Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with Josie Page - Inspiring Ultra Marathon Swimmer

Imagine yourself in the middle of an ocean, with nothing but water stretching out into the horizon.  What brought you here and what motivates you to swim such long distances?

We delved into these questions and so much more on this week's Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast episode with Josie Page, an open water marathon swimmer hailing from Western Australia, who turned this daunting sight into her playground. Josie, a 36km Capri to Napoli swim champion, shares her exhilarating journey from discovering her passion for swimming as a child to evolving into a fierce competitor in open water swimming

Listening to Josie's story is like taking a deep dive, sans the cliché, into the fascinating world of open water swimming. She sheds light on the physical and mental challenges that she has faced and conquered, from coping with different water temperatures to maintaining her mental fortitude during her long swims. Josie also opens up about her unique training regimen leading up to the Capri swim and the invaluable role her support network plays in her journey. She gets real about the highs and lows of her career and shares the motivational tactics she uses when the going gets tough.

Josie also takes us behind the scenes of her swim preparation - from her warm-ups and visualisation techniques to her choice of pre-race meals. She even shares her secret recipe for protection against jellyfish stings and sunburn, and gives us a tour of her favourite swimming locations.

Her commitment to the sport and her unwavering spirit is nothing short of inspiring. Whether you're a swim enthusiast or just someone looking for a riveting story, you're in for a treat with this chat with Josie Page.

Follow Josie's swim journey:
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Transcript

Danielle Spurling 0:09

Hello Swimmers and welcome to another episode of torpedo swim top podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Spurling, and each week I chat to a master swimmer from around the world about their swimming journey. Today's guest is West Australian open water marathon swimmer, Josie Page. Josie recently won the 36mk Capri to Napoli swim and I was intrigued to find out all about this epic crossing. Let's hear from Josie now. Hi, Josie, welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I'm excited to have you here. Where are you coming to us from today?

Josie Page 0:53

I'm coming from Perth, Western Australia.

Danielle Spurling 0:57

Fantastic and congratulations on your recent success in the Capri to Napoli swim. That was absolutely amazing. I bet that was a great experience.

Josie Page 1:07

Yeah, that was probably one of the most meaningful swims for me and it's still processing it a little bit, I think. Yeah, yeah, that really happy.

Danielle Spurling 1:16

I want to dive deep into that, but I just want to ask if you had many swims since then, or have you just been taking it easy?

Josie Page 1:21

No, I've just took three weeks off and travelled through Europe where I did not touch chlorine and the only swimming I did was snorkeling, and apart from that was more walking, eating and drinking, and now trying to get back into routine and training again.

Danielle Spurling 1:37

Yeah, well, I think a good reward. After is it a 32 K swim or 36? 36.

Josie Page 1:43

Yeah, 36.

Danielle Spurling 1:44

That is a long way. Well, before we talk about that, tell us how you first got involved in swimming.

Josie Page 1:52

Yeah, yeah, I'm swimming household water, baby kind of one of those people that started since six weeks old in baby lessons. My family, we lived near the beach so we've grown up in that swimming surf club, typical Aussie type kid. I started competitive swimming probably when I was around eight years old kind of haven't stopped since, but a big family type around swimming and open water. So my uncles were really good long distance open water swimmer he still swims, my mum still swims. My brother was a good competitive swimmer so I kind of took those kind of natural steps from squad swimming to being competitive through pool swimming and then, yeah, surf club, open water. So I've always loved the water.

Danielle Spurling 2:41

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's hard not to love the water growing up in Australia, isn't it?

Josie Page 2:48

Yes, for sure.

Danielle Spurling 2:50

What was the transition from pool swimming to open water like? How did you find that? Because it's very different, obviously.

Josie Page 2:56

Yeah, very different. I think, as I said, the surf club component kind of really pushed me in that direction. I didn't stop pool swimming till around 2016 and I still remember it was enough enough. I was quite an anxious young swimmer. I'd get quite caught up with the results and times and take it quite emotionally and I think being stuck inside a chlorine a lot of the pools in Perth indoor that we compete in so I was just, yeah, trapped inside chlorine for the whole weekend and then I came across open water and kind of got my national time the first year that I started it and went oh, I like this a little bit more.

