E51 - Dean Madsen - Training for a 40km Swim with Parkinsons.

This week we sit down with Auckland swimmer Dean Madsen — a man who knows what it means to push limits in and out of the water. Dean’s journey started in the world of triathlon and Ironman, where endurance and grit became part of his DNA. These days his focus is on two of New Zealand’s greatest open water challenges: the 40km Lake Taupō crossing and the legendary Cook Strait swim. 

But Dean’s story goes much deeper than training and KM's. Over the past year he’s faced a string of health battles — first a minor heart issue, then the life-changing diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Instead of stepping back, Dean has stepped up, embracing swimming as both therapy and adventure. His outlook is humble, determined, and refreshingly laid-back.

At a young 62 years old, Dean balances the seriousness of his mission with his love of the ocean, the surf, and just being a cool, grounded guy. In this conversation, we talk resilience, mindset, chasing audacious goals, and what it means to keep moving forward no matter what life throws your way.

If you would like to support his cause, please donate...

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/swimming-for-parkinsons-my-journey-my-mission

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to another Clever Dicks podcast. In this podcast we're talking to Dean Madsen. Dean is an Auckland bass drummer who's been swimming for a long time and is currently building up to do a big swim or two in his future. However as you'll hear when you listen to the podcast he's had a bit of a tough year, he's had some hard issues and then ended up getting diagnosed with Parkinson's. So let's listen to how he deals with all of his challenges and what's in his future. Yeah well welcome to another Clever Dicks podcast. Today we're talking to Dean. How are you today Dean? I'm good thanks Jim. Thanks to being here. Yeah cool cool. So what what we start off with is we just give you a bit of an opportunity to tell us your swim story you know sort of how you kind of got into it and what it means to you and things like that and then we can dive into into the more interesting things and we'll take the conversation as it goes. So what's your swim story Dean? Okay so I wasn't really much of a swimmer when I was little. I was mainly a surfer and gizzy and the funny thing about that was when my dad used to take us down to the beach when I was young he decided that he had enough again to the beach every day because we were such me a keen swimmers so I had to learn to swim. Got my 100m swim certificate and once I had that that was it you can just go surf. The need dad to come down with you. So there wasn't so there wasn't much swimming back around as a youngster but my two out of brothers were keen triathletes and I watched them. One of my brothers tried to qualify for the Commonwealth Games, 1990 Commonwealth Games and I guess that sparked an interest in triathlon so that's probably where my swim journey started was I went along to a pool and got some technique lessons. Yeah, yeah. Start a swimming. Did triathlons for about 15 years? A few iron mans thrown in there and then I guess it just casually throws that in. A couple of iron mans yeah. Yeah my brothers were really good at short course but I just went straight to the long so yeah it just seemed to be a bit of an endurance nut which probably brings me where I am today but about 15 years ago I think I got really seriously into open water swimming and made my own Richard Alice started a men's health group with swimming as the main focus of it. So the idea of that was to go along there's a mix of eyes going to have a coffee at a bit of banter and you know that would be good for men's health so that's kind of got us into swimming in from there kind of proceeded to grow from from that you know oh I remember that's the mistake I made was I brought a woman to that group once we did I'm so sorry but you guys are accommodating us really well so thank you. Yeah we had a sip of a sip of a table and we had a sip of a table and I was finished for the day but it's okay yeah. Yeah it's a it's a good crew so yeah I think one of my mates about seven or eight years ago we did our first sort of marathon swim which was the one from Mairangi Bay down to Devonport. Oh yeah yeah we trained pretty hard for that we trained pretty hard all over the summer and then on the day they cancelled it. I remember that yeah it was quite it was quite funny it was pretty rough and one of my mates who hadn't trained quite as hard he was walking down the road and then they announced it was cancelled and he was going woo! It's not on and then we politely told him we got there that we're still going to swim. So his reaction was quite funny yeah but that must be like 10k's yeah it's 12 but they call it 10 because it's tired of us to swim okay but that day was probably probably an honest 12 of the chop. I remember some of the sideways chop hitting me and you'd be swimming along and you'd get hit by this wave and you'd just kind of move sideways but it was fine it was only occasionally and it was harder for our gaiache we felt sorry fam. Well it's you know when it cancelled my gaiache who was my daughter was was quite relieved and I don't think she would have actually handled it so. I think that's why they actually cancelled it was more for the gaiache as in the swimmers and that was right there was the right safety call. Yeah yeah I did the last part of it that year we just went from Takapuna round because one of the other swimmers their son was like really seriously into life saving so he thought he'd be fine and he was yeah. Yeah It wasn't so bad once you got around North Head it was just getting around North Head was the challenge that day wasn't it? Yeah yeah it's like a washing machine. Yeah yeah it was quite an lumpy that day. Yeah North Head is is where that swimmer was knocked