Like all CrossFit® fans, I have the utmost respect for Mat Fraser and his phenomenal achievements and dedication to his craft. When reading his recent letter about the decisions behind his retirement one statement stood out to me as exceptionally insightful, that he “trained scared”.
“In the weeks right before the Games, I’d stop doing obviously risky things, like riding my motorcycle to the gym, and even small things that could make all the difference, like not using a steak knife. It wasn’t worth the .01% chance I’d cut myself and ruin my week of training or compromise my performance during competition.”
“I was obsessed with finding improvements anywhere possible and always terrified that one had slipped through the cracks. I trained scared.”
Mat is undoubtedly the best individual male CrossFit® athlete that has ever lived, and is a figure that inspires many athletes all around the world as we all throw ourselves into Open Workouts, WODs and new challenges.
He is a great person to learn from.
When I read his letter, it made me think about how we can use fear as a motivating factor. How it can be used as a force to drive us forward to succeed and all become better at our chosen goals and pursuits.
For me that was within the context of Wild Swimming.
The Wild Swimming Brothers
I am the eldest of three brothers. Calum being the middle and Jack the youngest.
We travel around the world taking on Open Water Swimming challenges, many that have never been tried before. I use CrossFit® alongside swimming to train for these events.
River Eden
In 2015 we swam the 90 mile / 145km length of the River Eden in England from source to sea. We swam around 10 miles a day for 9 days in a row.
Corryvreckan Whirlpool
In the same year, prior to the River Eden, we swam the third largest whirlpool in the world.
This is located off the North western coast of Scotland, between the islands of Scarba and Jura (where George Orwell wrote 1984). The name Corryvreckan comes from the Gaelic Coire Bhreacain meaning “cauldron of the speckled seas” or “cauldron of the plaid”.
The Corryvreckan is located on the northern side of the gulf, surrounding a pyramid-shaped basalt pinnacle that rises from depths of 70 to 29 m (230 to 95 ft) at its rounded top. Flood tides and inflow from the Firth of Lorne to the west can drive the waters of Corryvreckan to waves of more than 30 ft (9 m), and the roar of the resulting maelstrom can be heard 10 mi (16 km) away.
With this swim you have less than 30 minutes to make the crossing or you will get swept away in the currents.
Next Steps…
After completing these two swims, Calum came up with a plan to travel to the Arctic Circle and swim across the 2nd and 1st largest Whirlpools is the world, the Saltsraumen and Moskstraumen respectively.
Neither of these had been swum across before, so we would be going into completely unchartered territory.
Saltsraumen
Saltstraumen is a small strait with one of the strongest tidal currents in the world, the second largest whirlpool in the world.
It is located in the municipality of Bodø in Nordland county, Norway, about 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of the town of Bodø. The narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjorden to the large Skjerstad Fjord between the islands of Straumøya and Knaplundsøya.
Saltstraumen has one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. Up to 400 million cubic metres (110 billion US gallons) of seawater forces its way through a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) long and 150-metre (490 ft) wide strait every six hours.
Vortices known as whirlpools or maelstroms up to 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter and 5 metres (16 ft) in depth are formed when the current is at its strongest. At this point, one source claims that the tidal current can reach 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph).
With this swim we had a 12-minute window to make it across. This would be our first challenge in Norway.
Moskstraumen
The Moskstraumen is the largest whirlpool in the world.
The Moskstraumen is located between the Lofoten Point of the island of Moskenesøya (in Moskenes Municipality) and the small island of Mosken in Værøy Municipality. It involves strong tidal currents flowing through the shallows between these islands and the Atlantic Ocean and the deep Vestfjorden, creating eddies and whirlpools, the largest one having a diameter of some 40–50 meters (130–160 ft).
This was going to be an 8km point to point sea swim in 7-degree centigrade water with currents up to 12 mph.
This was our second swimming challenge in Norway.
A List of Fears
When I started prepping my training for these two swims I was scared.
There was serious risk involved, and although we would be working with very experienced Norwegian ship captains to help plot the routes and support us through each swim, there were many factors to worry about.
There were also the deep irrational fears to cope with.
I didn’t want to be sucked down into an Arctic maelstrom or get hyperthermia in the cold water. I needed to find ways to cope with and overcome those fears so that I would be able to make each crossing successfully.
My solution was to write down every single thing that I was scared of, then find a way to train myself to be able to cope with it.
This “list of fears” became part of a blueprint of sorts for my training. It looked something like this:
Fear 1: Hyperthermia
Solution: Train my body to be able to cope with 7-degree water for up to 2.5 hours.
Analysis: I knew that the Moskstraumen swim would take roughly 2.5 hours, so logically if I knew beforehand that I was already capable of moving and swimming in cold water for up to that amount of time then I could eliminate that fear from my mind.
