Swimming to Antarctica_ Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer - Lynne Cox [137]
The Antarctica swim would be psychologically more difficult than any swim I had done before. There was so much emotion connected to it. Friends expressed their love and support by handing me care packages filled with hot chocolate and tea, popcorn and chocolate. Others felt concern; one of my closest friends, who had been with me on previous swims, was worried I would never return. And Laura, my younger sister, called at least a dozen times to make sure that I had a team of doctors with me and a rescue plan in place and tested in case of an emergency. David, my older brother, and Ruth, my youngest sister, were much more low-key about it, but they told me to be careful, and David told me to have fun swimming with the penguins.
For two years I had been preparing for this swim, an idea inspired by Caroline Alexander, a friend who wrote a book called The Endurance, about Ernest Shackleton and his attempt to reach the South Pole. I had been looking for a goal that was a really big idea, something that would intrigue me and move me far beyond what I knew. Caroline suggested I swim in the subantarctic islands—off Elephant Island or South Georgia Island—recognizable places that were associated with Shackleton. But I wasn’t interested in doing a swim for the sake of it being recognized; I wanted to do something that had never been done, never been explored before in this way.
Caroline and I discussed different ideas. Ultimately, I knew, I wanted to swim somewhere on the Antarctic continent, but I thought it would be good to do a test swim ahead of time near one of the sub-antarctic islands. First I wanted to see what I could do, then gauge my limits and determine how much farther I could go.
For two years, I had trained very hard for this swim, and in a different manner than ever before. Instead of working on endurance, as I had in the past, my objective now was to build strength, speed, and overall cardiac conditioning. I trained by walking at sunrise with Barry Binder, my friend and the team leader for the swim, and Cody. We walked at a moderate speed from five to six miles per day. After that I went to the gym and worked out for an hour three times a week with Jonathan Moch, my personal trainer. Jonathan planned the season for me and broke it into four segments. The first quarter we worked on strength, using free weights; the second quarter on balance and stability, using a balance ball; the third quarter on a combination of balance and strength, using weights while I was balanced on the ball. During the last quarter we worked on endurance, strength, and balance to the point of complete fatigue. This last phase of my training was as much about focus as conditioning. When I got tired or overloaded with other thoughts, I lost my focus. One of my worst and best workouts was three days before I left for Argentina.
Moch was having me balance on my knees on the balance ball and toss a ten-pound ball back and forth with him. When I climbed up on the ball, I couldn’t get my balance. I tried repeatedly, and I was getting frustrated.
Moch said, “Don’t get frustrated; get determined.”
This advice helped, but I still wasn’t able to get focused and stay on the ball. Finally I said, “Why are you having me continue this? Can’t we do it later, after another exercise? Right now I’m just practicing failure. When my sister coaches young kids, if they can’t reach a skill after three or four times, she gives them something different to work on that will build that skill. Why can’t we do that now?”
Moch smiled. “This is different. You’ve already done this before. You just need to slow down and focus. Stop thinking about all the people on your swim, all the problems, the logistics, the television,