Jamie Patrick appears on an World Open Water Swimming Associationpodcast where he explains how he is preparing for his anticipated 240-mile (386 km) non-wetsuit swim in the Sacramento River in northern California.

Jamie talks about his preparation for his next marathon swim which he has coined Swimming California. Because he anticipates he will swim non-stop for at least 60 hours – starting in the day through at least two sleepless nights, he has come up with two solutions to the physiological problems he will have to overcome: blood tests and Endless Pools.

Because hydration and nutrition will be so important during such a long swim, his team will regularly prick his finger during the swim and take blood tests. The tests will tell his team what his body needs and they will give it to him. “It may not taste good or be what I want at that moment, but if [whatever they give me] is going to get me through the swim, I’ll take it.”

Also, swimming through one night is difficult enough for marathon swimmers, but swimming non-stop through two nights is physiologically and psychologically very difficult. Jamie is consulting with military experts like the Navy SEALs who deal with extreme sleep deprivation in their training and military deployments. They are teaching him how to keep moving and be safe while dealing with no sleep in the water.

Another practical solution that Jamie is using is to prepare by using an Endless Pools. With the Endless Pool he installed at his home, he can adjust the water temperature and speed at which he trains throughout the year. “I can train by simply walking downstairs and hopping in the Endless Pool to swim through the night and at different temperatures or speeds.”

It is a clever solution to the age-old problem of marathoner swimmers who often must travel to have open water access.

Here is one snippet of Jamie’s Open Water Swimming podcast:

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