Josie Page 3:42

My parents were quite stoked as well to kind of leave long weekend competitions and go down to the beach for a race. But I think it was more a mental type thing for me. I enjoyed open water swimming a lot more. It was less of a chore. The pool swimming just mentally, was quite demanding on me and, yeah, I kind of found my niche in open water swimming. So I was quite happy to leave pool swimming behind.

Danielle Spurling 4:08

Yeah, was it. Was it more so the competitive side of pool swimming, not so much the training? Did you love training?

Josie Page 4:15

Yeah, I always, yeah, I still love training, training, still majority in a pool, and then I'd get to competitions and, yeah, kind of anxiety would take over. Just I think it was the fact that pool swimming was too short and it took me a while to understand. I'm not a sprinter so I can't keep up with these other guys in the pool, but I still took it really seriously. So for me it was quite hard, kind of yeah, not getting results that I wanted in the pool.

Danielle Spurling 4:44

Yeah, that makes sense, and I think a lot of sort of long-distance swimmers that I speak to have a similar story and all love training because I think you've really got to love, you know, putting those kilometers in to do those longer, longer distance swims.

Josie Page 5:00

Oh for sure. I've always said as soon as it becomes a chore like training, getting up in the morning, and I mean it's hard, no one loves it, especially at the moment as soon as it becomes a chore, that's what I'll say. Enough's enough, but no, I love it. Yeah, I love training.

Danielle Spurling 5:14

Yeah, and what's your ideal distance that you swim in the open water?

Josie Page 5:19

I think 36.

Danielle Spurling 5:20

36.

Josie Page 5:21

Now that I've done it, having done the Roto Swims seven years now I've the last couple years I've had this joke with my coach and my family that I think it's a bit too short. So I think my recent swim kind of yeah, we kind of figured out, yeah, I think 20k is a little bit too short so I'm looking more at those ultra.

Danielle Spurling 5:43

the ultra swims, now the ultra swims, I mean, I think 20k is an ultra one anyway, yeah, yeah, what's your mindset going to a race like that? Like, how do you because you must have times throughout a 20k, 36k where you sort of feel a bit flat how do you talk yourself back into the swim?

Josie Page 6:02

I think you've just got to go back onto those training experiences. I mean, you've done however many months of training and the races just a couple of hours. That's kind of what I went into Capri thinking was well, I've done 12 months of really solid training. Now all I've got to do is a day. So it kind of put it into perspective and I just if my mind started to drift, I'd really just home back in on what have I done, what choices have I made in the lead up to this, and kind of take all of that as a as a positive and to say, well, I've done all this training, I can just keep keep going. But I always we get quite surprised in long swims because standing back you probably think what do you think about for between four and eight hours, but it's amazing how you can just keep thinking about your stroke and each feed as it comes.

Danielle Spurling 6:53

Yeah, and what kind of things do you feed on during the swim that long?

Josie Page 7:00

I had to tweak it a little bit because during Roto I ate quite a few solid foods like grapes, bananas, but for the 36 I didn't want to take as many and I kind of wanted to stack up on that storage at the start. So I was doing my feeding plant couple of weeks before and I went oh God, this is a bit different Capri compared to the Roto swims. I'm in the water for double the amount of time. So I contacted Andy Donaldson, as you know and as we all know now, and he kind of gave me his quite strategically planned out. I feed off that a bit, but it was more solids just to keep that hydration in, because as soon as you come dehydrated it's game over. So just lots of liquids and I put in a few solids to get the taste buds going again. Yeah, what kind of solids did you use? I used mainly for that swim, grapes and bananas, yes, yeah just easy.

Danielle Spurling 8:05

Do you have any of those gels or do you sort of stick to sort of you?

Josie Page 8:09

do, yeah, so I put them into my liquids, so I'm not having to mess around and try and get them in. It's just straight into the bottle.

Danielle Spurling 8:17

Yeah, and they throw them out on a rope. Is that correct?

Josie Page 8:22

So we my dad was on the boat. So for Capri, my dad was on the boat and he had the long feeding pole and so he would give it to me. Off the feeding pole, which was it was a bit of a flimsy pole, we took a different one over traveling we made it was quite a small one but it extended out, so it was like an old fishing pole and it was. Yeah, it was quite funny. My dad's trying to maneuver it. But for Roto, it's just given to me from a paddler.

Danielle Spurling 8:48

Yeah, and what are the conditions, like the difference between swimming Roto and Capri.

