Yes, the torture chamber. What is the torture chamber you might ask? I will explain that in a moment, but it is a good lead into something several people have asked: How am I going to endure sub 60 degree Fahrenheit water temperatures for several hours?
I have a plan.
I can’t say it is a particularly comforting plan, but it is a plan, and it has three parts:
One: (And this is the most enjoyable out of the three). I’m going to get fat. I need to gain weight in the midsection so I can insulate myself from the cold conditions. My goal is to pack on at least 20 pounds in the next eight months. While this doesn’t sound absolutely terrible, I have to do it while I’m burning a ridiculous amount of calories. It’s going to be a challenge to say the least. (I’ll save the details of my diet for an upcoming post).
Two: I recently got a portable bathtub and put in the coldest part of the house—the unfinished section of our basement. You may see where I am going with this. I fill it with cold water and ice and… I just sit in it. THIS is the torture chamber. If you don’t think that sounds hard, consider this an open invitation to come over and try it.
Three: This may actually be the hardest one of all, especially when it gets cold outside. I only take cold showers. I’ve been doing this for the past three weeks and this is what I’ve learned so far: Forget the morning espresso, a couple of minutes in a cold shower and you perk right up. Some days are easier than others, but one thing is consistent: I come out looking like a piglet. I’ve got nothing but cold showers to look forward to for the next 8+ months.
Now onto the important stuff.
Over the summer swimming has gradually become second nature to me. Getting enough pool time has been somewhat of an issue recently so I joined another gym (I’m currently a member of three separate gyms) to accommodate the additional workload. I’m swam a little over 110,000 yards in September, which is right on schedule. During the summer, I moved up my yardage slowly each month as I was still getting used to swimming on a regular basis and I didn’t want to fizzle out. Now the summer is over, my training is going to kick up a notch. I’ve prepared a daily swimming schedule that has me swimming 130,000 yards in October and 150,000 yards in November. If you breakdown the numbers I’ll be swimming 2.7 miles/day in October. But, since I take two days off a week, it’s more like 4.05 miles/swim. That’s a lot of time in the pool and I’m just scratching the surface. My plan is to work up to a whopping 240,000 yards in April!
For those who are interested, I post my daily swims on the Instagram and Facebook stories. You can also sign up for my newsletter at www.jonathanheilman.com
I think that is enough for now.
Until next time.
Jon