That’s my shortened version, the longer version came from Colin Hill:

“They [the support team] should never ask how you [the athlete] are feeling, because then you start to think about the things that hurt. They should only ask what you need next.”

I met Colin Hill at Kendal Mountain Film Festival. Colin Hill, goes swimming in sub-zero temperatures and enjoys it. He looks happy and sounds happy and tries to persuade the rest of us that it is fun! (Not likely, I’m the opposite of a troll, I turn to stone and can’t move in the cold.) I digress. He swam the English Channel in 10 hours 30. He knows what he is talking about. Here’s his second tip:

(All photos were taken from Bored Panda’s website but I don’t know where they came from before that. There’s more where these came from if you follow the link. If I get done for photo stealing I shall ask Emma and Mike to reenact the shots. They probably would, you know.)