Fear 2: Powerful currents
Solution: Make myself into the most powerful swimmer I could be. Trust the experience and guidance of the ship captains.
Analysis: I realized that I would have zero control over the currents so I decided to respect them. I did have control over my abilities as a swimmer. I hoped that by making myself as strong as powerful as possible, if I did get caught in a whorl that I could swim my way out and hopefully not get sucked downwards.
Also, I decided to 100% trust the ship captains to keep me safe and guide me through the best possible route.
Fear 3: The cold affecting my mental resolve
Solution: Acclimatisation to the cold in both a physical and mental way. 6 months of cold showers prior to the swim.
Analysis: Prolonged exposure to cold water can severely affect the mind’s ability to stay strong and committed to the task at hand.
The cold can breed very dark thoughts if you let it. It will make you want to quit. It is vital to acclimatise both physically and mentally in order to strengthen your physical and mental willpower.
Fear 4: Being eaten by an Orca
Solution: ?
Analysis: The Moskstraumen is a popular feeding ground for Orca pods. As we would be swimming across the whirlpool here, there was a fair chance that we would see them. Each of us had a spotter on the support boat to look out for Orcas and to alert us if they saw anything.
Orcas (depending on the type) either eat fish or seals.
I knew that they do not attack humans yet that logic seems to quickly evaporate when you gaze down into the black blue depths of the Arctic Ocean and your mind plays tricks on you as you cross the largest whirlpool in the world.
I knew that this was an irrational fear that I just had to cope with. There was no other solution apart from to suck it up, laugh it off and carry on. My only other solution was “try not to look like a seal”. I thought this one would not really be so effective.
This fear was again something that I had no external control over, therefore there was no point stressing over it.
There would with be Orcas or there wouldn’t, and that was the way it was.
Fear as a Motivating Factor
With this list I realised that all these fears were tremendously powerful motivators.
When I felt lazy and wanted to skip a session in the Box, a long endurance swim in a winter lake or a cold shower, the fears were there to keep me on track.
I knew that each cold shower or each CrossFit® session was making me tougher, both physically and mentally and was chipping away at the perceived size and power of each respective fear in my mind.
Every cold shower made me less afraid of hyperthermia.
Every horrible squat session made me feel better about being able to escape any strong current that I would encounter.
Every time I let go of the feeling of trying to control some external factor (weather, water temperature, tides etc) it made me more focused on what I could control.
Fear and Control
Understanding what I could and could not control made a huge difference for me psychologically.
It showed me that I only had a few things to worry about, but that I would be able, through hard work and discipline, to prepare myself to be able to handle those aspects of the swims.
Ben Bergeron talks about this separation a lot, and it is a tremendously powerful mental tool.
It takes some getting used to, and relies on a personal ability to be honest to yourself (which can also be hard). Don’t let your ego get in the way of your ability to reason and deduct accordingly, accurately and purposefully.
Applying these Ideas to CrossFit®, Training and Competing
As I mentioned briefly before, I use CrossFit® to help me train for the swims. I am not exclusively a “CrossFit® athlete”.
So how can these principles be re-applied for CrossFit®? How can fear be a motivating factor for you?
Mat Fraser talks about “training scared”, worrying that certain aspects of his performance might slip and as a result of taking complete control he turned himself into the greatest male CrossFit® athlete the world has ever seen.
Try thinking about the fears that you have and make a list like the one I outlined above.
Write down each fear. Deconstruct and analyse each fear then come up with a practical solution.
Be honest and decide whether you do or do not have control over the different components that cause that fear.
In Practice
For example, say you fear losing a competition, or losing a WOD to another athlete in your Box. How would you use that fear to motivate you to become better?
Deconstructing this fear, you actually have zero control over the outcome of winning a competition.
There are too many external factors. You could be the best athlete by a mile then get injured in the first event for example.
However, you do have control about showing up on the day fully prepared, as well trained as possible, well rested, warmed up, properly fed and mentally switched on.
You have control over your ability to give absolutely 100% effort on the day. Maybe this is enough to win, maybe it isn’t. But if you do absolutely everything you can, then that is a different kind of victory. One that you should be happy with. As Ben Bergeron and Katrin Davidsdottir say, “full effort is full victory”.
Fear as a Motivating Factor – Takeaway Concepts
Face your fears head on. Analyse and deconstruct them. The more you understand them the less you have to be afraid of.
Make practical plans for how to overcome each specific fear. Draw out clear SMART goals that you will work to achieve.
Use the feeling of fear as fuel to motivate you to work/train harder.
Make clear distinctions between what you can and what you cannot control. Take ownership with furious intensity over all the factors that you can control.
Become calm and relaxed about all the factors you have zero control over. They will simply happen and they are completely indifferent to your perception of them.
image sources
- Woman-jumping: WODSHOTS
