The Real-Life Diet of "Longest Swim" Star Ben Lecomte, Who Is About to Swim Across the Pacific Ocean

For the next six months, the 51-year-old Frenchman will spend eight hours a day in the world's largest saltwater pool.
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On June 5, Ben Lecomte will dive into the water off the coast of Choshi, Japan and begin a 5,500 mile-long swim across the Pacific Ocean. If all goes according to plan, the 51-year-old Frenchman will not touch dry land again until he reaches San Francisco some six months later.

Daunting though this task may sound, it won't even be Lecomte's first foray into the world of transoceanic swims. In 1998, he traversed the Atlantic in only 73 days, but critics argued that his progress was aided by overnight drifting. This time, determined to avoid the imposition of asterisks, his 67-foot-sailboat is equipped with a GPS tracker to ensure that he ends and begins in the same spot each day. Beginning this week, viewers can watch daily videos and live moments from the "Longest Swim" expedition on Seeker. Discovery will also air weekly updates.

This journey is more than just the latest iteration of Lecomte's open-water swimming hobby—he's hoping to help draw attention to the declining state of the oceans, too. As he makes his way through the water, equipment on his body and his boat will collect invaluable data samples to help scientists study the consequences of pollution. We caught up with Ben during his last few non-aquatic days for the foreseeable future to discuss how he trains to spend six months in the world's largest saltwater pool; the steps he'll take to beat the elements along the way; and what meal he’s looking forward to eating during his first night ashore.

GQ: How do you begin training for a swim of this distance?

Ben Lecomte: I have always been very active. I’ve been doing open-water swimming for a long time, even before working on the Longest Swim project. I never stop doing aerobic training, bicycling, and running. It’s an ongoing process.

When I’m not traveling, it’s around three to five hours of training. But the real training is going to start when I swim, because I’m going to have to have to adapt to new situations: I'm going to be in the water for eight hours a day, and sleeping on a boat at night. The food regimen is going to be different. It will take awhile for me to adapt to those new conditions. I expect it to take two to three weeks for my body to get into a groove.

Nothing is stable when you're on a boat, and your body has to adjust to that. Digestion is much more difficult. Your sleeping patterns change, because you're constantly in motion, and you're waking up in the middle of the night because you're so hungry. When I swim for eight hours, there’s not a lot of food I can take in, so most of my intake is going to happen on the boat. While I’m there, I’ll try to rest and eat as much as possible, and that will continue throughout most of the night.

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How does one tell their family that they will be gone for six months to swim across the Pacific Ocean?

It’s not a conversation we had to have. [laughs] They knew exactly what I've been working on for the past seven years, so they knew I would be gone for half the year. I think it came naturally from going through the process.

For me, the most important thing is what I leave behind for my children in terms of using the platform to draw attention to what is happening to our oceans. We're going to be collecting data from day one, every day, across the entire ocean. The big focus is on the physical plastic, because that’s a problem we can solve. It's not easy, and it will take some willpower and some changing of habits. But it’s feasible.

I want as many people as possible to understand that each one of us has to take action, because the ocean is in peril right now, and if we don’t change anything, it’s going to be even worse in a few years. The ones who are going to have to pay for that is our children. And they’re not the ones who created that problem—we did.

What measures have you taken to brave the elements you’ll face over the course of the next six months?

We take all the precautions we can, because safety is our biggest concern. If there's a storm coming our way, we have a team on land that can inform us ahead of time and help us get out of the system if we need to. We have a device that keeps sea life away, and we have people to monitor the behavior exhibited by any sharks we may encounter.

One thing that is going to be very challenging is the water temperature, because there is only so thick of a layer I can wear to prevent freezing. After that, it’s about me finding the right speed to generate heat, so that I don’t get too cold, but that isn't too fast, because then I'll crash because I can't sustain that pace. There's going to be some fine-tuning, but if I had to put one of the issues on top of the list, it would be the cold water.

What’s going to be your typical schedule for the next six months?

When I wake up in the morning, I'll eat as much as possible before going in the water. When I’m in the water, every 20 to 30 minutes, I'll get some liquid food with calories in it. When I finish swimming, I’ll go back on the boat, eat, sleep, and eat some more. I have to consume about 8,000 calories a day, and you can’t take those in in just two meals.

At night, I know I’ll be waking up because I’ll be hungry, and I’ll just listen to what my body tells me. If I need to eat, I’ll eat. But I’ll make sure I have the right combination of protein, fat, and carbs, too.

Is it difficult to hold food down while doing that much swimming? How do you power past that?

It’s very difficult. I know my body pretty well. I have a hard time digesting anything sweet. Salty works better for me. Most of the food I have will be on the salty side, and when I swim, the food I have will mostly be soup. Anything solid has to wait until I’m on the boat.

Most of the food is freeze-dried and non-perishable, like pasta. A lot of people don't like it, but when I'm in these conditions, Spam is really easy on my intake. It contains a lot of calories, it's salty, and it's non-perishable. I'll be combining all this stuff with high-calorie shakes. There will also be add-ons, like a multivitamin and a ketone supplement. I'll have two medics who will monitor my nutritional intake and adjust it if needed.

How will you mentally prepare yourself each day for the monotony of eight hours of swimming?

I have a schedule that lists what I’ll be thinking about, and when. If I know ahead of time what I’ll be focusing on, it becomes easier, because my mind won’t go in a hundred different directions. That’s one of biggest elements of my routine: I’ll take a subject, focus my mind on it, and try and separate my mind from my body.

Is there anything special you’re looking to eat when you get to San Francisco?

[Laughs] I have one rule right now, which is that I'm not thinking about what I'll do or how it’s going to be in San Francisco. I just want to leave that clear, because I’ll entertain those thoughts when I’m swimming. That is one of the mental exercises I'll go through, actually. Food will be an important thing for me to focus on when I’m out there—that first meal back on land.