World record swimmer Normand Piché stopped by Global News Morning on Friday to guest host with anchor Laura Casella and weather specialist Kim Sullivan.
Piché recently swam more than 100 km to connect five continents over 86 days – the first person to do it in under 100 days.
To get to know Piché a little better, Global News asked him a few questions:
How much training and preparation did it take to accomplish your goal?
I started training in October 2014 and I trained six days a week, between two to five hours a day for five days a week.
The sixth day, I would do a long distance swim between six and eight hours.
I also went to Mexico for a training camp to swim in big waves.
I also practiced being in cold water, so three days a week I would take an ice bath and I would stay in there for 30 minutes.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning I started my day with that.
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How much would you swim each day during your trip?
The shortest distance was from Russia to Alaska between two islands (the Big Diomede and Little Diomede).
It was 5 km and the way I swam it, it ended up being 3.5 km.
I felt it was too short, so I asked to do another crossing the next day because I wasn’t feeling happy with the first one.
The second time it was 6.5 km and it took two hours and eight minutes.
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What was your schedule like?
I would wake up between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.
I would have a training in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon.
The schedule depended if we could get authorization and waiting for the people to give us authorization to cross the different waters.
How did this idea start?
It started at the Olympics in Sochi.
I was there to work on a book and the topic was taking a dream and making it a reality.
I spoke to several athletes, coaches and family at the Canadian house to talk about how they started with a dream and making it a reality and what their strategies were.
When I saw the medal ceremonies, I was moved by the athletes’ energy on the podium and the light they had in their eyes.
This swimming project was my Olympics in a way.
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What’ s something about you that people wouldn’t know?
I like dancing.
Whenever there’s a party or dance floor, I’m in.
I like island music, it’s fun.
You know swimming in the open water is like a dance in the ocean.
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