Josie Page 8:55

That quite different. I mean, roto, you get a different, different experience every year. Our most recent one we got an Eastley which kind of pushes you all the way to Rotnest, which for me didn't work quite in my favor, as I like a bit more rough, rough and tumble, because there are a lot of yeah, slight little girls just get flowing over. But for me the kind of tougher conditions for Roto is where I've had better swims.

Josie Page 9:26

Capri was quite different because it was less swelling but more of a current which I really liked. So for the first bit I was getting a bit of a push which you don't really feel like you are, because there's not much of a swell but the current's taking you. And then as I hit eight Ks to go, it switched. So it was kind of I was going a little bit against the current as you can come into Naples and it becomes a little bit choppier. So that was when the mind played a big role of when, nearly there, eight Ks to go, yeah, when that weather starts to change. So it's it's different. But because, roto, you get dished up something different each year, I was kind of prepared for anything.

Danielle Spurling 10:11

Yeah, what's the difference in water temperature between the two swims?

Josie Page 10:15

I was quiet. This was a big mental kind of hurdle for me going into Capri, because I'm not a fan of hot water at all. I would much prefer a cold, a cold 18 degrees. And going in I heard a lot of background noise of it's going to be hot. Outside will be around 35. The water temp will be around 29 30. So for me that was the major kind of devil in my head. But when I got there, outside was hot, it was in its mid 30s, but the in the water, the actual sea temperature, was around 26. Some periods I went in it was like a half an hour, around a 28 29, which I could handle for half an hour, and then as soon as my mind started to play games, then I would hit a colder patch. So probably back to 25. So it kept. It kept changing, which which was good kind of kept the body moving. But it wasn't as big of a hurdle as what I kind of made up in my head before before going in.

Danielle Spurling 11:21

Yeah, and do you think a swim like that is I mean, you've done as you said, you've done all the training, you've done all the work Do you feel that when you're in the middle of a swim like that, it's your body that you have to fight against, or is it your mind?

Josie Page 11:34

I think it's your mind still yeah, and I said that going into the swimmers and my coach said as well, physically we're not going to have any issues. It's how I mentally approach it and that was the big positive that I think I took away from Capri was mentally it was probably my best put together race or swim, because I just kind of took a, took out all outside noise and just focused in on myself and I stand by. You can only control what you can control, so you can't control what anyone else is doing. You can't control what the water wants to do. You can only control your own mind and your own body. So I think it's it's definitely mental yeah.

Danielle Spurling 12:18

And what do you tell yourself when those little thoughts creep into your head?

Josie Page 12:23

Yeah, I have a few, a few little phrases Ones are DG. So resilience, determination, grit, and they're kind of little words that I've picked up along my career of things that coaches have either said or said I haven't got, which kind of adds to a little boost inside of me Because I'm quite competitive. If someone tells me I don't have something, then I'm going to get it. But resilience is the big one that people have always kind of said I've had. So I always play that in my mind.

Josie Page 12:56

And for this swim I actually got a lot of my big support people back home so from friends, family, my training partners. I got them in, got them to send in little words or phrases to give to my support crew on my boat. So my dad would spread, he spread them out along the swim and would hold up a whiteboard saying so and so says this, and that I got me through the swim. It just kind of gave me a little boost. Some of them made me laugh, some made me cry, but it just kind of helped me to keep going mentally, which I love. That that's, that's really innovative.

Danielle Spurling 13:33

Had you not seen? The messages before no, no.

Josie Page 13:37

So I got them to send them all to my partner, who then sent them to my dad. And, yeah, he picked out the ones that he thought I needed at certain points. That's great. At times when he thought I needed a laugh, he'd give me one. At times he thought I need a bit more of an internal motivation He'd give me that one.

Danielle Spurling 13:52

Yeah, it worked really well, yeah, that's really fantastic. And what's the start? Like, do you do all the competitors head off at the same time, or do you go off in waves, or is a single person at a time?

Josie Page 14:05

It's we go off, all the solos go off together, but it's run quite differently. So it's actually done over three different weekends. So in each race they have around 10 solos, a couple of jurors and a couple of teams, so there's three different weekends consecutively and they call that like the amateurs. And then it's in the lead up to the elite race, which is in September, and so yeah, so it's kind of, but we all start together.

