when a problem presents itself you
almost need to flick yourself into
survival mode so you almost perjure your
mind of everything apart from you and
the water the only person that can get
you out of that situation
[Music]
sup guys um I can't quite believe I'm
starting the vlog this week by saying
we're in Scotland we have just the ride
right here in the mala goola way and one
thing that kept us all going was could
you imagine what it'd feel like to get
Scotland but I didn't realize how big
Scotland was but when you're about to
swim around it you very quickly become
aware of the dimensions of Scotland
basically Scotland is just a completely
different beast it's stunning the
landscapes are amazing but the moment
you pause and start taking all of that
in is also the same moment where you're
probably just gonna get slapped in the
face with waves or you're just gonna be
sit in the middle of a storm for a few
days and that's exactly why me and Matt
put a few hours aside yesterday we had
tidal maps weather reports and we just
wanted to sit there and look at the lay
of the land and really just assess what
sort of a beast we were dealing with I'm
sort of teaching Matt about the sports
science aspect of the whole Great
British swim so I'm talking about lactic
threshold vo2 nutritional principles and
on the same flip side of that Matt's
there teaching about tides currents and
things that I had no idea about and I
think that's really really important
just because the whole Great Britain
where it's called a swim it's a massive
partnership just between the swimmer and
the captain and certainly Scotland is
gonna be a testament to that because you
could be the best swimmer in the world
but you're not even gonna make it out of
the Hebrides if you don't understand
tides and currents obviously the great
british herb has this huge intellectual
aspect where you need to understand the
sport science and the sort of sailing
science of it but I get a lot of
questions with people asking about
motivation as well which is as you can
imagine just as big if not a bigger part
because you have to be motivated to get
up you know 2 o'clock in the morning and
put on a cold clammy wet see you and
make peace with the fact that you're
probably gonna be stung in the face for
the next few hours by jellyfish I was
actually lucky enough to catch up with a
good friend of mine Anthony Middleton
just to talk about the mental challenge
of this whole adventure and Anthony I
mean you know he's a military legend
say he's a foremost expert just mental
fortitude and just coping with hardship
over so many days when a problem
presents itself you almost need to flick
yourself into survival mode yeah
overcome that problem or that challenge
and then crack on again by yourself that
makes sense they're almost purging your
mind of everything apart from you and
the water so you almost go numb to it
like you're not thinking about friends
family there's quite often people who
say oh you know think positive and you
know yeah yes saying no just get Farrell
it's the only way it's the only way
because something that you're doing it's
not normal so you need to forget about
everything else and like I said have
that animalistic sort of approach where
it's just vision yourself in the water
by yourself the only person that can get
you out of that situation is yourself so
it's almost that mindset of where you're
just fighting pulling against your own
physical capability and your mind is so
powerful and it's worst case in LA I
lose in your life and you'll find that
you'll be able to achieve incredible
things it's a case of just just
isolating yourself with that moment in
that zone to get the job done it's kind
of saying like whatever thought comes
into your head is this helping me swim
around great brain if you know then just
chop it does it and I'm like Mull it
over
yeah otherwise I like you said caveman
primitive the Aral yeah just kind of
switch it on sweetie
it's done but on the flip side of that I
don't think you can do the whole Great
Britain angry you can't grit your teeth
for the whole way round I'm a theory
around this is as follows there's a lot
of studies that will look at how your
psychology actually interacts with your
immune system so your body's defense
mechanism and if you're basically you're
swimming angry you know cortisol buddy
stressful may go through the roof and
all sorts of biochemical reactions will
go on inside the body that will mean
that your immune system is suppressed
and you're more susceptible to illness
now the very fact that I've got over a
hundred days to survive around the great
British coast means I really can't
afford a day to be ill so when a lot of
people see me being very smart
sort of cheerful that's one I think it's
important for motivation but to just in
terms of your physiology that that
biochemical reactions going on inside
the body studies show it's better to
swim with a smile and rather than just
kind of swimming with your bottom lip
out swimming angry you can and that
there are times when I will swim angry
I'll swim feral and I'm just numb and
nothing but as I'm not even thinking but
on the other side I would say 80% of the
whole swim is done with a smile one for
motivation but to actually because of
sport science it makes sense to swim
with a smile
