Open water swimmers are patient individuals. They prove themselves on a daily basis to be dedicated, committed, focused athletes.
Swimmers tend to have a passionate mindset that remind us of the mindset of successful healthcare professionals, academics, business people, respected artists, musicians, and elite soldiers.
The 8-minute speech below touches on many of the fundamental characteristics possessed by these individuals. The traits described in the speech are applicable to many things in life, including setting out and accomplishing stage swims, marathon solo swims, channel crossings, professional marathon races, ice swims, or an unprecedented swim.
Each Navy SEAL undergoes intensive BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training) that is designed to find and develop soldiers of the strongest character who give everything they have to accomplish their mission and support their fellow soldiers on their team.
A typical Navy SEAL does the following during an intense six-month training period:
- runs 1,627 miles
- swims 134.2 miles (216 km) – not with swimming gear, but with military gear on
- runs the obstacle course 39 times
- conducts 42 dives spending 61 hours underwater in total
- expends a total of 1,413,000 rounds of small arms ammunition
- detonate 13,382 pounds of explosives
- hike or patrol 150 miles
- complete a 12-mile conditioning run wearing 70 lbs. of gear in 3 hours or less
© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“