Danielle Spurling 14:37

Yeah, so how do all the boats fit into that area?

Josie Page 14:42

It's. They pick up the support crew before so off the jetty in Capri and then they go out about 500 meters out. But because when you start in Capri it's pretty flat, they can pick you up straight away. Oh, that's good, yeah, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 14:57

Yeah, yeah, fantastic. And and what is it? We've touched on a little bit of your training. But what does a training week look like? Or before Capri? I know you've had some weeks off, but what did? What did that look like? Tell us, talk us through that. How often do you swim? How far pool ocean? Give us a bit of a glimpse.

Josie Page 15:14

Yeah, so typically it's nine times a week in the pool, and then adding on to that is two gym sessions and a land training session as well. So In the pool we typically hit around between 60 to 70 kilometers a week, and then in summer we add on an ocean swim as well into that week. So it's yeah, it's quite packed, but it's is manageable. I've worked really closely with my coach, my pool coach and my gym coach to kind of Work it, so my body's not constantly on the edge of breaking points and we've learned now that we can do less case and get the same outcome, which took my head a little bit to work around because I've come from doing quite big kilometers, but learning that I can get through a week of 60 to 17, still get the same outcome of doing an 80 kilometer week, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 16:12

Yeah, and you said two gym sessions and one land session. What do you mean by the land session? So a land session?

Josie Page 16:17

we kind of just do a little bit of running core exercises, sometimes some boxing. On other weeks we just do some stretching and mobility, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 16:29

And what is a typical workout look like in the pool.

Josie Page 16:34

In the pool. In the pool it kind of it varies and my coach is really good at bearing it. So we we can't quite get quite comfortable in a set. So typically we have a warm-up, which is normally quite short for us open water guys, because you know from water, so you can get a warm-up. It's just go from the start and then we hit our main sets, which are the bulk, so they take up around 5k of the set, and then a small cool down and the cool down is normally pretty small because we don't really like them. We're ready to go home.

Danielle Spurling 17:08

Yeah, is that all freestyle, or do you mix in some other strokes? It's mainly freestyle.

Josie Page 17:13

Occasionally we'll do some I am just to get a bit of different kind of aerobic capacity and then some backstroke for recovery. But I'm not not the biggest fan of that at all. I always put my fins on for those. And we do a lot of pool work, which I love yeah.

Danielle Spurling 17:32

Yeah yeah, open water does a lot of pool work. Yeah, yeah, so not much kicking, no.

Josie Page 17:37

No, that's good A little bit yeah, but for myself I don't use much of a kick in the really long swim, so we prioritize more of the pool yeah.

Danielle Spurling 17:49

So would you? Would you sort of settle into a 2B kick when you're doing those longer swims? Yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah yeah. And what's your breathing pattern for?

Josie Page 17:57

those, every two, breathing to the right. So, at the end of these big swims. I have a pretty stiff neck.

Danielle Spurling 18:04

A stiff neck, of course.

Josie Page 18:05

Yeah, a bit naughty in your practice by lateral breathing.

Danielle Spurling 18:08

Yeah, yeah, same If you don't learn it when you're really little. It's very hard to introduce. I mean I can do it, but it's so uncomfortable, yeah it is it's? A lot slower. And how often do you sight? You breathe every two, but every stroke or no, I prefer not to sight.

Josie Page 18:27

So I normally if I have my paddler in the roto swim, I like to position him where I can see him and then say, for Capri, it was quite a small boat, so I just position them where I could see them to reduce the need for sighting.

Danielle Spurling 18:43

Yeah, that's really good and give us a typical mindset, typical mindset.

Josie Page 18:50

Short rest. I quite like short rest. The shorter the rest is better for me. Short rest mixed with a little bit of sprint in there, just a change of pace. So yeah, just try and get all the body systems working. We hit mostly aerobic, but keeping our heart rate in that 27 to 29 zone, so that we're still getting a pretty good training effect.

Danielle Spurling 19:16

Yeah, and what would the repeat distance be like, 400, 800?

Josie Page 19:22

It changes a lot. My coach does like 400, 800. But it changes. We do a few sets at 100. So like 40, 100 on repeat, but then, yeah, he mixes it up. Sometimes we do, over distances of 1500 to two kilometers, repeats as well.

Danielle Spurling 19:42

Yeah, what kind of time interval do you do the hundreds on the 41 hundreds?

