Ross Edgley - The Great British Swim

Full transcript: Ross Edgley on London Real

4:54 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose, my guest today is Ross Edgley the athlete, adventurer, and author with a decade-long career in sport, fitness, and nutrition. You have just spent the last 157 days to become the first swimmer to circumnavigate the whole of Great Britain, some 1791 miles, nearly 3000 kilometers, without touching land swimming up to 12 hours a day and consuming up to 15,000 calories per day.

5:34 You finished yesterday. Previously you set world records, climbing the height of Mount Everest on a rope continuously over 24 hours. I was there, and running a marathon, pulling a 1.4 ton car. Ross, welcome back to London Real for the third time. Wow, thank you.

5:50 Yeah, and that is weird. This time yesterday I was taking my first steps on land for 157 days. Yeah, that’s. But we were just talking about this. I said that what feels so nice about this is, you were one of the first to know that I was about to do it.

6:03 So we were talking about this after I launched the book, and this feels nice to kind of bookend it. Because I spoke to you at the start and said, look Brian, I’m thinking swimming around over it, and you’re like, what I said, look, I’ve got it all figured out, you know. And then now I’m speaking to you afterwards. Yeah, that interview was in February. The book had just come out.

6:20 Yeah, we’re talking about that and you were scheming about this great swim, and I want to get into all the details to swim before we do that. I want to quote you, and this is a quote that you said recently was on one of your Instagram pieces, and it’s this. It’s my hope that people remember the Great British Swim as an example or an experiment in both mental and physical fortitude. This lost art of grit and determination that we used to have in the golden era of exploration.

6:46 Hard work is so often the answer. The question is so often irrelevant. F***ing powerful, dude. It sounds better in your voice. Is so powerful, right?

6:59 Yeah. What does that mean? I call swimming, and when we spoke all that time in February I didn’t realize how much that swimming solitary confinement would affect me, you know. But you are left alone with your own thoughts over 157 days swimming for 12 hours a day. We worked out I spent probably over 20 to 30 days on my own staring at the bottom of a seabed with earplugs in.

7:24 So I can’t hear anything. I can’t smell anything. So you were just purely left alone with your own thoughts. And when we spoke again in February it was purely a theory at the time, and we spoke about, you know, central governor theory, and I was saying to you, Brian, I believe that fatigue’s emotionally driven state that you use, and your brain basically gets you to pull that physiological handbrake, you know, to make sure that you maintain homeostasis. You don’t do any damage to yourself, you know.

7:51 Self-preservation mechanisms. And I said I think I theorize that you can override this, and you were doing Iron Mind at the time, and I was saying there’s going to be that moment during your Iron Man. It’s relative. It doesn’t matter you doing your Iron Man, me swimming around Great Britain. It doesn’t matter.

8:06 Somebody going to run their first 10 kilometer race, you know, they’ve never run before they’re going to get to that point where their body says this is fatigue, pull the physiological handbrake, you know. Don’t do damage to yourself. So that part of the end where I said, you know, hard work is so often the answer, and the question is so often irrelevant. What I meant by that was during the Great British Swim, and going back to the central governor theory, swimming became a really small part of it.

8:33 It was just, are you gonna get in, scrape ice off your wetsuit, which I had to in Aberdeen. I remember it was the first day of autumn. I left my wetsuit out to dry. It was two o’clock in the morning. The tide had changed, and I put then, and I was like, and it’s just a thin layer of ice, and I scraped it off, and I’m just putting it on like that and no one was asking me to.

8:52 I didn’t have to get in the water, but if I didn’t, that’s a six-hour tide that’s gone. That could be 15 miles, and if you miss 15 miles and you add up just a few of those, all of a sudden the window to actually swim around Great Britain, which is the British summer which is very, very short. You’re thinking kind of May to, we’ve been lucky that I finished just yesterday, so you know November the 4th. I was lucky that we had a really good summer because it would have become impossible.

9:17 We had storm Callum and Storm Alley. They came in, and if you’re trying to swim around the top of Scotland in a storm. Boats don’t go around the top of Scotland, never mind a swimmer. Really, so when is the weather? Yeah, yeah you’re not going around Cape Wrath at the top there.

9:31 So northwest Scotland, you’re not going around the top of there if you’re getting Arctic winds from Iceland, you know, 50 knots smashing into the side of the western squad. You’re not going past there in a boat. You’ll be just, you know, people have lost their lives out there. And so when I say hard work, yourself, and the answer, you know, the questions are relevant. What I mean by that is on the Great British Swim, the limiting factor, the defining factor, wasn’t how high my elbows were on a swim, how quick how streamlined it was, what was my, what was my head position.

10:00 None of that mattered. but you’re going to put your face in the water, and are you going to get in for six hours and make 12 miles, because if you do, you might make it around the top of Scotland before the British winter comes in, and that’s it. You can’t. It literally, the gates are closed. You’re not, you’re now not swimming around Great Britain, not because you can’t, and you’re fatigued.

10:19 The British weather’s not letting you. So that’s what I meant by that. That it’s hard work’s the answer, not my leg kick, not my arm position. Did you ever think about quitting? I’ve been asked this, honestly no.

10:32 But I want to caveat that with, in no way am I saying no. I was really brave and bored, and I don’t, I’m really tough. I am no. That’s gonna be, and someone even said it was amazing. Rust?

10:44 That you never broke down and cried. And I was like, no, no, but Now back to the rest of the show. I use that same philosophy on non-ironment that you taught me, which was I’m gonna finish it. It might take me six hours or six days or six weeks, but I’m gonna finish this goddamn course. Yeah So once that’s in your mind, it’s like, okay, now we’re talking about the time it takes to finish.

11:31 Yeah, so you know, I guess in your mind you were going to show up and market somehow. Yeah, of course the weather might have prevented you, but you had that mindset, which just means okay, get your face down. Yeah, and get it done. You’re right I mean, looking at almost stoic philosophy is one, and I was reading so much on, you know, Marcus Aurelius Meditations and I was reading so much of that, and you’re right. You sit there and think, what can I control?

11:53 Well, I can control that. The words I quit are never going to come out of my mouth, ever. I’m never going to entertain that. And I think, especially, and you can relate to this certainly, when you did Iron Mind, you are left alone with your own thoughts on the bike, on the run, of this one. It doesn’t matter the same way that I was on the swim, and because you can’t speak to your family and friends, you’re alone.

12:10 You’re alone with your own thoughts so if you entertain the idea and you go, maybe I can quit? Oh, there’s land over there. Oh, you know, there’s a hotel there, you know? Oh, you know, and that’s why I said I never wanted to touch land, because I think it could have been very easy to check into a hotel, and all of a sudden it’s quite warm, and all of a sudden I look over and I look out to sea, and there’s 40 knots of wind, and I go, ah, should we call it today, you know?

12:32 And again, that’s 12 miles. You’ve missed out. You don’t swim at night. That’s 30 miles you miss out on that day, you know. That’s longer than the Channel, just because you didn’t get out of bed.

12:40 It’s so easy to do that. But so, by just fully immersing yourself in it, living on the boat, and again I was just saying Anthony Middleton, you know, celebrated sort of military career, and one of the best advice I got from him and he knows me, you know. I mean, we’ve noticed for like three years now, and you always say, oh, you’re so smiley, Ross, and Anthony said the same. He’s like, yeah, you’re really positive, but a word of warning, that’ll only get you so far, and I was like, no, no, no, no.

13:05 I’ll be fine. Like, it’s gonna be nice. I like it for 30 years. It’s kind of it. And he said to me, no, he said, Ross, there’s gonna be a moment where it’s dark, and it’s really dark, and he said no one can help you.

13:16 You’ve got a crew, and they’re amazing. It goes, but it’s just going to come down to you when it’s you and the sea. And the advice he said to me, he was just like, I said, Ross, you just need to get feral. And I remember he looked to me dead in the eye, and he, because he was, he wanted this point to hammer home, I think, and it did because he kind of gave me this look, to be like, just remember these words, like when those dark clouds come over, get Fahrenheit.

13:37 What do you mean? And he just said, you need to just think like primitive, strip everything back, where you just think swim, sleep, eat, and that’s all, you know. And he joked a little bit. You just need to get like cable and just be like, Ross, eat, Ross, sleep, you know. Not like going, hey guys, is everyone not on you know Instagram, you know, should just be like.

14:00 And, you know, he was right. For so long I was able to. That’s I suppose there’s almost probably like a coping mechanism, but it was also for myself as well. That, you know, I was very aware that this was 157 days. So again, I always loved that particular episode online when you just got on that bike and you were swimming in lactic acid, and you were using every tool in your arsenal, or thinking about your kids and everything like that, and you got real angry.

14:25 You got emotional, and then afterwards you were like, I knew I couldn’t go to that place because I had 157 days, and the body’s this biochemical complex organism. So you start getting stressed. Cortisol levels, stress hormone. You know, your immune system starts, adrenal fatigue, neurotransmitters, chemical signals in the brain are fried. so I needed to maintain this level, not here, here.

14:48 And I think when to come back to sort of swimming with a smile, as I said, that’s why I was doing that, and it was always trying to care for the body, and just, you know, people have shown psychological well-being in your immune system, directly related. So I would try and swim with a smile, but when I had to. When I had to, I had to get feral as well. And there were times when I almost felt like this split personality, and I almost sometimes would apologize to the crew, because I’d be like, hey guys, how are you doing and I knew that it would get me through a tide that day, because I’m swimming with dolphins and the sunset, and there’s a minke whale, and seals are waving to me, and I was like, this is amazing, you want to be in the moment, this is incredible.

15:29 Then there’s other times when you’re swimming through the Moray Firth, you’re 40 miles from land, and there wasn’t, there was barely a moon in the sky. It was overcast as well, so not even the light from the stars. You couldn’t see the hand in front of your face when you’re swimming, and I remember because I was trying to look at my watch, and I’m swimming, and I’d look at my, when I was like, no, I can’t see, and it was that dark. You’re getting hit in the face during a tide, during a six-hour night swim.

15:54 I could be stung up to 20 times by jellyfish, so it’s just, and that’s another thing, it’s hard for me to explain, because you’re swimming and you’re kind of like, I know I’m gonna get hit, I just don’t know what bang you mean, you’re like, ah, but I could get out and feel sorry for myself. You know, I’m in the middle of the Moray Firth. So the other thing there is, if I get out and feel sorry for myself, the team have got to stay out in the morning. The boat’s got to stay out in the morning if a storm comes in and we’re no longer safe as a boat.

16:21 So you know, okay, fine, I’m stung, and I keep some more pressure on you. Yeah. Didn’t the jellyfish stay stuck on your face for like a half an hour in one of the whirlpools? Yeah Yeah, that was hands down the worst bit. So this is okay.

16:35 That’s a good example of just getting feral. So The Corryvreckan vacuum. So it’s in sort of the Hebrides of Scotland, one of the world’s biggest whirlpools. Ships have gone down, you know, their people have lost their lives. So when swimming through there you’re almost like swimming on hallowed ground.

