Swim around "The World"

Hi All. On the 21 November 2012 I am going to take on the biggest challenge of my life. I will attempt to be the first person to swim around The World. Not the globe, but a man-made development in Dubai! The reason for setting myself such a gruelling challenge is to raise awareness and also money for research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I started training in January this year so hopefully by November I will be ready!
I joined this website about a month and a half ago and have been reading lots of the discussions to learn as much as possible - of particular interest has been all the posts about waterproof sunblock - swimming at midday in Dubai is a real concern! Anyway all the approvals for my swim recently came in and I went public last week and I wanted to let you all know about it - you can learn more about the swim at my website http://www.swimaroundtheworld.me
I hope you like the concept and if anyone has any advice about this type of warm water swim I would love to hear it!
Kate
I joined this website about a month and a half ago and have been reading lots of the discussions to learn as much as possible - of particular interest has been all the posts about waterproof sunblock - swimming at midday in Dubai is a real concern! Anyway all the approvals for my swim recently came in and I went public last week and I wanted to let you all know about it - you can learn more about the swim at my website http://www.swimaroundtheworld.me
I hope you like the concept and if anyone has any advice about this type of warm water swim I would love to hear it!
Kate
Comments
loneswimmer.com
Drink lots (and lots and lots) of fluids, and more electrolytes than you'd otherwise consume in a saltwater swim.
I always use Carbo Pro (Maxim) mixed with water, cranberry juice and apple juice. Plenty of potassium, but very little sodium. For that swim, I tried using salt tablets. I HATED the salt tablets. (I've never heard anyone else say that.)
All my feeds were frozen solid at the start. They thawed sufficiently to drink by the time my first feed came around. By the end, they were HOT. I refused to take my hot feeds, so that meant 0 calories for the last 90 minutes or so. That was bad.
The most important thing is to keep feeds cold. If you have a cooler on the support boat, that should be no problem.
I can only tolerate about 100 calories per 8 oz of fluid when it's hot. I suspect I could double that in cooler temperatures, but I haven't tried it.
As long as I am well hydrated before I start, I never have a problem with dehydration while I'm swimming. I bring extra plain water just in case, but I don't drink it unless my feeds get too hot to tolerate.
www.WaterGirl.co
AZ Open Water Swimming on Facebook
Cold feeds would help tremendously- I'd definitely make sure you have a cooler and plenty of ice.
Also, I believe I started a sunblock thread right before Tampa because I was worried about the sun. The best sun block you can get is Desitin, i.e. baby butt cream. It's thick, it has zinc in it, and it won't wash off. Nothing gets through that stuff. It's messy and doesn't look cool, but if you don't want to get sun burned that's the way to go.
Good luck!
@ssthomas - will be buying a cooler and Desitin asap
@courtneypaulk - googling Endurolyte now :-)
@haydn - the world was only completed in 2008 and so far no one has been given permission to swim it. I was very lucky to be given the go ahead so hoping I make it!
Only 6 days to go for my first marathon swim! No real idea how I will handle it. I started training in January with 2km swim sets - I hope I have done enough training to now! Time will certainly tell. There will be some strong currents against me at the 10km mark but hopefully some currents helping me at the 17km mark :-)
Any last minute advice greatly appreciated! Especially how to cope with salty water. I don't know if I am making this up but I swear it seems salty here than any other sea! I blame the desalination plants along the coastline that throw excess salt back into the sea!
loneswimmer.com
Loved the link to the checklist - relieved to see I have most of it laid out already. Just bought the Cadbury chocolate rolls yesterday :-)
I packed diluted mouthwash and painkillers in my Channel box this July. I never asked for the mouthwash or painkillers during the swim. When I got back on the boat at the end of my swim I said "Can I have some mouthwash please". I took one sip, my mouth felt like it was on fire and spat it out immediately, but couldn't stop the burning even after throwing water in my mouth. I couldn't eat properly for about 3 days afterwards or lift my arms up!
Moral of the story: it might actually be a really good idea to use mouthwash and take painkillers when doing a long swim!
http://www.swimaroundtheworld.me/
Yes Zoe is right 10hours 56 minutes :-) At 10km point I was on track for a 10 hour swim but evil currents between 12-18km slowed my progress right down. It felt like every 1km marker buoy took a lifetime to get to! Then from 23km to 25km was also a particularly dark period as I could see the big houseboat at the finish line where all my friends and family were waiting but I just didn't seem to get any closer. Awaiting my official timing etc from support crew but I was told I did one of my fastest km's on the last km - I was very desperate to finish :-)
During the swim physically I was fine - it was entirely a mental game. Although I had to wear a nose clip from 11km onwards as my nose felt like it was on fire. It is now a full 3 days later and I have some residual bad chaffing marks that have turned into scabs and my mouth/tongue still feels horrid and very sore from all the salt water but otherwise physically I feel great!
If you want to see a clip of me stumbling out the sea - I have just loaded a news report onto my facebook page www.facebook.com/swimaroundtheworld
Thanks for all your support! Giving myself a few weeks off but suspect I might then be looking for a new Middle East swim challenge :-)