

When we do things repetitively we do take notice. More often than not however its an annoying type of recognition rather than motivating. I choose to make it a game.

• What’s one of the things people who live through disaster scenarios have in common? They make survival a game.

• Happiness expert Shawn Achor said the best way to deal with stress is to see problems as challenges, not threats.

• Kids do better in school when it’s treated like a game.

James, a Navy Seal, said the same thing about getting through the tough times at BUD/S:

Many people don’t recognize that what they’re doing at BUD/S is assessing your ability to handle a difficult circumstance and keep going.

It’s a game. If you want to be or attempt a seriously long swim in excess of say 6 miles and/or in cold water , you’ve got to play that game. You’ve got to have fun with it and you’ve got to keep your eye on the bigger picture.

A Navy SEAL Explains 8 Secrets to Grit and Resilience

Getting Across

Outtakes from Article by Erin Barker

In this series we are breaking apart Erin Baker's article on why Navy Seals are so tough (Resilient) and what the everyday open water marathon swimmer can learn. 

Purpose And Meaning

To say SEAL training is hard is a massive understatement. 

The initial vetting phase (“BUD/S”) is specifically designed to weed people out who aren’t serious.

How do you get serious? Grit often comes from a place of deep purpose and personal meaning. Here’s James:

"At BUD/S you have to know what you’re getting yourself into and what you’re there to do.I still mentor a lot of guys who are interested in trying out for BUD/S and they always ask, “What do I need to do to make my push ups better?” or “Can you teach me the proper swim technique?” My first question is always, “Why do you want to be a SEAL? What is it about being a SEAL that appeals to you?”

The research backs James up. Without a good reason to keep pushing, we’ll quit. Studies of “central governor theory” show our brains always give in long before our body does.

“…Overall, it seems that exercise performance is ultimately limited by perception of effort rather than cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic factors.”

But this isn’t just true for athletics, it also holds for careers. In a study of West Point alums, those that had intrinsic goals (“I want to serve my country. I want to test my abilities.”) outperformed those that had extrinsic goals (“I want to rise in the ranks and become an officer because that’s a really powerful position and it’s prestigious.”)

So purpose matters. But what’s the attitude that keeps you going in the moment? It’s actually a bit less serious.

If your just trying it to see if you will get across, you will more than likely fail.

Touch the Wall Swimming Movie Screening

On the evening of Saturday August 4, 2012, 17 year-old Missy Franklin won her fourth Gold medal of the London Olympic Games when she swam the backstroke leg of the women’s 4×100 medley relay.  It was Missy’s second world record of the Olympic games; it was her 5th Olympic medal.

It was a crowning moment for swimming’s brightest new star and end of a chapter of her marvelous journey.

That Saturday was also the end of her teammate Kara Lynn Joyce’s long and productive Olympic career.  And though she finished with four Silver medals, just making it to her third Olympics was her greatest accomplishment.

The fortunes of Missy and Kara – and that of their coach, Todd Schmitz – are the stories of Touch the Wall.

Missy’s story is becoming known – an all-American teenager who, when she’s not dominating her competition in the pool can be found doing her homework, hanging out with her friends, or just having fun at whatever she’s doing.  And she possibly might just be the nicest person on the planet.

As for Kara, she finished her college career as one of the most decorated female swimmers.  She has long had the reputation as one of the sport’s hardest workers … and most respected athletes.

Somewhat unexpectedly, they both made the Olympics, and Missy had a phenomenal start to her Olympic career as she won 4 golds and a bronze.

Touch the Wall is the story of how these two amazing women and their coach got to where they are.  It’s a story of winning and losing, of commitment, and of triumph through adversity.  It’s also a story of family, of loving what you do, and having fun with the people around you.

In a world starved for heroes, Missy and Kara stand tall in Touch the Wall.

Event:             Touch the Wall movie screening

Place:              Barrington Area Library – Meeting Room

505 N. Northwest highway
Barrington, IL 60010

Dates:             Friday, January 30, at 6:30 p.m.

                       Saturday, January 31, at 9:00 a.m.

Admission:    $5 per person donation to the BAM and BSC

Hosts:            Barrington Area Masters

                       Barrington Swim Club

Young Hearts 4 Life - ECG Screening of active children and young adults Program

There are some things you cannot place an economic value on, a child’s life if one of them

Dr. Marek, an internationally recognized cardiologist, here with Ultra marathon open water swimmer Don Macdonald, has taught physicians across America how to run screenings for students and athletes. Over 10,000 community volunteers.

Young Hearts for Life® (YH4L) and One Stroke at a Time supported a recent Barrington High School (Chicagoland) Cardiac Screening Program Event, YH4L nationally known for its unique model, has screened over 110,000 students for conditions that cause sudden cardiac death.  This milestone is a first for any heart screening program of this kind in the United States.

Each week, sudden cardiac death claims the lives of more than 60 young adults in the United States.  YH4L has been a leader the medical community to address this problem in the Chicago area.

The YH4L screening program was founded by Dr. Joseph Marek in 2006 and is well known for its unique model that uses trained community volunteers to deliver a low cost, efficient screening program.

To date, over 1,900 students screened through YH4L have been identified as “at risk” students.  Of those, hundreds were found to have life threatening conditions, including Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Long QT Syndrome, Wolff-Parkinson- White Syndrome (WPW), Brugada Syndrome, and Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia.

Living proof (one of the 1%er's) to the value of finding these hidden health challenges. I encourage you to consider having your kids screened every two years and while your at it yourself.