Streamline Medicals

If anyone is doing ice swimming events this year, please consider being involved in this research. It will help us understand what aspects of training and preparation affect recovery medically, but will also likely help other ice swimmers know what to avoid!

*Help us to help you!*

As part of my MSc, & to help further ice swimming research / improve safety, I am looking at the effect of different factors on recovery.
I’m looking for volunteers to log swims over 500m at

As well as doing pre-medical work, this year I have supported Nick Parkes achieve a massive swim 3 years after having a cardiac arrest and dying for 20 minutes, whilst competing in an open water competition.

We both really enjoyed recording this podcast and retelling the funny stories, but also including the important bits about how I made the swim as low risk as possible.

Shout out again to The Mind Coach who was a massive part of the team keeping Nicks head together.

I also can’t thank Swimyourswim enough for bringing their expertise in getting him safely across safely and working with me to make sure all our risk assessments and emergency plans were spot on. I felt a part of a great team.

Please consider donating to Yorkshire Air Ambulance, the charity that Nick did the swim to thank, as they have given him a 2nd chance at life.

🎙️ New Podcast 🎙️ Nick Parkes survived a cardiac arrest during the National Masters Open Water Champs in 2023. Now, he’s taken on his biggest challenge yet - swimming the full length of Loch Ness. He battled cold, darkness and exhaustion to complete the epic swim with medical support from Rebecca Lennon, who also completed a world record breaking Bristol Channel swim in July. We talk about the physical and mental challenges of extreme open-water swimming, and, of course: did they see the Loch Ness Monster? 🐉 🎧 Listen now.

If any of you feel you would benefit from adding psychological techniques to your toolkit for your endurance events, then I can highly recommend The Mind Coach. He really was the backbone to Nick's successful Loch Ness swim. When the swim got physically and mentally hard and Nick got emotional thinking about all the people who aren't so fortunate to survive a cardiac arrest, Nick pulled on all the work they'd done together. I really believe hearing Nick debrief afterwards that this was one of the most important aspects of the preparation work he did to make this a successful swim.

On Monday, Nick Parkes swam the entire length of Loch Ness.

36.2 kilometres. 11 hours and 57 minutes in the water.

An extraordinary achievement in itself.

But three years ago, Nick suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during an open-water swimming event.

He was pulled from the water unresponsive.

His heart had stopped.

This week, at 65, he became the first known sudden cardiac arrest survivor to swim the full length of Loch Ness solo.

There’s an enormous lesson in performance here.

Because although Nick was the one swimming, he didn't do it alone.

Behind an achievement like that is a team.

People monitoring.
People navigating.
People supporting.

People taking responsibility for things Nick couldn't possibly be thinking about while doing the one thing that only he could do:

Swim.

And I think there's an important parallel here for founders and business leaders.

One of the most dangerous beliefs a founder can have is:

“Everything depends on me.”

Because initially… it might be true.

You sell.
You deliver.
You solve problems.
You make decisions.
You put out fires.

That mentality can help take a business from nothing to something.

But then the company grows.

You hire talented people.
You build systems.
Responsibilities change.

Yet sometimes the founder's psychology doesn't change with them.

They're still checking everything.
Approving everything.
Solving everything.
Thinking about everything.

They call it maintaining standards. Sometimes it is.
But sometimes there's something else underneath it.

Control.
Fear.
Perfectionism.
Identity.

A subconscious belief that:

“If I'm not needed, what is my role?”

Or:

“If I let go, something will go wrong.”

And eventually, the person who built the business becomes its biggest bottleneck.

Nick's achievement required incredible individual resilience, preparation and mental strength.

But it also required trust. Trust in the people around him to do their jobs so he could concentrate on doing his.

That's not weakness. That's high performance.

And the same principle applies to leadership...

I hosted an open water session for the Atlantic Crest faculty this week at Whitmore Bay. It was a joy to be in the water on such a glorious day and share my expertise with some avid pupils alongside swim coach Adrian.

Most fun CPD I think I've ever been on with the Atlantic Crest faculty!

Back for a paddle in the Bristol Channel and Whitmore Bay. What a glorious day for a swim.

Was supposed to be today but wind is too strong so it’s a blow out!

This is why it’s important to make sure we are checking for silent health issues. Especially as we all continue to enjoy endurance sports as we age.

"I shouldn't be here, but I am!"- Cardiac arrest survivor conquers Loch Ness

Read more in the comments! ⬇️