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Training The Mind And Body For Endurance Adventures With Isaac Kenyon
In this episode of the podcast Gavin is joined by Isaac Kenyon, co-founder and CEO of Climate Explorers, a trustee for a charity called Mind In Mid-Hearts, world record holder for the longest continuous rowing indoors and a TED speaker on the freedom and opportunity from being outdoors.
You can donate to Gavin’s JustGiving page for The Ocean Cleanup by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3DRZefO
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to The Ocean Cleanup, so it's the most efficient way to give - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- One of the things I came across during expeditions and adventures is that it felt like a big deal to jump into something like rowing across the Atlantic in terms of body prowess; how do I get my body prepared for that and all the eventualities I would be in. I needed to think about having a body that could sit down for that amount of time before I could get any power down. You need to be flexible rather than strong so you can get up and do it again and again.
- Physically, the biggest pain, on the row across the Atlantic, I had was the oars hitting my shins all the time. We did something like a million oar strokes on the journey and I’d say one in 10 times I would whack the oar into my shin. The hardest mental thing was dealing with team dynamics, other people having mental crashes. When you’re under pressure and other people are crumbling around you it takes a special type of mental strength to keep it all together and motivate everybody again to get that boat moving forward.
- Before I went on the Atlantic rowing adventure I broke the world record for indoor rowing because I wanted to know what my body was going to be like as it deteriorated rowing over the days and how my mind would react under this much pressure, lack of sleep. How do I keep my mind occupied looking at just the sea? I had to train my mind to keep itself strong and deal with simplicity. I rowed for 83 hours, almost 4 days with just a 5-minute break every hour. It was extremely taxing in the evenings, the nights and the early mornings, your body is screaming at you to go to bed all night. Conversation with someone else was the key, not films or podcasts or music, I found it really rewarding and it gave me energy.
- The hardest thing about swimming the English Channel for me was the cold. I used to swim nationally, it was always my sport. But going into open water swimming to look after my mental health and finding a bit more purpose within sport. Jumping into a lake for the first time in March in just my Speedos, I swear to you I thought I was going to die within 5 minutes. I was so shocked at how cold and how difficult it was, I couldn’t even deal with it. It was a whole new game of the mind and adapting my body for cold water, it wasn’t a game of swimming. I got hypothermia twice. It taught me to research things before jumping straight into things and to stay humble.
BEST MOMENTS
‘It’s more important to train the mind than the body when you’re doing extreme endurance challenges. The body will work, but if the mind can’t take it, I won't be able to do it.’
‘There were some really dark, deep moments on that boat. There were very specific, deep conversations that I had with certain individuals on that boat that I have never ever had with anyone before, trying to get out of the darkness and keep positive to keep that boat moving and the journey alive.’
‘Some ocean rowers end up developing a different personality that they talk to. They train their mind to think that there’s another person in the room, but it’s just themselves. It’s a bit nuts really, but it gives them peace of mind when they’re having a conversation with somebody and it feels real and it energises them.’
‘Train harder than you challenge – train for something that’s bigger so that when you get to your challenge it feels smaller and more doable.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Philanthropic world-record breaking British eco-adventurer, energy transition spatial analyst/researcher, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London and the Geological Society of London and a trustee for Mind mental health charity. Isaac seeks to make a positive difference to the planet in search of climate solutions and has founded ‘Climate Explorers’. Isaac seeks to help the people around him and found that portal through something close to his heart ‘outdoor challenges’.
Isaac has created and led numerous expeditions, completed a relay swim across the English Channel (no wetsuit) hailed as one of the world’s most difficult open water swims, summited Mt.Kilimanjaro in 4 days fighting altitude sickness, broke the World and British records for the lightweight longest solo continual ergometer (indoor rowing machine) row clocking in at 83 hours with no sleep, rowed in a team across the Atlantic Ocean in 40 days through storms and harsh seas and now has come back from achieving a world-first cycle from Orkney to the Isles of Scilly over sea and land (yes that is cycling overseas) in 14 days.
Isaac pursues extraordinarily difficult environments for the purpose to grow through pushing his limits in discomfort. Isaac also is a mental health advocate finding support for mental health through nature-based solutions and exercise. Isaac seeks to find climate solutions to scale up the restoration of the planet ecosystems through a combination of public awareness to drive behavioural change and funding to climate solutions for the environment. Isaac strives to create a platform which encourages a healthy lifestyle balance by reconnecting with nature and learning through the challenge.
CONTACT METHODS
Website: https://www.isaackenyon.com/
ABOUT THE HOST
Gavin Scott is a born entrepreneur with a passion for start up and scale up. He has over 20 years real estate experience in investment and development.
Gavin says: Over the years I have discovered that mindset is everything. Now, that might sound obvious, but it is! You see the number of awoken minds are very few in reality. Whilst acknowledging mindset is key it is absolutely different from utilising, influencing, impacting and effecting great change, for yourself, your loved ones, friends, colleagues and the wider public.
Why?
Like most of us I have had many ups and downs. I want to share the lessons learnt and promote a better environment for all, internally and externally!
How?
Through sharing my own experiences and hosting some fabulous individuals including some big household names to discuss key topics around mindset and the success formulas I hope the listener will become inspired to create space for change for betterment in their lives. I aim to inspire change by encouragement, not by force. I intend to inspire by education, not by regulation.
