Right now, 35-year-old Ben Beard of Las Cruces, NM, is busy managing his house development and gross sales firm, whereas additionally juggling intense prep for the problem of a lifetime. Beard is elevating cash to be able to assist younger individuals attain their academic and enterprise potential, and can bravely swim the English Channel in support of The Grant Cardone Foundation. Impressed, and desirous to learn the way the enterprise man, and father of 4, is preparing for such an epic problem, M&F took a ‘deep dive’ into his motivations and coaching forward of this final check of power and endurance.
Swimming the English Channel isn’t any imply feat. The slender 21 mile (32 kilometer) stretch of water, between the southern coast of England and the northern fringe of France endures changeable climate and as such, completion instances range wildly because of the particular person athlete’s personal means and the unpredictable surroundings that they need to battle by way of. The common swim time, nonetheless, is 13 hours, 33 minutes, and 54 seconds whereas a document of 6 hours and 55 minutes has been held by Australia’s Trent Grimsey since 2012.
So then, the primary query is straightforward: What attracts an expert man like Beard to throw himself into the deep finish like this? “I first read Grant Cardone’s books; ‘The 10X Rule’ and ‘Be Obsessed or Be Average’ in 2017,” he says. “At that time, I was preparing to start my business; Red Cliff Homes. I had approached some land sellers with a small idea to get my business started. Then, after their lukewarm reception, I realized that maybe I needed to go bigger to make the deal more attractive to them, so I literally followed the teachings I had read, and multiplied by pitch by 10. This led to me getting started on my own in the home building business, and allowed me to scale up quickly, closing 27 homes my first year in business.”
Having gained a lot perception from the Grant Cardone Foundation, a non-profit group that goals to supply profession steerage and academic sources, significantly to the younger and susceptible, Beard felt the necessity to pay it ahead, and set himself a goal of elevating $50,000 for the trigger. Here’s how he’s gone from land developer to lengthy distance swimmer.
Rekindling Old Passions
Ben Beard selected to swim the English Channel, partially, as a solution to rekindle an previous ardour. Well, they do say that it is best to comply with your internal compass! He started swimming in highschool the place, initially, he wasn’t a fan of distance swimming however having caught with it, additionally retaining a toe in throughout faculty, Beard realized that entering into the water was not simply a good way to remain in bodily form, as he felt a variety of psychological advantages too. “I enjoy the chance to shut out the world and just swim,” he says. “It’s kind of like meditation for me, with the chance to clear my head while working my body to the point of exhaustion. Cold water adds to the head-clearing aspect of swimming and also tends to make me hyper aware of my body, so that I can focus on which muscles are sore and any slight internal temperature changes that my body is going through during long swims.”
Through his latest coaching, Beard says that he’s discovered that swimming the channel isn’t purely a bodily problem, noting that it is usually “about mental toughness to withstand the cold, the monotony, and loneliness.”
Putting within the Hours
The entrepreneur received’t be rocking as much as the English Channel unprepared and has been coaching for 3-years to make this swim regardless of the calls for of a busy day job. Long distance swimming requires nice stamina and cardio vascular conditioning. “I keep a running total of hours swam each month in my planner, to make sure that I’m staying on track with my training goals,” he says. “I’ve had a lot of travel for work over the last few months, so I’ve had to be diligent about looking ahead of time for places to swim while on work trips. Many gyms offer a short trial period, and this has been very helpful, and local city recreation facilities are also great places to train most of the time. I also bring running clothes with me to get in a run if I won’t be able to swim. Last week, I got caught in bad weather while flying and ended up having an unexpected 7-hour layover. The late arrival that night meant that I would not be able to swim before my work meetings, so I changed clothes in the airport bathroom, found a private spot to stash my bags, and went on a 2-mile run in the airport!”
Making the Weight
“I learned after signing-up that marathon swimming is not a 6-pack and ripped muscles kind of sport,” says Beard. “Most successful channel swimmers are fairly heavy, and those that aren’t will often need to put on weight in order to withstand the cold-water temperatures; expected to be approximately 60 F at the time of my swim. So, I’ve been intentionally gaining weight over the last year.”
Since Beard is swimming rather a lot in his coaching, he’s burning a ton of energy, so gaining weight is a problem. He’s countered this with “calorie recovery” meals after lengthy swims. He will even want to determine what he’ll eat throughout his English Channel swim, to be able to keep power ranges. While endeavor the problem, Beard could have a ship pilot and workforce that may get feeds to him. These feeds can differ relying on people tastes, and a few swimmers go for liquid dietary supplements, however the primary factor is that the meals must be straightforward to seize and devour. “Over the last few months, I’ve been experimenting with different food for my ‘feeds’ during the swim,” he says. “I’ve settled on re-fried black beans, with lots of extra butter, as well as calorie dense mashed potatoes, both of which will be sucked out of pouches like those designed for feeding a baby. Potatoes are very high in potassium, and with the mix of beans and potatoes I’ll have a combination of proteins and slower burning, longer-lasting carbs. I’ll also add in a small candy bar for those short, quick bursts of sugar when I really need it. During training, I drink a mix of plain water and electrolyte drinks but during the channel swim, electrolytes aren’t as important due to being surrounded by salt water. So, I’ll drink hot chocolate for both the added heat, as well as the extra sugar content.”
Seeking Expert Advice
Beard is attacking this English Channel swim in the identical manner that he plans a housing growth, through the use of knowledgeable recommendation and information to achieve the absolute best end result. He’s regularly difficult the space that he can swim within the harsh components and has additionally sought perception from those who have gone earlier than him. “When I set the goal in 2019, my wife got me a book written by a successful English Channel swimmer: ‘Keep Calm and Swim to France: Tales of an English Channel Swimmer’ by Mark Ransom,” he says. “Then, in June 2022, I completed a swim across Bear Lake in northern Utah as part of my training. My guide on that swim was a former English Channel swimmer, Joelle Brown-Beard (no relation) whom I connected with on Facebook. From Joelle I got some great advice around upping my training. When I swam with Joelle, I expected that the lake crossing would be 6 miles and take around three hours. But it actually took 6 hours to swim 6.9 miles. The water was 54ºF, so that was a part of my slower than expected time but it also gave me a wake-up call that you need to seriously train for these types of swims.”
Since then, Beard has ramped as much as the place he’s now commonly swimming 10-12 hours per week. one to 1.5 hours on a weekday, and 5 to six-plus hours on Saturdays. With 3 years of coaching below his belt, Beard now considers himself to be a sophisticated swimmer however at all times keep in mind: It is vital to hunt skilled recommendation and supervision when endeavor lengthy distance swims.
His English Channel swim is scheduled for June 8-15, dependant on climate and tidal circumstances, and The Channel Swimming Association will even be available, to look at the swim and guarantee that it’s ratified.
“My main objective is to successfully complete the swim, no matter how long it takes,” says Beard. “I’m not doing this to set a record or become a professional marathon swimmer, but to complete a life goal. It doesn’t have to look pretty, I just have to get it done. I’ll be thrilled no matter what my time is!”
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