THE ART OF GETTING WINTERED ROSS EDGLEY

You’d think once Ross Edgley had finished recovering from the Great British Swim – which involved an epic 157 days at sea and 1,791 miles of swimming (not to mention 2.3 million swim strokes and 100 jellyfish stings) – he’d want a break. But no, after a long period of ‘recovery’, which included learning to walk again and embracing barefoot running (Edgley’s feet atrophied while at sea), as well as shoulder surgery to repair damage sustained during the challenge, he was back at it. This began with breaking his training cycle down into its various phases – a cycle which begins with the base mesocycle.

As part of this base mesocycle, a cold-water swim was in order. In the following extract from Blueprint, Edgley explains why his training kicked off with an ice swim. Joined by World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall, the two explore a lesson in the benefits of cold-water swimming, how to stay safe and whether you can actually get frostbite on your genitals… f

STARTWITH A SWIM

It’s 7am on 18 January 2019 in Cheshire, England. After weeks of routine rest and rehab (of the barefoot and brachiating variety) my recovery mesocycle had come to an end and I no longer owned a pair of squishy sea