About one year ago, I wrote in the newsletter about a word I had just learned:

Misogi.

"The notion around misogi is you do something so hard one time a year that it has an impact on the other 364 days of the year."

Hearing it for the first time, it struck an immediate chord and it was something I absolutely had to try. 

My misogi of choice for 2023 was to attempt to swim across Lake Tahoe, a distance of 12 miles. 

That newsletter published in December, 2022, so I had a long time to train for it. 

And train I did. 

Through the winter I was in Bellingham's Arne Hanna pool 3 to 4 times a week, working with a (remote) coach on drills, distance, and stroke feedback via video analysis. 

As the weather warmed, I moved to the local lakes and kept up the training in open water. 

When the water temps hit the mid to high 60’s, I shed the wetsuit to begin acclimating for Tahoe’s colder temps. 

The goal in Tahoe was to swim the crossing wetsuit-free, and based on what I was feeling here at home in similar temperatures, that was not going to be an issue for me. 

My body has plenty of mass and I was liberal with my diet to keep some “natural insulation” packed on. 

I had my Tahoe support crew, safety kayaker, and motor boat lined up. 

And I had a window picked out: August 20th through the 25th, first calm day, I would go for it. 

The plan would be to start from the beach in Homewood, California, around 4:30 a.m. to avoid afternoon winds…

…and finish in Glenbrook Bay, Nevada, something like 8 to 10 hours later. 

I kept the map of the swim as the screensaver on my iPhone, so I saw it and visualized doing it about 100 times a day.

All I had to do was keep swimming a few days a week, and keep gradually increasing my distance and/or time in the water. 

Not rocket science, right? 

Therein, though, lie the problem. 

The Tahoe swim would take me minimum 8 hours. 

And my lower body, it turns out, has a hard limit at about 90 minutes that, for the life of me, I could not get past. 

No matter how well I stretched, hydrated, rolled, massaged, or loaded up on every anti-cramp elixir known to humanity, I could not avoid leg and foot cramps setting in at about the 70-minute mark. 

The first wave would hit, and I could tread water, drink, pop electrolytes (I towed a supply bag), and let it diminish. 

Then, swimming on, 10 minutes later, BAM!

Then 5 minutes. 

Then every minute, as I limped, muscles bound into knots, to shore and hiked back to my starting beach, frustrated. 

It was a thing earlier in the year – it’s not like it came as a surprise when I got to the open water. 

But I held out hope that I would somehow train past it, or find an elixir, or something.

Then mid-August hit, and there was no improvement.

If I'd been able to get 6 or 7 hours in before the cramps took over, I'd have a chance to really boogie across the lake and see if I could beat them.

But 70-90 minutes would barely get me started, and in all my open water swims, I had not exceeded that time-frame.

So, faced with a decision, I bagged it.

No Tahoe swim. No misogi. 

It was humbling, to say the least.

That said, I always liked the saying:

“Aim for the stars, because even if you miss, you land pretty high up.” 

(Or some slightly less-butchered version of that same idea.) :)

I didn’t do Tahoe, but I got a lot of really enjoyable swimming in, and I got smoother and faster than I had been. 

I was fit for some other incredible adventures with the family, including my first ever Ninja competition, and a Spartan Race, both in September.

I also got a very good dose of:

“Doing hard things is hard, and – per the definition of misogi – includes very solid odds that they are NOT going to work out."

In the next newsletter, due out in two weeks on January 31st, I will share the news of an even bigger, more challenging endeavor that has reached its final chapter. 

Meanwhile, I wish you the best with your own misogi. 

Win or lose, props to you for aiming high and going for it. 

Did you enjoy this blog post?
It was originally from my Email Newsletter

Join The Brandon’s Inside View Newsletter!
Sent Every Other Wednesday and written by me!