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Chris’ testimonial #3Croatia

What was your open water swimming experience before #3? This was my first open water swim event. I've competed in triathlons for several years so I have plenty of experience swimming in open water, but not without a bike ride immediately afterwards!

How did you prepare for the event? I did all my preparation in my local 25m pool, it was too cold in England for open water swimming! I regularly swim twice per week, but building towards #3 I ramped this up to 5 times per week starting 4 months prior, and changed by twice-weekly gym sessions to be more upper body focused. My biggest swim sessions included 4 x 2km, and the famous 100x100m averaging 1:14s with 10s rest, a BIG session!

Did you have any worries (distance, multi day, safety, marathon…) and how did it go in the end? I was a bit worried about my durability during the multiple swims per day format. I've never been particularly robust from an injury perspective, and high volume anything tends to find any weakness I do have. I also didn't particularly want to be swimming alone for the super long swims, so I was apprehensive if I'd be able to keep up with the faster swimmers or not.

Best memory? Best non-swimming: Hosting a panel discussion about fuel and hydration in Hvar, so many good questions and I learned a lot from the questions I got.

Best swimming? Taking 2nd place behind Stephane Guisard in the 8km swim, having swam for almost 2 hours and ending in a sprint finish!

Best encounter? Sharing a hotel room with a former swimming legend Krassi Entchev. His stories about swimming in the Olympics and now coaching the national side were inspiring, yet he was so humble about his own achievements.

Feedback about the location. What did you like the most about swimming in Croatia (clear water, water temperature, islands…etc)
I'd never swam in such clear water outside of Hawai'i! I get quite cold swimming in open water, and suffer from Raynaud's condition which limits my circulation in my fingers when I get cold, but I only had that a couple of times during UltraSwim 33.3 at the end of the 2+ hour swims. The point-to-point swims meant it never got boring too!

More about Precision Fuel and Hydration

What was your fueling strategy?
On “normal” swims?

I pre-fuelled at breakfast with some plain carbohydrates like rice porridge or white bread plus a little bit of protein with eggs. Then I took a PF 30 Caffeine Gel <15 mins before each swim.

Pre-hydration was essential as I knew swimming in a wetsuit I'd be sweating quite a lot more than in the pool, regardless of the distance, so I drank 500ml of PH 1500 each morning and evening.

On marathon swim?

Same as for the shorter swims, pre-fueling and hydrating optimally. Then carrying up to 4 additional PF 30 Gels inside my wetsuit (either up my arm sleeves or sticking out of my leg cuffs) to have 1 every 25-30 minutes.

In-water feed stations experience (what’s different, how do PF&H product and packaging help when you’re eating directly in the water)

On the brief occasions that we 'stopped' at the feed stations (maximum of ~15 seconds), I made sure I grabbed as many cups of Carb Only Drink Mix to get some fluids in whilst getting some 'bonus fuel' as well. I also tried to take a pre-opened PF 30 Gel as well to save me using one of my in-wetsuit Gels. The Gel wrappers have a non-rip strip at the top meaning the lid stays attached to prevent littering, and the packaging is completely waterproof so you can carry gels underwater without issue.

What is different in terms of nutrition when you go for a longer swim in one go?

When swimming longer it's more important to start fueling and hydrating earlier on in the swim. If you leave it too long, your energy and hydration levels will deteriorate too much, and you'll struggle to keep going after a while. Practice taking something within the first 20-30 minutes if you're going long, and keep regularly topping up. Even if you feel like you don't 'need' it yet, you don't want to be running out before trying to start refilling your fuel tank as you'll likely never catch up.