ROSS EDGELY
The first person to swim the entire coast of the UK in 2019’s Great British Swim, Ross Edgley shares his tips on cold water, waves and jellyfish...
q How do you overcome nerves when entering the sea? a While most triathletes are incredibly fit, if they’re not used to cold water exposure they’ll panic and all of a sudden those perfect swim mechanics, that bilateral breathing, will go out of the window. When you get into the water, you’ll instantly get that gasp reflex, which is like [draws breath in sharply], and you can’t feel your hands and you’re going ‘is that normal?!’. The key is to educate yourself about what’s happening there.
q After 157 days in the sea, you’re the expert. What is happening? a The gasping isn’t hypothermia, it’s something we refer to as the ‘gasp reflex’, which you need to expect and be able to control. As for the hands, that’s your capillaries vasoconstricting and pulling blood to your core from your extremities. By knowing that, you can understand what’s happening and teach yourself not to panic.
q How do you get yourself used to swimming in cold water? a There’s no better way to train for a cold open-water swim than to just get in. By experiencing that cold water exposure, you start awakening those ancient, age-old systems that I think we’ve atrophied. It doesn’t mean finding an ice lake and jumping in by the way! It means working with progressive overload. You can start by doing 30 seconds. That’s OK. It’s a little bit cold but you can do it. Then after that, work up to a minute. Before you know it, you’ll be in lakes and rivers, you’ll be swimming round Loch Lomond, maybe even crushing it in ice swimming! You just need to take baby steps.
q Does sea swimming have some unique challenges? a Yeah! It’s like running. If you’re a great runner on the road, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a great fell runner or mountain runner. It’s a completely different technique, completely different muscle groups. With sea swimming, for example, you could find yourself swimming into a headwind and all of a sudden you need to alter your technique as you’ll be taking waves on the shoulders. You need to learn to adapt and change your technique.
q But can the sea also make things easier on race day? a Absolutely! I found this with my Great British Swim when we had a strong tailwind. Andrew Cotton, who’s one of Britain’s best big wave surfers, looked at me and said, “Why are you trying to swim?” I asked what he meant and he said, “Mate, the waves are huge, just bodysurf them!” So he taught me to bodysurf and I realised I was wasting so much energy there. It’s about feeling with your feet that a wave is about to come and holding your arms out in front of you and then bodysurfing it. It can carry you forward up to two metres if you catch the wave right and with very little cost to energy. I was like, “Wow! Why was I swimming? The waves were trying to help me!”
Q On race day, is it important to judge the conditions? a Yes. Every swim and every tide, I would sit on the edge of the boat and look at the sea and think, “Hmm what kind of swim is this going to be today? Is the current with me, is it not? Is there a headwind, a side wind?” With the sea, it can either be your sparring partner or your dance partner, depending on the day’s conditions. Each day I needed to decide whether to put on my boxing gloves or my dancing shoes. It’s about swimming smarter, not harder, when it comes to the sea.
q Did you ever worry about what’s ‘in’ the sea? a With the jellyfish and the ‘things’ in the sea, education was key. People would say to me, “Woah, Ross, you’re fearless!”. I wasn’t fearless because at times I was terrified, but I think fearlessness is different to courage. You find out the risks. We were speaking to marine biologists and coastguards. I asked local people who live and work by the sea. They told me things I wouldn’t otherwise have known, about creatures but also about an eddy, a rogue tide…
q What’s your best tip about kit for race day? a I always think of it in terms of limiting your limitations! Make sure you’ve found the kit that work best for you in the sea long in advance!
“The sea can either be your dance partner or your sparring partner, depending on the day’s conditions”