16:49 It’s like it’s almost like swimming through a graveyard. Like, you treat it with so much respect. You’re, you know, it’s not certainly not smiling. And yeah, oh yeah, you know, it was like, wow, okay. And I was swimming, and Captain Matt Knight you know, turns to me.

17:01 He said, Ross, I need you to swim like hard for this tide. I mean, you go all out, because if you stop and you go into the whirlpool, like, seriously, we’re in trouble. And I remember he looked at me with this sobering look. I was like, right, okay, no smiles, get feral. So you’re right, it’s a whirlpool, like in the movies.

17:18 It’s a full-on whirlpool. Okay, when you start researching it as well, it’s kind of like cemented in Scottish folklore, and there’s a hag goddess who, like, governs the whirlpool. And, no, and this gets weird because I was like reading this, like, hag goddess and Kelpie, which are these water spirits, and I’m reading this, and the fishermen are going, yeah watch out for the Kelpie, and I’m like, Kelpie, hag goddess, but honestly, like, right, I’m like kind of laughing, and then when I’m there, the way that the wind, like, howls down the Inner Hebrides between the islands, and then you’re like okay, so you know, I’m swimming, and for six hours I’m swimming hard, and, you know, just those words from Matt echoing in my head, like, you swim or you disappear down a whirlpool.

18:03 You know, I’m swimming. My shoulders are on fire. Lactic acid. I’m swimming again. The ocean doesn’t care about pacing strategies, feeding strategies, but I want to back down, keep swimming, and then I’m stung, but this particular jellyfish sting just felt different.

18:18 It was painful, but it just it lingered, and it was searing into my skin. I was like, this one just feels different, but you know, so I just swim in. I swim for like about another hour, just thinking I don’t want to be down at the bottom, whirlpool until it just, I can’t stand the pain anymore, and I look up. I said, Matt, I’ve been stung, but I said it’s still stinging. Like, this side of my face is numb, and Matt looks at me and goes, yeah, Nate is still on your face, and he was just hanging, and it threaded through my goggles.

18:46 So I was swimming for an hour through a whirlpool with it, just like slapping against my face And this is already after you had grown some kind of immunity to the poison, and you had been stung a bit. Yeah. And it still just repeatedly stinging on you. Yeah, like, but again, and this sounds weird, the pain’s the nicest bit about it, and what I mean by that is, after that I unthreaded the tentacle from my goggles. I pulled it off.

19:10 I was like, and then I tried to put my goggles back on, but by which point my face had been stung so much. And there’s a picture, actually, my eyes were like bigger than my eye sockets, and my goggles, no longer actually fitted to my face. And again, all this is going on, and I can laugh about it now, but Matt’s going, swim, whirlpool, whirlpool! Just yelling. So in the end I end up putting my goggles on.

19:34 It’s kind of sealed, but you know, that’s sort of, my face has changed shape at this point, and then, like, in almost desperation I just punch myself in both eyes, so it just kind of indents into my face, and I’m like, ah, ah, so now I’ve just got, like, goggles punched into my face. And I finished this one. Looking back, I laugh about it now, and people laugh about that tentacle story, but at the time, and again, there’s a picture where I just, I collapse onto the back of the net on the bow.

20:02 And I mean collapse. And Matt was just like, okay. I was like, just, I said, just give me five minutes, and I just lay there like that, and then I eventually got up, you know. And again, with no time to. I was just like, logically I need my face to change shape because the tide’s changing in six hours.

20:19 Six hours. So we survived the whirlpool. Yeah, honestly, so that was Corryvreckan. We probably still had like a thousand miles to swim. Okay, so after all that, you go whoa, and you go yeah.

20:32 Again, central governor theory, hard work yourself, the answer, the question is irrelevant. After all of that, are you still going to get in? In six hours, you know, when the tide changes. And if the answer is yes, you might make it all the way around Great Britain, if the answer is no, then stop now, you know, because it’s only going to get worse. That’s not even Cape Wrath.

20:49 We still have the top of Scotland. We still have the Moray Firth, the Firth of Forth, down the East Coast we still had two storms to contend with. So after all of that, people go, that’s a crazy story. Oh, you know, it’s like, yeah, that wasn’t even halfway. What does going feral look like for you?

21:03 What does that mean to people? If I got to meet the feral Ross, yes, you look like, what’s he act like? Does he look at me? Does he grant? I think it’s, I do, you know what, look, I think feral, yeah, it’s trying to like, with the Royal Marines they always said, again, when you are completely fatigued and feral, you have the cognitive functioning of like a five-year-old.

21:24 You know, you’re exhausted. Don’t expect anything eloquent to come out of my mouth. And certainly when me and Matt, the captain, he was amazing, and we had this way of communicating where it was so crisp, you know, I’ll just, like, pop my head up and I’d go, banana please, like that, almost sign language. So like, banana please, throw me a banana. I’d eat it, and I’d just go, how many knots?

21:41 And you’d say, you’re swimming at like three knots, I’ll go, thank you, bang, and swim. So it was that, not like, hey Matt, did you see the sunset? But it’s, and I almost, I use this term like a chivalrous or a savage, and what I mean by that is, and this is probably just because my mum and dad, you know, that I was always raised to be polite, and the reason for that is because, certainly, the team were amazing, and, you know, nobody asked me to go and do this.

22:07 No one was forcing me to do it. So the moment you’re rude to someone, and you’d like, give me a banana, it’s just like, Ross, no, you know, no one’s fought, you know. We could easily go home, you know, like this isn’t. So as much as feral as I was, it probably just me. It’s probably me, but less talkative.

22:24 Okay, and less smiley, but still polite. I always think it’s important to be polite. Okay Let’s back up. Why do this in the first place, and tell me about this guy named Captain Webb who you’ve quoted a few times. Yeah, I am.

22:38 I think having gone round, and certainly speaking to a lot of people on the coast, there is this, if you say an eccentric British explorer, you go, yeah, I, you know, I get what you mean, you know, like. And Captain Webb for me embodies that. So Captain Webb, first guy to ever swim across the English Channel. At the time, 1875, they said it’s impossible. The water’s too cold.

23:03 It’s too treacherous. the tides are too strong. It cannot be done. But Captain Webb, and this is what I love, in a woolen wetsuit, on a diet of brandy and beef broth, said, no, no, I think it can be done in an August, you know, looked across the English Channel and breaststroked his way all the way across with his head up, because and I love this bit. Front crawl was ungentlemanly, like, you know, that, for me I was like, yes, Scout’s doing well, and that, and he can, and everyone was just like, whoa, now he did it in a time.

23:32 I believe you know, at 23 hours, just, you know, battling the waves, and, you know, the support crew were telling him get in get in, like, you know, take the boat, and he was just like, you know, pressure. He’s like, no, no, more brandy you know. He did it, and I’m like, yes, and his time of 24 hours. I think the fastest channel from now is something around six hours, you know. It’s more, you know, than halved.

23:54 But nothing captured the imagination of the world like Captain Webb, because everyone was like, wow, it can be done. And now look at the number of people who was from the English Channel. Look what he started. And in so many ways, back in February when I said to you, you know, I want to swim around Great Britain. You said the best word just now, actually.

24:12 You said you were scheming, and I was scheming in February, because it definitely wasn’t set in concrete, and I was speaking to port authorities who were like, you want to do what? Because there’s no blueprint for it, so no one’s, everyone’s, I’m gonna have to check on this, like, wait, you want to do firing squads? You know, obviously there’s live firing ranges that shoot, you know, live ammo out into the sea, and we were going to swim all the way across that.

24:34 So you know, the captain would be like radio, and through Matt, just being like, a Hecatee, which is the name of the heckerty, just checking in here. We’ve got a swimmer in the water, are you still firing? And they’d be like, say again, you know so I was scheming in February, but it had the feel of Captain Webb. It really had that, and what has been so nice is so many people have been so honest and open, and you only have to look at the very first episode on Red Bull TV, where you look at the number of comments, and you’ll know, you get it.

25:06 There was loads on social media, just like, oh, he’s a funny shape, he’s not meant to be swimming. People even saying, like, making bets, going like, I guarantee he will, like, quit before Isle of Wight, you know, which is half the South Coast, you know. I should have taken those bets. Did you read all those comments? Yeah, I read all of them.

25:24 I read all of them, and I liked them because it should be, and I didn’t take them personally. I was like, this is a melting pot, an exchange of ideas, but what’s been the nicest is some of those people even screenshotted their own comment, and when I was coming into Margate, said, I’ve got a confession to make. I said, you’d never do it. I said, you wouldn’t even get as far as Land’s End, you know. And I just wanted to.

25:46 I wanted to actually be there to congratulate, and so there was no, there wasn’t even an element of trolling in many ways, and that’s the thing that surprised me. The Great British Swim turned into a community that was so positive, and I think actually it was embodied by the very fat swimming in at the end. I said this has never been an individual sport because of the team on the crew, because of the sport on social media, everything. And I said, so I want to swim in with everybody.

26:12 I want everybody to enjoy the Great British Swim. It’s not mine to enjoy. It’s everybody’s. and so we speculatively sort of said, we’ve got, look, for health and safety reasons, we’ve got 300 spaces. If you want to come out.

26:24 And this is what I love again about the British eccentric. 300 places. If swimmers, if you want to turn up, it’s gonna be seven o’clock in the morning in November on a beach in Margate, in the middle of the sea. Do you want to go and meet a guy you’ve never met and swim in? And those 300 places went in.

26:41 I think it was like five minutes, you know, and then, and it was crazy. So yeah, that’s what I think. To, sorry, to go back and, like I said, the Captain Webb, the British eccentric. It’s just, it was like, and you know, I mean, I love the events that you do, when the energy in the room, you know, and we’ve talked about, we’re both fans of like Elliot Holes and Wim Hof, and you get, like, the whole room doing moving meditation, breathing exercises. It’s just, you’re like, what is this?

27:05 It’s like the energy in the room. It felt good. Me and those people on the water, I kind of, yeah, I felt, yeah almost like it was like an aquatic version of what you’ve done. I said this ages ago when I was looking yeah, I was like, oh yeah, and that’s why I wanted. That’s what’s good.

27:17 I didn’t come to Iron Mind because I see what you create here at London Real, and I was like, cool, but the thing with me is, like, I never recommend my life to anyone, you know. I’m like, don’t do what I do, but for those people to come out at the end. I got to experience what you’ve created here at London Real in a similar way, in a weird way in the middle of the sea in Margate, and it was really cool, because for all of your other feats. You’re there alone usually at the finish line, right?

27:43 No one wants to stay up all night trying to finish a marathon, or a rope climb, or go to the Caribbean and watch you tow a tree through the water. So this was one of the times where you actually had, you felt, all about human energy. Is exactly it, and that’s because I think and actually, for a lot of people probably watching, when they say, I want to do something similar, how do I do it? And I’m like, why? You look at the Great British Swim.

