Logic dictates that, if you’re preparing for an event that’s going to last some 60 or 70 continuous hours, then 13 hours would have to seem almost easy once you’re in near-top form.

But I’m here to tell you that 13 hours of non-stop swimming, especially in a fairly rough sea, is NEVER, EVER easy. It’s a long grind of a day. I’m getting there, for sure. The muscles recover by the next morning. But the 13 hours themselves. NEVER, EVER easy.