About the Author

Jessica Kieras, Ph.D. is a Psychologist licensed in Oregon, USA. Her practice as a Psychologist specializes in helping children, teens and adults with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, other anxiety disorders and performance anxiety in athletes.

She swam competitively at Texas A&M University from 1998-1999 in the individual medley and backstroke events. She began marathon swimming in 2013 with the Portland Bridge Swim. Since then, she has completed over twenty-one marathon swims including the English Channel, Catalina Channel and Santa Barbara Channel. Her proudest achievements include setting the women’s course record for the Santa Barbara Channel between Santa Cruz Island and Oxnard, becoming the second person to swim the forty miles from Santa Barbara Island to mainland, pioneering the “Anacapa Loop” route, from Oxnard, California, around Anacapa Island and back to Oxnard, and a recent 75 mile non-stop swim down the Colorado River.

She is a member of the core team at Marathon Swimmers Federation (MSF), author of the website, Oregon Lake Bagging, and strives to contribute knowledge, support and camaraderie to the open water swimming community.

This website is dedicated to offering information and insight into the Sports Psychology component of open water swimming. Articles will first appear as blog posts, and eventually become static links categorized under “Getting Started in Open Water Swimming” and “Ultramarathon Mental Training”. To receive updates by email, please enter your email and click the subscribe button.