GRIT

Grit is perseverance and consistency towards long-term goals.

To me, grit is what keeps people moving when it would be easier to stop. It is not about motivation or feeling in control. It is about turning up when the session looks unlikely to go well, when the body feels off, or when the head is not quite there. Grit is staying in it anyway.

For me, Alistair Brownlee captures that mindset well. In Relentless, he wrote: “The best athletes don’t rely on feeling good; they show up when they don’t feel like it.” His mindset is simple: keep showing up regardless of how you feel.

I saw that recently with my brother, Dave. A week before the 2026 London Marathon, he passed out twice for no apparent reason. I thought he should not race. Instead, he made the start line and ran a championship time, only seconds off his PB. That took grit.

The clearest example I have ever seen came with Alan, a channel swimmer I coached. I watched him swim from Dover to Calais, barely stopping except for quick feeds because the cold would get him if he stayed still too long. We had his feeds down to single figure seconds. Roughly eleven hours in he stopped and said he could not continue. I basically told him to keep swimming, I cannot remember the exact words now. He did and four hours later he had crossed the Channel.

But the real grit came long before the crossing itself. Alan started training before COVID hit. Then the pools shut, winter arrived, he changed jobs, and he caught COVID himself. The swim got deferred. Still, with almost everything against him, he carried on and completed the challenge.

Today brought another example of grit. Dee set herself the goal of swimming one of my Adventure Swims, 3km offshore around Thatcher Rock, in support of Rowcroft Hospice, who cared for her dad before he died.

Earlier in the week, the forecast had been for strong easterlies, normally a bad combination for this east-facing stretch of the south-west coast because the wind builds waves and messy water. At the last minute, though, the conditions eased just enough for us to go ahead.

What I had not realised until the swim started was that almost all of Dee’s training had been done in a kind of improvised breaststroke. It was unconventional but incredibly effective. From the moment she left the beach, she had a completely non-stop mindset. No drama, no fuss, just steady forward progress.

The hardest section came after reaching the back of Thatcher Rock. Because we were slightly after high tide, the current running past the south side was super strong. For nearly twenty minutes it was like the Travelator from Gladiators except in cold open water. At times, she looked as though she was swimming on the spot, barely moving despite the effort.

She kept going, though, gradually edging around the west side of the rock, escaping the current, and beginning to pick up speed again. Once the circumnavigation was complete, there was still another 1.2km back to Meadfoot. Even then she never really stopped, just quick feeds of drink and bits of flapjack before carrying on again until, 2.75 hours after starting, she finished. That to me is grit.

These are only a few examples, but I see it often. The more I coach, the more I realise endurance sport does not just require grit, it trains it. Over time, it shapes how people deal with discomfort, setbacks, and uncertainty. More importantly, it teaches balance, when to lean into discomfort and when to step back. That is what turns effort into progress.

I often think the athletes I coach have more raw grit than I do. I am cautious. I have to be. I think about burnout, injury, and long-term consistency. Sometimes, athletes are right to push through like Dave was. Other times, they are not, and that is where coaching matters.

Grit is not just pushing forward. It is also adjusting, resetting, and try, try, trying again.

But grit is not the goal in itself. It does not guarantee success or the right decision. It simply guarantees engagement with difficulty, and that is often where people learn the most.

With that in mind, I am going to grit my teeth, pun intended, and organise a swim event later this summer.

The Open Water Swimathon on 22nd August is designed for beginners through to experienced swimmers. It will be a simple, small event with 500m laps with full safety cover, where participants can choose their own challenge, from one lap (500m) to ten (5000m).

A chance to test yourself, support good causes, or simply take part. Profits will be split between the local surf lifesaving club, Rowcroft Hospice, and Aspire to Sea Swim, which supports over-50s in open water swimming.