Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast

Welcome to episode 112 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We conclude this year’s Partners Month with the amazing Women’s team of Jenny Ramstedt and Diane Sadik, A.K.A., Team Kraken Swimrun. They are two of the most experienced Swimrunners out there and it was great to finally have them on the show to chat about their enduring Swimrun partnership, ÖTILLÖ, and, of course, fika.But first... Training UpdateSwimrun Lake James is officially two months away! There’s no more time to delay getting into the cold water to start dialing in transitions at Swimrun practices. Pray for us.ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out Sebastian Ekberg. We recently shouted him out as Radberg (for creating a cool design to use for our 100k download sticker) but he’s getting another one for becoming a Patron on Patreon. Thanks so much for the support! We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: you’re rad dude! Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Henry Amon from Tanzania. He recently joined our Strava Club and posted a cool looking ride over the weekend. It’s just so cool to see workouts from Africa in our club feed.Sign up for our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk.Swimrun Canarias recently posted that they are postponing this year’s Fuerteventura race due to COVID. A new date will be announced soon.ÖTILLÖ announced that they have opened registration for Swimrun Cannes. New for 2022 is a new race course and all three distances (Experience, Sprint, and World Series) will all take place on October 15, 2022. If anyone is looking for a super picturesque but still super challenging Swimrun event in the South of France. Well, need I say more?Looking to race an Ödyssey Swimrun event in 2022 but missed their early bird registration pricing? Well have no fear because they are hooking everyone up with 15% off of registration for all 4 of their 2022 events. Just use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” at checkout. Hope to see you all at their awesome events.That is it for this week. Feel free to reach out and let us know if there’s anything that you’d like for us to mention on the show.UpdatesProgramming alert: we have the legendary endurance coach Joe Friel coming on the show in a few weeks and we will be focusing on training considerations for older adults getting into the sport of Swimrun. (Thank you Bill and Chrissy Lankford for the show idea!) Send us a DM or email with your questions for Coach Friel for a chance to have them asked on that episode.We have an update on the Catalina Swimrun Adventure for everyone. The fun starts on Friday, March 18th with a beach clean up group activity, followed by a longer Swimrun on Saturday starting at 11am from Avalon and on Sunday the 20th, a shorter Swimrun, followed by brunch, and then an afternoon trail run. Reach out to us for more details and RSVP on Facebook.Team Kraken SwimrunIt was really great to get to chat with Jenny and Diane. Not only are they super experienced Swimrunners but also amazing people. We chatted with them about a ton of topics including their approach to training, racing, what makes Desirée Andersson such an amazing Swimrunner, and Kraken Swimrun fika traditions. They also gave us great insight and some solid gold tips on preparing for and racing ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship that we will 100% be following. This was a great conversation and we know that you will enjoy it as much as we did.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

24 Feb 202251min

Welcome to episode 111 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Way back in early 2020 (Episode 4!) we released our Swimrun 101: Partners episode. For Partners month 2022 we thought that it would be fun to do a redux of that episode since we feel like we are so much more experienced–dare we say wiser–after two-plus years of doing the show and picking people's brains all along. We re-listened to the episode (we would recommend that you do as well) and shared our thoughts on what we think holds up and what we would revise or add given where we are now in our Swimrun journey. We hope you will find it useful on your Swimrun journey. Enjoy!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