28:05 You’ve got to know that’s the sum and substance of over 10 years of doing this, you know. And I did it initially, as you know, to raise money from for charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, because of my friend. So I did it purely one, to give myself something to train for when I stopped playing international sport. I wanted something to do, and then two, it was just, it was really just to do something that was bigger than the event itself and bigger than me. And if that was raising money, getting people involved, that was always the thing.

28:33 But for anyone watching, so how do I kind of get involved? You’ve got to understand, I always started off, and even with this, I start off with, like, what, how can I do this with the least resources? So when I did the world’s strongest marathon, that was when we first caught up, I was like, I can run a marathon, because I can reckon that you can do that anywhere, you know, as long as I’ve got something flat and I’ve got a car, you know. It’s an old car, like, but I’ve got a harness that my friend’s strongman, you know, Geoff Capes, lent me one as well, like, two-time World’s Strongest Man.

29:02 He was like, there’s an old one you can have, and I was like, cool. So I’ve got a harness, and then I was like, I’m, my girlfriend, she’ll probably sit in the car while I pull it through, but like, she’s used to. So that, and I was like, so what do you need to run a marathon, pull a car? Nothing. It’s free, you know.

29:16 And I found a car park near my house. I said, I’ll do it there as long as we record the whole thing, you know. It would be cool. So I did that, but what happened is, Silverstone racer, because my friend, who we were raising money for with Teenage Cancer Trust, was an amazing motor racer, and so Silverstone wanted to do something to help, so they said they threw me the keys to Stowe circuit, and they went, ego, and I was like, really? they were like, yeah, just use it as long as you want.

29:37 World’s longest rope climb. I mean, that was the first time that then, genuinely, that anybody paid any attention when you came to the middle of the field in, like, Hertfordshire, and we got them, and you were like, yeah, I’ll come out, and you’ve got the drone stuff. So you have no idea how much that meant, because you’ve got to remember, before that everyone was just like, I was a crazy guy who runs around like pulling a car. You were the one who actually came out with the world’s longest rope climb.

29:58 It was like, oh video you made, and I was like, thanks Brian. And then it was after that that things, I did the triathlon and things like that. So I can’t actually remember the question you’re saying, but I think it’s nice just to start with people want to know how to do something like this, and you said, what, just start, start something, and it can be so small, and that, and another nice thing, even, this honestly I love this story. But after the triathlon, you know, I did that, as you know, in Nevis to raise awareness for their eco projects, want to become the world’s first carbon neutral island by 2020.

30:29 So I did their triathlon carrying a tree and called it a triathlon, and that was the thing. So somebody saw that, and there was a guy out in, I think he was from New Zealand, and he ended up doing it with a hundred pounds of dog food to raise money for the dog shelter back home, and I was just like, I love that you’re just taking it and just made it your own and done it, and the triathlon was already set up in his hometown, so all the health and safety was there, and he just went up to the organizer and he just said, hey, I’m going to do it, but carrying dog food, and the organizer was like, okay, it didn’t cost him any more than it would have done to enter a normal triathlon. And you get, I think, the point, I suppose, I was, you know, in a roundabout way, is you still get those moments, you know, and it doesn’t need to be as grand as the Great British Swim.

31:12 You can do it, you know. Yeah. This was kind of borne out of a bit of a failure, right? Because, yeah, the last time you were here we talked about that 100 kilometer swim in the Caribbean, towing the tree, right? And you were down there and you had the crew, and you had the boats, and chops were just punching you in the face, and you, and typical Ross Edgley fashion, you went back in for more, and back in for more, and as I remember, you came back, and on the back of that you went for like a 48-hour long swim and swim some ridiculous distance, probably a world record in itself, and I don’t know, were you already thinking about this race then, or just talk about how a quote-unquote failure can lead to a quote-unquote success?

31:52 Yeah Yeah, and actually, when I was finishing in November, I posted that on social media, because everyone was seeing the Great British Swim and saying that’s amazing, and I was like, but you’ve got to understand, a year ago I was sat on the island of Martinique with a tree attached to my trunks, my face battered by salt water, and I had failed to swim from St Lucia to Martinique. So if, you quite already said, you know, from Martinique to St Lucia, it was uh and that was from the triathlon. So the idea to go back to that, it was the triathlon where I did a triathlon carrying a 100-pound tree, and an evolution of that was to swim from Martinique to St Lucia just towing a tree, again for, you know, Chester Zoo and wildlife charities.

32:31 So we started to do that. Swimming from point to point, 40 kilometers. I didn’t do it, and you quite, like I said, the tides were so bad, so I went in, didn’t make it. I then swung back the other way, didn’t make it again. So in total I swam although it’s only 40 kilometers, I ended up swimming over 100 kilometers, towing a 100-pound tree for over 32 hours in the water battling waves.

32:58 So everyone was like, those metrics were amazing, and I was like, but I didn’t swim. I didn’t touch land to land. I didn’t do what I said I was gonna do. And so for me it did at the time, but now what’s weird? So the metrics were good but I had failed to swim from land to land.

33:18 Fast forward a year, and I said I’d do the Great British Swim in a hundred days. That’s the metric. It was 157, so I failed at that, but it did not matter. I’d swum from point to point, and that was what was interesting on this. Even in February, when me and you caught up, I was still treating it as an athlete, and I was still saying, these are the metrics I’m going to race this.

33:43 I’m going to do it really, really quickly. And I was thinking like an athlete, and then somewhere, something happened, where you know, it was my girlfriend’s birthday, and she was on the boat, and I was just like, you know, I could be really selfish here, and be like, I’ve got a tide change, I’m gonna swim, or you know, we can watch dolphins and watch the amazing sunset, and so we did that, and then other birthdays happened, my own birthday happened, you know, and Matt the captain, I remember, he’s like me, he’s so competitive, and we were like, you know, we were like 100 days, and then we got to Bristol, and he was like, Ross, you know, it’s my son’s graduation, and I was just like, you’ve got to go, you, 100 percent. I mean, I’ve got to stay on the boat, you know.

34:25 I’m running out of touch, but you go. So we did, and so we missed the day there. So sometimes, as much as I talk about, you know, the central governor and everything, it was also like, it went, I think the Great British Swim went from being a race to an adventure, and that was the difference, you know, a race to an experience, and I think if I had just gone for it, I’d probably be sitting here right now with you going, I did it in 100 days, like right, and you were like, what was it like?

34:49 I was like, I don’t know. I just was staring at the bottom of this event, you know, and is that an adventure? I don’t know, you know. So it’s weird. Maybe you can have one or the other, you know.

34:58 But St Lucia was a success in terms of the metrics of failure in that you know, I feel with St Lucia, the athlete in me was happy because the metrics were good. I set loads of PBs. I’ve never swam so far. The adventurer wasn’t, from point to point, now I’m just like, after 157 days I’m like, the athlete and the adventure room is happy. I just, I’m just happy, you know.

35:19 It didn’t matter if it was 100 days or not. You know, minke whales, jellyfish, 157 days, I don’t care. I swam around, good for it, and I’m done. And I can honestly say that, whereas I didn’t in February when we caught up, I was like, Brian, I got unfinished business. Did that quote-unquote failure in the Caribbean set the stage for the Great British Swim, or were you gonna do that either way?

35:41 I think it set the stage, and probably to be honest with you, it almost lit a fire under my belly, a little bit, far away, little fire in my belly, not underwear, whatever the term is. Just because I’d trained so hard for that swim in the Caribbean all my family had flown out, you know. My mum, my dad, my brothers, my girlfriend, they all flew out, and I remember all the time that I was swimming this solitary confinement. I remember thinking, this is what every cold morning swim and attaching a tree to my trunks in Windermere Lake.

36:16 I was like, this is going to be worth it, because imagine what it’s going to feel like in St Lucia in the Caribbean, sitting there with all my family around. It was my mum’s 60th as well. I was like, it’s gonna be amazing. She’s gonna remember this. Very.

36:27 That’s gonna be so good, and then instead I’m sitting there in Martinique, and my dad’s got his arm around me going, that’s what I make, like, we’re all really proud of you, and I’m like, I know you are, but this isn’t, this isn’t how it was meant to end. It almost didn’t compute for me. I was like, this isn’t, like, what? Like, this isn’t a fairy tale ending, you know. It was almost like, that’s not meant to happen.

36:46 I’ve been thinking about this all year, for hours, like when I’ve been swimming, right? You know. So I was like, no, no, no, that’s not how it’s been. So that’s why I came back home, and I was like, just, it doesn’t feel right. Just doesn’t feel right.

36:58 And then, so that’s why I did the Royal Marine swim, but that wasn’t for any accolade. I mean, that was behind closed doors, and I just did it with the Royal Marines. I swam, and what was weird about that one is the Royal Marines were amazing. They knew I had to get it out of my system, and I finished, and they were like, how long was that? The 48 hours so I think it was like 140 kilometers or something.

37:16 In the end, and then, you know, I’d got out, and then I just went, good, you know. They were like, should go to bed now. I’m like, I’m gonna go to bed. There’s no celebration. It’s like, thanks guys.

37:27 It’s, so you just go do that alone in a pool for 48 hours, from 140 kilometers, but that was the litmus test. It was just, I just needed to know intrinsically. No, you know, sort of celebration in you. You wanted to know. Yeah, yeah.

37:42 And then after that I was like, your swim fit, you know. You’re good in the sea, you know, your swim fitness, and I was just like, I just, I kind of wanted that fairy tale ending, and then yesterday, like I said, I got it, and I came in yesterday. My mom and my dad, my two brothers, massive hug, my girlfriend. I got a trident, you know. They made me cry.

38:05 Like that, yeah. And I was like, I looked around, I was like, that’s how it was meant to end. That, and I was kind of like, honest. So I’m, I don’t know. I know we were just speaking on there, and you were talking, you know, about Iron Man, and you felt like afterwards you felt cathartic, you know.

38:19 You were like, that’s, you know, that’s cool, and I bet, the premier, you were like, that was a journey, and in some, and you just said it. You said, you know, close the chapter, you know. And I’m asking you now like, what’s next? And I think, you were like, well, you’ve got to close those chapters, and I was like, yeah, but no, genuinely, I feel more like, you’re looking at me, feel satisfied. Yes, yes, it’s the best way to fit it I mean, you know, it’s a massive accomplishment, man, and everyone’s been following you.

38:48 Rich Roll was talking about it the whole world’s talking about it, you know, with the social media component. The Red Bull weekly videos have been amazing. I was 23 in total, I think, yes. You know, involving social media. So how do you feel now?

39:03 After it’s, it’s 24 hours since you came on that beach? How do you feel? You said it best, actually, just then, satisfied. Yeah, just kind of satisfies, but it is always straight. I mean, my girlfriend knows.