Josie Page 19:48

If we're doing a short rest, I stick mainly to the one 2115 because I don't have the speed but I could just sit on them forever. So at the moment where a host could pre going to work on trying getting my speed, some speed back into me, because we know I've got the engine, got the diesel engine, just try and get some speed into it. Yeah.

Danielle Spurling 20:12

How will you introduce that?

Josie Page 20:14

I think it'll firstly be just put into the bigger sets. So to break up the distances, my coach will put in, say like 850s, on a shorter rest cycle still, but trying to get my heart rate to that 30-31, which I find it quite difficult to get there, yeah, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 20:36

And who is your coach at the moment, and what do they sort of bring to the table for you?

Josie Page 20:41

I'm a coach by John Harrison at West Side Christ Church and we work really really well together. I've been with him for nearly three years. Prior to that I was with a coach called Matt McGee and then he left because he got a pretty big gig overseas and that left me in quite a difficult position of my swimming, Not sure what to do, and went into quite a negative training environment. And it was John that kind of picked me up when I moved to him and we kind of found a new niche in open water swimming. We work really well and closely together and he provides a positive training environment. He puts the person first and then the athlete, which I really like. Being older and working, he's really good at picking.

Josie Page 21:34

Okay, we're not going to get much out of this session today. You've had a big day at work. What's a little goal that we can achieve? So if my speed's not there same afternoon session, we just concentrate getting connection in my stroke. So we look at getting little goals. Or sometimes he'll turn around and say, no, that's it. Go get a coffee, relax before work. He's just good at knowing where my body is at but also where my mind's at. Yeah, we have quite a good relationship.

Danielle Spurling 22:05

Yeah, that sounds like a great coach athlete relationship Is the squad that you're in an entirely long distance squad?

Josie Page 22:14

No, we have quite a. We've got some sprinters, middle distance and open water, so, yeah, he's quite busy trying to juggle everyone, but we've got a good group of open water swimmers as well, which is good.

Danielle Spurling 22:30

And what's the age range of the people in your squad?

Josie Page 22:34

I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest at 24, and then that goes down to like 16. So we've got quite a big range, which at times is a bit difficult because I mean, some people are still at school, some people have got full-time jobs. But it's good because we can kind of take things from each other and we help each other. Yeah, learn and grow.

Danielle Spurling 22:56

Yeah, that's fantastic. And what was the difference? You mentioned Matt and now your current coach. What was the difference in their two styles?

Josie Page 23:05

They are quite similar. So I got along well with both of them because they both put athlete sorry swimmer. They put the person first and then lead. We did a really, really big kind of three years with Matt. That got, which we still. John's agrees with this as well. We built my base, we built my engine that I've still got now. So now with John I work on trying to get speed, but they're probably the two coaches that have kind of given me the most as a swimmer and as a person that I still take a lot from. Yeah.

Danielle Spurling 23:43

Yeah, that sounds really great and I know you've got a full-time job. What do you do in your work life?

Josie Page 23:50

I'm an occupational therapist and I work with little kids.

Danielle Spurling 23:54

Oh fantastic.

Josie Page 23:55

Yeah, yeah, so I love it. But it means that, yeah, life's pretty busy Working nearly full-time doing that. But yeah, I love my job and would not change that. But it gets tough having basically two full-time jobs?

Danielle Spurling 24:10

Exactly yes. And so how do you, how do you fit that in with recovery? Because when you're doing nine sessions a week and two gym sessions and a land session and working, where do you fit the recovery in?

Josie Page 24:24

I fit in my weekends but I also actually work point eight, so 80% of full-time but spread over five days. So it means that I can come home at about one to a clock and get myself ready for training in the afternoon most days and that helps my recovery, but it's. I definitely couldn't do it without support system of my parents and partner and friends, because they're really understanding and they know like, oh, she can't have a late night, she's got training and my parents have provided me with a lot to be able to do the things I do. Yeah.

Open Water Swimming Challenges and Strategies

Danielle Spurling 25:00

Yeah, that sounds fantastic. How long do you see yourself keeping up that sort of schedule?

Josie Page 25:07

A while I would think so. Yeah, I think, until my body or my mind says it's enough, but at the moment it's still quite manageable. Yeah, yes, a little while longer.

Danielle Spurling 25:20

So you've done right Ness, You've done Capri. What are the other swims in your horizon that you want to have a go at?

