Diana Nyad By the Numbers
While we're all waiting for 61-year-old open-water endurance swimmer Diana Nyad to begin her history-making swim from Cuba to Florida, we've compiled a few metrics that illustrate how amazing she is. [Update: Diana Nyad Hits the Water]
103: Number of miles Nyad plans to swim from Cuba to Key West
102.5: Number of miles Nyad swam from the Bahamas to Florida in 1979 to set a world distance record for both genders
29: Number of pounds Nyad lost during her world-record-setting endurance swim
8: Approximate number of hours it took Nyad to swim 27 miles around Manhattan island in 1975 (Her exact time was 7:57.)
41: Number of hours Nyad spent in the water during her 1978 swim between Cuba and Florida, before weather conditions and navigational problems forced her to quit (The exact time was 41:47.)
76. 1: Estimated miles Nyad swam during her unsuccessful 1978 attempt
9: Estimated maximum height of waves, in feet, Nyad encountered in 1978
31: Number of years Nyad stopped swimming while pursuing a second career as a media commentator and fitness entrepreneur
13: Highest national women's ranking Nyad once held in her other competitive sport, squash
54: Strokes Nyad swims per minute
1.5: Nyad's speed in the water, in miles per hour, during distance swim
9,000: Calories Nyad consumes each day while in training. Her breakfast of champions: eggs, porridge, fruit and a protein shake
100: Number of miles she bicycled each Friday during the dry-land phase of her training
100: Number of burpees (pushups combined with jumps) Nyad can perform consecutively
15: Pounds of muscle Nyad put on in the past year while training for Cuba-Florida attempt
60: Estimated number of hours Nyad will spend in the water during 2011 Cuba-Florida swim
2,000: Estimated number of times Nyad sang "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme song in her head, to amuse herself during a recent long training swim
25: Members of her support team for the Cuba-Florida swim
2: Number of kayakers who will paddle alongside Nyad at all times to protect her from sharks
86: Minimum ocean water temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, required for Nyad to swim without danger of hypothermia
150,000: Estimated cost, in dollars, of her 1978 Cuba-Florida attempt
500,000: Estimated cost, in dollars, of 2011 Cuba-Florida swim
62: Nyad's age when she celebrates her next birthday on Aug. 22
Keep reading: Diana Nyad Close to Launch and Is This Diana Nyad's Summer?
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Comments:
Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit.
Sunday night or early Monday, it looks like. Good luck to Diana! http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/06/diana-nyad-says-big-swim-is-sunday/?iref=allsearch
Great post. I have been following Diana since the 70s when she swam from my home town to Toronto. I was a competitive swimmer back then, a sprinter. Then I gave it up for almost 30 years. This year I turned 50 and in celebration I joined a masters swim team last fall. A few weeks ago at one of my meets as I was about to race, and fraught with fear, I thought of Diana. I thought “if Diana can swim 103 miles- at the age of 61- without a shark cage, I can do my best time and win this race” and you know what? Buoyed with these thoughts of her, I did. It just goes to show how one person can inspire so many others. I write about embracing aging, instead of dreading it, on my blog Lines of Beauty and I am planning on featuring Diana again as soon as her toes hit those Cuban waters! All my best to you, Louise