Courtesy of Nora Toledano, Manhattan, New York.

We were thinking about Anne Cleveland today and pulled up her acceptance speech at the United Nations Building during the 2011 International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

Cleveland passed away in June 2017, but left a rich legacy as an open water swimmer, yoga instructor, and inspirational speaker from La Jolla, California. She was a member of the Half Century Club, an active open water swimming coach and a prolific channel swimming observer.

During her high-quality 65,000 meters per week training weeks, she explained her strategy as she got older. “I do a couple of easier weeks in between for recovery. One thing I learned right away, and learned more from Dr. Jim Miller at the Open Water Swimming Conference, is proper nutrition is key.

I’ve been feeding – Maxim + Hammer Endurolytes – before, during and after all of my workouts, always making sure to have a carbohydrate feed immediately following each workout. Next day recovery every time – even from 15 – 20 km ocean swims in rough and windy conditions.

I even feed during pool workouts now – my quality stays up where it belongs and I can recover in time for my afternoon ocean swim.

I massage wintergreen oil into sore muscles before retiring at night and healing is overnight.

Mentally, I have no trouble recovering if I’ve finished my scheduled workout(s) for the day. It’s when I don’t finish that I have trouble letting it go. Rewards for finishing are good…biscuits and gravy for example.”

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