How do you Hit the Wall?

We recently provided a Firewalk for 120 Open Water Swimmers that will be taking on the North Channel (35km of swimming non-stop). This was our second year providing a Firewalk for the Infinity Channel Swimming training weekend, aptly named, Hit the Wall!

Are you wondering what Firewalking has to do with swimming?

Well, as you can imagine, Firewalking is an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone. A chance to work on your head game and mindset. A chance to build on your resilience and an opportunity to add to your bank of memories for when times are tough. It’s a time to pay attention to your thoughts and to challenge limited beliefs. An opportunity to build your Emotional Courage. It adds fuel to and strengthens your self-belief and ability to push through when you Hit the Wall. And you don’t even have to Firewalk to experience and learn all this!

And that is exactly what the organisers of the Hit the Wall Training Camp wanted. Hitting the Wall is common in long-distance swimming. In fact, it is a phenomenon common in most endurance sports. And it is something that people can and do face in their journey of life. It can manifest itself as a feeling of being stuck, of not wanting to go on, shutting down, or being in a rut.

Of course, if you Hit the Wall in sports it is to do with your body as well as your mind, but that can happen in life too.

Can Firewalking help when you Hit the Wall?

The Firewalk is a great activity to spark conversations about Hitting the Wall and it can serve as a great anchor for when the time comes. If it comes.

You see, when you are standing in front of the Fire your head will be full of negative voices telling you that you can’t do it. That it is dangerous and stupid. Or that you will get burned. All these negative thoughts from your brain are there to protect you.

That is what happens when you Hit the Wall too, whether you are swimming, walking, running, or cycling. Your brain wants you to stop. It wants you to back down, it wants you to give your body a break.

Standing in front of the Fire, you can observe these thoughts, catch them, acknowledge them, and then dig deep and go past them. If you do, you have just proved that you can go past the negative talk; and you can go past that wall to! And if you don’t, you now have an experience that you can draw upon and work on to help you prepare for when you might hit the wall.

Hats off!

It’s a pleasure and honour to support this event and we have so much respect for these amazing people. They are challenging themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally, and they are doing what they love. And hats off to the man with the prosthetic leg who Firewalked both years – one leg on the fire and his prosthetic leg on the grass.

And we can’t not mention that it is always surreal to be Firewalking with people in their swimwear!

Thanks for having us!