over by a ferry or about that's correct yeah ten years ago. Oh yeah yeah. I didn't realise it was there. I thought I knew I thought it was around the narrow neck region but I guess it is kind of that area. Yeah I think it was I think he was going from narrow neck around into different porties. So that brings me to my next question do you swim with the Tow float? So that's your visible? I don't know. Yeah I mean I think with the mocha crew we've been swimming down at Takapuna like inside the lane boys. Yeah and that's primarily where I swim but when I go and I have to admit I've been a bit naughty lately with the beta bay crew and then I haven't brought my Tow float but generally as a rule if I'm with other groups I'll take my Tow float. Yeah definitely as a safety. Yeah and to be honest for health reasons now I probably should have a Tow float. I think so yeah that's been it it's been an interesting year. Yeah yeah we can talk about that now so when we met you yeah you had put your hand up for a Taupo crossing ahead and you were training that made and I think we we managed to do one swim around Gulf Harbour. It's called Gulf Harbour Shakespeare to Army Bay. Yeah that was a great swim though and I really enjoyed it. It was like 8k or so some 8 to 9 years. Yeah that was an interesting swim was really good. Yeah besides the fact that I couldn't keep up with you guys but that was good. Tell us what you know maybe a little bit of that journey and then you know the wheels are falling off a little bit. Yeah so the training training was going pretty well I thought through January February and you know I kind of got to March where I guess almost in the home straight to do that swim. Yeah had to go down to do a big swim in Gwenshalat sound. Yes. With a group of people and got sick two weeks before that and it was kind of deja vu because to be honest I'd been sick the year before for that swim and not been able to complete it. I'll do one of the sections but it's it's like about 10 legs. Okay I'll swim so I did two llegs that year. Yeah. This year I got there and I was croaking it was kind of like oh shit bloody deja vu and I was almost going to hop on the boat and not swim the first day and I thought no I just can't do that and I thought I'm just going to hop on the water and I'll swim okay and if I don't feel any good I'll hop out. Yeah. So kind of hopped on the water had a swim and fouled okay and fouled quite slowly picked it up and next year and I sort of finished fairly high up in the group considering I was I was first sort of non-witzing person. Yeah. Back to the boat and thought I yeah it was good, fouled okay, hopped on the boat had a quick look at my garment my heart rate was about 10-15 beats higher and it should be and thought okay well this ain't right. Something's not right. Yeah so I kind of eased off and didn't swim the next day and and to be honest I was cropping it for the whole weekend. Yeah. Came back and it was actually lucky one of my mates got me an earlier flight because the weather was pretty rough. Yep. With Ian New Zealand and yeah got a striving home from the airport and just sort of thought my chest feels a little bit funny and a bit of pressure on the chest and thought I would have I would have ranked at a one out of ten. Yeah. So most men I think all of us would have ignored that entirely and if I had been from a garment showing all these high stress levels and different things and a few things over the over the weekend I'd have sought and then I actually thought I'd thought a little bit sswaet on my forehead and said right those two things plus a Garmin that could be hot and I thought I was just going to get a hospital and get checked. Yep. Did you listen to the ghost straight from where you were? I literally went I was still going home I rang my wife and said look not sure but I'm just going to get a hospital and get checked. I thought well it really started on an ECG or do something. Yep. I wasn't looking forward to going to hospital because then it was going to be a bit of a wait but it actually didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. Yep. And so it was really minor when it was in the actual hospital I think whatever they saw was quite minor but it was all just it was all just enough like talking to the cardiologist post that it was kind of like you know everything was just enough to have a look. So anyway they after a number of series of tests they found a blockage in my left artery. It was quite well I mean I think it was about 60 to 70 percent range and I've got a stentance inserted. So obviously had to take a few weeks off swimming couldn't do taupeau. So there was a match there was a match. There was a match. There was a match. Swim was supposed to be an April that was March. Yep. So that basic I mean a drink full rush from the hospital and say look mate I can't cancel him. And I wasn't sure what it was going to mean but the cardiologist and all that kind of at the hospital thought that swamming was storming the cards. Yep. Okay. Yeah now I've seen a cardiologist on a treadmill test and they do want to do one more test on me which we're going to do in November. Yep. But at the stage it's pretty comfortable when since that episode I eased into training really really lightly. Like the first my doctor told me not to swim for five weeks and my caliologist said now there's rubbish it's too too long. I like your cardio we must maybe give his details to this to the guys after this. I two weeks later I hopped in the water in the water. If I keep my heart rate real low yeah no worries right and I thought with swimming it's all about feel so I just wanted to be in the water and I swam it and probably an abysmal stroke an abysmal pace but heart rate never went very high and did that for a couple of weeks and then that okay and slowly build it up and within the five weeks I think I was sort of back to squadron. Yep. Took a little bit of confidence I think once