39:13 She kind of looked at me, was like, you’re not going to do anything. I said I won’t do anything this year, but I don’t know. I just, and now I’m fascinated, actually, by, again, not getting like necessarily 2D, but looking at almost like, you know, why we we do what we do as humans. Like, what is it that, as Homo sapiens, forced us to kind of go from Africa and think beyond the horizons? Why did we look?

39:37 Why did the Polynesians decide to invent all sorts of boats and go in search of, you know, James Cook as well, British man, why did he all of a sudden go from sort of Britain all the way and discover Hawaii, you know, eventually to his death, and stuff, that fatal voyage, and stuff. What was it Captain Webb actually. I mean, you know, this is probably going down a little bit of a rabbit hole and stuff but this is one thing I’ve been thinking a lot. But Captain Webb, but I’ve spoken about so much about the English Channel, but you know, after that, whether he needed to, and you know, another swim or whatever, I, you know, I don’t know what it was, but he decided to try and swim across, I think it was Niagara Falls, and eventually to his death.

40:16 They even found his body, and he didn’t even drown. His body was crushed by the weight of the water. And yeah, I’m gonna be completely honest, like there were times, you know, during the swim where it was just like, dark moments, like I said, getting, and I almost went completely feral, because I, but equally, was like, is this Captain Webb-esque? Do you know what I mean, and stuff? It’s just like, do you stick or twist?

40:45 You know, do you gamble? Like, do you know what I mean? It’s like, when is enough enough? Like, it’s Shackleton as well. So a lot of people talk about, you know, Shackleton, an amazing explorer, went to the Antarctic and led his men through the most adverse conditions imaginable, and he’s now quite rightly celebrated for all the achievements, but also he died in debt, you know, and he was always trying to go on these expeditions to probably sort of whether it was to solve a financial issue that you had, or, you know, this kind of innate desire to.

41:21 I don’t know. So honestly, like, during the whole swim I was actually sort of sitting there and thinking, like, you know, a lot of people will celebrate the British eccentric, you know, but when’s enough enough? Because there’s a fine line between being celebrated or not. If I was sitting here right now and I made it as far as Scotland, you know, do you know what I mean? And it’s just like, my phone’s gone crazy.

41:43 I’ve not really checked it for the last 24 hours, because I can’t keep well with everything, and it’s amazing, but I think, I can’t remember who it was now. I mean, Daniel Cormier recently. I love UFC, as you know, beat Derek Lewis, and he said, yeah, he goes, I don’t check my phone after a fight, because people can see that you’ve seen their messages. He said, but you’ve got to understand, it’s impossible to reply to everybody, because you’re then having conversation with a thousand people, and that’s, that’s kind of what it feels like.

42:08 But there was another, you, I think it was, I don’t know who it was. No I don’t know if it was a UFC fighter or a boxer, but they said, you know, when I won a world title, I had a thousand missed calls, and when I lost I had two, was from my mum and an unknown number you know, and it was just kind of like, yeah. Sorry, to come back to the camera. You’re trying to make sure that you realize that people are celebrating the event and not necessarily you, and that if you didn’t make the event you might not get this.

42:35 So you’re trying to take some of this stride. I just, maybe, and maybe just like, how be happy in yourself. If I’d have turned up yesterday having, and I think what it was is, certainly going around Scotland, which was the harshest moment. I remember thinking, like, why, why are you doing this, you know? And it was something innate.

42:55 It was something that I honestly think, that, you know, we humans, something when they, I know I probably have it, but why we wanted to climb Everest, Polynesians cross the oceans. I have, whatever that is, I don’t know what you know, wanderlust, but there’s something probably a bit more, because it’s the sense of, you know, fusing wanderlust with mental and physical fortitude. I don’t know why I do it, but it’s innate, but it’s pure human spirit. I mean, that’s all you have left when you’re in Scotland and the weather is horrible and it’s freezing.

43:23 I mean, you strip it all the way down. You take the feral out of it. I mean, it’s this spirit. It’s left, right? Yeah, just like, yeah it is or not, not even like human spirit.

43:34 You like it when it’s so animalistic. You’ve got to understand why a feral dog will, like, fight to the bitter end against a lion, you know, and it’s because it’s just, there’s something that survive, that will to survive, and stuff, but then not only survive but thrive, like, achieve something, you know. And I don’t know, like, so in Scotland, and I still don’t have the answers, it’s still so raw, whereas you can, you can imagine. But I remember in Scotland thinking, like, make sure you’re finishing this, Ross, for the right reasons.

43:58 So Captain Webb history sort of says that he did that final fateful swim because it was believed that some of his money had run out, and he, but was a devoted husband by all accounts, so he wanted to provide for his family. And when he was heading off to the final swim, apparently they said You know, are you, how much money have you got left? Are you doing this for the right reasons? And he said, well, not a lot of money from the Channel swim, and they said, I advise you to keep whatever you have left and go and take your wife and try and live as humbly as possible, you know.

44:31 But he listens. I wanted to do something for his life, so in a similar way in Scotland I suppose I felt like do this for the right reasons. What are those right reasons, and what are the wrong reasons? I don’t know the reasons but what I, the reason I was carrying on swimming, because I said if I arrive in Margate and there’s just my mom, dad, my two brothers, and my girlfriend, and we go for a pizza and go home, will you be happy? And I was like, I’d be really happy.

44:56 Like, honestly, I don’t know why so I don’t know the reasons, but I remember at the moment I’d be really happy. I’d get a pizza. I’d tell my mum and my dad and everyone’s stories about minke whales and dolphins. We’d all laugh, and then we’ll just go back to normal life, and you know, like, sort of life back home for me is great. You know, the protein works and stuff, like, you know, I’d go back, I’m back in the office, you know, tomorrow, and it’s going to be amazing.

45:18 We’ll catch up. We just launched a few new products. We’ll be sitting there eating protein brownies. I don’t know, it that would be cool. And I think as well, just the very fact that, like, this sounds so weird, but, like, now I can go to anywhere on the coast, and when I’m, like, really, really old, and I can’t swim anymore because my body’s giving up on me, and me and you were sitting here like this, and we’re really old, I’ll just be like, it just feels so nice that it doesn’t matter.

45:40 Around the coast I can go to Cornwall. I can go to Wales I can go to John O’Groats. It doesn’t matter, and with my grandkids I can go around there, and they’ll be like, yeah, we know, Grandad. And so I was like, that’s it, that’s all I want. Now the media, the swimmers in, and everything at the Sky was amazing, but I genuinely mean it when I say it’s the cherries on top.

46:00 It wasn’t needed, and that’s, and that, you only get, I think, and this is one thing that I said on social media as well that, in complete exhaustion you find the most honest version of yourself, and it’s just a little bit strange that I had to swim around Great Britain to almost discover that. But when you are in complete exhaustion, you’re sitting there, you’ve got sea ulcers. Like, you’re like, the wounds are open wounds, just chafing the soul. Your tongue’s falling apart.

46:26 You’ve not been warm for 157 days. You’re scraping cold, you know, ice off your wetsuit, and you actually think, what do you want? And you just go, I want to be warm and just have Sunday dinner with my family. Like, that’s honestly all I want. You don’t want, like, cameras, medium stuff, just, you know.

46:41 And I think that’s what’s cool. And I think, you know, Joe Rogan talks about that a lot in terms of adversity. You know, adversity training. People could have more, as I call it, healthy hardship in their lives, because it really does make you understand, as humans, we don’t need a lot to be happy. We really don’t.

46:58 And so again, don’t know the reasons, but I know I’d have been happy with that, right? Which is probably the only way you could have done this, because if you really were trying to get to Margate for the media attention, or for some prize, or for some money, you probably would have stopped I mean, it had to probably come from somewhere deep inside you. Yeah, make it through all that. And I think that I realized that, certainly from Land’s End to John O’Groats, both of those quite iconic points in Britain, as you can imagine, it was quite easy for the media to get there.

47:29 So we did a lot of media around there and everyone was, oh, this is amazing, you know, and don’t get me wrong, I, you know, I was like, yeah, this is cool, I love chatting and stuff, and especially after John O’Groats you go from John O’Groats to Wick, and then you go across the Moray Firth, that is 60 miles of, and you are basically 60 miles across, you’re 40 miles from land. You won’t see a person. You’re going in that, on the night swims you won’t even see the hand in front of your face, you know.

47:55 So it was so humbling, because you’re like, oh yeah, brilliant, and everyone was saying, wow, Land’s End to John O’Groats, you halved the previous record. You beat it by over 60 days. Oh, you know, I was like, yeah, yeah, that’s great, and then boom, everyone’s gone, and it’s hard it’s hard if you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Yeah, yeah. And you’re swimming, you’re kind of like, where’s the cameras I mean, like, does no one want to tell me that I have the record?

48:18 You didn’t stop, and so it was there when I was like, across the Moray Firth, thinking this is not, I like swimming, there’s a dolphin over there, you know, and that, I think, comes from being as you said, I don’t think you could do events like this, and a lot of great explorers climb Everest. I don’t think Hillary was doing it for extrinsic reasons. So he wasn’t doing it for the media and everything like that. I think it has to come from within, because you can’t just have one reason to do it.

48:46 And I think when you make peace with that, or if you truly do an event, and this is the thing, it doesn’t matter what it is Iron Mind example. If you do it for the right reasons you’ll do it, but if you do it for the wrong reasons, in complete exhaustion you’ll come unstuck, and your true self will be revealed to you, whether you like it or not. And that’s why, again, I always say, what you did with Iron Mind, you know, everything talking about your past and addictions and everything, you were like, boom, this is me, completely raw, and this is the most honest version of myself, and it’s okay, and everyone around you was like, yeah, we still love you Brian, and you’re like, wow.

49:28 So then you’ll, you’re kind of bulletproof after that, because you’ve shown everyone your true self, so there’s nothing, you know, and I think it’s the same when I was sitting there on the net, you know, on the back of the boat, next, bleeding salts, tongues, snots coming out my nose. I’m dribbling, you know. It’s that beard. It’s got jellyfish tentacles hanging in it, and I’m just like, this is me. I’ve got, like, I’m, this is bad, this, and everyone was like, you know, on social media was going, wow, yeah, you look rough, the fair one, and it’s nice, and you kept going too.

50:02 You said dark moments in Scotland. What do those look like for you? You said really dark moments. Like, how are you feeling, and why are they dark to you? Yeah, I mean, I won’t necessarily, you know, go off on the full story because it’s not my story to tell, but for all of the physical side, some of the story, here, London, I’ll give you some of it, but no, it was, it was Dunbar, so just crossed the Firth of Forth in Scotland, East Edinburgh Scotland, by Edinburgh.

50:29 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was dealing with everything physically. I’d got through salt and chafing, jellyfish, everything like that, and then I just got some really bad news from back home, and I was just like, I was prepared for everything to happen to myself, you know? Sting me with as many jellyfish. By this point you’ve got to think I’ve gone all the way around.

