Ben's Journal
Read Ben’s personal thoughts and feelings, views and opinions, and stories from his life, the world, and the Longest Swim.
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Techniques For Keeping Your New Year Resolutions: Part Two
Part one of this series was about the dissociation technique and how we can move our mind far away from our body to alleviate some of our pain and discomfort. Part two concentrates on setting rules to restrain your mind from going to unwanted places and working on how to direct it toward specific times.
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Techniques for Keeping Your New Year Resolutions: Part One
We all start the New Year with the best of intentions by making resolutions, but as the year winds down we often experience difficulties sticking to them. During the next three weeks I am going to share with you three techniques I used during my swim across the Atlantic Ocean that helped me stay focused and motivated and these techniques can be used to help you stick with your resolutions.
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Open Water Swimming in the Pacific: Will the Water Quality Affect My Swim?
Many elements are to be taken into consideration before one can attempt long distance open water swimming. The natural environment presents many risks and requires in depth research before attempting any adventures. The risk factor escalates exponentially when the open water swim is taking place in an ocean like my swim across the Atlantic in 1998 and the longest swim across the Pacific next spring. In addition to natural dangers, I now have to take into consideration the hazards caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that dumped radioactive material from the Fukushima power plant and massive amount of debris spilled in the ocean. Is it a real risk for me or not? Read more
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When a Person is More Than Just a Name
I have had the opportunity to meet many different people for this project. Many of them tell their amazing stories, offer their contribution, and share their knowledge, expertise and contacts. This past Monday I had the distinct honor to meet Mel Stewart (also known as Gold Medal Mel) who did just that. Read more
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Ben Lecomte: How I Learned the Importance of Flexibility During My Atlantic Swim
Within the first week of my 1998 swim across the Atlantic Ocean, I realized my success would depend on how well I could apply this simple advice summed up in two words; “Stay Flexible”! Read more
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Where is My Love for Open Water Swimming Taking Me?
Early on in my life I felt that swimming in a pool was restricting and discovered that open water swimming offered me all the thrills I am looking for, but why am I so passionate about it and take it to the extreme seems to be a recurring question. Read more
