The Art of Resilience. Ross Edgley

      

       COPYRIGHT

      HarperCollinsPublishers

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      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

      FIRST EDITION

      Text © Ross Edgley 2020

      Illustrations by Liane Payne © HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

      Jacket design by Sim Greenaway © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020

      Front cover photograph © Andrew Brown

      A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

      Ross Edgeley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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      Source ISBN: 9780008356989

      Ebook Edition © April 2020 ISBN: 9780008356965

      Version 2021-03-22

       NOTE TO READERS

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      Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008356989

       DEDICATION

       Thank you to my dad, the most stoically strong man I know.

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Note to Readers

       Dedication

       FOREWORD by Ant Middleton

       PROLOGUE

       PART 1 | LIFE ON LAND (BEFORE THE SWIM)

       CHAPTER 1 | WHY DID I DO IT?

       CHAPTER 2 | WHY THE BODY DOES NOT BREAK?

       CHAPTER 3 | WHY THE MIND DOES NOT QUIT?

       PART 2 | LIFE AT SEA (DURING THE SWIM)

       LESSON 1 | STOIC SPORTS SCIENCE IS PHILOSOPHY FORGED IN BATTLE

       LESSON 2 | LEARN THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL SPORTS SCIENCE

       LESSON 3 | THE BODY BRUISES AND BLEEDS BUT CANNOT BE BEATEN

       LESSON 4 | TO WALK YOUR OWN PATH, WRITE YOUR OWN PLAN

       LESSON 5 | MAKE THE BODY AN INSTRUMENT, NOT AN ORNAMENT

       LESSON 6 | BUILD RESILIENCE BY ‘GETTING WINTERED’

       LESSON 7 | FAST CAN BE FRAGILE AND SLOW CAN BE STRONG

       LESSON 8 | STRENGTH IMPROVES STAMINA AND STAMINA IMPROVES STRENGTH

       THE GREAT BRITISH SWIM TRAINING PLAN

       LESSON 9 | LEARN HOW TO CRUISE OR KILL

       LESSON 10 | LEARN TO LIMIT LIMITATIONS

       LESSON 11 | THE TWO WAYS TO PROCESS PAIN

       LESSON 12 | COMBAT FEAR WITH ‘FERAL FEAR THEORY’

       LESSON 13 | LEARN THE POWER OF A HIGHER PURPOSE

       LESSON 14 | ACCEPT THE UNCONTROLLABLES

       LESSON 15 | CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES

       LESSON 16 | RESILIENCE CANNOT BE RUSHED, BUT QUITTING CAN

       LESSON 17 | YOU’RE STRONGER WHEN SMILING

       LESSON 18 | YOU CAN SLEEP YOURSELF STRONGER

       LESSON 19 | HEROICS IN HUNGER

       LESSON 20 | RESILIENCE IS BEST SERVED WITH FOOD

       THE GREAT BRITISH SWIM DIET

       LESSON 21 | STOMACH OF STEEL

       LESSON 22 | RESILIENCE IS SUFFERING STRATEGICALLY MANAGED

       EPILOGUE

       Endnotes

       List of Searchable Terms

       Acknowledgements

       About the Publisher

       FOREWORD

       By Ant Middleton

      You only have to look at the numbers: 1,780 miles, 157 days at sea, half a million calories burned, over two million swim strokes completed. Staggering. And do you know what’s even more mind-blowing? Zero sick days.

      Here was I thinking it would be hard enough to sail around Great Britain: who whould be crazy enough to swim all the way around it?

      That’s why I wanted to be one