55-mile swim around Lake Washington takes 37 hours

For most people, a weekend swim means spending an hour or two splashing about in the lake. For Tyler Patterson, it meant swimming for 37 hours, at times chasing a glow stick through milfoil in the dead of night.

Just after 5 p.m. Sunday, Patterson crawled out of Lake Washington, ending his 55-mile swim around the lake's perimeter. He started Saturday around 4 a.m. and stopped for more than a few minutes only once.

A group of a few dozen well-wishers cheered and applauded Patterson after he climbed ashore at the University of Washington.

"How about a victory lap?" joked Jeff McCann, a friend who is on the same adventure-racing team as Patterson.

Patterson wanted to accomplish something "life-affirming" in anticipation of his 40th birthday next month.

His high-school swimming coach recently swam across the English Channel to mark his 50th birthday. That inspired Patterson, who hadn't done much swimming since college, to consider doing his own long-distance swim.

The logistics and expense of a Channel swim were too great. His wife, Stacy, suggested swimming around Lake Washington, an adventure closer to home — and more than twice the distance.

In October, Patterson started training by swimming 1,000 meters at a time. His longest training swim was 25 miles, completed about a month ago.

For his 55-mile escapade, Patterson swam 100 yards from the shore. A medical-support boat stayed nearby, and a kayak towed glow sticks to guide him through the nighttime water.

Every three hours, he took a brief stop on land or in the boat, to eat, drink and get rubbed down with lotion to prevent wetsuit chafing. For the first 27 hours, Patterson consumed only a powdered protein and carbohydrates, mixed with water and electrolytes. His intake was monitored down to the calorie.

"If you don't keep the electrolytes balanced, you start vomiting after about 23 hours," said Erik Nachtrieb, another adventure-racing teammate who manned Patterson's support boat for the entire swim.

After swimming 27 hours, Patterson took a 55-minute break, eating some solid food and getting a rubdown from a massage therapist.

In the final stretch, while he was swimming under the Montlake Bridge, a Seattle police boat tried to get him out of the water, supporters said.

"They were yelling at us, going, 'Get out of the water! Get out of the water!' " Nachtrieb said. "We were like, 'Just give us the ticket, dude.' "

Nachtrieb explained the situation to the police, and no ticket was issued.

The swim was a fundraiser for the Experimental Educational Unit, a school at the University of Washington for young children with disabilities.

Patterson, who works as a fish biologist for the U.S. Forest Service, is taking today off but plans to be back at work Tuesday. His next goal is to qualify for the 2008 Boston Marathon.

But this Labor Day weekend, the ultra-swimmer is planning on being ultra-lazy.

"We're just going to do whatever comes to mind," he said.

Joe Mullin: 206-464-2761 or jmullin@seattletimes.com