The ÖtillÖ Adventure – Part 2

Start of a New Journey – Max Jenkinson

Short introduction:

Most of you reading this will only know me by virtue of being Tom’s son. My name is Max and as you might expect by having him as my dad I am just as insane. To give you a short background, I was always an obsessive, clever and competitive kid who liked to embark on new endeavours that required one’s physical and mental limits to be pushed beyond where it seemed possible. These activities allowed me to submerge fully and forget about all mundane things. Totally consumed by the activity at hand, time seems to fade, negative emotions such as anxiety and stress dissipate and the only thing on your mind is the information necessary for you to advance in the game you are playing, be it football, ping pong or gaming. My life took a sharp turn when I decided to quit my then overconsuming habit of competitive gaming in order to pursue the search for optimal experience or as you might call it, happiness. I now spend most of my time trying to figure out how to improve my physical, mental and spiritual health, and I do this by reading, listening to podcasts and self-experimentation. I’m also taking a bachelors of science in biomedicine and sports physiology which helps a bit.  

I had just moved to a new city for university when Tom out of nowhere sent me this short film showcasing the “wonders” of the ÖtillÖ swimrun world championships. I looked at it,  it was impressive and I thought to myself is this crazy old man going to try to do this race as well? Of course he was, but in order to compete, he needed a partner. I was not enjoying where this was going! He then asked me to join him in what is deemed to be one of the hardest one-day endurance races on the face of the planet. Me not being a swimmer and not having done any form of endurance training for the past 7 years saw this as an opportunity to go on a physical and mental adventure alongside the man who raised me,… well I might, we’ll see.  He agreed to cover expenses and that was enough for me to accept the challenge. I’ve always told people that my dad is crazy but while contemplating if I should do this or not I realized I was way crazier!

To make this a bit more fun for both of us I’ve decided to track everything I know how to track and give you updates. I’ll be tracking my sleep, my heart rate variability, weight, calories, workouts, etc. Right now I am basically learning how to swim properly and I can’t really run because my shins/calf keep getting inflamed. I am slowly fixing that by using infrared light therapy, stretches and cold exposure. I hope you will enjoy following me going from a gym rat to an “almost” professional level endurance athlete! /Max