Avishag Turek completed the first Ice Mile by an Israeli swimmer on April 27th. She swam 1,616 meters in 4.33°C water at 1,350 meters in altitude.

Josef Köberl organized the event in Zauchensee, Austria, “Avishag’s Ice Mile took her 30 minutes 40 seconds.”

49-year-old Turek recalls that historic day, “I haven’t been as scared as I was of a challenge in a long time. What scared me? You can call it the cultural gap. I was born in a warm country [located at sea level] that does not have water sources that meet the definition of living in ice.

You have to be very creative to prepare for this challenge. Fortunately, I have trainers for almost everything and I choose to ask for help from people who understand the ice more than me. So I practiced in ice baths where I used a snorkel. To get accustomed to the high altitudes, I trained in the gym with masking tape on my mouth. And I did mind training in preparation for this Ice Mile.

Only March 24th, I decided to go for it after answering the following question from my trainer: when will you do the Ice Mile?

I thought there were no places that were cold enough do an Ice Swim anymore [this late in the season]. So I called my cold water trainer, Joseph Köberl. I was very happy to hear that it was still possible.“

So off the Israeli marathon swimmer flew to Austria, Köberl’s home country.

She recalls the day of her Ice Mile, “Before I put ointment on my skin, I was crazy focused. I read six sentences that I written in my notes. These were sentences that gave me strength.

The cold of swimming in the ice is not a cold that passes. It is a cold that is present throughout the entire body. I can feel the cold at the edges in my toes and hands. Every now and then I swallow water and get very scared.

But then I gave myself a motivational speech: relax, surf, movement, slow down, you will be fine.

This internal talk gives me a rhythm.

I repeat the names of my daughters. Repeating the sentence from the perspective of gratitude, knowing that I have tremendous strength and the ability to overcome. From time to time, I close the palms of my hands into fists and release. I remember to kick with my legs so they don’t freeze.“

Each lap around the turn buoys was 202 meters. They had to swim around 8 times to complete an Ice Mile.

She asked her support team to cheer for her from the sixth lap. “When I heard my friends cheering, it helped me a lot, but the last 150 meters were difficult. I felt that my hands were like weights. I prayed that I finish. When I finished, I got out of the water with the help of my friends and went into the sauna tent.

I felt the cold that spread from the inside out, taking 10-15 minutes to recover as I warmed up. Then, I started to cry from all the excitement. As the first Israeli to achieve an Ice Mile, I was very excited and makes me happy. I received congratulations from the open water community in Israel and I remain grateful.“

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