oh yeah tell me to the end of a tiring
night swim 12:33 learn to wake up and
1:00 in the morning food for Ross so
that you get started at 2:00 because the
weather it's now starting to get more
Scottish it could be less able to swim
whenever we want and more dependent on
weather windows anyways made nine miles
on this side which was absolutely
amazing just going well here 22 six so
he's been swimming for best part of four
hours mostly the dark raining miserable
and not that warm tonight it's a really
good example of why the nice whipped is
so important if we don't take a bunch of
window like this basically that's
cutting down by 50% or more the amount
of time that's available and on the
lighter side of motivation it's been so
good just having my family come out here
from my mum dad girlfriend just kind of
boost morale at key points and this
weekend is no different I've just got a
text message from my two brothers they
just arrived the unpacking they should
be funny there we've got Popeye and
Poseidon Matt to help me with the
jellyfish perfect timing
good timing I'm sort of out for it
[Laughter]
ferries sailing boats mermaids sharks
you see these little triangles you got
if I gets two three need to panic and I
laugh yeah if we come away from our
Waypoint then we have to wake up the
real captain so guys where I go through
social media and we find some of the
most commonly asked questions and then
we answer them first question is from
Tommy miles who asks what is your
average swimming speed it's a good
question although the answer is quite
complex just because of tides waves
currents there's there's so many
external factors at play which is why
the Great British swim is almost a liken
to Edmund Hillary and him climbing
Everest more than it is Michael Phelps
in a smooth swimming pool if that makes
sense mixed up William McCormick has
asked how has my body changed during the
swim so far basically i'm chubbier
and I'm hairier which is a good thing
just because the hair on my face is kind
of protecting me from the Scottish
jellyfish I'm just offering a little bit
of armor around the chin and body fat as
well kind of makes me a little bit more
resilient to the cold I need a bit more
buoyant as well
still holding muscle mass which i think
is a good thing because it means that
all the carbohydrates I store store as
muscle glycogen and I've an argument in
sports science that I think that makes
me a better endurance athlete which is
actually contradictory or a lot of
conventional sports wisdom when it comes
to endurance sports and lastly I had a
body scan and they prodded and probed me
and basically said I have no physical
attributes to be a long-distance swimmer
so it's funny like those swimmer here
40th percentile that means he carries
more muscle free height and 40% okay you
can't read more muscle than about 95%
right
you are gonna sink like a stone in mine
in my estimation people would say that I
don't actually have a good body shape to
swim around Great Britain however I
would argue how do you know because no
one's done it before so maybe my Hobbit
size sort of round frame is a good one
to swim around Great Britain well find
out last up Gavin dance that says how do
you do it you're superhuman Gavin you're
a legend I really really do appreciate
that
and there's been so many really really
nice comments on social media I honestly
think we all have this just there Nate
ability within all of this just to
overcome severe hardship you know as
humans have been doing it the thousands
of thousands of years it's why we're
still here so if anything I think I have
a superhuman ability to be stubborn and
naive and again that sounds really weird
but in in most of my adventures I've
just got by on those two things I say
I'm gonna be so naive that you start but
so stubborn that you finish and just
like remove that that kind of barrier to
entry that's stigma that's something
that you can't achieve basically lace up
your trainers put your goggles on or get
on your bike and just get on that start
line and honestly I think you'll be
amazed at what you can achieve no
superpowers just naivety and
stubbornness
[Music]
guys 58 days no I had a proper haircut
as the Scots worked on out travel for
miles
yep for hundreds and this is gonna be
one of the Scottish savage I think
because we've arrived in Scotland we
need a haircut that is fitting for our
arrival so I've given Scott free rein to
do what everyone's on the hair we can go
the small mother studies
[Music]
okay guys that is it for this week
Scotland you're amazing you're cold
you're rough at times as well but you're
amazing and that's partly because of the
people that Welcome has been just
overwhelming if I'm honest the comments
on the social media since arriving just
just amazing honestly I can't thank you
guys enough also as well it's just been
such a boost and we're out having my
brother's up and hopefully this episode
has given you a little bit of an insight
into the sort of mental techniques that
we'll use to cope with some of the
hardship throughout the whole Great
Britain and it's been rough it's been 58
days and it's not open sunshine and
dolphins but if you can find anything
within this episode to help you with
your adventures I'll consider it worth
it I'm essentially this is the great
british swim i'll see you next week