Josie Page 25:27

This has been what's kind of been playing in my mind lately. I've always said the English channel will kind of be the last one to tick off, but now I've kind of, yeah, re-juggling that and thinking that that might be one in the coming years. Okay, as well as, yeah, there's a couple going around. I think Andy Donaldson has done a really good job of showing us as a whole new world of open water swimming. So I think, yeah, catching up with him and having a look at a couple that I can target, but definitely English channel.

Danielle Spurling 25:59

Yeah, that's definitely one to tick off your bucket list.

Josie Page 26:02

Yeah.

Danielle Spurling 26:03

Yeah, that last one that he did in Japan, that was a tough one. No one else has done that crossing this year.

Josie Page 26:09

No, no, they had 12 unsuccessful crossings before him. So, yeah, that was an amazing achievement for him. Yeah absolutely.

Danielle Spurling 26:16

The currents looked absolutely horrific. The push looked horrible, yeah, yeah.

Josie Page 26:21

Yeah, it didn't look nice at all, yeah, but he did. When he's such an inspiration to come back from a couple years off and, yeah, kind of rebirth, open water swimming, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 26:32

Yeah, absolutely. I think they may need to find a new one to add to the Ocean Seven, because it looks like the provider that does the boats there has just said they're not taking any more swim. As I read, the other day.

Josie Page 26:45

Yes, it seems like it was quite hard for Andy to get into it and actually complete it. So I think, yeah, they'll have to reconsider that, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 26:54

Yeah, are there any other swims around Australia that you're interested in doing open water?

Josie Page 27:00

Yeah, definitely the Palm to Shelley Beach one, and as well as Port to Pub, which is actually in Perth. So that's an opportunity to do 25 kilometers we can do.

Danielle Spurling 27:12

Okay, so the Port to Pub that still goes to Rotnest right.

Josie Page 27:14

Yes, yeah, so we do a 5K loop first and then we start the journey to Rotnest.

Danielle Spurling 27:19

Yeah, Okay, and is that loop just in close to Perth? Yeah, yeah.

Josie Page 27:24

Yeah, it's right off the shore, it's right off the bank, and then go to Rotto, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 27:31

Yeah, fantastic. And what I was going to ask you about was any sort of like visualization, sort of relaxation strategies that you come up with that you use before a big swim like that.

Josie Page 27:44

Yeah, I think breathing I kind of really hone in on my breathing. A couple of nights in the lead up to big races, Before I go to bed I just have, I do like mindful breathing to get my body quite relaxed. I do a little bit of yoga as well, which I've learned lots of mindfulness and breathing techniques. I definitely had to use that in the lead up to Capri because things it was my first international swim, so things weren't going as planned, kind of traveling I'm going to get off topic here but we we got into Rome and I had all these pools kind of planned out where I could go and train. And I went and asked Reception kind of wears, the best way to get to the pools, and he was like oh, you can't, so go, what do you mean? He said, oh, you can't swim in public pools if you're not Italian, basically because you need to go through a full medical, have a full membership. And I was like, well, I'm stuck in Rome, landlock city, no water, it's been. It would have been 48 hours since travel as well. So for me, I'm quite OCD when it comes to the week before a race and everything needs to be perfect.

Josie Page 29:06

But this later swim definitely taught me things Don't always go to plan. So I and my partner said, well, we can't change it, so what else can we do? So I do a lot of mobility and a lot of mindfulness, kind of imagining that I was in the water To get that feel. So that was when the mindfulness came in. And then we got to Naples five days out of the race and I was allowed to use the hotel pool, but that's only. It was 20 meters long, so it was decent, but for me it wasn't Perfect. It wasn't what my coach and I had put together for the week before. So, yeah, it was um, it was tough mentally, but we learned a lot from it and we learned that my body needs more rest going into these swims. So it was a silver lining, but at the time it was mentally it was quite tough, but it made me fall onto yeah, the mindfulness and the Breathing and calming myself down.

Danielle Spurling 30:09

Basically, yeah, yeah well, you did really well, given all those obstacles, to get through that swim and do it so successfully.

