066-915 0530 || 
I have now firmly accepted this. The impact on the organs is immediate and it is similar impact to running a marathon in 30 mins. Over the years I have now come to appreciate though my medical monitoring the physical demands of swimming at 0ºC-but mostly the emotional requirements.
For me I look at the risks no differently as racing at full tilt down Mount Brandon, we accept the risks but as time has passed in the last 3 years I have learned the most important component of training has been the emotional and mental challenge. We can all rotate our arms or drive our legs but the real monster in the mirror is breathing and having what I call the "Freedom to Succeed". Who we are at that moment is how we succeed.
Personally I have had a crazy rollercoaster in the ice-I didn't have the time to train for Marathon swimming-being a full time carer to my father and working full time stole my training, but rather than be angry I started to achieve in a sport where 20 minutes is a huge event. We can all take pain. Life is the best training for swimming at 0ºC, there is nowhere to hide. The ice strips you bare and survival instinct is all that exists. That may seem extreme but it parallels to life and it is living.
Getting into the ice the breathing is ripped from you but once you realise that your medical is good and you're physically capable, the one main component is trust and belief. We discovered that you can't swim and cry at the same time, tantrums in running are even harder so over the years, I became very clinical.
The one variable I couldn't control were my personal stresses. I traveled to Tyumen 2013 and the World Championships in Finland 2014 under enormous stress of emotional challenge. It is really difficult to downgrade who you are when you turn up to compete.
I put my face in the water and I realised that breathing was not an option. I could push myself and take medical risks to win a medal and go backwards emotionally or I could accept that for now I was not free to succeed - It's not easy training knowing that when the event starts you are not a competitor.
The last year I rode out the storm of emotion-it wasn’t me but it was who I was at that moment. I spent the last few months shut off from the world and fixing my wiring. I am competitive but not against anyone else- So Tyumen, Siberia 2014 was so important for me-not for medals, not for podiums, but for freedom to breathe and believe.
I visualised the race and swam my exact visual. I worked my way through all the things that were stopping me and focused solely on my breathing. I swam 3 and half minutes faster than Finland World Championships, the fastest in my age group-I took Gold in the 200m at 3 mins 58 mins.. Respectable for a non pool swimmer and medaled in shorter distances.. BUT my smiles on the podiums were not for the medals but because I finally managed to fight again-not every athlete can be free to compete-some days are about patience-life is waiting game but weather the storm and it is worth more than Gold.
