I wish I had some inspiring training regimin that I could share with you all. Something that would get you excited to head to the pool or the ocean. Something that seemed doable but hard.

The truth is…I have been on and off but mostly on sick since the beginning of December. My Oura ring, an incredible tool that I absolutely recommend (hey, Oura want to sponsor me?) has read “Major Signs” more times than I can count the past 6 weeks.

This time has been really frustrating but it has also given me the down time I needed to finalize some items with Swim California. The website is functional, we have an AMAZING logo by Victoria Feng.

Our boat is getting ready for its first training session in April, we have reached out to all our hopeful community partners, fundraising is continuing (now that I am president of a non-profit I am always fundraising), and we have built more internal organization and structure for Sea Dreamers as well as on-boarded about 10 more ambassadors.

Whatever happens with this swim, I am so proud of the team that has helped me get this far. I am also proud of myself for founding a non-profit and surrounding it with some of the most amazing women I know.

As the flu starts to subside I can feel myself coming up for air and realizing the hard part is essentially done. Now I get to focus my time and attention on getting physically ready.

I will say though, in the middle of all this illness and flu I have had a few amazing days in the great outdoors. Ultimately, Swim California is going to be about being strong mentally and physically to endure days on end. To quote a friend, “you just need to be strong, fat, and fit….in that order.”

I firmly believe that your heart does not know what kind of exercise you are doing, your muscles do of course, but with prepping for this swim having overall strength is of the utmost importance.

So here are a couple adventures I recently got to go on:

Here is a simple swim set to get you to 5,500 and easily modified to be shorter

Warm Up: 400 free/400 IM kick drill swim

Kick: 12×50’s every 3rd FAST

Pull: 10×200 odd long rest + smooth/ even short rest + strong

Main: 2× 400 second one faster + 2× 300 second one faster + 2× 200 second one faster + 2× 100 second one faster. (Bonus points: try to bring your splits down as you go. 5:00 400 means a 3:45 300 on round 1. Round 2 try to make your first 300 3:39 and second 3:35. Round 3 try to make your first 200 2:22 and second 2:18 and so on)

Cool down

Something like that.

In the upcoming weeks my focus is the following:

When you find yourself falling off your rhythm, instead of beating yourself up, give yourself grace.

🙂 “Hungry marine fungi may be the key to reducing plastic pollution”

Plastic eating fungi? Maybe one day! For now, reusable water bottles are great. I am loving this one.

“Our research highlights marine fungi as a promising and largely untapped group to investigate for new ways to recycle and remove plastic from nature.”

😢 “Trump Administration Faces Legal and Public Backlash Over Massive Offshore Drilling Expansion”

I hate this more than I can express in a newsletter and we are fully intending to talk about this a lot during Swim California. Visit Save Our Shores to join the fight.

“In late November, the US Department of the Interior announced a new offshore drilling plan that includes a five-year leasing program for outer continental shelf oil and gas drilling of roughly 1.3 billion acres. The area spans Alaska, California, and the Eastern Gulf near Florida.”

Behind the swim is a whole team and so I just want to shoutout the people who have made getting this far possible.

Each newsletter I am going to shoutout someone who went above and beyond. This week I want to shoutout:

💙 I want to thank Natasha Benjamin for her help with community outreach.

I also want to thank all the donors who have supported this epic journey. I see your names on Zeffy and am so grateful.

This isn’t just my swim; it’s a journey for all of us who love the ocean, crave adventure, and believe in trying something even when it feels impossible. Thank you for being here.

Donations are currently being accepted through my 501-c3 non-profit, Sea Dreamers. During Swim California we will be stopping and having various Sea Dreamers events to bring more women and girls into the ocean and create more awareness around ocean conservation—because I believe we fight for what we love and women fight pretty damn hard.