Proper now, 35-year-old Ben Beard of Las Cruces, NM, is busy managing his house development and gross sales firm, whereas additionally juggling intense prep for the problem of a lifetime. Beard is elevating cash with the intention to assist younger individuals attain their instructional and enterprise potential, and can bravely swim the English Channel in support of The Grant Cardone Foundation. Impressed, and desperate to learn the way the enterprise man, and father of 4, is preparing for such an epic problem, M&F took a ‘deep dive’ into his motivations and coaching forward of this final check of power and endurance.
Swimming the English Channel isn’t any imply feat. The slender 21 mile (32 kilometer) stretch of water, between the southern coast of England and the northern fringe of France endures changeable climate and as such, completion instances differ wildly because of the particular person athlete’s personal means and the unpredictable setting that they need to battle via. The average swim time, nonetheless, is 13 hours, 33 minutes, and 54 seconds whereas a report of 6 hours and 55 minutes has been held by Australia’s Trent Grimsey since 2012.
So then, the primary query is straightforward: What attracts knowledgeable man like Beard to throw himself into the deep finish like this? “I first learn Grant Cardone’s books; ‘The 10X Rule’ and ‘Be Obsessed or Be Common’ in 2017,” he says. “At the moment, I used to be making ready to begin my enterprise; Crimson Cliff Houses. I had approached some land sellers with a small thought to get my enterprise began. Then, after their lukewarm reception, I noticed that perhaps I wanted to go greater to make the deal extra engaging to them, so I actually adopted the teachings I had learn, and multiplied by pitch by 10. This led to me getting began by myself within the house constructing enterprise, and allowed me to scale up rapidly, closing 27 properties my first 12 months in enterprise.”
Having gained a lot perception from the Grant Cardone Basis, a non-profit group that goals to offer profession steering and academic sources, significantly to the younger and weak, Beard felt the necessity to pay it ahead, and set himself a goal of elevating $50,000 for the trigger. Right here’s how he’s gone from land developer to lengthy distance swimmer.
Rekindling Outdated Passions
Ben Beard selected to swim the English Channel, partly, as a approach to rekindle an previous ardour. Nicely, they do say that it is best to observe your internal compass! He started swimming in highschool the place, initially, he wasn’t a fan of distance swimming however having caught with it, additionally holding a toe in throughout faculty, Beard realized that getting into the water was not simply a good way to remain in bodily form, as he felt a variety of psychological advantages too. “I benefit from the probability to close out the world and simply swim,” he says. “It’s type of like meditation for me, with the possibility to clear my head whereas working my physique to the purpose of exhaustion. Chilly water provides to the head-clearing side of swimming and in addition tends to make me hyper conscious of my physique, in order that I can deal with which muscle tissue are sore and any slight inside temperature modifications that my physique goes via throughout lengthy swims.”
By means of his latest coaching, Beard says that he’s realized that swimming the channel isn’t purely a bodily problem, noting that it is usually “about psychological toughness to face up to the chilly, the monotony, and loneliness.”
Placing within the Hours
The entrepreneur received’t be rocking as much as the English Channel unprepared and has been coaching for 3-years to make this swim regardless of the calls for of a busy day job. Long distance swimming requires great stamina and cardio vascular conditioning. “I hold a operating whole of hours swam every month in my planner, to make it possible for I’m staying on observe with my coaching objectives,” he says. “I’ve had quite a lot of journey for work over the previous few months, so I’ve needed to be diligent about wanting forward of time for locations to swim whereas on work journeys. Many gyms supply a brief trial interval, and this has been very useful, and native metropolis recreation amenities are additionally nice locations to coach more often than not. I additionally carry operating garments with me to get in a run if I received’t be capable of swim. Final week, I obtained caught in dangerous climate whereas flying and ended up having an sudden 7-hour layover. The late arrival that evening meant that I might not be capable of swim earlier than my work conferences, so I modified garments within the airport lavatory, discovered a personal spot to stash my baggage, and went on a 2-mile run within the airport!”
Making the Weight
“I realized after signing-up that marathon swimming shouldn’t be a 6-pack and ripped muscle tissue type of sport,” says Beard. “Most profitable channel swimmers are pretty heavy, and those who aren’t will typically have to placed on weight with the intention to face up to the cold-water temperatures; anticipated to be roughly 60 F on the time of my swim. So, I’ve been deliberately gaining weight during the last 12 months.”
Since Beard is swimming quite a bit in his coaching, he’s burning a ton of energy, so gaining weight is a problem. He’s countered this with “calorie restoration” meals after lengthy swims. He may even want to determine what he’ll eat throughout his English Channel swim, with the intention to maintain energy levels. Whereas endeavor the problem, Beard may have a ship pilot and crew that can get feeds to him. These feeds can differ relying on people tastes, and a few swimmers go for liquid dietary supplements, however the primary factor is that the meals must be simple to seize and eat. “Over the previous few months, I’ve been experimenting with completely different meals for my ‘feeds’ in the course of the swim,” he says. “I’ve settled on re-fried black beans, with a number of further butter, in addition to calorie dense mashed potatoes, each of which will likely be sucked out of pouches like these designed for feeding a child. Potatoes are very excessive in potassium, and with the combination of beans and potatoes I’ll have a mix of proteins and slower burning, longer-lasting carbs. I’ll additionally add in a small sweet bar for these brief, fast bursts of sugar after I actually need it. Throughout coaching, I drink a mixture of plain water and electrolyte drinks however in the course of the channel swim, electrolytes aren’t as vital as a consequence of being surrounded by salt water. So, I’ll drink scorching chocolate for each the added warmth, in addition to the additional sugar content material.”
Looking for Knowledgeable Recommendation
Beard is attacking this English Channel swim in the identical manner that he plans a housing improvement, by utilizing skilled recommendation and data to realize the absolute best end result. He’s regularly difficult the gap that he can swim within the harsh components and has additionally sought perception from those who have gone earlier than him. “After I set the aim in 2019, my spouse obtained me a e-book written by a profitable English Channel swimmer: ‘Preserve Calm and Swim to France: Tales of an English Channel Swimmer’ by Mark Ransom,” he says. “Then, in June 2022, I accomplished a swim throughout Bear Lake in northern Utah as a part of my coaching. My information on that swim was a former English Channel swimmer, Joelle Brown-Beard (no relation) whom I linked with on Fb. From Joelle I obtained some nice recommendation round upping my coaching. After I swam with Joelle, I anticipated that the lake crossing could be 6 miles and take round three hours. Nevertheless it truly took 6 hours to swim 6.9 miles. The water was 54ºF, in order that was part of my slower than anticipated time but it surely additionally gave me a wake-up name that it’s essential to critically practice for a majority of these swims.”
Since then, Beard has ramped as much as the place he’s now recurrently swimming 10-12 hours per week. one to 1.5 hours on a weekday, and 5 to six-plus hours on Saturdays. With 3 years of coaching below his belt, Beard now considers himself to be a complicated swimmer however all the time keep in mind: It is very important search skilled recommendation and supervision when endeavor lengthy distance swims.
His English Channel swim is scheduled for June 8-15, dependant on climate and tidal situations, and The Channel Swimming Affiliation may even be readily available, to watch the swim and make it possible for it’s ratified.
“My major goal is to efficiently full the swim, irrespective of how lengthy it takes,” says Beard. “I’m not doing this to set a report or develop into knowledgeable marathon swimmer, however to finish a life aim. It doesn’t need to look fairly, I simply need to get it achieved. I’ll be thrilled it doesn’t matter what my time is!”
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