Nick Irons - Swam the Mississippi, Biked 10,000 Miles For His Dad

Photo: Courtesy of Nick Irons

This High School All-American and Boston College NCAA Division I swimmer combined his passion for swimming with his wish to raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis -- a disease his father lives with -- to swim the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to Baton Rouge. He finished his goal -- a total of 1,550 miles -- in four months and then decided to bike the perimeter of the continental United States. That's Fit had the chance to ask Nick Irons about endurance, not having to count calories and what keeps him motivated to stay active these days.

That's Fit: You trained for 18 months, then swam every day for four months. How did you maintain your enthusiasm, stamina and drive?

Nick Irons: It helped that I was never "just" swimming the Mississippi River. I was swimming the Mississippi River to help my dad. The swim was my way of making a difference, by raising money and awareness for multiple sclerosis (MS) -- the disease my dad lives with. Whenever I had feeling of quitting, all I had to do was remind myself why I was swimming in the first place. I thought about my dad struggling to walk. I thought about his daily, never-ending fight with MS and realized that he can never say "I've had enough." He can never end his fight with MS by saying "I quit." That was always enough for me to keep swimming.

I thought about that for four long, long months of swimming. And I never quit. We raised more than $150,000 for MS research, and we were able to keep MS in the news for over four months.

That's Fit: What did you eat to fuel yourself on journey?

Irons: To be honest, I ate anything and everything I could get my hands on. And it still was not enough. Swimming 10,000 strokes a day burns over 9,000 calories. That is the equivalent of 18 Big Macs, four large pizzas or 20 pieces of fried chicken.

I started my swim in Minneapolis at 215 pounds. I weighed myself in Memphis, which was about a month from my finish in Baton Rouge, and I was 175 pounds. I probably finished the swim around 165.

That's Fit: Do you have any other big challenges in mind for yourself?

Irons: I think I am done with stupidly long endurance events. Because, I already did a follow up to the swim.

How do you follow up a 1,500-mile swim? With a 10,000-mile bike ride, of course. I did a giant loop around the perimeter of the United States on a bike. Starting in my hometown of Washington, D.C., I rode to Florida, across the country to San Diego, up the west coast to Seattle, across the northern states to New York and back down to D.C. I rode 75 miles a day, five to six days a week, for five months. The bike ride was also for MS and we raised another $250,000 for the cause.

I now own a personal training company in the Washington, D.C. area and use everything I learned to train for my two events to help other people get in the best shape of their lives. I plan to open a high-end personal training studio in Bethesda, Maryland in the next year. Now I get most of my workouts while I am helping my clients. I do cardio several times a week and I do yoga.