I had had the I knew the cardio check was coming out for the caliologist once I got that tick it was like back to full draining and it's sort of gone pretty good since then. Okay. Yeah. Nice man. Yeah. So that then postponed your plans for for Topo probably a year or a year or a year and was the thinking? Well I mean my goal has always been to do to be honest to do the cook straight and I almost said to full rush members on hospital I said look well after hospital I said look I think I've learned a lot this year maybe we should just go straight to the straight but I suppose we only thought about it and to be honest I don't think I'd train hard enough I don't have my nutrition right there's so many things that I didn't feel like I'd write so I thought no I'm not going to I'm not going to do the cook straight I will do tailpipe. Yep. I think it's I think it's it's a longer swim and it's probably tough because of the time in the water but you don't have the currents you don't have all those kind of things to deal with and I thought well in a way part of it's harder part of it's easier I think you know I've watched some of the people on the track as this year and there's some really good swimmers here I made it cook a cook straight yeah I'm thinking well I'm not I'm not good enough so I mean one of the positive things about the heart was it gave me a chance to reset and I went and talked to my swim coach and I had done a few lessons with him the year before but not many and we'd started doing a bit of technique work so I've used that passage of time to really get a lot of technique training in and certainly there's quite a lot to fix yeah and store a bit to fix but who's your coach but what's Jacob at Millennium but he's just gone down for sure okay it's a real I think we're all sorry to see him he had quite a nice following he was by he's just a genuine good guy and I really enjoyed him and you know the one-on-one sessions had with him and certainly all missing so whether I find someone else to fill that gap because there's still a bit of correction to be done but I think we've made some good changes Jim can reference you to somebody yeah nice yeah my coach so money more at swim smooth works on a game field she's pretty good yeah I'd go and have a yarn with her so see what you get really yeah I'll grab that name before I leave yeah yeah yeah definitely I need I need a little bit of work on my left arm but it's getting there so I knew even some of my training swims last year that with my left arm I don't hold it out long enough and I tend to and I think I don't rotate enough to now I was watching a video today and I don't hold my rotation so we're on the side that you know non-breathing side most people swimmers don't rotate enough and I think that's the issue which means then my hands dropping too far on the water and then I'm pulling it across and of course when it's choppy that just gets over exediated now I've got a very similar problem my left hand's my problem but so it's my right arm my left leg my right leg and my breathing yeah I've kind of got a new excuse for my left arm it shakes a little so yeah so it's my cheek you guys are brave with it me because I wouldn't even go for a video in your analysis because they're gonna just tell me do you take up kayaking or something or I don't even want to see the end of this to be honest I'll just rather have them say look that looks really crap just do that um so I'm assuming when you were sort of starting like back in the day with with triathons and iron man and suffocate you were in a wetsuit yeah yeah primarily I swam in a wetsuit so yeah non-wetsuit swimming feeling you yep probably only started to be honest actually I really only started the last summer yep it's really new it's really new you had to go non-wetsuit um feels kind of given me a little bit of a dispensation this winter of not so suffocate as you hop back in the wetsuit yeah it was a little bit consumed for the heart and everything originally and the cold um not overdo it and stress the body even more um so and also swimming through the winter was new to me I only did a little bit of last winter and that was my first winter of probably I've done a couple of swims but I'd better do more last winter um and this year of kind of swam through the winter for the first time so that's so there's a start looking looking to get rid of the wetsuit in October so I think once all temperature gets to about 16 in a bit that'll be enough yeah yeah yeah only two degrees off yeah yeah we're getting there yep oh so hopefully I'll be back in the water at the same time you in the wetsuit yeah yeah yeah but I will tell you a date you should yeah okay so um at that stage maybe just a a guy so how old are you Dean you so I'm 27 28 yeah and I'm 61 almost 62 are we 62 in December yeah so um but I actually feel like I'm probably not swimming much slower than when I was in my 30s and doing eye man to be honest cool I think I was um certainly fitter yep and the breathing was better yeah but the technique wasn't as good okay so like I wouldn't say I was fast but I'm not far off yeah okay it'd be interesting to do an eye man swim and see what I can knock out yeah put it that way yeah with the wetsuit and the whole thing you know with the wetsuit and then I reckon um I think uh because I used to come in like Hawaii was my best swim in the eye man a wide at 59 minutes yep three two point eight case yeah I think I think a wide three point nine to be honest okay um but of course it's not wetsuit let's stick it on the cards and do a three point eight case time time time somewhere yeah yeah time trials those are fun wetsuit do you need to do yeah yeah I'll be on the support but it's got a way out of good course it kind of fits it yeah yeah that's cool well we'll organize a couple of guests comes from with you yeah um we'll bring shaziel we'll we'll keep you on your toes yeah oh yeah yeah yeah okay so like as a as a um I