Your body starts to eat itself because it starts to run out of fuel and
it starts to eat its own fat. You start to be like: 'Why am I in this water?
This is just insane. Why am I doing this?'
And it just got really, really spiralling negatively.
It's all about that mental side of it.
So, just pushing yourself: 'Okay, you can go a little bit further.
Keep going. Keep going.' Everything else is going to be easy
because I've done, I've swum in freezing cold water.
You know, it doesn't faze me.
You know it's going to hurt at some stage.
Yet you are willing to expose yourself to that pain.
What's really unique about endurance performance is that kind of element
of: 'How do I manage my thoughts?'
There's so much time to think, so when those kind of demons might arrive,
how do you manage those demons?
Some people undertake extreme endurance activities
because of something that they have control over.
They have a very clear reason, and it's because they want to do it.
They enjoy the exercise. They enjoy those challenges.
When we think about managing pain, they just love it.
Some other people, they do it because of the community around it.
There will be highs and there will be lows.
Being able to navigate and manage that is a real psychological strength.
Completing these endurance events, we learn psychological techniques
that can be used in our lives outside of sport.
So, understanding that we have an end goal,
but we need to have a journey towards getting towards that end goal
and recognising those small achievements along the way.
You know, when we think about reflecting on reasons why we're doing it,
having that kind of intrinsic motivation that comes from within,
managing those negative thoughts, the perseverance, the grit to keep going.
But also, yes, I might feel uncomfortable, I feel tired, but I can push through that,
can be types of things that can be really helpful in other areas of life.
I'm Kevin Murphy. I'm known as 'King of the English Channel'.
I've swum the channel 34 times.
Within that 34, there are actually three doubles and 28 singles.
People want to challenge their human frailties.
I know I can beat the demons in my head, which say: 'You can't do this'.
I know I can beat those.
More people have climbed Everest
than they have swum the channel. So it's a huge challenge.
You could literally get like a kilometre away from France
and the current will just change and you'd be swimming stationary
and you've got to be okay with swimming another six hours.
So when I went to swim camp, everyone's very hardcore.
I said I wanted to do a full hour and they said: 'Yeah, okay, go for your full hour'.
I was never a great swimmer.
I was never very fast, and I was never especially fit.
And yet I'm in the Swimming Hall of Fame.
Now, how can that be? Well, it's because I had that willpower,
that mental toughness, to be able to carry on.
And that's what I try to instil in all the swimmers that I train.
Swimming the channel –
you actually go way, way beyond what you think are your limits.
It's, it's not really a physical thing, so much as a mental thing.
You had to swim for a long time before you got, kind of, any food.
I just remember being really miserable.
It was about seven, eight degrees. Putting my face in the water,
it just felt like it was burning. I'd be so frozen I couldn't move my hands.
What you take away from a channel swim is that mental toughness,
that self-belief. You also take away a physical development of your body.
I had an artery that ruptured. Because my heart was so strong and so big,
a much bigger muscle than normal, because of the swimming,
that's why I'm here. I wouldn't have survived otherwise.
If we know that we've been able to overcome hard times,
we've been able to push through some of those difficulties,
then we know we can do it again. What motivates us is very different
for each individual person. In terms of extreme endurance activities,
it's an opportunity for individuals to test their limits,
and to see where their boundaries are.
My next challenge is probably going to be my business or going on
to do another sports swim.
And so if you think about life, take that kind of mental attitude
saying, you know, 50% of life is just, just saying that you can do it
or you will do it, but you just have to believe it.