How Hard Is It to Swim a Marathon?

Can you swim for four hours straight? What about six hours? Ten hours? 20 hours? While the marathon is typically associated with running, marathon swimming is becoming a more popular way for the world’s craziest athletes to test their mental and physical endurance in some of the most dangerous conditions in the world.

If you’re wondering why anyone would ever want to swim for that long, you’re not alone. But that’s the reality of marathon swimming, and distance addicts around the world keep coming back for more.



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[barackdwaynecenajohson]

Get tired on a running marathon
You sit
Get tired on a swimming marathon
You drown

[robohippy]

Interesting comment about running vs swimming for calorie burn. Yes, burn rates can vary a lot from person to person. GTN/global triathlon network did a comparison between biking, running and swimming. It was not a clinical study, just their sports watches. The runners burned more calories per hour than the swimmers, and the swimmers burned more calories than the bikers. Their explanation was that running was weight based, and water was all about resistance. For sure, there is a huge necessity for planning your hydration and carb replenishing while doing any distance and duration events. My swim work outs are usually in the 2 hour range, up to 5000 yards. I have to take in a lot of electrolytes. I do mean a LOT.

[evamiaozkan]

A great encouraging and disheartening video 😀. I'm training for the Bosphorous race presently swimming 4k per day at age 54 while trying to be a good single dad to a 13 yr old daughter. sometimes it seems like swimming against the tide in and out of the water but I love both immensely. thanks for great content🥰

[Rory]

Great shot of Adam Walker at 6:23. First Brit to swim the Ocean Seven and a swim coach too

[purselmer]

When in middle school (called Junior High way back then) I had the following day during Christmas break:
Morning 3-hour practice: 12X1000X12:00
Afternoon 3-hour practice: 24X500X6:30
This was yards and I think I had a mental breakdown that day. But I did it. And I'm female.
Almost 60 now and I swim 4000 yards every day for fun.
Can't run for a darn.

[davidtannascoli]

I mainly have a running background. I’ve ran 19 Marathons. A few sub 3 hr. Marathons as well. I recently just completed my 2nd 10k open water Swim. Based on my personal experiences, I believe running a marathon is much tougher than swimming a 10k. There are some ways that make swimming a 10k difficult and mentally challenging, but a 3 hr swim is a bit easier than a 3hr run.

[ONTHETURPSNZ]

I think 'how hard' event X versus Y are comparatively is also dependent on the individual make-up & age of the athlete. For example. The longest I've gone in the open water is 5km (approx. 1:40) versus say a compatible 50km mountain run that took me 6:50. The run was way harder physically. The 110 km run I did was torture. I am building up for another 5km open & 10km pool swim in the new year. So personally I find swimming easier for some physiological reason. Perhaps it's because I'm in my sixties? Respect to anyone who undertakes these challenges.

[MarlynnespecialOlympics]

of course, I will love to do a marathon swim something I always wanted to do

[shulginru]

Thx for a nice short review of marathon swimming, the right comparison with running would be ultramaraton trail runs - pick your perrils from a similare menu: freesing temperature, wild trails, swams of insects, etc - your choice😂 (big city marathon events are more like treading a 10k in a pool)

[Nutty_Professor]

Dude, you forgot the Rio De la Plata crossing 40km from Colonia, Uruguay to Argentina. Second, you show swimming in a pool and is totally different than open water swimming, full of currents, cargo vessels and even whirlpools (if you venture in Norway)

[napraznicul]

I swim in open water each winter, some one or two times per month. When temperature is lower than 7°C usually i use short neoprene suit and neoprene cap. Obviously i swin in the summer too, some 3-4 times per week about 4 to 6km.
My longest open water swim was 5 hours in lake trichonida, but was for relax only, slow peace. Never marathon swimming, mostly because in most of known places it have to PAY a lot to try (around 10.000 euro)

[neletg]

It depends. I can swim 10 Km at an easy pace (2-2'20"/100m) without a problem, but to do a running Marathon? No way.

[clairhardywynn]

Hi guys great vid / content, I think I can safely say that swimming a marathon is harder than running one, Iv ran 7 marathons (3 road 4 trail) and ran a 60k ultra iv also swam 8k in open water not quite the 10k which constitutes a swim marathon but I think I can vouch that the swim was harder ….. at least in alot of ways, the main thing was the fuelling or lack of it it was all too easy to say one more loop one more loop I basically ended up swimming the entire 8k on about 3 jelly babies, I also found that by around 6.5k I started suffering from motion sickness something Iv never experienced during a swim before, Iv got to say this was pretty scary and totally unexpected - I did manage to complete the 8k but I admit I don’t think I could have swam much further due to the sickness ….. I’m doing my 8th marathon in Nov and have no more epic swims lined up so I guess there’s my answer !!

[aslesterg]

May I know if swimskin allowed for swim marathons?

[anthonyjowers]

Great video, I am doing my first 10km open water in 3 weeks time. I have done this in the pool in 3 hours. Hoping to do better on the day. My dream is to do the Gibraltar crossing but it is so hard to get permission, almost giving up on it...

[vls]

Hard and dangerous are different levels there sre many more people that run long marathons theres no way you can do a 20 km open water swim without extensive training i know fit people who can comfortably Run 20 km with 3 months training
No way you are swimming in the open ocean 20 km with 3 months training forget it . .unless you are already a high level swimmer but thats not the comparison here even then the ocean is very different to the safe cosy pool ....

[musify]

from my experience, i burn much more calories running than swimming