It has been three months since I completed a solo crossing of the English Channel. I am now back training with my triathlon swimming club (MTV-Kronberg) in Frankfurt, Germany. The thrill of having completed the, granddaddy “ of all marathon swims is keeping my motivation to swim at a high level. And I will always look back on one sensation – feeling sand under my feet as I waded to the French beach at the end of my Channel crossing – as one of the most memorable moments in my life.

That victory is sweetened by the fact that prior to the spring of 2002, I had never swam more than two km in a single session. I had swum for years solely as a complement to other fitness routines, like biking, running, and working-out. But in mid-2002, I decided to focus on long-distance swimming, and to one day swim the English Channel. My inspiration came from Tim Lawrence, a friend and fellow graduate of the US Air Force Academy. Tim had swum the Channel in 1999, and I was impressed by the determined and focused mind-set of Tim and other Channel swimmers I had met in Dover in the late 1990’s.

In the course of my physical and mental preparation for the crossing, I came to realize that there are three mountains to climb to get across, The Ditch:

Distance/Endurance
Temperature (water and air)
Mental stability/preparation

All three of those elements were well-covered through the weekend training sessions doled-out from May-September in Dover, England – under the guidance of the Freda and Alison Streeter of the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation. The leadership of this group has spent countless hours training, advising and piloting long-distance swimmers over the past two decades, and Freda and Alison appear on the beach at Dover Harbour every weekend morning to prepare, grease-up, feed, observe, and coach swimmers.

While the CS&PF‘s mental and physical training program was the undisputed key to success to me, another tool which proved to be invaluable was the Total Immersion method and instructional resources. Here is the story of how TI proved to be a cornerstone in the distance/endurance element of the equation.

I started, as most people do, by trying to increase my distance – simply swimming long, in other words. After a series of very draining, stressful and unpleasant pool swims of 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) in the summer of 2002, I realized that it would be essential to develop an energy-efficient, fluid stroke – both to allow me to go farther before bonking-out, and to avoid injuries.

A work colleague of mine introduced me to the original TI book (the blue-and-yellow paperback) which he came across during a trip to New York. He is German, and in typical Teutonic fashion, he told me that he had scoured swimming titles on the bookshelves at Barnes & Noble for several hours, and that the TI book stood-out, in terms of its simplicity and practicality.

I browsed through the book, and quickly became intrigued. The book’s bottom-up approach to swimming (centered on buoyancy, resistance, and balance) made a lot of sense to me. The TI philosophy was structured around basic physics principles with exercises which allowed the reader to "verify" its advice through personal experience – quite a departure from the ad hoc approach that had turned me off in various lessons I’d taken.

I absorbed the text, and spent countless hours practicing the TI drills in the pool. I worked on integrating the basic tenets of TI swimming into my stroke, with a particular focus on achieving a relaxed, low-energy rhythm for long-distance swims. My training focused on:

• Using the natural buoyancy of my chest as a pivot point, in order to keep my hips high in the water and to keep my head in a relaxed position
• Employing a compact, relaxed kick primarily to keep the hips rocking, and to help to drive the body over the arms;
• Maintaining a relaxed recovery, allowing each arm a moment of rest in every stroke cycle;
• Keeping my body aligned along the head-spine axis throughout the stroke cycle.

During my training period, I also attended two TI workshops in Zurich, under the tutelage of Kevin Millerick from TI-UK and Marco and Jeannine Pilloud from TI-Europe, studied the Fishlike Freestyle DVD, read as much TI literature possible, and became a regular participant on the TI discussion board. Additional motivation and guidance came from Terry Laughlin himself, who took time to provide me (via e-mail) with tips and advice throughout my preparation for the Channel swim.

The training paid-off. My swim started at 02:52 on 2 Sep, 2003, when I entered the water near Abbott’s Cliff (a beach area on the southern side of Dover). I encountered a fair amount of wind and chop (there were Force 3-4 winds for a significant part of the swim), and I hit a slight wall about five hours into my crossing. When I got into the French shipping lane, the sun started to break through the clouds, which gave me a mental boost. Conditions eroded as I got to within 2-3 miles of the French coast, when the tide changed, and the sea became somewhat, confused. Nonetheless, I managed to hit the beach (just north of Cap Gris-Nez) exactly 13:25 after beginning my swim in Dover. While the shortest distance between Dover and the French coast is roughly 22 miles, I expect that my, swim track measures to somewhere between 25-27 miles.

During my crossing, I was fed and motivated by both Alison and Freda Streeter. It was a true inspiration for me to have both the "Queen of the Channel" (Alison holds the record for most Channel crossings – at 42), and the "Channel General" (Freda has been coaching Channel swimmers or 20+ years) on my boat. My two pilots (Lance Oram and Neil Streeter) were cool and professional operators, and my observer (Del Carter) gave me huge doses of motivation and encouragement throughout the swim.

The support I received was essential to making my dream a reality. However, I strongly believe that achieving a relaxed, streamlined stroke was a key to getting across the Channel. It is true that swimmers with less technique and/or endurance have made it, but I think that the "safety factor". (in the form of a stored energy reserve) enabled me to do extra work towards the end of my swim – when the chop, wind and tide picked-up around the French coast.

A few general notes:

- I found myself unable to maintain perfect TI form throughout my Channel crossing. My legs and hips sank towards the end, I am sure I extended my arms less as I got fatigued, and I know that my head was raised considerably at some points—gotta get the blowhole out of the waves to breathe!

- If Terry Laughlin watched me swim 25 meters in a perfectly flat pool today, he would probably find some basic balance and rhythm "issues“ for me to work on. And that is fine. I fully recognize that a swimmer can not go from 0-to-100 in a singe year. It will take time to fully incorporate all of the elements.

- What’s next: I have now demonstrated to myself that I can handle distance and cold temperatures. Now I want to improve my speed. I fully believe that this will come primarily through drag-reduction, and not on from an increase in brute strength. So, I will be working on keeping TI drills in my work-outs for some time to come.

Biography: Matt Johnson is an American who has spent twelve years living and working in Europe. He now lives in Frankfurt, Germany. Matt is the third US Air Force Academy graduate, and (possibly) the first Wharton Business School alumnus, to have crossed the English Channel. Matt can be contacted at mattjohnson_mn@yahoo.com.

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