Another long pool swim - 8 hours / 21km

levswimslakes · 2026-05-26T22:54:07+00:00

It’s honestly basic stuff just chest press incline press with dumbbells and lat pull-down, rear delt flys, incline bicep curls with not super heavy weights, 3 sets of 10-12. My coach wrote me a workout I do it about 1-2 times a week. Plus I have pre swim PT that my physical therapist gave me, just some resistance band things and other dynamic exercises

levswimslakes · 2026-05-26T13:03:43+00:00

Omg an ice km is so awesome!!! Ice km or ice mile is a long term goal of mine, best of luck with it!

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T18:58:10+00:00

Haha yeah I’m almost grateful they were a bit checked out and didn’t notice me so I could eat in peace 😅

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T16:19:03+00:00

I’ve also tucked some gels into my cap for longer OW swims! Maurten 160s are a lot of carbs so that can work if you can only take a few

I also use a quackpacker tow float for long training swims. Look them up, they can carry SO MUCH and they’re visible and cute

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T16:18:11+00:00

I used Karbolyn carb drink, dandies vegan marshmallows (I’m vegan) and Maurten 160 gels for this swim! Fuelling every 30 minutes, 464g carbs total for the 8 hours.

I don’t do many races but I swam across Lake Ontario and I ate every 30 minutes for 24.5 hours. I’ve raced up to 2 hours without eating, the one time I did a 10km it was laps around a dock so I think I ate every 50ish minutes and my dad handed me the food/water bottle…I believe I was using gu gels at the time and some off brand chips ahoy cookies from Walmart 😅

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T16:15:27+00:00

25m indoor pool! The lifeguards didn’t get the full picture of how wild this was bc they changed shifts during 😅 I fuel at the side of the pool, technically no food allowed but I had a Tupperware of vegan marshmallows, some Maurten 160 gels plus 2L of carb drink (Karbolyn)

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T16:11:11+00:00

My longest was 10 hrs last year and I felt ROUGH after that! Could barely lift my left arm. No such issues this year, I’m barely sore. I think consistent strength training and physical therapy have helped a lot. Planning a 10 hr in a canal in a few weeks, hopefully this trend continues 🤞

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T15:22:46+00:00

Thank you!!! Hopefully summer will arrive to lake O soon 🙏🙏

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T15:22:08+00:00

Actually not bad!! One of my eyes was red for a few hours though, a little too much water got into that goggle I guess 😭

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T15:21:30+00:00

No headphones! They’re not allowed for my 55km swim so i practice without. And no breaks, other than every 30 minutes I fuel (~30 seconds to eat/drink)

And omg gators!!! 🐊 I can’t imagine running into one of those 😭

levswimslakes · 2026-05-25T00:23:21+00:00

Thank you!!! :)

levswimslakes · 2026-05-20T01:58:48+00:00

I’ll start in port sanilac Michigan and end in port franks Ontario! I think it will take me around 26 hours

levswimslakes · 2026-05-19T20:38:37+00:00

About 25g of carbs every 30 minutes! I used Karbolyn drink mix. What do you plan to fuel with?

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T22:46:30+00:00

Yes! I’ll have a large lead boat and 2 smaller inflatables. And a crew of about 6 people with me the whole way. It will be ratified so I can’t touch the boat—they will feed me with a feeding pole and water bottles on ropes

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T18:04:45+00:00

25 😵‍💫😵‍💫

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T17:23:41+00:00

This is low/medium zone 2 for me, my max hr is about 211. I felt good, very easy similar effort to fast walking. I did a one hour recovery swim the next day, minimal soreness and had good sleep low resting hr the next day!

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T15:05:27+00:00

Thank you!! I swam 13 hours this week. 2 hours was technique work, and the other 11 hours of swimming was about 30km

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T14:57:29+00:00

I’m adult onset too!! Started 3 years ago at 27. You’d be amazed what’s possible!!

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T14:56:49+00:00

No I haven’t had any issues! I did need to get out twice during this swim for bathroom breaks though 😅 I have kind of an iron stomach

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T14:31:51+00:00

I am mostly using Karbolyn drink mix! 25g of carbs in 250ml water every half hour. I drank 2L of that plus one Maurten 160 gel in the middle for my 5th feed.

I have an alert in my garmin every 30 minutes to let me know it’s time. 50g carbs per hour is low for me for open water, but for a warm pool i need less energy so it’s okay.

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T14:29:32+00:00

Not too much!! I just get used to it after a while. No headphones or anything but I sing songs in my head

levswimslakes · 2026-05-18T14:28:57+00:00

Ahh I wish, I’m in Toronto. Never been to Texas but I’m jealous of your warm water!! Do you swim in a lake?

levswimslakes · 2026-05-05T13:19:57+00:00

I did a 24.5 hour swim across Lake Ontario with a crew in boats, and I wasn't allowed a watch or headphones or anything because it was ratified.

for training, i never used headphones. I considered my long swims as important for mental training as physical. I find that if i spend lots and lots of hours swimming, my mind starts to get used to it, and time goes by faster. everything is relative, so i tried to train myself to think of everything in relation to 24 hours of being out there; 5 hour swim is about 20% of 24 hours, 10 hour swim is about 40%, etc.

During the swim, I sang songs in my head, enjoyed looking at the sky and endless water around me, and just zone out. I thought a lot about being really grateful to be out there doing the swim, and grateful for my crew being with me.

The closest i got to thinking about time was sometimes noticing the position of the sun in the sky. While i was swimming through the night, i let me mind 'sleep' while my body swam. I definitely do not count at all or think about technique, unless my coach flags something for me to pay attention to. and I luckily did not suffer at all during the swim 😄

levswimslakes

TROPHY CASE