The two-time Olympic silver medalist gazed out over frozen Lake Weissensee in the Australian Alps last month. marcus logan He was going to swim the length of a football field under the ice, one question dominating his thoughts.
Why am I doing this? Is this really necessary?
Logan, now a licensed psychologist in Los Angeles, searched within for answers as she walked the 111.2-meter route. This distance was chosen in honor of my son's birthday on November 12th.
“The reason I always think of it is because at some point in my childhood I was told to dress up and wear this armor,” said Logan, 41, a Stanford graduate. Told. Born in Vienna, Austria. “Why do you think I went to the Olympics?” Why do you think I became a doctor? Because I'm so confident in myself? No, I needed a lot of external validation to feel good about myself.
“We always wear a lot of armor,” he told SwimSwam. “Why buy a nice car or do something like this if you're not happy with yourself in the end? What happens in these long breath-holds and these long, life-limiting experiences? , for a brief moment afterwards you can take off your armor and be a good enough boy. And when it's over, you can cry in your friend's arms and just be grateful to be alive. I was able to do it, and it felt so good. I felt like, “Wow, this beautiful breathing is really all that matters.'' The first breath you take when you wake up will be the first breath you take for the rest of your life. ”
Adding to the risk was Logan's decision not to use a safety rope to maximize the slippage of his stroke, but his attempt was supervised by a team of world record freedivers in scuba gear. but. He said the last 30 meters felt like swimming in peanut butter as blood was drawn from his hands and arms to protect his lungs and heart. “If you looked at me at 300 feet and asked me, 'What is 5+3?' I wouldn't have been able to answer,” Logan said.
After spending about a minute and a half under the frozen lake, Logan regained consciousness and emerged victorious as the new world record holder for the longest swim under ice without wearing fins or a wetsuit. It was 19 years after he first broke the SCM 200 backstroke world record. Until Swiss freedivers arrived in 2005, the world standard for the longest swim under ice without fins or a diving suit was just 80.99 meters. peter collat In February last year, he recorded 106.25 meters.
Logan praises 84-year-old entertainment lawyer michael donaldson As his inspiration during training. He spent this winter watching Donaldson swim 10 feet across a 25-yard unheated pool without taking a breather, and listening to him hear Socrates' words: He's capable. ” Last month, Donaldson broke four ice swimming world records in the new senior category created by Guinness World Records.
Logan wishes he had taken ice swimming more seriously during his professional career because of the benefits of breathing techniques. Thanks to a little training, he can now hold his breath for six minutes. This is almost double the three and a half minutes he was able to hold his breath at the peak of his athletic ability.
“I strongly encourage all professional swimmers to seriously consider how breathwork can benefit them,” Logan said. “I think if you do it with the right supervision you really discover what your mind is capable of. It's more than you think. In any race, if a swimmer swims 15 meters There is no reason why it should not be reached earlier.”
Logan also recommends cold water exposure for non-swimmer clients in his private practice. This is to help clients realize that reactions, including panic, are closer to active choices than we think.
“In general, the important thing is that most of us live lives where we have to react to things all the time,” Logan says. “There's a text message, there's some requirements, the kids want something, the wife wants something, the mom wants something. We're running around reacting all the time. And clinically, the sympathetic nervous system is required to be overactive. Most of the time, we force ourselves to do what we have to do, or to force ourselves to do what we have to do. So we are more or less conditioned to have all the things we have to do and all the situations we have to respond to. One of the conditions it assumes is that if you jump into the ice, you'll be out of breath, freezing cold, and want to get out of it. We never seriously think or question whether or not is a choice. Even panic is a choice.
“That's when you realize being in ice water doesn't necessarily lead to panic breathing,” he added. “At some level, you're choosing to panic. Actually, if you look at it neurologically, your cerebral cortex thickens. There's a real change in people who meditate. Most reactions are just actions, active choices. When you swim on ice, you quickly realize that you have much more control than you think. That's the part I love. I'm a psychologist and I've put many patients in ice baths just to get them to learn the lesson that panicking is a choice. And once you realize that, you can control your stress response. You can see how many options you actually have for each one.”
