With ice-cold water smacking her face and sea salt numbing her mouth, assistant swim coach Amanda Poland attempted to swim across the English Channel Aug. 21.

How did you get the idea for swimming the English Channel?

Ken Pipkin, a masters swim coach I’ve known since college, told me it would be a good idea if we could do it together. I got all excited and signed up, but then his wife didn’t let him do it. After I got my Masters degree, I knew I wanted to do something athletic to get back in shape before I attempted a PhD.

What inspired you to go through with the swim?

I mean, you don’t think about these things in life; you go to work, go home, watch television (TV).  You don’t think about these things: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or swimming the English Channel or running a marathon unless somebody plants it in your head. Then, when you actually think about it, you discover that that is a whole a part of life that would be really cool and different to experience. If nothing else, it is a good experience. The more new things you try, you learn things about yourself, even if you don’t realize you’re doing it.

How did you train for this event?

I did a lot of cold water swims, so I would be out at Lake Lewisville in January and February. In the summertime, though, there’s no cold water anywhere so I had to take cold showers or sit in ice baths. I did a lot of marathon swimming, which is anything above 10 kilometers. Just like one would train for a marathon, I did what I could during the week and did my long swims during the weekend.

What was the experience like?

It was very much a learning experience. When we coach athletes, no matter how they do, they’re learning something. If you win, then you learn that those things work for you. If you lose, then you learn what went well and what you need to work on. If it’s raining or windy, you can’t go that day, so you get a week-long window. It was a very interesting experience for me because I only got seven miles in, or about four hours. It was different from all my training swims. During trainings, my feeder, the guy that throws me food, would be in a kayak very close to me. But during the swim, he was on a boat almost two stories above me so we could not communicate very well. It was a tough swim, but I am definitely going to go back and attempt it again.

What life lessons, if any, did you learn from this swim?

Regardless of the experience, whether it is considered a failure or a success, you learn something. In my eyes, as long as you are constantly learning with your new experiences, then you are progressing as a human and that is awesome.