was going to say an old man but that's not appropriate so maybe as a mature dead husband working dude how do you how do you fit the swimming and the training in around work and laugh and and relationships and all of that stuff is that easy or is it just being something you've always done uh well to be honest I'm in the training recently it's been pretty easy I retired from we spent that I worked for 40 years um just over three years ago now um and then I was doing sort of our jobs but um last year I took up a job working for a mortgage-breaking company and when they were hiring me I said look I don't want to work full-time and and they say well we don't want casual we don't want part-time we want full-time but we're prepared to give you whatever you want yeah um so I negotiated that that meant um three times a week I'd go out and swim a couple hours nice um at lunchtime that's cool it's quite so so fitting in swimming around work is not mushy yeah which therefore means um fitting swimming around families not so bad it's easier yeah um Saturday's always been my swim day um with the moccac boys so that's fine um yeah Sunday I try to make a day for me my wife but she's also been a little bit um well she's she's furia accommodating and that she understands that um as my training picks up I'm gonna have to swim yeah sundays yeah as well which is kind of eating into um what is ultimately our day but yes that's kind of lots of balancing right but a little bit of balancing but not too bad to be honest I'm pretty lucky nice man yeah last good and what so what's up a distance you get up to like in your sort of base sort of top week yeah I've because I've come back from this hard issue and in a few different health things this year um I've really been concentrating on speed pull technique um some the mortgages have been at high um probably any averaging about 12k a week I think a few weeks ago I got up to 17 and a half um I think once we get into October we'll be into the 20s um which to be honest is what head of where I was last year when I made the decision to do talpo I had been we'd spent a bit of time traveling around Europe and wasn't swimming so therefore had no base um kind of picked it up and and really most my training got done and um they've been bid to send better in January yep um so I kind of feel confident that I'm head of the game this year nice it can build from there to I think last year my peak week was about when it was close to 30k yep um which is still not enough um but but but I saw her time to go at that stage so um yeah it was getting there yep yeah 30k's a week is still a lot of swimming arts it is but for what I want to do it doesn't feel enough put it away yeah so one of the things you mentioned was nutrition and and that's something that snaled me on a couple of this swim so what's going to be your plan to work out you know nutrition training is it almost as important as swim training you know trying to work out exactly what your thing is did you have a intentional plan as to how to how to work out what the best thing is for you I'm really in the early stages of working that out but I know last year there was a couple of swims I did with Alan Jerry where I was absolutely because fine like with swim 10k or 15k but then the rest of the day was wiped out and um one of the things I've been guilty of is that I would go and have a swim and have really hardly any if any pre swim nutrition even for my short swims um so now I'm starting to bring in you know even if it's just a banana or a taste of jam on it or um and then obviously some electrolyte drinks I'm bringing that kind of stuff in as a start just bought a book on endurance nutrition for endurance athletes oh yeah I might even have that yeah yeah I'm going to just bought it so I'm going to just starting to read it and looking at everything um so I'm really in the early phases of changing my nutrition but um yeah I've made made a couple of small changes already um around what I eat um and the focus will be even more so yeah because my understanding of it is that there's there's so many things that you can do and you've got to work out what what's good for you because what what works for Jono is not going to work for Dean you know you have to work out what what what you need on your swims right yeah and and I'd be interested to see how swimming compares to triathlon like I'm storing ever triathlon fan and love watching the I'm animal champs and things like that and you know the amount of carbs that those guys eat and have a handle it but of course you know that they all talk about what they're doing but also how they've trained their body to take in those carbs so I think when I do my long swims this year um that'll certainly be something that'll have in mind um hi listeners Jim here you probably know that Duncan and I have a little business called swimscape swimscape supports swimmers doing marathon swims but we also support groups doing relays the little group that we're with did a relay swim the length of tarpo a couple of years ago and we had such a good day and it was a real fun experience so if you and your friends want to do a relay swim or have any description and need some support please drop us a line at info at swimscape.co.nz and we can talk about it come on you know it's going to be fun I agree yeah I think that you know those long swims is probably less about just swimming and more about trying to work out exactly how what nutrition and how your body deals with it and everything else like that yeah I'm with you on that well that day we did the nine kit that eight to nine case swim around golf harbour for instance I had a cap of jails I had no liquid and I was dehydrated into the swim so it definitely impacted me on that last part of the swim as well in terms of performance and probably recovery so I didn't notice that maybe more in recovery Jim yeah it's just fuel right it's fuel yeah I mean your body needs fuel yeah