Three Days, Three Triples, No Excuses: Inside Naomi Rumble’s Ultimate Test of Grit
- Women in Tri UK Team
- Jun 25
- 5 min read
Imagine stepping up to the edge of a pool knowing you have to swim 5,000 meters. Now imagine doing that three times a day. For three consecutive days.
That is the brutal reality of the 3x Triple 5km Swimathon challenge: a staggering 45Km of purely mental and physical endurance. Ultra-endurance swimmer and Women in Tri UK community member Naomi Rumble recently conquered this exact feat.
We spoke with Naomi to uncover the genuine, unedited story about the shoulder burn, the mishap with the "inflatable" swimsuit, her choice to fuel up on saltfish fritters, and the reasons behind her firm decision not to swim the English Channel.
Battling the Burn
Every ultra-athlete expects pain, but the sheer velocity with which exhaustion sets in during a multi-day triple event is something else entirely. For Naomi, the real battle started almost immediately on Day 1. After completing her first 5k at Stratford at 9:00 AM, she was back in the water at noon for round two.
"When I started the second 5,000 meters... wow, the pain, the burn," Naomi recalls. "My arms and shoulders were burning. My stroke definitely suffered halfway through; I wasn’t doing a high elbow recovery properly because my shoulder rotation was so affected, and my arms felt heavy."
To survive the physical shock, Naomi had to deploy a toolkit of mental distractions just to detach from the sensation of her muscles screaming. She paused frequently during that second swim to rest her shoulders, but once her body adapted to the sheer scale of the workload, she pushed right through.
The Recovery Routine
What does your life look like when you aren't in the pool during a 45km weekend? For Naomi, it wasn't a pristine, high-tech recovery lab. It was beautifully, hilariously real:
Sleeping as much as humanly possible.
Doom scrolling to take her mind off the clock.
Popping ibuprofen to manage the raging inflammation.
"Every morning my shoulders were really stiff," she says. "Trying to get them over my head was so difficult, but I had to force myself to do so. My morning routine was lifting my arms above my head and rotating them to loosen up. I winced every time, but it was necessary."
Fuelling, Skincare, and the "Inflatable" Costume Mishap
With a caloric burn skyrocketing into the thousands, managing nutrition and logistics is a puzzle that can make or break an ultra-distance attempt.
Surprisingly, Naomi didn't eat during her swims, relying instead on sips of water to prevent dehydration. "On reflection, it could have helped me get through the swims quicker," she admits, "but I didn't really want to stop."
Instead, her strategy focused on the tight windows between sessions:
Transit snacks which consisted of dates and bananas consumed while moving between pools; and
A more substantial meal following the second swim of the day, featuring a pizza night with the Women in Tri UK crew on Day 2, and renowned saltfish fritters from her Emancipated Run Crew along with home-cooked pasta on Day 3.
The Logistics of 9 Swimsuits
When you're swimming nine distinct sessions in three days, you need gear—and lots of it. Naomi dipped into her massive collection to ensure she had a fresh costume for every single session. But on swim number six, a gear choice backfired spectacularly.
"I put on one of my silver-lined costumes which traps in heat, usually meant for open water. The costume is now slightly too big for me, so when I was pushing off the wall, it just filled with water and air, causing huge drag. It was the slowest swim ever, and it felt like I had a massive inflatable on my bottom end!"
Surviving the Chlorine
Spending that much consecutive time in treated pool water is a recipe for severe skin dehydration. Naomi credits her survival to two things: her 75 Soft Challenge commitment to drinking 3L of water a day, and a heavy-handed skincare routine. "I normally moisturise with shea butter, and I don't skimp. I slather a lot on. For my face, I used hyaluronic acid and an oat gel face moisturiser to lock it all in."
The Internal Monologue: Mind Over Muscle Memory
When you are staring at the black line at the bottom of a pool for hours on end, your brain becomes your greatest ally or your worst enemy.
How do you train for a 45km swim? If you're Naomi, you don't. Aside from an Olympic distance triathlon under a coach in the past, Naomi confesses her training block for this ultra-distance event was practically non-existent. "That’s why I do swimming challenges: to force me back into the pool! I swam as a kid, so I know muscle memory will prevail."
To get through the gruelling middle kilometers without a heavy training base, she relied on strict mental segmenting and a trusty waterproof playlist.
Naomi's Strategy
Naomi would break the distance down into micro-achievements. "Okay, I’ve done 100, now 200, now 300... okay, 1,000... 1,500... 2,000... Yes, I'm halfway!" Once past the halfway mark, she would count backward.
When the mind wandered, she focused entirely on technique. She would ask herself: "Are you catching correctly? Are you finishing your stroke properly? Are you swimming as efficiently as you know how?" Focusing on a different element every few lengths made the time fly.
Community, Identity, and Why the Channel is Out
Ultra-endurance events are inherently lonely, but having a community waiting on the pool deck changes everything.
Naomi took on this challenge because Allie, a community leader, approached her. "She knew I was crazy enough to do it," Naomi laughs.
While she views these challenges as "me vs. me", a way to prove to herself that she can keep promises to herself even when she wants to roll over and sleep, the Women in Tri UK community provided a vital spark.
"The encouragement was amazing. The fifth session we did together was absolutely amazing. There was so much joy being able to swim with others; it gave me a much-needed uplift. I appreciate the community so much... but also, can you stop giving me challenges? Thank you very much!"
What's Next? (And What's Never)
With the 3x Triple 5km checked off, Naomi is eyeing the Serpentine 6-mile swim in the future. But if you're expecting her to tackle the English Channel next, think again.
"I’m not doing the Channel swim because I don’t like jellyfish. Absolutely not."
Naomi’s Advice to the Women in Tri UK Community
For any woman reading her story and quietly wondering if she could ever take on a massive, daunting goal of her own, Naomi has a simple message:
"Just do it. You never know what you are capable of until you try. We always think of the massive end goal rather than the micro-achievements to get there. If you break it down into manageable chunks, it makes everything realistic. It’s just about understanding the right steps to get to where you need to go."
As for Naomi herself? She admits she’s still working on sitting in her achievements rather than just treating them as items to tick off a checklist. But looking back, the growth is undeniable. "I know my past self couldn't have imagined me doing what I do today. I probably am a more confident, self-assured person now."
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