Josie Page 30:17

Yeah, it was, um, I think it's because I by the end of the week I was quite relaxed, just being away from any demands at home, and really it was kind of, yeah, holiday mode but race mode put together and it was definitely the mental state that I was in going into the race that helped me, I think, do so well in that swim. And it was, yeah, the most meaningful race, like I said at the start, because I'd had not a great year of roto this year and Mentally that was quite taxing In the lead up to Capri. Of well, will I make it? Will it be as good as what I want? But it Kind of Remotivated me to keep going in open water swimming, yeah, what?

Danielle Spurling 31:04

what made roto so tough this year?

Josie Page 31:06

Um, like I said, the conditions weren't. I do for myself and the past couple of years having top three Kind of places, and this year was a fifth. So still, I'm still so grateful and I always say the first goal of roto is to make it and I did that, but it wasn't the result that I wanted. So I think Capri was kind of that Next step. I kind of blocked roto out after the race Um, and then was focused on Capri and yeah, I kind of learnt from roto but yeah, I really enjoyed Capri in it. Yeah, it made the season end on a high. Do you ever get seasick when you're swimming like that? I do. Yeah, I never get seasick on boats, but in the way I get I can get quite ill, but I just take the normal travel calm and Luckily enough, I didn't get anything in the last swim.

Danielle Spurling 32:03

Yeah, that's good, yeah, yeah. And what kind of advice would you give to someone who really wants to have a go at one of these ultra marathon swims but doesn't quite know where to start?

Josie Page 32:14

Yeah, I think Do your research into them first. So I researched a lot into this Capri swim. I caught up with people who'd previously done it, gain knowledge of what to expect. So when I came across things in the race it wasn't a first time exposure you were kind of aware. So I think, firstly do your research. Talk to people who have done it. Summers can get quite like. Our way is the best way. I know Andy said that before as well, but it's it's people have done different things, that I've had different experiences. So I think taking advice from other people is the first step and then just having a consistency in training. Training doesn't have to be these big kilometres that we all think it has to be, but it's the consistency of training that would be. Yeah, before you did the roto swim, had you?

Danielle Spurling 33:07

done any? Was that? What was the longest swim that you'd done before that one? Because it's 20k.

Open Water Swimming

Josie Page 33:17

Yeah, the longest swim was 10 kilometres and that was because that's the national. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I'd previously competed at national championships in the 10k, so that was the biggest one. But going into roto, I spoke to a lot of people who had done the swim before and took on a whole heap of advice and that definitely helped it.

Danielle Spurling 33:41

When you mentioned earlier about your training week and coming into summer, you add in an ocean swim. How far, typically, would you swim in the ocean swim?

Josie Page 33:49

That's only around four kilometres and we use it. It's nothing fast, we just kind of do it. It aids in a bit of recovery as well, because you're getting salt water, but we just do it to keep touch with the ocean and Because swimming in the pool, swimming the ocean, can be quite different, as we know. Where we swim it's quite Calm most of the time, but it's just getting that feel of the salt water. Yeah, and what?

Danielle Spurling 34:16

about the wildlife in the WA beaches.

Josie Page 34:21

Yes, this year was a bit, a bit tricky to do those swims. The mind definitely Plays a big part of that as well. We have shark nets which I don't enjoy swimming in, but at times, if I'm by myself, I'll swim in a shark net or swim really close to shore, because Mentally it's yeah, it's quite tough thinking there could be something following you.

Danielle Spurling 34:45

Because it's, yeah, it's. We had a pretty bad kid was yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not. I mean swimming the ocean is absolutely fantastic. I love it, but that's the one part of it that I just don't like.

Josie Page 34:59

Yeah, and it was quite relaxing being doing the Caprita Naples swim, because you didn't have that fear at all, so because you know that they're not going to be in the Mediterranean. So it was quite, quite relaxing yeah.

Danielle Spurling 35:12

So there's no sharks in the Mediterranean?

Josie Page 35:14

They, it's less likely because the water temperatures warmer. So in all the ride-ups and stuff, no ones. Yeah, they've never sighted one before, which was really comforting to hear what about jellyfish and stuff like that, anything like that over there. There are a few little little stings. One of the other soloists in my race actually got some pretty badly, but I think I had a lot of Vaseline on so I think they just kind of slid off me, but there were a few to wake me up along the way, but nothing bad.

Danielle Spurling 35:47

Yeah, so is Vaseline your tip to cover your body with.