50:50 I’m now 600 miles from the end, you know, so I’ve swung 1,200 miles, you know, I’m on the home straight. Dunbar, I’m almost in England, Berwick-upon-Tweed, you know. That is, you’ve got to think when you’re in England you’re almost Margate. So I’m feeling pretty bulletproof at this point, and I’m like, there’s not a lot that can really deter me. But then the curveball of having news that wasn’t about me.

51:13 It was about you know, family and friends back home that weren’t ever so well, and stuff, and I was just like, wow, okay, now I’ve got to swim, muddling that over in my head, you know, and that was because I just wanted to go home. I just wanted to go home. That’s what you wanted as your first instinct? Yeah, I want to go home. Yeah, for my family.

51:32 Yeah. And I think that goes back to, you know, why are you doing this and it was like, because I wanna, you know, have that Sunday roast dinner with my family, and that’s why I wanted it. That was one of the reasons, and stuff. So I discovered that. West coast of Scotland, so by the east coast of Scotland I’m then told that one of the reasons I’m doing family and friends and stuff like that, and then, and they’re not well, and I was just like, wow, you know?

51:54 So why, you know, and it was only because you know, my family and friends are what they are, just amazing, and they just said they made me promise. They’re like, you can come home, you’ve got to do it via Margate. You’ve not come this far, so that’s why I was like, okay, fair enough, and then they wouldn’t have let me. They would have been, they would have been angry if I’d have come home, right? So I was just like, all right, fine.

52:13 So that’s why, like I said, coming back in I was so emotional, because there’s a lot of things that the vlog series, but like I said, it’s not, that’s not my story to tell. So I was as honest through the whole series that I almost asked the permission of everybody watching, because that, by that point, we were 16 episodes in. So I said to the viewers, and I felt like this vlog was almost like someone I was confiding in. So I was just sort of saying, guys, if it’s okay, you’ll notice I’m not swimming with a smile as much.

52:43 It’s not my reason to tell. I can’t, but, and I hope you respect that. But I just wanted you to know, because you’ll understand why I’m probably a bit upset this week, you know, and everyone just, like, flooded the comments. And this is what I always say about just the love online. Everyone was just like, you don’t have to say what it is.

53:00 I don’t want to know what it is. I hope you’re all right, and if I can do anything, let us know. And then people even saying, you know, we’re in, we’re in America, we’re in Newcastle, if you need anything, you know, and stuff, and then all the way down the East Coast, people like Hartlepool Whitby, all of these places now I’m going to think of so fondly, because people were just like, we’re in Whitby, we’ve got kayaks, need anything, you know? I was just like, no, no, I’m actually fine.

53:20 All right, fine, we’re coming out with cake, though, you know, and people will just come out with cake and just go, there you go, don’t need to speak to us, keep swimming, bye, you know? And it’s just like, oh wow, that really is selfless. Yeah. And so is it hard to process some of these personal things when you’re swimming six hours a day, or easier, or do you, you kind of get in this weird partial dream state where you’re thinking and thinking and thinking?

53:43 And yeah, as I like, a bit of both. Yeah. So sometimes I just say it’s just, if you’re in a good mood it’s like, you know, medicine, and it’s not even swimming. But if I looked, you know, at you in a dark room and just said, you’re on your own for the next day, you know, for 12 hours. You’re on your own in that room.

54:00 12 hours, you’ve got nothing to do. If you think good thoughts, you might emerge from that room and just be like, well, you know, I’ve sort of got my Christmas list sorted. I know who I’m having over for Christmas dinner, and you’ll come out. I’m like, whoa, Brian, you’re like, yeah, that was great, but if you go in that room in a bad mood, you’ll emerge out of the room in a worse mood, because you’re just almost stewing, fester, and I think again that always comes to the Great British Swim.

54:23 It became less and less of a swim, because it was more this internal psychological warfare that I did my best to almost try and, like, figure out, like, because I’m, I’m no expert, so I was like, this is how I feel, and so when people, it’s, I mean, it’s so nice when people come over to me and they say that they’ve got the, like, quotes of mine on their wall and stuff, and I’m like, well, that’s nice, but please know that was just, like, amusing that I was kind of like throwing out there, and I constantly said I was like, this isn’t a polished thought. It’s just a theory, and that was one of them as well that this is just, this, the Great British Swim was almost like won and lost in your own head, because I found that my body was robust enough after all the events that I’d done.

55:07 My body wouldn’t quit, and even now everyone’s like, wow, like, you just swam around, you know, Great Britain. You look surprising. Okay, I’m like, yeah, I know it was okay, but that’s, it’s not here, you know. Sometimes the sort of, the scar tissue is almost kind of up here, in a way, in a good and bad way, right? It was an emotional battle, that last part.

55:26 Yeah, yeah, all the way. But then, you know, once you know it can also become a driving factor, and that was what was interesting. I always said for every given day or tide or every hour you needed to draw upon something that would just push you on. It didn’t matter what it is find something. Is it, is it, is it sort of the love of being at sea?

55:49 Because, like, minke whales and dolphins are swimming around? Yeah, oh, that’s easy. That’s going to be an easy tide, you know? Is it an amazing sunset? yeah, easy tide.

55:57 I can swim those all day, every day. Most people get, they’re amazing. But what are you going to do? Moray Firth, you know, what you’re going to do in the Hebrides? What you’re going to do when for six hours, in 40 knot winds coming straight at you, you’re just getting smashed by waves or giant whirlpools?

56:11 What are you going to do then? And what do you do then? What are you thinking about? Any other emotion, and sometimes it can be fear of failure. So I’m like, do I want to feel like I felt in Martinique?

56:21 No, I don’t want to feel like that again. That can be powerful, but you can’t keep using that, because then you’ll become stressed and stuff. You use it, but use that sparingly. It’s like ingredients in a bowl, and you know, a little bit of fear of failure, a lot of happiness. If you can use more of that, that’s a better ingredient.

56:36 Make that the base, and then by the time I’d go all the way around, you know, to the east coast, it helped a little bit once I started to use it, that this just desire to get home, because I want to go see my family and friends. So by that point it was strange, because I was like, this is okay, my body feels fine. I could do a second lap. I was joking. The Royal Marines were like, so good lap, tweeting me, and I was like, no way.

57:02 So we were joking and stuff, and if there was any sort of complacency, or whatever, not necessarily complacency, but I was like, I’ve got this all figured out, and you know, but then I need to get home, you know. So by Dunbar going across from Dunbar to Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is in England. That’s where I just flew that, and even people on the Red Bull tracker as well were like, you are flying down the east coast, and I was like, yeah, like, and if you look on the tracker you can actually see.

57:26 So we’ve got the ship’s marine tracker, and we plotted every single swim so all the data’s on there. And what’s weird is, like, you know, like sort of, 12 miles that tide, 12 miles you know, 12 miles, and then you see something happened in Dunbar, and then every tide it’s just like 15 miles, 16 miles, 17 miles. It’s like he’s eating up the east coast, and everyone, it’s just you looking. I’m like, yeah, that’s when I got the news. You can actually see, because you wanted to get home and be with your family.

57:52 Yeah. Last time if it had, if I had told you, you had to go another 60 days before you had to come home, would that have been very hard to do with that news in your mind? It would have been, but I don’t, I just don’t think they would have let me. I mean, it’s funny a lot of people say, oh, Ross, you know, you showed true grit and determination. I was like, yeah, you didn’t know what was happening on land, so the very fact that my family were just like, you’re not coming back, you know?

58:20 We don’t need you, stay out there, you can come home via Margate, and they would have been angry. So it was just and what was quite nice is people who have known, you know, me and my family were just like, oh, we now see sort of where you get it from, and stuff. So that was again, it became like a real team event, and even in Grimsby as well, which was my home county, you know, that’s where they could come out to see me as well and stuff. So, and so that’s why, from like I said, like Dunbar, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and then down to Grimsby that was done so quick, and then Grimsby I actually saw my family.

58:48 So you can see the pace was like, I saw them, they’re okay, you know. So it’s weird, you can actually plot, you know? Yeah, wow. Yeah, what do you do in the next few weeks, and what do you have to watch out for, just mentally? I mean, you know, they talk about cabin fever.

59:03 You’re not feeling it. You’re on dry land. I mean, I’ve had people on the show that have rode across the Atlantic and they said that’s even weird. Yeah. Socially, I mean, this thing wouldn’t let up on you.

59:15 I mean, every six hours you gotta, you gotta tide, every 12 hours you gotta sleep. I mean, there’s almost at some point no room to ponder. Yeah. Are you, and are you worried about the quieter moments, the social moments, and not having the next goal? I am.

59:30 Weirdly, I’m not, and I think this is strange that I, because I was very prepared for this. I had friends of mine come out, Ocean Rowers, who are the best I think, you know, because they are rowing, they just see like a horizon and a vast blue ocean, you know. So I spoke to them. Charlie Pitcher, good friend of mine, who held the solo Atlantic rowing record for a while, and he he was like, yeah, you’ve got to be careful, life on land is so much quicker, and you know, he was giving me all this advice.

59:55 You’ll feel real tired. You might just need naps throughout the day I, for some reason, I don’t know why I feel, I feel fine, but I don’t know if that’s because of adrenaline, but equally, when I, when people are going, have you got cabin fever? I just, one thing, and I always said this throughout the whole swim. I’m like, I’m not a bad swimmer. There are much better swimmers than me, and I’m fortunate enough to train with, you know, Liam Tancock, 50 meter world record on a backstroke.

1:00:22 He’s amazing. You watch him in the water and you’re like, that’s beautiful, you know? And then you watch me and you’re like, oh, is he injured? You know, it’s not, but I’m like, but that’s not what I’m necessarily good at. You know what I’m good at?

1:00:33 Is being stubborn, you know? Just putting my face in the water, keep swimming. I never had a day off. I swam every single tide, and it was just this relentlessness that I want people to remember, and I think it’s also coming back to land. I think one thing from The World’s Fittest Book, you know, for those who have read it, you’ll understand that when I talk about living with the San Bushmen of Namibia in like 40 degree heat, running a marathon a day, but then next month I was over in Oymyakon in Siberia, like, you know, -50, and I sort of sat there, and I was like, how is it that we were the same?

1:01:09 You know, Homo sapiens are the same, but you can survive in minus 50 and you can survive in 40 degrees, and whatever, like, that is crazy, and I think that’s something that we forget that we humans are so adaptable. We’re so adaptable, and I just, I think that was great. The swim was great and I adopted what I needed to get through it. Feral, sometimes swimming with a smile, whatever mechanisms, and now you know, I’m back on land. This just feels nice.

1:01:41 Just feel like I was catching up with you guys. I was brewing with me, how are you being? I’m sorry I didn’t make Iron Mind, and you’re like, well, no, you were busy, and I was like, I’m sorry, dude. So it just feels, just feels quite nice. Yeah, I think it helped that you had people on the boat with you, and then you were connected with social media and vlogging, and you could feel the support yeah, a single person has a rower out on the water.

