2018 [John Batchelder Open Water Swimmer]

It’s time to start getting excited for my 2018 season!  I had wanted to go back and post about all my remaining 2017 swims, but I just ran out of steam and have left many of my thoughts hanging in my draft folder.  Maybe one day I’ll go back and clean those up (probably not), but for now, it’s time to move on to what’s coming up over the next several months.

2018 Schedule

Here’s what I’ve got on my plate for 2018:

• June 20-28:  English Channel Butterfly Crossing
• July 16-17:  Double Catalina Channel Butterfly Crossing
• July 28:  15 mile Border Buster Swim, Lake Memphremagog, VT/QC
• August 4-5:  Cliff Backyard Ultra, Wellington Lake, CO
• September 24-28:  TBD Lake Powell Swim

This is a step down from 2017 in terms of number of swims, but a huge step up in terms of length of swims and difficulty.  The English Channel will be my first venture into a sub-15C (sub 60F) ultra marathon swim.  After failing Catalina last year, I decided to be completely bonkers and up the ante in 2018 and go for a double-crossing.  The Border Buster is my victory lap return to Lake Memphremagog, site of my 25 mile lake crossing last September.  The Cliff Backyard Ultra is a first-of-its-kind last man standing swim being organized by my good Colorado swimming friends (I’m going to defer talking about this until a later post).  As if that wasn’t enough, I’m aiming to swim at least 50 miles in Lake Powell.  Phew, quite the schedule.

Oh, and as per my usual, all of these swims will be butterfly.  The English Channel is for the record fastest butterfly crossing.  I’m not too keen on speed records in open water swimming as there’s way too much luck involved on getting favorable weather conditions, but just the same if an application asks if a swim is for a record, and if the record is within reach, then I’ll check that box.  Catalina would be the first ever butterfly double-crossing, and I have been longing since October to get back out to tackle this swim after not finishing my single crossing attempt last year.  Why a double?  I felt like I needed to test myself in a 24 hour swim to get ready for what is the highlight of my season:  Lake Powell.  Lake Powell will be my attempt to set the record for longest butterfly distance swim.  I had my eye on this one ever since I completed the Tampa Marathon Swim last year, and I feel its time I take on this challenge.  I do not know how far my Lake Powell swim will be as much will depend on how my Catalina swim goes, though I so know it is going to be at least 50 miles.  For all these swims, successful or no, this is going to be one amazing year.  I am so excited!

Training

I have already started to train hard for 2018.  The English Channel is requiring me to train for long distance swims in water colder than I’ve ever seriously trained in before.  I’ve been pushing myself to swim long periods in water temperatures below 15C.  I even took several trips earlier in the year to California to do some cold water ocean swimming.  I’ve put it quite a lot of time, but I actually haven’t been doing as well in those waters as I would like.  It’s tough.  It’s a physical challenge to be sure.  I think its more the mental aspect that has been my biggest obstacle.  I think my body can withstand the cold just fine, so that when I do swim the English Channel, as long as I keep my mind focused on the task at hand, I’ll be fine.  At least, that’s what I hope.

To help get my body acclimated to the cold, and to supplement my cold water swimming sessions, I took up a friend’s suggestion and started adding ice baths to my training.  It’s definitely not as good for training as actually swimming in cold water, but it’s a reasonable substitute when time doesn’t allow for getting out to the lakes.  Using a friend’s plastic trough, which is better than a bath tub, and a lot of ice, I can get the bath to just a tad over 5C.  That’s cold!  I’ve done 4 sessions so far, each over 30 minutes and maxing out at 45 minutes.  With each session I’m finding it easier to keep myself focused while surrounded by ice water, but the ice bath itself is the easy part.  Getting out and the moments that follow is the real challenge.  The after drop that follows doesn’t seem to be getting any easier, but after a quick change out of my suit, putting on some warm clothes, going out for a nice long walk, and a lot of shivering, I recover just fine.  I wonder what the neighbors think seeing a guy out wearing a swim parka and gloves, all while shivering on a 90 degree F day.

So, that’s the gist of my training this year.  I’ve been super focused all year.  No more repeats of Catalina in 2017:  I’m not going to fail this channel crossing!

English Channel

Much of my training I’ve discussed has been specifically towards swimming the English Channel, so I should spend some time speaking about what I have coming up for that swim.  I reserved my slot of the English Channel back in mid-Summer 2017.  This was a little late in the game to be reserving a slot for 2018, hence why my swim is so early in the season when the water is going to be much colder than a more favorable date later in the year.  Of all the boat pilots I contacted to find a 2018 date, I only found three openings, all with the Masterpiece.  One was slot 5 in late September, which wouldn’t have been bad but I ruled it out completely as too great a risk of not getting a chance to go within the one week window.  Another was slot 1 in early June, which I did consider but I am glad I didn’t go with that one.  The last was slot 3 in late June, which is what I chose. It’s a month away, and I now find myself in slot 2, so odds are all that much better I’ll get to swim.

Masterpiece – Photo From ChannelSwimmingAssociation.com

For those that don’t know, slots are just the order that people are called upon to swim during the specific week.  So, during my week of June 20-28, the person with slot 1 will be called to make his attempt with the Masterpiece first.  Once that attempt is completed, successful or no, or if that person chooses not to go, then it will be my turn.  Each day during the week, the boat captain makes a judgment call on if the weather is suitable enough to make an attempt on a particular day.

I will be flying out to arrive in England on June 18, and will stay there until June 30.  I am not going out with anyone, and I will be seeking support from the locals to help crew my swim.  I have some leads I need to follow through on, and I also have been assured that the Masterpiece has successfully guided people across without the swimmer bringing any crew along with him.  That’s good to know.

I do not have any plans for what to do in England while I’m there.  This trip is all going to be about the swim.  Any days before the swim will be focused on getting ready, with likely some trips being spent to go do some last training swims out of Dover.  Being over there by myself is quite disappointing, but my family situation is preventing any of my relatives from going over, and I didn’t bother asking any friends to come over with me (I should have), so I’m stuck going by myself.  I’ve gotten through a bunch of swims before going by myself and relying on local support.  I realize it’s not ideal, as it leaves more things outside my control, but I’m hopeful it’ll turn out great.  My next post will likely be a recap of my trip to England.  Stay tuned!

Final Thoughts

That’s all I want to say in this post.  I’m sure I’ll discuss more my other upcoming swims in more detail after I attempt the English Channel.

To wrap up, I am so super excited about my 2018 season!  I am also very scared.  In 2017, at no time did I think before the swim I couldn’t do it.  Not so in 2018.  Even with the training I put in, the cold of the English Channel scares me.  Catalina is going to push me, hard!  That scares me more.  A swim lasting over 24 hours is getting into some real scary unknown territory for me, and this will probably be twice as hard as anything I’ve done before, though I have full confidence that I can do.  Then there is Lake Powell.  Wow, that’s taking another humongous step.  That one really, really, really scares me, but it also excites me like I’ve never been excited before.  As I mentioned at the start, that swim is really what my 2018 is all about.  This season I’m really going to be testing my limits, and I am very hopeful that I’ll pull through.  And if I fail (knock on wood), well, at least then I’ll know and I’ll make adjustments to one day push beyond these limits to achieve these goals I have set out for myself.  If I do succeed, well, it’s going to feel so, so great!

Until next time!

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