so I was probably just guilty of just not paying enough attention to it so yeah like I say it's something that I'm planned to pay attention to so the two big things I'm looking at is well actually three really it's technique nutrition and probably training volume yeah but but again due to my some of my health reasons more so looking at recovery been important as well yes yeah and at our age and recoveries um support of age you're age I was looking at you I was going at our age just keep me out of that so from the two guys who were able to swim today in the water we're basically putting some output out the nutrition was important yeah absolutely yeah we sort of hopping around and sketching around it but you've had some other health issues pop up in the last couple of months yeah so you've had a you've had a well I'm about a really tough year man in terms of getting your head around a couple of new things yeah yeah a month and a half to go I got diagnosed with Parkinson's and I'd like to say it was a shock but it probably wasn't um I think last year to be honest I already had tremors in my left arm and I've been at my physio and she'd noticed them and she said oh and I kind of told her I had it for a little while I looked up to be honest I don't even know when it exactly started but it began for a while she said I think you should get a doctor and get that shit out I thought it was maybe new similar to that so I went to the doctor and they refer me on to new rologist and then with our lovely health system in New Zealand nowadays you've got to wait so roughly 10 months later which was probably only just a month and a half ago to be honest it was beginning of September I got the diagnosis after going through a whole checklist of questions and assessing me that I had Parkinson's which I suppose where I was a little bit concerned the most of was that my father and my wife's father had Parkinson's and he obviously lived for a long time with it but you know we got to see them packed on this wife family I knew when we were daughter took it pretty hard when granddad passed away yeah so I thought it was going to be a shock for the wife but she kind of knew I went home and I said I you know had the test today and she said oh so you got Parkinson's and I said yeah and she's kind of she said no you're kidding me right okay no but she's been she's been awesome about it which yeah like I wasn't sure how how we'd go there and then my daughter broke down which I kind of expected hold your daughter she's 22 sorry no she's 23 now actually yeah so what is Parkinson's what what what is it what is the way forward how's it going to impact your your life and I guess swimming yeah so I guess it's a neurological neurological disease but it's my understanding it's to do with the dopamine levels and the brain of something to do with the neurons that you have you got cells that die and then they can't produce as much dopamine and dopamine I think most people would know is the kind of pleasure part of the brain so maybe that's why I'm a bit of a grumpy bugger at times but yeah no it's I mean that it's my understanding is is the dopamine and Parkinson's is a slow burn disease as as we saw and my father more but everyone's different so I can't I can't think that I'm going to be like him my main symptoms at the moment are just essential tremors which means my left arm shakes yeah the guy is always used to laugh at me when I came in from his swim I think I was really cold yes and and to be honest I actually think the cold exacerbates the shakes a bit yeah sure it does yeah yeah so and it's predominantly my left arm and it's gotten worse over life from when I went to the doctor's a year ago to where it is now it's slowly deteriorated and I think that's the thing is it will deteriorate so when I had that conversation with a wife that day she said to me well what do you want to do and then that's that's more what do you want to get down in life we've got the health so that's where she was coming from and I said well two key things to do these swims and for me and also to um you know maybe go back to Europe again as a family over there yeah so I guess you know you don't know if you're health and I don't know if my health what it's going to look like obviously it's going to change over time yeah so I just feel like I've got a window and that window is now yeah um and and hopefully I've got a window a couple of years to get couple these things down yeah exercise is supposedly good for Parkinson's and that um it yeah it helps with dopamine levels yeah and I mean I feel great when I'm swimming I've got a great bunch of mates in the mocka crew that support me yeah um so all those kind of things that you need in your checklist of friends and and swimming and all that kind of stuff it's all there right so yeah it's a good basis to work off yeah so you sort of I guess just carry on with the routine and yeah get get more stuff done right yeah so I kind of immediately decided and I and I had planned for Talpo that I was going to fundraise and um and to be honest I thought it was going to be a hard foundation after what had happened to me there yeah um but as soon as I got diagnosed with Parkinson's it was right um yeah it's got to be Parkinson's um jesus dad had it I've got it now um I can't support them and the and I don't think that is well funded or organisation it looked like to be honest I don't know but um I know they're not I don't believe the government funded um and the and I've got in touch with them they've sent me some information packs had a chat to an educator um these seems to be a really good support network for those people who need it I think it's probably more when you're more advanced with the disease um in particular but like they do lots of things for people who've got Parkinson's so it was just natural to say hey well guys um contact and you let you know that I've just recently died I know it's what girl do for me but by the way I'm going to do something for you nice yeah hello swimmers I'm Shannon Keegan U.S.