1:02:01 Even with social media, maybe that has something to do with it, maybe that you could talk about your feelings too, and just talk about what was going on with you. I’m guessing that maybe that’s helped. Oh, massively. Yeah, no, definitely. And actually, again, I got a little bit teary.

1:02:16 I think it was Firth of Forth, and, Anthony, I set off for a night swim, and I posted a picture, and it was you know, it was bleak but also beautiful, and I took this amazing picture of a full moon. I took a picture, and I was like, hey guys, offer for a night swim. I’ll be in the sea if you need me, LOL, you know. And then I’ll just put, I can’t remember, gonna be a lonely, lonely night, cheeky face send tweet. And I didn’t think anything of it.

1:02:41 I just sent it, and I was like, and then, you know, people favorite, and then Anthony Middleton, he took me back, and he just put, on this swim you’re never alone, brother and that was at two o’clock in the morning, and I was like, I just said that, like, quite flippantly, and then when he sent that I was like, oh, and then he retweeted my tweet, and so then everyone started jumping and going yeah, you’re never alone, like we’re all here, and then people going, I’m staying up tonight for you, and I was like no, no, don’t do that, go to bed, like, you know. And so I was like, wow, so there was so many moments like that. Where, yeah, I think you’re right.

1:03:15 People didn’t realize how much they were helping. They were watching the series and they were just like, oh, keep going, you know. I didn’t think anything of it, and stuff, but they didn’t know that I was probably reading that, you know? Like, this hypothermic. While, like, I’ve had a warm shower that only gave me 30 seconds of hot water, so I’m hypothermic, and I used to basically take my wetsuit like that, and I pour hot water down it so I could sort of sit in it for a little bit, and then I’d dry my hand, and I just sort of sit there like that, like, reading texts, just while I could try and warm my core temperature up.

1:03:44 And so as I did, I’ll just read, like, like that, and just go, oh, good job, buddy, and I was just like, oh, you know, people didn’t realize how much they were helping. Wow, but it really did, right? Oh, so much. You’ve got a GPS on you, so people literally are watching you all the time, and that must be really empowering I mean, look, I did this on a very, very small scale, you know, with Iron Man, but like, I kind of joked that I had almost the easiest race of anybody on the course because I had all these people around the world behind me.

1:04:09 Yeah, yeah. So for me it was just like, I was doing it with them and for them, and if I was just alone in the race, I’d less at stake. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you feel it, associativity again whether you want to get, like, just in terms of, like, psychology, and you talk about, like, a society in Philadelphia, or you want to get spiritual as well, like, I don’t know, you know, I really don’t, but it goes back to that final flotilla swimming in, and it was just like, I didn’t hear them, I felt them, and I’m like, and I don’t mean that, even, like getting to, but like it reverberated across the sea, and then when we’re all in there, like Katie, who is the founder of the Open Water Swimming Society.

1:04:45 She was one of the people who got the society together, and she said she was in tears. I was almost crying, and she was just like, don’t think we’re ever going to experience something like this in the Open Water swimming community in my lifetime ever again, and I was like, oh God, I was like, okay, I’ve still got to swim in, you know? I was so joked up, and then the energy just in that water, you know, you see on the drone footage, it was just like, you usually see that in Kona, and you know, people are racing.

1:05:13 Not everyone’s swimming in, and then we’re all hugging, and then we all just, and the matadors going over the top, Royal Marines funneling us in, you know, the heckerty, the boat that I’ve just lived on for 157 days, you know, behind, just kind of letting off sirens and stuff. I was just like, whoa. So I’m probably still just kind of still buzzing, for as you can say, when I talk about, I just, like, I just get goosebumps, and stuff. It was crazy. It was crazy.

1:05:37 That’s a powerful day. Yeah, it was a powerful day. Yeah. And so you start crying a little bit, a little. I’ve managed this, like, because I just think, again, not like honest, honestly, I could cry now, I could, but you, I keep it in check this same way that I’ve done for 157 days just because I’m like, I don’t want to cry in front of Brian, the same way that I was like, I can’t cry right now.

1:05:59 I’m gonna have to go. I’m gonna have to go swim, the tide changes in six hours, so it will be coming. I’ll probably text you going, like, mate, I’ve just cried for an hour. What are they tears of, though? what is it?

1:06:10 Joy, or what is it? I don’t even know. I mean, don’t they say that kind of the brain’s unable to distinguish between sort of joy and sadness sometimes, and that’s why you, you sort of cry tears of joy, you know, and stuff, and I think it’s just because that’s what it is. I don’t I don’t know what it is. It’s just like you are feeling something.

1:06:30 You just said it best there. You’re feeling something so powerful that it actually has an effect on your biology, your physiology, your body responds, whether it’s goosebumps or something, and a smile just won’t do it. That’s how it feels. And when I got out I was just like, I could say thank you, and I was, but it’s just like my body was like, it’s more than that, Ross. This is more than that.

1:06:53 So that’s why I was just like, oh God. But then genuinely I had to swim, because the tide was still running. So I was like, guys, we still need to make it over. So that’s why I was like, this can’t end with us all being saved. So that’s why even in that moment, when I say I didn’t cry, it wasn’t because I was like, oh, but the tears, Ross?

1:07:11 It was like, we have, we have to get to land. It’s still November. It’s still a mile in the middle of the sea, which is a big swim, you know? Some people hadn’t swum that before. So I was like, let’s get safe.

1:07:23 I think you were feeling like a human connection. I think you were feeling this overwhelming connectivity to the human beings, maybe all the humans around the world, and I, and or maybe that Spirit of Life kept you through going, you know, on the top of Scotland, and maybe you were just feeling all that, and it’s just powerful, something emotional when you remove everything, you know, and just, like, just even, like, clothes and like materialistic things. When you remove all of that, you’re right, it’s just like there’s just something, you know, it sounds cliché but money can’t buy it, and stuff, but even just, like, to try and create that, it’s so hard, and you know, again, I’ve seen it when you do those, you know, the seminars, events, and everyone’s just getting in, and I was like, you know, I wonder what it’s like.

1:08:08 And then that was in my own, you know, way. It’s just, I don’t, don’t know what it was, but you said it best just then, actually, and I’m probably going to use that now, but like, so I’ll quote you a little bit. It was a powerful day. That’s all that’s left. I mean, we aren’t just a bunch of emotions.

1:08:23 That’s at the end of the day, that’s all we are. Yeah, and at the end of the day, we really all we have, really, is our connection to each other and the world around us, and the rest is just a bunch of nonsense, and you’re actually in a really nice mode at that point, because everything’s been so stripped down from you. You’ve gone feral. You’ve pushed yourself to limits. Nothing matters.

1:08:41 You don’t care what you look like. You don’t care anything, and now you’re probably really sensitive to that human connection, and yeah, you’re channeling it, and yeah, it’s a beautiful thing, because you know, 30 days back on land, back to the normal world, you know, maybe you won’t be feeling that as much. That’s a good point. Now that even afterwards we were meeting with people, and they were saying they told me some really, really nice stories with what they’re doing with the great bracelet, and what they’ve now sort of signed up to do.

1:09:05 And when, um, it sounds weird, but we’re not, we’re not always hugging people. I was like, give me a hug, you know, and it was just real. Yeah. It wasn’t that. Yeah.

1:09:14 The maybe when you strip all of that back, it’s, I never thought about it like that, but I think, I think that’s what it was. Should be your next book? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, no, no, definitely. I think it all comes down to that connection, you know, and, you know, I just had a guy on here named, on Friday, named Dr Gabor Maté, and he said trauma doesn’t come from what happens.

1:09:35 It comes from being alone and not being able to talk about what happens, because he had watched Iron Mind and all of that stuff, and so I’m also wondering if some of these guys that do these solo adventures, they’re out there alone having it, and they can never talk to anyone about it or let them communicate, and feel so they don’t feel like it was shared. But maybe with everything you went on out there, because the vlogs and social media, we felt how you felt, and we acknowledged your feelings. You know, you’re never alone out there, whatever it is, in your problem, we’re with you.

1:10:03 So maybe, maybe you will have this kind of a smooth transition, you know. I mean, same question, how did you feel with my mind? I mean, because I’ll just caught up with you now, you’re still vegan and stuff. So like, the same way that I was actually asking Charlie with Ocean Rowers, and I was like, how did you integrate back? But you seem to have done it seamlessly.

1:10:20 You seem to have actually probably taken bits that you liked and discarded them a bit. I mean, you said you’re going to be vegan now till Christmas, reassess, and then you might carry on. You know, I’ve known, the end of the year, and so look for me. I mean, I mean, honestly, when the movie was done it was weird not having an obsessive project, right? That’s hard, and I’m sure you’ll find, because you know, now every hour of your life won’t be dictated.

1:10:40 So the next few weeks I’m sure will be hard for you. Yeah, you know, but I mean, I am cherry picking things that worked out really well, and it’s great to have that goal. It’s great to have an Iron Man race to train for, and you have to go in twice a day and all that stuff, and then you don’t. So you’re definitely kind of sometimes searching for the next goal. Yeah, what’s going to go on, and I guess you’re thinking about that, right?

1:11:02 I am. I’m wondering what you’re gonna do come swim with me? So look, The World’s Fittest Book, you know, we talked about that last time. What did you learn from, you know, an athlete adventure, from a scientist perspective, on this whole thing, because I’ve watched you start off lighter, leaner, you know, still as good looking as you are now but you know, you’re a different guy. I also saw you dealing with rhino neck and salt tongue and all these things.

1:11:30 Your tongue was literally falling out of your mouth. Your neck looked like an open wound, and you look like you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m dealing with things I didn’t expect to deal with, you know. You looked like a different person with the Ross at the end, was like, like a seasoned, you know, looked like a sailor coming back after 20 years, to see, you’re like, yep, I’ve seen it all. Then the new Ross on the boat was like, what the hell is this? What the hell is this?

1:11:53 You knew you would get through, but you were reacting to, I’m not used to my tongue falling off. And then physiologically, what did you, what did you see on the whole race now that you’re back and I know it’s going to take probably more time, but yeah, you know, you gained weight, you pushed through the injuries like, what are some of your conclusions? I think the one thing with The World’s Fittest Book is the Great British Swim, for me I loved, because arriving back on land, you know, healthy, just chatting to you, not looking like Tom Hanks from Cast Away, you know.

1:12:19 It proved a lot of the theories and philosophies within the book, and that’s what I love. I’m like, I always said with The World’s Fittest Book, it took 10 years to write, and I was like, I’ve got nothing left to give. That’s all I’ve learned in 10 years, you know, from Loughborough University, from the world’s strongest men to the world’s fastest men. That’s what I’ve learned, and there’s not many people who will write a book and then put their neck on the line like I did, sort of saying I’m not going to swim around Great Britain to prove the theories within this book, you know.

