Private banker Darren Miller of Pittsburgh is preparing to be Barra-esque and step up his mileage this summer with a hard-core schedule of solo races and events.

On behalf of Team Forever, he will take on the Strait of Gibraltar in May, the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in June, the 26-mile Red River Swim in North Dakota in northern America, the Tsugaru Channel in Japan in July, and Lake Tahoe in August.

As he attempts to the ranks of the Oceans Seven through rivers, lakes, oceans and channels, the intrepid Mr. Miller is truly heading on a global tour of open water swimming.

In order to prepare for his upcoming swims, Miller spends hours training alone without a coach in a swim pool and in the flat-water Keystone Lake in Derry, Pennsylvania.

His average training volume as he balances his professional career with his charity efforts are up to 65,000 yards per week with spikes as high as 100,000+ yards during some weeks. To prepare for his tough schedule, he will swim a bit over 2 million yards over the 38-week training mileage for 9 months between December and September – up to 1,506 total miles. He puts in those miles – or the distance between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Denver, Colorado – in order to complete 100.5 miles of solo swimming:

Strait of Gibraltar: 12 miles in May 2012
Manhattan Island: 28.5 miles in June 2012
Tsugaru Channel: 12 miles in July 2012
Red River Swim: 26 miles in July 2012
Lake Tahoe: 22 miles in August 2012

“In other words, for every 1 mile of solo marathon swimming, I am putting in 14.9 miles of training,” explains Miller who is swimming to benefit Team Forever and the Forever Fund. This is a charitable foundation dedicated to helping families struggling to afford the costs associated with infant cardiothoracic surgery that takes place in the cardiothoracic unit of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Miller is sponsored by Trustmont Financial Group and 100% of all donations go toward the Forever Fund. Every contribution is important and charitable donations to Team Forever and the Forever Fund not only help save lives, but provide the opportunity for funding of vital medical research concerning infant cardiothoracic care.

Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source