-based founder of intrepid water and host of the podcast stories from the water my friends at swimscape in ockland new zeland are the proud ambassadors of ockland's most iconic ocean marathon swim the 20 kilometers around rangito to volcano in the haraki golf this is a very achievable marathon swim that like all long distance swims will live in your memories forever I don't know about you but I've got this swim on my bucket list for when I get to visit the beautiful land of the kiwi jump on swimpscape.co.nz or email info at swimpscape.co.nz to book your slot see you in the water well nice we'll we'll be behind you supporting you thank you um so when's when's topple like to topple uh don't don't have a firm date it just completed the registration form today and got a witness by um a friend and um yeah we'll send that off to film next week but I did say to my plan was to do it near the end of March um so hopefully it looks like they've got a weekend available um so again I'm supposed to go into quince Charlotte which has been my biggest one so two years in a row so that's with Peter Gibbs right yeah yeah yeah we've had him on a on a podcast I was talking to mureka about it today that's a great swim there yeah well mureka's always always there she's she's done everyone yeah she gave me a hard time last year because I turned up and my buoyancy shorts because you thought I was going to do it you know not we not once they told no no buoyancy shorts but that was just so I could swim away from her quite comfortably she's tough eh she's tough she's a good swimmer yeah she is yeah yeah okay so so we aiming hopefully sort of March April it's uh yeah it'd be either the very beginning of April or the end of March so yeah like with Phil we don't necessarily get a firm date took less of the time but I've kind of told him and I believe that he's taken that on board I've already had an email back saying he's a registration and you're looking at the end of March so yeah uh don't have lots of stuff with her and everything that close apart eh yeah I think last year I only had a firm firm well I don't even have had a firm date but we kind of well we actually did get a firm date but it's only about a month month out from swung so I was literally just trying and wondering when it was going to be but that that's a long that's a long that's a I'm chatting to some of the guys they get like two-day notice yeah yeah yeah yeah so oh guess it must have been yeah you've got plenty of time and no excuses this time okay that's yeah man so just going on from that park and since it hasn't changed your or so what or how you're swimming or anything like that or is it just a just a condition that you now know and you deal with and you kind of doing the same thing as you were doing before or had changed anything there's a few things I guess I'm aware of that happens with the disease because it can cause a lot of muscle tightness I think you know you get the Parkinson's stoop with your with your back and things like that yeah I mean that's all going to take take time but I suppose the advantage I've got is knowing that what might occur in the future and trying to take those steps and measures to counter that right so balance can be an issue for people Parkinson's and falling and things like that but again like I say it's a slow burn in this different stages it's going to stage in the mind so I think the strength work and the exercise and whatever you do today is going to starve at all so a lot of luck in the future right so a lot of gym work as well as is is hopeful is it um well I think I mean the right well I think a little gym week's good anyway because I don't do enough for my swimming I do I do one or two sessions a week in the gym which is not enough and I don't do any I do all arm work right so I don't do much leg work I do a few exercises at the German I do a little bit of treadmill stuff and I walk um that's yeah length of my leg work nowadays occasionally my wife takes me for bike ride and pedal board and they're surfing for balance these yeah so there's no um drug sort of schedule associated with Parkinson's now there is a medication that can help um and to be honest I'm at a stage where I'm in two minds about it not not that I won't go on the medication because I definitely will um but there are side effects with the medication um and two of those two side effects are fairly minor one can be a little bit nausea and um I think the other one it can make you a little bit sleepy and it's kind of like what if you're doing an endurance swim or um things like that and you've got nutrition you don't you don't want to be vomiting anything like that I'm not saying it's going to because these side effects only affect a small range of people um talking to the neurologist um you know when I got the diagnosis he started talking about them the medicine and there's other side effects where um which are more serious I suppose um so they've got to get the dose just right if you if you over if you I get too much deeper mean I think the extreme is schizophrenia but um I think that's an extreme and I don't I don't think that's something that occurs much or it'll be honest but I don't I don't know um I've got to go like this diagnosis is fairly new and I've had a couple of weeks over in raro um I was planning just going to have a normal doctor visit and maybe have a chat to be able to meds so if I go into the meds it'll be before Christmas to give me time to adjust um for the training nutrition to understand what it means um or the neurologist did say to me because at the meeting I said well look I'm not sure whether I can make this decision to go on these meds today um and he said well don't wait three or four years because he said every six months you won't notice it day to day but maybe six months time or twelve months time you'll notice a change and