1:12:43 People said, how did you maintain muscle mass and still do this endurance? I’m just like, read the book. If you read the book you’ll understand the Great British Swim. I couldn’t have said that if I didn’t do it. So I knew that, and a lot of people always ask you, how can you maintain this muscle mass and do these endurance feats, and you’re always like, yeah, read the book, yeah, because it’s not what you think it is.

1:13:00 No, and this was putting it all on the line. Yeah, and it’s so complex, and it’s like, it’s going to take time if you want to understand it, you’re gonna have to read a hundred thousand words of my book, you know. It’s a long, you know, I can’t give you a simple answer. So that was the nicest thing that physically I showed as a sports scientist, athlete, adventurer. I’m fairly good at that, and I like that now that I can say there’s my book.

1:13:21 There’s the theories of philosophies, and I proved it, and I just said to you, like, afterwards in February, I was like, I’ve got nothing else to write. That’s everything. That’s everything. but the Great British Swim forced me to actually think within sort of the mental realms, and that was something that I hadn’t fully explored. Goes back to, again, the Royal Marines when they said, Ross, you’re an athlete, so you train to perform at your best when you feel at your best.

1:13:45 We’re Royal Marines, so we trained to perform at our best when we feel at our worst, and I was just like, wow, yeah. And in 157 days I now understand that there was never a day when I went, I feel great today, you know, my tongue’s brilliant, no chafing. I was like, no. The whole way around, sea ulcers, like fatigue like I’d never experienced, you know, ligaments, tendons in my shoulders going, why are you still swimming, adrenal fatigue, like neurotransmitters, chemical signals in the brain, were just like, why, why are you still swimming?

1:14:14 Go to bed, go to land, like real fatigue. And so again, I, I can’t thank you, because it’s the diary that you gave me before, you know. I brought that on. That’s a good robust diary, so I started to jot down some notes and my just thoughts and musings, and now that diary is full, you know. So I’m looking at it, and I’m like, I said I wasn’t going to write a book, and then a lot of people now are going, what were you thinking?

1:14:38 Like, because this wasn’t a physical experiment, it was mental, and I’m like, yeah, and we didn’t, we didn’t touch upon it within The World’s Fittest Book, but not, but I didn’t feel qualified to necessarily comment on it now not necessarily qualified, but I’m just going to say here are all of the, everything that I learned that got me through, something like coping, you know, dark moments. So you know, maybe I’m gonna sort of drop some things, but I think one of the other things as well is, what was so great, and what I learned and what I hope people take from it was, and you’ll understand this as well, I think the fitness industry at the moment is going down the aesthetic group a little bit too much, you know. It’s very aesthetic-based on how you look.

1:15:24 And, ages ago, our first interview, I talked about Sandow, so you know, father of bodybuilding, you know that iconic image of him, and everyone goes, wow, but people don’t understand he was an 18th century strongman. He was a sports scientist. If you’ve read his diaries, his training journals, you’re like, wow, he’s explaining, you know, like cold showers. He was doing cold showers as well as Wim Hof. He understood, not to any great level, like Wim, but he understood something was there.

1:15:50 You know, your body’s 24-hour biological clock, you know, circadian rhythm stuff. He’s describing that in the 18th century, but he was the father of bodybuilding, so people don’t understand that it wasn’t just kind of him on stage. He was actually, like, crazy single-armed snatches. Posing on stage became a part of his routine to actually get a little bit of rest between his crazy one-arm snatch and bending bars. That was the fitness industry back then.

1:16:14 He was the father of bodybuilding, and he was still functional. So when I left for the Great British Swim, I still laugh now, I look at pictures of myself, and I was cleanly shaven. It was the summer, so I had a nice tan, you know. I was there and I was on the boat, and you’re right, I emerged as this hairy kind of like version of Baywatch, like, and I started, I think, 92 kilos, and I finished 102 kilos. Muscle, but also just like fat, and like, you know, I sort of say, like, seal blubber, you know.

1:16:48 It was just bulk, and I, I said, you know, halfway through the whole thing, as I saw the changes in my body I said, you know what, like, this feels good. You know, I think for one thing I hope that everyone takes is, make your body an instrument, you know, not an ornament, and if you’re gonna do something with so much passion, doesn’t matter what it is, tennis, cycling, traveling, it doesn’t matter. You know, I remember seeing you, you know, back in February.

1:17:14 I was like, wow, I said, Brian, you look lean, and you were like, yeah, I was like, you feeling good? You’re like, yeah, I feel light. My power to weight ratio is on point, and I was like, wow, yeah, and you kind of just like looked, as a byproduct of your project and your passion at the time, you look like a triathlete. I was like, you can see, and there’s other times when, I very first, hit me, I was like, wow, right, looking stocky, and if that was when you were kind of going through the transition of a bit of weight training, but I know you were sort of merging with doing a lot of “edible towels” work, and then obviously you started breakdancing, so then you were like, you went from kind of this to being a bit more fluent, and it’s like, wow, so your body’s changed, and certainly mine did, and I said you know, make your body an instrument, not an ornament, and I got some amazing messages again from the community, just people saying you know, I’m an open water swimmer, and for so long I felt that I was, you know, a little bit too sort of chubby as the fitness industry or society would lead me to believe, but now I understand that I need that if I’m going to actually fulfill my goal of swimming the English Channel.

1:18:11 I was like, yeah, you can’t swim the English Channel with, like, abs and, you know, four percent body fat, you know? And start, you know, you have to make your body an instrument. And I hope, in a way, turning myself into that human guinea pig, and sort of saying, look, you know, I know me and you are huge fans of Tim Sheath, and I need to, I like, I said, I’ve got so many London Real episodes to actually catch up on. I need to catch up with Tim’s, but I know he finished his fast, and he’s one of the best examples.

1:18:39 When you see him when he won the world parkour championships, he was unbelievable. It was just so shiny with his neck. He was like, you’re like, whoa, there’s a powerful dude, you know, and then he threw this self-discovery, you know, vegan, and he went vegan, and then I mean Ninja Warrior his time was unbelievable. Yeah, and so he was late and lean. Oh my God, so are you still as strong?

1:19:01 But then all of a sudden, you know, you’ve got, you’ve taken that strength, and now he’s put it on a lighter frame. It’s like you’ve taken, like, you know, you’ve turned him into like a Formula One car, and then now he’s even like refining it more, again. Yeah, make your body an instrument, not an ornament. That’s so powerful, and tell your story by your instrument. So when I see your body I’ll be like, oh yeah, you do this, you’ll obviously do this, and tell your story that way.

1:19:25 Yeah, yeah, I like that. I always say, you know, everybody has a story to tell. I mean, everybody has a sort of sound. It’s just like, when you see another friend of ours, Jamie Alderton, I mean, insane calves, and when you look at him, he’s, yeah, he’s got insane calves because of his military background, you know? Just, he’s used to just running marathons with, like, you know, backpacks on, and then he ended up, I think he holds the I’m gonna get this probably wrong, but the 24-hour sled push, and I can’t remember the weight on there, so his calves are just a byproduct of all of that, and so you look at him and people go, whoa, look at your calves it’s like, you can have calves like that too.

1:20:00 You’ve just got to run marathons with backpacks with 50 kg and push the sled, and that is what I love. And then you start seeing that now. I think certainly 10 years ago, when I was at Loughborough University, it was amazing that you could sit there in the gym and you’d look around and everybody had a story to tell, because you’d look and you’d see Liam Tancock, you know, who’s the world record holder, 50 backstroke, lean, like, functional. He’d be doing some crazy plank, like, sort of, I don’t know, someone’s sitting on his back and he’d just be holding it for hours.

1:20:31 He’d be like, whoa. And then you’d look over there and you’d see, you know, Johnny Wilkinson, you know, the England rugby team at the time, about a decade ago, you know, Johnny Wilkinson was England rugby. He was like, whoa, and he’s there just like, I never forget one-arm pull-ups. Johnny Wilkinson, as big as he was, just smack, and you’re like, whoa. And then you’d look over, you’d see the sprinters.

1:20:49 I’ll never forget this when I used to train with Linford Christie down at Loughborough University I’ll never forget it. Some of the guys that he was training, Nigel Levine, 400 meter runner, and I remember we were doing box jumps, and I was like, you know, I’ve got a pretty good box jump on me, you know, I think I’m gonna score brownie points here with the guys, and it was a box jump, and I remember going, they went, Ross, can you do that? And I went, yeah, yeah, yeah, what’s this?

1:21:12 Boom, and I nailed it, and I landed this box jump, and I was like, there you go. I said, what do you think to that, guys? And I remember Nigel turned to me, and he was like, yeah, no, that’s good, but with sprinters we do single-legged. He then did the same one, just single legs, went bang. I was like, oh, you know, and it was so humbling, but his body had a story to tell, the same way that everybody else did, and I think we’ve lost that a little bit now, a little bit, where everyone is, you know, with no, you know, and I want to say actually, I want to almost caveat this, but you, with bodybuilding and sort of fitness modelling, it looks like you, almost everyone’s actually that’s the goal of the sport, to look a certain way, and that’s fine, but it looks like everyone’s being produced in a factory, you know?

1:21:58 It’s like, where’s the individuality? But I want to caveat by saying, you know, some of my best friends are amazing bodybuilders, and again a huge fan of Dorian Yates. I think when you look at functionality, turn your body into an instrument, not an ornament. You want to learn about changing your body composition? Bodybuilders will understand that far better than anyone else.

1:22:17 They have an understanding of manipulating their physiology, whether it’s muscular hypertrophy or reducing their body fat, far more advanced from many other athletes and people. So again, coming back to The World’s Fittest Book, you know, there are many ways to get fitter, stronger, leaner. Don’t discriminate against any or favor one. As soon as you do, you close your mind and limit your potential. And what I mean by that is, when I say all of this, become an instrument, not an ornament.

1:22:39 Some people think I’m saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, or don’t, but I’m like, no, bodybuilding is amazing when you know how to use that. The same way that gymnastics is great if you know how to use it, the same way we cross it, the same way with marathon running. Why, we’re all, not to get too, like, a little bit, you know, we’re all humans. Let’s just work out how to use our bodies, you know? And that was a long winning, a beautiful way, and let’s use our parties.

1:23:05 I think that’s the most important thing, you know. Don’t use that as an excuse not to use your body. I’m not going to be an ornament. Well, then do something. Yeah, I’d rather you be an ornament than nothing.

1:23:13 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nothing, ornament, instrument. Yeah, you’re right, actually. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, you can. I mean, everybody does tell a story, and my body’s changed so much for the last 15 years.

1:23:22 At one point, yeah, I was big in lifting, and that was my big, my personal, be the best of my bench press and it was a great goal, and it taught me a lot about nutrition and discipline, and then my goal changed, and it was more martial arts, and then movement, and then Iron Man. I mean, I’m four, almost five kilos heavier since Iron Man. Wow, I’m doing these same runs I used to do, and I’m like, this is harder than it used to be so you know. But that’s where I want my body now.