Josie Page 35:50

Yeah, yeah, definitely Vaseline, and I use Ocean Grease, which is a Perth product. Yeah, so you use it around your baby, sort of rubbing yeah, just around the baby lines, and then, if I'm doing it to keep warm, I kind of put it around my kidneys like underneath my baby's?

Danielle Spurling 36:08

And what about sun protection for such a long swim? Does that? Because it's going to wash off a bit? Yeah.

Josie Page 36:14

I was very burnt, unfortunately. Yeah, we were meant to put two layers on, but we got caught up in the start and we just forgot to put an extra layer on, so I was quite burnt and kind of peeled for the rest of my Europe trip. Oh God, yeah, because this Sunday, as I said, it was a hot day. Being in the water for seven hours You're going to get a little burnt, but I would recommend putting on a couple of layers of sunscreen, because I definitely didn't do that and regretted it later. Yeah.

Danielle Spurling 36:48

That's good advice for everyone, yeah, yeah. So as a podcast, I like to ask them deep dive five questions, which is a bit of a snapshot about you swimming. So what is your favorite open water swim location?

Josie Page 37:02

I would have to say the Capri and Naples swim. That was pretty spectacular. The whole way you could see Mount Pesuvius and a Malfi Coast, which was quite incredible. And leaving Capri as well, I took a few times to look back and think, wow, I'm actually in this water doing this, which was pretty cool, or where I do my ocean training swims. So in Perth we've got a little stretch between Cotteslow and North Cotteslow and it's a lot of reef, so when we're swimming we kind of see a lot of wildlife, nice wildlife in the reef. So they would be my main two ones.

Danielle Spurling 37:42

Oh, that sounds beautiful. Yeah, how about your favorite freestyle training drill?

Josie Page 37:47

A freestyle changer would be something called Uncoe. I'm not sure if you yeah, so it's where you do single arm but you breathe to the opposite side. So I love it, because I always work on connection, like through my core, through the cross line of my body, and I find that that really hones in and makes you concentrate and use your core stability. So that would be my go-to one.

Danielle Spurling 38:11

Do you do one arm for the whole lap? What do you change every few strokes?

Josie Page 38:16

No, we change every 50, every 50 meters yeah.

Danielle Spurling 38:19

Is that with fins or not?

Josie Page 38:22

No, no, I prefer to do with fins, but coach doesn't.

Danielle Spurling 38:28

And what are your favorite goggles for open water swimming? I?

Josie Page 38:31

just use the classic Vorgi goggles, just the ones I train in, the ones that I will race in. Yeah, just for comfort. Mirrored goggle, yeah, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 38:42

Yeah, essential for open water, isn't it?

Josie Page 38:46

Yes, definitely.

Danielle Spurling 38:48

Definitely.

Josie Page 38:49

And I think we've already covered this.

Danielle Spurling 38:50

I had this as one of our questions what type of foods and drinks do you have mid-swim? But you've already told me that, so tell me your pre-race meal that you have the night before the night before.

Josie Page 39:04

I have more of a protein diet compared to the classic pizza, sorry, pasta. Like swimmer's diet, I have massive pieces of steak and sweet potato Yum.

Danielle Spurling 39:16

Yeah, sounds nice. It's a good one.

Josie Page 39:19

Yeah, for sure.

Danielle Spurling 39:20

And what about your favorite freestyle training set?

Josie Page 39:25

In the. One of the sets that John enjoys is 6800s. He varies that. Sometimes it's a pool set, sometimes it's a pace set, but yeah. Yeah, he enjoys it but do you enjoy it? I do. Yeah, I think it's a pool set as opposed to the pace set. Yeah for sure, yeah.

Danielle Spurling 39:45

Well, josie, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. It's been lovely catching up with you and hearing all about your ultra marathon swimming. Thank you so much. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Yeah, fantastic, we'll take care and we'll be watching out for you. Next open water Hopefully English Channel very soon. Thank you very much. Okay, bye, bye. Thank you, bob. Thanks for joining us on torpedo swim talk podcast today. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Josie and learned lots of new things about open water swimming. It's always really interesting to get different people's perspectives on how they approach open water and pool swimming, and that's why we enjoy talking to all these different people from around the world. Over the next few weeks, we'll be catching up with some of the stars that have come to our attention during the world masters championships in Fukuoka, so look out for those. I think you'll be really interested to hear from them. And, as usual, happy swimming and bye for now.