he said you don't want to get through four years down and not be on the medication um and I think and I think things have changed in terms of how they view the medication then in the past some of the past they actually would have probably said um deferring it's um okay um because that then delays the side effects but now I think they don't they don't think that um the side effect impact is bad so if you start earlier then you might slow down the progression is is that kind of the I don't know if it stays down look I don't understand I don't fully understand but I don't believe it um yeah I I think there's also a risk that if you leave it too long that some of those side effects the drug medication won't mind I work as well either look I don't again this is a conversation I want to have with the doctor um and um yeah the neurologist kind of said well come back and see me in six months time he said well based on the medical system was probably going to be twelve um and the report that he wrote up literally kind of commented that you know I think didn't need to go on the medication straight away so yeah so that's why I haven't been panicking about it because I'm thinking we'll take the take the time understand what it means um but I know that I've either got to go on probably before Christmas or um I'll delay it until I'm done to the stroke yeah and then do it yeah yeah so it's kind of funny and I've got two minds I'm not sure which way to get which way to go and probably a bit of research and talking to the right medical people will um help firm out the decision absolutely yeah so one of the ways to get a really nice big dopamine hit as you know is to get into an ice bath every morning is is is is is that on your your schedule or is that just um urban myths I don't know I mean I mean I know I know last year I was doing it trying to do a little bit of adaptions training just for hopping in the sea and we've got a swimming pool at home and it gets down to I know this winter when I hopped on it was 12 degrees yeah um which is almost ice bath material probably not quite but um cold cold enough to get a bit of a hit and you do you do feel something something afterwards right two or three hours afterwards you certainly feel some changes and I know it it made swimming in the cold and the sea easier um yeah certainly it helps I don't know where this mental just mental that you just think well I can do this so it's easier I think it's a bunch of crap yeah don't think this is a bunch of absolute cobblers I believe it's my personal experience right but yeah yeah you don't have any personal experience because you've never been in an ice bath so don't give us that yeah it's my bath at home yes but you don't get in it never well well I know I know swimming back to back days in the cold it gets easy in the second day yes it swarms were swung on a Saturday and it's been cold I think I'm oh my god and then gone the next day and gone that was so much easier how was that same future oh I love I've never noticed that yeah but you I am you use one of the cold rigly that gym but I'm soft so a stupid question yeah with your left hand shaking as an example yeah is there any impact on your your strength or your technique like right now or when you swimming does do the shakes disappear I've been using that as an excuse for my technique my left arm has been shit yeah I mean they got the cat always got me do this piano thing and you can see clearly when I try and play the piano that my left arm coordination hand is not quite as good so so when I was talking to Jacob when we were coaching I said oh maybe it's a Parkinson's while I'm not getting this left arm technique but I think that's to be honest I think that's bollocks I've made I've made improvements got to work hard got to think hard and and the good it's the good thing is right it's all look I don't I don't believe I had any slow down any brain function anything like that even seems fine so it's more the tremors but clearly there's some coordination issues and I've got a lot of extra muscle tightness in this arm which I think probably is due to Parkinson's with the shaking and it can cause muscle tightness but I'm swimming as quick as it was last year and I think I'll get faster so I don't believe it's going to slow me down nice but just what it says to me is you just got to work even a bit harder on that arm and that technique and think about it more yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah okay um so what's uh what's the the steps on the training regime between nine and March I mean what's uh surely there's a couple of buckets from is that you need to get under your belts in in terms of knowing that you can do what we're looking at 14 hours 15 hours in the water yeah I'll certainly want to make sure because like last last time I never got a 20k swimmer so so I think you know you know did a 10 and a 15 so I want to do more of those long distance swims in a 20 or definitely on the on the bucket list I saw I haven't registered for a year but I did see that swim that's ever ties into November which is the 12 one miles yes and I thought for men's mental health for men's mental health which I thought hey that's great um and I thought well that might be quite good on to do because this kind of seems a little bit of a relaxed swimmer mile have a break swim mile have a break and I thought well that's perfect I can just come in have everyone nutrition there get used to my nutrition um maybe even time trial a few of the ones just to see if I can get on pace for what I want to do and that's that's just off 20k so yeah yeah 19.2k I think yeah so I think I'm definitely seriously thinking about entering that um I want to go around golf harbour again that's one of my favourite swims last year yeah okay well I'll put it in up we'll do that with you yeah I mean I might have a couple yeah easy bring them oh we'll bring some extras yeah that was a great swim yeah it was