1:23:44 I could barely do 20 push-ups after the Iron Man race because I hadn’t done any upper body work. Yeah. So yeah, I’m just, I’m moving it every day, but I’m using it as an instrument. I got that quote from your Red Bull pieces while I was listening to it yesterday. It was powerful.

1:23:58 You never tell me this, but I’m going to ask you again, what’s next? I get to know about all usually. I know what’s next. I know about the rope climb before you guys did. I knew a little bit of that great version before you guys did, but I couldn’t talk about it.

1:24:12 What’s next? Okay, genuine, I’ll be completely honest, so genuinely first, god is to walk again. It genuinely is, like, where the feet, the feet are. Yeah, like, so good, not so good at all. Like, lost the arch in my foot.

1:24:22 Like, people don’t understand that, you know? These smaller intrinsic muscles in the feet, ligaments, tendons. They’re like workhorses, you know? That they used to stress, stimuli, and load, you know? They like being pounded, like walked upon every day.

1:24:35 You’ve got to think, I haven’t done that for 157 days, you know? Like non-weight-bearing even looking at bone density as well, you know, that I’m, I’m worried about that as well. So the guys at Vivobarefoot similar to, like, space flight. Exactly. I’ve actually joined a small and unique group of people.

1:24:52 Yeah, very similar. So I’ve caught up with the guys at Vivobarefoot. Meeting their specialists, they’re basically taking, like, 3D models of my feet. They’re looking at how now I’m standing completely differently. The arch in my foot has collapsed, everything like that, and we’re gonna rebuild me from the ground up, which could be a blessing.

1:25:10 And I was trying to mark one of the sports scientists who said, Ross, like, you look at someone’s gait analysis when they’re running, their biomechanics, how they run, and you have to get rid of all these bad habits. You’ll know from the triathlon, it’s like, oh, Brian, you’re running like this, he goes, but you’ve just hit the reset button. You’re like, you don’t know how to walk again, you know? so if we can get you now, like, four foot striking, driving off that big toe, you know, you, and then you get you lighter, become an instrument, not an ornament.

1:25:37 I don’t know, maybe I’ll be interested to see what your marathon time is. So there’s that. But I’m gonna be, I’ll be honest, like, I’m not bored of swimming, and there’s been a few things. There’s a few ideas that have been thrown out there, but there’s only so many bodies of water. It’s the Atlantic?

1:25:56 No, no. So there’s been a few, but, but to go back genuinely, to go back to what we were talking about, I will sit down. I’m gonna have an amazing Christmas with my family, and if I do it, it’ll be for all the right reasons. It will be for those reasons that you talked about there, about, you know, it will be like, can we create another really powerful day? Those human connections.

1:26:16 Will it inspire lots of people? Can it be a real force for lots of good? If the answer is no, and it might be sort of, you know, Captain Webb-esque, you know, where you’re probably going for that other thing, you know, for the wrong reasons, then genuinely I won’t do it. And that’s something that I’ve been pondering since the west coast of Scotland, that if I do it, it’ll be for all of the right reasons. I’m not doing another idea I’m so satisfied.

1:26:41 I’m honest, I would, I could write another book now. I could just get snug and just, like, write another book, and just, like, and be an old man sitting down at Land’s End going to my grandkids, I swam around there, and you’re a liar. No, because it’s Christmas, you’re gonna be bored. You’re thinking you’re gonna be looking on Google Maps you’re gonna last. Come down, it’s open your presents.

1:27:05 You’re going to play this interview back, aren’t you? We have another one you’ll be like, yeah, all right. So maybe some swimming in the future, maybe, but blooming is something you are uniquely talented, probably distance swimming. You’re probably one of the few individuals in the whole world that is qualified to do what you do. Yeah, that’s actually a good point.

1:27:24 Yeah, that I just feel that, as I said about looking at human history, and you look at, like, Roger Bannister, first guy to run under a four-minute mile. You know, leading physicians at the time said you can’t do it. You know, your lungs will expose, your legs will fall off, and Roger Bannister, who a medical student at the time, said, I beg to differ, laced up his trainers, ran a four-minute mile. Kipchoge at the moment, you know, about to possibly run under a two-hour marathon.

1:27:46 Like, could you imagine when he does that? That would be crazy. Jim Hines, first guy to run under 10 seconds for 100 meters. You know, all of these people, and I look back at them, I’m like, yeah, yeah, you’re really quick, like, you know, you’re really good, you can do that you can. I’m like, what can I do?

1:28:01 And for all of the rope climbing and things like that, which I’ve loved, because I do believe it builds a work capacity that actually enabled me to go and do this swim. Yeah I, it is one thing that I think, you know, I’m, I’m very good at that. I think if you want to see a quick swimmer or an aesthetically pleasing swimmer, you know, that is not me. You know, like, I’ve got loads of friends who are amazing. Go and watch them, and go to Loughborough University and just sit, hot, it’s amazing, and yeah, I’m not one of them.

1:28:31 But if you want someone to get in, get smashed in the face by 40 foot waves and eat 15,000 calories a day and get stung by jellyfish day and night, I know a guy. All right so we’re not gonna be seeing you climbing mountains or running desert marathons or anything like that in the future. It’ll be something that suits you to push the limits, something you feel really passionate about, that can inspire the rest of this planet right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, for it needs to be done for all the right reasons, honestly, or if not it will be behind closed doors, almost like the Royal Marines thing, where I just want to be like, sitting there you know, in the offices, mess with the Romans, or at Loughborough University, I’ll just be sitting there, and everyone’s like, oh that’s what I said, he’s just swum for 72 hours.

1:29:14 They were like, no. I’m like, yeah, you know, for just real personal reasons, you know. I think, I think to do it on the scale that we’ve done, I don’t, I don’t wanna that’s the other thing. I think everyone’s like, how do you top the Great British Swim? And I’m like, it was amazing, and I’m still enjoying it now, and if it doesn’t top it I don’t want to do it, because I just think, you know, it’s just like it was amazing, you know?

1:29:36 So it is amazing. And look, I’ve had a lot of amazing people in the seat, and most of the most happiest and the most successful compete with themselves. That’s just the truth, whether it’s Dorian Yates or Anita Portal, or so many of these people That’s, at the end of the day, they’re trying to push themselves, and there they are, their worst critic, and sometimes, you know, they give themselves accolades. Like you, and I think you’re similar, you know, and I think having the stage and loving everyone else is a way of getting more out of yourself and bringing everyone along for the ride, but you know, you’re the kind of guy that sets these things for yourself, and you want to see if you can do it.

1:30:13 That’s what it is at the end of the day. Yeah, that is it. Just like, tick, kind of like I can swim for 40 hours, take I can swim around Great Britain. Personal tick. It’s just on my two to-do list for that year.

1:30:25 Just a few ticks. Next few weeks, are you on media tours? You’re going to the states, or what are you up to? Yeah, yeah, I’m really looking forward to that one, actually. I’ve never been to the states properly so I’m looking forward to that.

1:30:37 I’m gonna have to ask you for all the best places to go, but I can’t actually wait to go and catch up with that with Rich Roll. I’m so excited about that, you know. I’ve been a fan for ages, and you said that, you know, he, I know he was on when I was out, but he was one of few people who was very outspoken at the start to say good luck, and he actually almost you know, it meant a lot that he, when even when it looks so uncertain, when my tongue was falling about my neck, he was one of very few people, and I remember his tweet.

1:31:08 He said, if you’re not following, and he said, at Ross Edgley, tagged me and said, I suggest you to this, this could be incredible, and then he said that, and then he messaged me, and he was like, if you finish this, I don’t want to have you on the podcast, you know. I laughed. I was like, all right, cool, I’ll speak to you in a bit. And he was like, like I said, even at that very early stage he was so supportive when it, when it still looked impossible. Like, we still, it was honestly, we were 200 100 miles in when he sent that tweet and I was like, this is by no means that you’re not jumping on any bandwagon.

1:31:39 That is just coming from real like, personal, just looking to see if that athletic endeavor is possible, and so that’s why I was with Rich. I’m just like, I can’t wait to go and see him, and yeah, that would be cool. It’s the stuff that means a lot to us, you know. Those people that keep us going, man, keep burning it, because we’re all connecting somehow. Yeah, yeah.

1:31:56 Ross, I look forward to this next book about the adventure, explorer spirit, and all humans, and how we’re all connected, you know? I mean, you’re gonna be wearing robes next time you’re here, and dreadlocks. I love it Dude, I never doubted you were gonna finish, but I’m sure a lot of people said that, but I wasn’t out there doing those swims, and I watched all of your vlogs, and they were amazing. I even watched the salt tongue come out of your mouth a bunch of times.

1:32:21 Now I’ve seen it. If you guys want to watch this whole series, there’s 23 episodes on Red Bull’s YouTube channel, and you can literally see Ross pulling chunks of his tongue out. Not suitable for kids. But you know, I, I know you, and I could just see that, like, not much allows you to stop and it was so inspiring. The whole thing, you took off a big chunk, and you [expletive] shot it 157 days is no joke.

1:32:44 You know, just watching that, I mean, the amount of the miles, like 16, 17 miles. I mean, that’s crazy, and the pace, and all of the support. So you’re a f***ing legend. You know, you’re incredible human, and I do think that when we’re old one day we’re gonna sit around and laugh about this stuff. It’s such an honor to have been chronicling your journey, from, you know, our first episode, to the climb, to the triathlon, into this.

1:33:09 And so I’m, I was so excited. Yeah, I’ve been more excited about this episode than anything in the last month just because I just feel privileged to be a part of this. So thank you for inspiring us as a human race, because that’s what this is all about. That quote I said in the beginning is super powerful. I think I’m gonna stick it on one of our walls, you know, and you know, it’s just so true, you know, just that the hard work itself, you know, maybe that’s what we’re here for, you know, to just see what our character is, and it’s just the essence of the human spirit.

1:33:41 And so, you’re a f***ing legend, man thank you so much. I’m so glad you’re safe, and you’re back here, and you’re alive. It was touching. Over a minute I was a little worried about. I was worried, so that’s it, brother.

1:33:53 Keep us posted on what you’re doing next. Go grab The World’s Fittest Book and get it on Amazon. It’s like an incredible collection, diary, it’s got all of his stuff in there, and Ross has been saying this for years and years and years about, you know, this thing in our minds. Okay, we see a marathon runner, and we see Dorian Yates, and we’re like, oh, those are two different humans because they can only do one thing or the other thing, and Ross changes, challenges convention on all of that stuff there’s a lot of science here, and I’m sure you’re going to be telling us more about what you learned.

1:34:20 So thank you. Look, buddy, thank you so much. You know, come see me next time, give me a hug. All right, love you, man. Thank you, mate.

1:34:28 Thank you so much. Okay, I didn’t cry