I discovered Mike and Zigzag through a random search online as I was looking for someone to coach me through an attempt at the 5 mile St Croix Coral Reef Swim race in the US Virgin Islands. What drew me to Mike was a very thoughtful article he had written about confidence-centered coaching.
I’m 62 years old, and my background includes a number of triathlons of various distances, lots of road, mountain and gravel cycling, a couple marathons and a few other open water swims, but most of these events were conquered by a much younger version of myself. The longest swim I had previously done was 2.5 miles, so to now swim 5 miles in the open ocean would be a reach for me.
I really didn’t know where to start with an overall training plan or the amount and type of swimming I would need to do on a daily basis to be able to swim 5 miles in the open water. I didn’t want to do intensive interval training or track loads of data during my training program. I reached out to Mike about 6 months before my event, and he created a big picture plan for me and then later more detail on specific daily and weekly workouts.
I just completed my event on Nov 8 and I felt completely prepared, both mentally and physically. My goal was 3 hrs, and I finished just ahead of that in 2:58, and feeling as if I could have kept on going.
Mike also helped me determine a nutrition plan for the race and it worked beautifully. I felt going in that an event like this would be as much mental as physical and it certainly was. Not only did Mike create a brilliant plan for my training, he and I spoke each week via Zoom to recap the past week and catch-up on what was ahead.
I should mention that I live in the western US and that Mike and I are 8 time zones apart. Despite this distance, the Zoom calls worked perfectly. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised how much the Zoom calls and having to log my daily swims into Train Xhale helped me be accountable. When you know you have to track your activity online and do a weekly call, it definitely helps keep you on track.
The Coral Reef swim was a wonderful experience for me, from conceiving the idea, to creating and completing the training plan with Mike, to finally successfully finishing the event. I’m certain it will be a memory I’ll always savor.
Thanks for being a wonderful partner in this journey Mike…and best of luck to all of your other athletes in whatever adventure lies ahead!
John P
