OK so I know that I couldn’t do any of these five endurance events based on just going for it with little or no research. I know that I’ll need to research and undertake the following for EACH event:

• Proper nutrition with an understanding of the energy requirements of before, during and after each event (including the multiple day C2C2C)
• Full training regimes up towards each event to prepare me in good stead including cold-water swimming
• Cost of each event including nutrition/food, travel, accommodation, hiring of equipment (bikes), buying of equipment (wetsuit)
• The C2C2C routes

I’ve been doing this all day and my mind is overloaded with information… but it is exciting and inspirational.

I got a reply off the email to the nutrition guy about the energy required for the 1000 length swim. I originally felt overwhelmed with my email to him thinking I was a bit thick and out of my depth (no pun intended) and he came back to me with quite friendly advice saying I was on track:

Hello Paul,

Thanks for the info and congrats on the decision to complete this extreme but worthy test of endurance. The details you gave are useful, I do not feel that your estimations are far from the mark, so the only thing i can really feedback is the following:

-Your body is able to metabolise approx 100g of carbs per hour…so if you are within this limit then gastrointestinal upset should not be an issue (this is subjective however so it would be prudent to test this in the training period tapering down to the actual event

-EZ Fuel is a well designed product, especially the ‘Recovery’ drink they offer, this is ideal for your level of endurance as it delivers 9g of protein per serving too, meaning muscle catabolism (breakdown) will be minimised during the swim.

Hope this helps,

Tom

(Dietitian & Sports Nutritionist)

So I should be on track with the 1000 lengths then – I just need to choose a date which I think should now be in May as I’m doing Insanity at moment then will need to hit my training. I might put in a swim here and there on a Saturday to make myself feel OK. I’ve been studying how to slip in the odd run or swim into an Insanity workout and I’ve mostly found that it is not recommended – oh well. But in Insanity midweek (days 4-5) there is a lighter version of it so I might be able to lot in a run too? We shall see!