Jamie Patrick will be setting off on a 240-mile swim down the Sacramento River in northern California this August. His team estimates that it will take about 60 hours. In order to swim for 2½ days, Jamie is preparing in various sorts of ways including a renewed focus on nutrition.

With the help of Dr. Stacy Sims, an exercise physiologist and sports nutritionist at Stanford University’s Human Performance Lab, he is on his way to achieving his goal.

He is eating the following before and after his morning and afternoon workouts:

Morning pre-workout: 500mg panax ginseng, 2 g L-glutamine, 20g whey isolate , 60-80g carbohydrates
Morning post-workout (within 30 minutes of the culmination of the workout): 2 g L-glutamine, b-vitamin complex, 25g whey + casein, 60-80g carbohydrates

Evening pre-workout: 20g whey isolate, 500 mg beta-alanine or BCAA, 40g carbohydrates
Evening post-workout (within 30 minutes of the culmination of the workout): 2g L-glutamine, 45mg zinc, 25g whey + casein, 60-80g carbohydrates

Before going to bed: 1000IU Vitamin D3

“It is amazing how much it is helping,” explained Jamie. “It boosts my protein intake and assists in the recovery process. At 100,000 yards a week, recovery is vital so [Dr. Sims] has suggested major changes to my diet. She has created a new dairy-based formula that I will be taken during my long swims and helps boost my immune system during the swim which will be vital in being able to avoid muscle break down.”

Swimming for over two days is rarely attempted and even more rarely achieved – and is often preceded by a certain degree of either restlessness or a lack of sleep when it is attempted. But Jamie is scientifically approaching the problem and experimenting with various solutions. “I am doing to some lactate testing in an Endless Pool to determine a baseline that I must stay under to maintain for 60 hours. This will help me avoid going too hard and slowing the breakdown of muscle. We will do this once a month and then readjust the base line as my fitness improves.”

Fitness and food are part of the equation that Jamie will be seeking to swim non-stop for 240 miles.

Copyright © 2011 by World Open Water Swimming Association