CONTACT METHODS
View all episodes
By Gav ScottIn this episode of the podcast Gavin is joined by Isaac Kenyon, co-founder and CEO of Climate Explorers, a trustee for a charity called Mind In Mid-Hearts, world record holder for the longest continuous rowing indoors and a TED speaker on the freedom and opportunity from being outdoors.
You can donate to Gavin’s JustGiving page for The Ocean Cleanup by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3DRZefO
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to The Ocean Cleanup, so it's the most efficient way to give - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- One of the things I came across during expeditions and adventures is that it felt like a big deal to jump into something like rowing across the Atlantic in terms of body prowess; how do I get my body prepared for that and all the eventualities I would be in. I needed to think about having a body that could sit down for that amount of time before I could get any power down. You need to be flexible rather than strong so you can get up and do it again and again.
- Physically, the biggest pain, on the row across the Atlantic, I had was the oars hitting my shins all the time. We did something like a million oar strokes on the journey and I’d say one in 10 times I would whack the oar into my shin. The hardest mental thing was dealing with team dynamics, other people having mental crashes. When you’re under pressure and other people are crumbling around you it takes a special type of mental strength to keep it all together and motivate everybody again to get that boat moving forward.
- Before I went on the Atlantic rowing adventure I broke the world record for indoor rowing because I wanted to know what my body was going to be like as it deteriorated rowing over the days and how my mind would react under this much pressure, lack of sleep. How do I keep my mind occupied looking at just the sea? I had to train my mind to keep itself strong and deal with simplicity. I rowed for 83 hours, almost 4 days with just a 5-minute break every hour. It was extremely taxing in the evenings, the nights and the early mornings, your body is screaming at you to go to bed all night. Conversation with someone else was the key, not films or podcasts or music, I found it really rewarding and it gave me energy.
- The hardest thing about swimming the English Channel for me was the cold. I used to swim nationally, it was always my sport. But going into open water swimming to look after my mental health and finding a bit more purpose within sport. Jumping into a lake for the first time in March in just my Speedos, I swear to you I thought I was going to die within 5 minutes. I was so shocked at how cold and how difficult it was, I couldn’t even deal with it. It was a whole new game of the mind and adapting my body for cold water, it wasn’t a game of swimming. I got hypothermia twice. It taught me to research things before jumping straight into things and to stay humble.
BEST MOMENTS
‘It’s more important to train the mind than the body when you’re doing extreme endurance challenges. The body will work, but if the mind can’t take it, I won't be able to do it.’
‘There were some really dark, deep moments on that boat. There were very specific, deep conversations that I had with certain individuals on that boat that I have never ever had with anyone before, trying to get out of the darkness and keep positive to keep that boat moving and the journey alive.’
‘Some ocean rowers end up developing a different personality that they talk to. They train their mind to think that there’s another person in the room, but it’s just themselves. It’s a bit nuts really, but it gives them peace of mind when they’re having a conversation with somebody and it feels real and it energises them.’
‘Train harder than you challenge – train for something that’s bigger so that when you get to your challenge it feels smaller and more doable.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Philanthropic world-record breaking British eco-adventurer, energy transition spatial analyst/researcher, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London and the Geological Society of London and a trustee for Mind mental health charity. Isaac seeks to make a positive difference to the planet in search of climate solutions and has founded ‘Climate Explorers’. Isaac seeks to help the people around him and found that portal through something close to his heart ‘outdoor challenges’.
Isaac has created and led numerous expeditions, completed a relay swim across the English Channel (no wetsuit) hailed as one of the world’s most difficult open water swims, summited Mt.Kilimanjaro in 4 days fighting altitude sickness, broke the World and British records for the lightweight longest solo continual ergometer (indoor rowing machine) row clocking in at 83 hours with no sleep, rowed in a team across the Atlantic Ocean in 40 days through storms and harsh seas and now has come back from achieving a world-first cycle from Orkney to the Isles of Scilly over sea and land (yes that is cycling overseas) in 14 days.
Isaac pursues extraordinarily difficult environments for the purpose to grow through pushing his limits in discomfort. Isaac also is a mental health advocate finding support for mental health through nature-based solutions and exercise. Isaac seeks to find climate solutions to scale up the restoration of the planet ecosystems through a combination of public awareness to drive behavioural change and funding to climate solutions for the environment. Isaac strives to create a platform which encourages a healthy lifestyle balance by reconnecting with nature and learning through the challenge.
CONTACT METHODS
Website: https://www.isaackenyon.com/
ABOUT THE HOST
Gavin Scott is a born entrepreneur with a passion for start up and scale up. He has over 20 years real estate experience in investment and development.
Gavin says: Over the years I have discovered that mindset is everything. Now, that might sound obvious, but it is! You see the number of awoken minds are very few in reality. Whilst acknowledging mindset is key it is absolutely different from utilising, influencing, impacting and effecting great change, for yourself, your loved ones, friends, colleagues and the wider public.
Why?
Like most of us I have had many ups and downs. I want to share the lessons learnt and promote a better environment for all, internally and externally!
How?
Through sharing my own experiences and hosting some fabulous individuals including some big household names to discuss key topics around mindset and the success formulas I hope the listener will become inspired to create space for change for betterment in their lives. I aim to inspire change by encouragement, not by force. I intend to inspire by education, not by regulation.
CONTACT METHODS