pretty good yeah yeah and I'm sure that um and I've been telling the guys about and saying you you got to come and do this swim so yeah um yeah and we might I think we're going to reen reenact a swim that I did um I've done a couple of times which is that one that got cancelled um the swim to um from my ringy to dimpool yes it's okay yes yeah um there's another thing that's special whether a swim which I didn't kind of a lead to but um that was my first marathon swim and I went back to work and talked to Olaf yes you probably know Olaf chopper challenge yeah and that was actually the dawning of the chopper challenge because I said to Olaf I said mate I said I did the swim and I said bloody crazy I said next time I do anything as crazy as that I'm doing it for charity okay hold that for the next thing you know I'm having a coffee with him and Michael Bach and we're talking about the swim and how to raise money for the west back chopper and then Bach he was training for rocknest yes this is 22 yes and they said well if we're going to do something it's got to be around that 20k mark yeah and then all of a sudden it was well who needs a chopper well why he keep the island they need the chopper right it's a service yes how far is it it's like boom 20k perfect it's science so it's it's it's just it all just sort of kind of fitted in nicely and so the chopper's swim was born and then it fell apart a little bit it's nothing COVID it lost a bit of COVID didn't help and then I think it's all this retap I think just just got too difficult for them I mean they had a well organized they had a really well organized and Olaf had put some really good procedures in place yes the trust took it over and we're running it and it's just got too hard yeah which is a shame because it was a good fundraiser for them I can't remember how much money we raised but it was quite significant yeah it was a great swim on the calendar and it's it's got a good following right so I'm pretty sure if it came back that it would be well supported yeah pull some strings you've got some West Coast things man come on I don't work there anymore but I still taught I'm having not bear or taught to the guys yeah yeah so what's as you were in the banking industry for 40 years yeah so my dad exactly the same thing he my dad was the the youngest of a couple of a couple of kids and he didn't finish high school no he's dad was like hey that's it that I'm done with paying school fees or whatever the case was and his oldest brother said hey you know I'll organize your job interview for standard bank which is like the equivalent of like an A&Z yeah yeah started off there and literally 40 years later took took really retirement he never ever went for another job interview so 40 years in the bank oh this is literally almost the same it was it was funny because I'd finished I'd finished school when all I wanted to do is surf and yes I was actually almost thinking about going back to school because it was a perfect whole night right just a full of time and my parents kind of looked at me and said well you need to go get a job man okay so then I started looking at things and I was good at accounting at school and pluffer at the top of the bank and it's pretty neat yeah but I mean it was good career harder and and and we expect we're good employers so yes yeah they're looked after me yeah that's not a Westpac shirt right big black red t-shirt that you got now this is this is Parkinson's New Zealand yeah there you go yeah cool the start of the fundraising yeah yeah well I mean of just over we're all my almost up to 2,200 now yeah and probably have a big push when I get nearer the swim and have a couple other little pushes during the year yeah keep you around but yeah sort of got a goal I'd like to raise a minimum of 4,000 for Parkinson's if I can yep so over halfway so can you share that detail with us and we'll put this at the I can share the bottom of the club yeah and anybody that's interested in supporting you or supporting park since can can donate some money that could be awesome yeah chasing 4,000 chasing a minimum 4,000 so you're almost there halfway yeah man you'll get right past that I'm assuming oh it would hope so yeah yeah yeah no um I'll share this podcast with Parkinson's until it's okay I'm sure they'd like to share with their members um yeah hopefully I can do something good for them 100% that's absolutely no problem um well what I think we should do is aim to catch up with you probably on the flip side of your trip horse one and have a catch up and see how that's gone and yeah um I'm hoping at that stage we'll you know you'll put your hand up for another round of of fundraising for Parkinson's with the cook straight and um yeah wherever we can help in terms of training swims or whatever communication give us a shot and and we'll see you in the water but you've had a tough year I'm hoping it only gets easier going forward and you know kick some ass yeah I mean there's been a few obstacles but I think um you just take each one and you're stride and yeah you know it's not going to stop me doing what I want to do so yeah what I'll go that's laugh man that's it yeah roll with the punches roll the punches and carry on yeah awesome thanks for your time thanks so much really appreciate it you thanks Jim giving us your story thank you do you know where I was cheers mate okay hi my name is Caitlyn O'Reilly I'm the youngest person who have completed the Ocean 7 Challenge earthless really cool podcast has helped you learn something new maybe it's introduced you to new swimmers made you smile um then please take the opportunity to subscribe to Duncan and Jim's channel I'm sure they would absolutely appreciate all your support cheers thanks Caitlyn well as always you can give us feedback on our Instagram account at Clever Dicks or send us an email cleverdicksinz at gmail.com we'd really appreciate hearing from you and cheers we'll speak to you again soon