It’s official: I’m now allowed to swim the English Channel.

At 7:45am on Sunday morning, I set off on a 6 hour training swim that would also serve to officially qualify me for the Channel swim (the CS&PF requires all hopefuls to complete a 6 hour swim in 58-62 degree water prior to their attempt). It was a perfect day, with the sun already shining, clear skies, and little wind. I had a totally amazing support team out with me: my friend and mentor Reuben, my sweetheart Neal, my sister Karri, my father Larry, my mother Connie, and my friend Dave. Though things started out a little rough around Alcatraz (think Spin Cycle of Death), I soon got into a groove and felt absolutely awesome.

I remember thinking to myself, “Remember this. You’re young, you’re strong, you’re fast, you’re doing something you love on a beautiful day, and you are surrounded by people you love who are only here for YOU and who want you to succeed. Drink it in.” And I did.

Powered by GU, the hours melted away as we saw parts of the Bay I’d never before seen. Even when my arms started to hurt around hour 5, I was having too much fun to care, battling my way through rising winds as we worked our way back toward the Dolphin Club. This time, I didn’t get stuck anywhere, and finishing on the DC beach felt really good. My shoulders held up, my ankles and hip flexors made it through, and my mental state stayed high with the cheering and smiles from my family and friends.

I feel confident. I still have a month to improve, to get stronger and even faster. I can’t wait to tackle the greatest challenge of my 25 years.

A HUGE thank you to Reuben, Neal, Dave, Karri, Dad, and Mom for being so selfless and so supportive. I love you all!

So I’m finishing up a training session this afternoon, swimming toward the beach.  Suddenly, my hand comes down and grabs something soft and squishy and tendril-y.  My thoughts go something like this:

Soft and squishy.

Oh Crap.

Stinging sensation.

Ugh, that’s annoying.

I swim in and head immediately for the Dolphin Club kitchen, where a cluster of people are chatting and preparing food for Boat Night. “So, what should I do if I get stung by a jellyfish?” I ask calmly.  The reaction is immediate.  Concerned friends grab and inspect my arm.  Someone calls an EMT friend on my behalf.  A search for white vinegar ensues to little avail.  People start pouring wine down my arm and hand.  But it’s not really helping that much.

In the back of my mind, I seem to remember someone telling me that urine is supposed to help with jellyfish stings.  A nasty bright red rash starts to spread down my inner arm and patterns across my fingers.  I figure, well, it’s worth a try.

I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that I have confirmed for you that yes, urine does help alleviate mild jellyfish stings.  (Please note, Portuguese Man-o-War stings might require more professional care).   Nice.

Still, if white vinegar is available, you might want to go with that instead.

Thanks to everyone at the Dolphin Club who helped me today!

My 5 hour swim on Saturday was incredible!  I had a blast, and I realized that I’m the luckiest girl ever.  I had so many wonderful people out supporting me – check out the support team breakdown:

In the Farrell – Reuben (Senior Pilot and navigator), Neal (Co-pilot and chef), and Daddy (photographer and videographer)

In the Arias – Dave (Captain and boat deflector), Mom (head cheerleader and occasional commando), and Old Grand Dad (champion open water swimmer and Laurin Fan).

We started at the Dolphin Club at 8:05am and headed toward the Bay Bridge.  Neal and my parents prepared a wonderful surprise for me in the form of large poster boards with uplifting or funny messages written on them.  Neal or my dad flashed them at me often during the swim.  So freakin’ cool!

30 minutes into the swim, I found my stride, and started flying.  The water was warm!  57-58 degrees, warm enough such that my hands did not splay for the entire swim!  After months of swimming with claws for hands, that alone was super exciting.

We passed under the Bay Bridge and continued on toward AT&T Park.  The sun came out from behind the clouds as we rounded the bend, and the stadium loomed above us, breathtakingly beautiful from the water.

Everything just went perfectly.  Neal warmed up my GU before putting it into the GU Gel Bot (an awesome contraption that allows you to have GU and a drink of your choice in the same vessel), so for the first time I was able to actually able to get the GU out of the Gel Bot and decreased my feeding time to about 25 seconds.  My friends and family cheered me on for the entire 5 hours, clapping, waving signs, laughing, making me feel strong and happy.  Dave made sure no boats ran me over.  The sun came out 2 hours in, warming my back as I swam.  I felt fast, I felt strong, I felt warm, and I felt loved.  I couldn’t help but smile as I swam.

Our only mishap was misjudging the currents – I ended up swimming into a very strong flood current.  But hey, fighting a crazy current is good training, too.

I’m humbled to know that so many people care about me and want to see me reach my goals.  It’s amazing how fun training can be when you have such a plethora of love and support.  A huge thank you to all of my supporters on Saturday!!

When I first started on this journey to conquer the English Channel, people emphasized two things to me:

1. Cold exposure:  I needed to spend a lot of time in cold water so that I would “get used to it”
2. Weight gain:  Nearly everyone who found out I wanted to swim the Channel would look me over and say, “you’re gonna have to put on some weight!”

This raised some issues in my head.  To address the second point, intentionally gaining weight for an athletic endeavor seems unhealthy to me.  To address the first, what does “getting used to it” actually mean?  It can’t just be a mental thing that allows your body to adapt to spending hours on end in cold water.  There had to be some corresponding physiological change that allowed the  body to tolerate cold better.

The Difference Between a White Fat Cell (fat storage) and a Brown Fat Cell (heat factory)

One possibility people have raised is the existence of brown fat.  Unlike white fat, which is found under the skin, deposits of brown fat are present around vital internal organs and along the back and sternum.  Further, brown fat has mitochontria:  it is metabolically active.  White fat is not.  This means that brown fat is capable of generating ATP.  Or, more simply, brown fat generates heat.

The only problem with this theory is that brown fat was only thought to be present in infants.  No one had ever detected brown fat in adults.  However, in the April publication of the New England Journal of Medicine, not one, but THREE independent labs proved the existence of brown fat in adults.  Further, using different experiments, all three groups demonstrated that prolonged exposure to cold resulted in an increase in an adult’s amount of brown fat.

Summary:  brown fat generates heat.  Exposure to cold increases an individual’s brown fat.  More brown fat = more heat = you can stay warmer in cold longer.

Beautiful.

Going back to the two points: point 1 addresses the way to increase brown fat, while point 2 addresses the way to increase white fat.

Sure, white fat can provide *some* increased insulation.  But brown fat not only insulates the core (the most important part of the body to keep warm), it also acts as a heat factory.  Hence the way you can “get used to” the cold.

Here’s an even cooler implication of this discovery:  you can train for the Channel even when you aren’t actually swimming!  Any time you expose your body to the cold, you are helping your body produce more brown fat, thereby increasing your cold tolerance.

In light of these publications, I’m finally taking the advice of my friend:  I’m now going around with bare legs and flip-flops, whether rain, shine, wind, whatever, intentionally exposing myself to being cold to increase my brown fat stores.  In my opinion, it’s a more healthy approach to cold water swimming, though it earns me some funny looks when I’m sporting a skirt and Rainbows in the arctic South San Francisco winds.

For the abstracts of these super cool papers, see below:

Identification and Importance of Brown Adipose Tissue in Adult Humans

Functional Brown Adipose Tissue in Healthy Adults

Cold-Activated Brown Adipose Tissue in Healthy Men

If you hadn’t noticed, I have a thing for GU products.  I train a lot, and GU energy gels and Chomps are easy on my stomach before, during, and after I workout.  As I already loved GU, I was especially stoked when GU Energy offered me its support and became my first sponsor.   Thanks, GU!