17 Feb 202218min

Welcome to episode 110 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Partners Month continues this week with our friends John Brandershort and Addison Nuding, A.K.A. The Kanchō Bōyz. They are a team based in Colorado and one that we can directly credit their origination to our constant efforts, i.e., nagging. Their first event was Orcas Island long course and that should tell you all you need to know about their mettle. More later in the show.But first... Training UpdateSwimrun Lake James is coming up in 10 weeks and we are following the program as the weeks count down. We’ll be kicking off some Swimrun practices soon but in the meantime it’s all about hills.ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out our newest Patron on Patreon, Scott Turner. His name should sound familiar as he has been shouted out before for both being super stoked on Swimrun and for hooking us up with homemade jam and honey from his family farm when we met up at Casco Bay last year. We really appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at a race soon! Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Ray Conboy. He posted a workout with a title that hits close to home for Chris: ”Chill Old Man Yoga.” He was definitely feeling seen.Sign up for our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome back to the LTBz news desk.Last Thursday, ÖTILLÖ announced the results of ranking applications slots for the 2022 edition of ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Congrats to all the teams that qualified. We wish you a safe and healthy training block and look forward to seeing you all there. (More on this later in the show)A special shout out to the 8 US Teams that qualified on Thursday:Team Adorkable (Trista and Amy)The Swaggy Zaddys (Marcus and Lee)Team Envol Baywatch (Beek and Blake)Team RadKat (Juli and Matthew Davenport)The Boston Wet Sox (Bronwen and Greg Dierksen)Team #batmanparents (Liz Baugher and Jacob Gilden)California Swimrun (Mel Bartow and Andy “The Godfather” Hewitt)In other news, our friends at Swimrun Portugal announced the dates for all seven of their 2022 events. Registration is opening soon so stay tuned for that.Over in the U.K., Mad Hatter Sports’ Hokey Cokey Swimrun in St. Austell Bay in Cornwall is coming up on May 21st. Registration is open now for both their short and long course distance options!In the bummer portion of the news, Breca Swimrun had to postpone both 2022 Breca Wanaka and Bay of Islands race events due to New Zealand Covid restrictions. The race directors are as bummed out as the participants and they thank the Swimrun community for their support and understanding during these unprecedented times.That is it for this week. Feel free to reach out and let us know if there’s anything that you’d like for us to mention on the show.UpdatesProbably the biggest update in our Swimrun “career” is that LTBz has qualified for the 2022 edition of ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship! A huge thank you to everyone that reached out via text, email, or DM to congratulate us. We were honestly overwhelmed by all the love. We are obviously super stoked to get a slot and look forward to racing the OG event that started it all.If that wasn’t enough, we are ridiculously stoked to announce that we have our first show/team sponsor! Frank Paddle is now officially our swim paddle sponsor. We have been fans of the brand since we interviewed Frank Paddle creator Fredrik Bengtsson way back in episode 50 and we really appreciate his support of the show and us.Team Kanchō BōyzIt was great to catch up with John and Addison and chat about their Swimrun origin story (spoiler alert: LTBz fingerprints are all over this) and their perspective as new Swimrunners. In this interview, we discussed how they came upon Swimrun, what training for Swimrun in Colorado looks like, how their first race at Swimrun Orcas Island went, and what is keeping them coming back for more. This was a great chat and we think it might inspire listeners to redouble their efforts to pester their endurance friends who are on the fence to try Swimrun.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

10 Feb 202255min

Welcome to episode 109 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Welcome to the second annual “Partners Month!” For the entire month of February we will be sharing conversations with Swimrun teams from all over the “world” (Europe and the U.S.) to highlight one of our favorite features of the sport of Swimrun…the partner part. Our first conversation this month is with the wife and husband duo, Chrissy and Bill Lankford, a.k.a., Team Mr. and Mrs. B. This happily married couple have raced a ton of Swimruns including what we think is the holy/unholy trinity of super hard events, ÖTILLÖ Engadin, Rockman, and ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. We are super stoked to share our chat with all of you.But first... Training UpdateWhelp, we’re still training…but for Swimrun Lake James. Most folks have already heard that ÖTILLÖ Catalina has been postponed (more on this in This Week in Swimrun later in the show.) While it is a bummer for sure we still have potentially six races on the 2022 schedule so the show must go on. We’re not sure how our training will be changing now that we don’t have to optimize for Leg 3 of the Catalina course but hills always pay the bills so we’ll probably keep running those for the foreseeable future.ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out @the_radberg. He’s an artist out of North Carolina and drew up a cool Creature of Endurance design in honor of Swimrun that he is going to let us use as our 100k download sticker. (We should be hitting that milestone in a few months.) Super rad of you…Radberg! He’s also signed up for Swimrun Lake James which that too is rad.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Bay Area local, Clayton Cook. He threw down a spicy 30k trail run in the Marin Headlands over the weekend and we don’t know if it was the beautiful weather or the 3,773ft of climbing that gave us FOMO. At any rate, strong work Clayton!Sign up for our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome back to the LTBz news desk.We are kicking off this week’s update with a bummer…to get it out of the way. Last Friday, ÖTILLÖ announced that they are postponing their Catalina event citing ongoing concerns related to COVID-19. We know that there were a lot of people that were super stoked to be either racing for the first time…or the second time but we applaud Michael, Mats and the rest of the ÖTILLÖ crew for making the tough decision and prioritizing the health and safety of all the participants, volunteers, and spectators. You can read the press release here.Today is “Swimrun-mas!” By the time of this podcast’s release, ÖTILLÖ will have announced the results of the 2022 World Championship ranking application. As we record this on a Monday, we still think that we have a decent chance of qualifying but regardless of our fate, congrats to all the teams that qualified! We will be posting memes all day long to both celebrate and commiserate with our fellow teams so make sure to check out our feed.One final bit of ÖTILLÖ news to report. They have opened registration for most of their 2022 events starting with first event of the year (one final *sad face* for Catalina) ÖTILLÖ Utö taking place on May 21 at the cradle of Swimrun in the Stockholm Archipelago. In other news, Swimrun Lake James is super close to selling out with only 6 team entries remaining for the Long Course. The race takes place on Saturday April 23rd and we hope to see you at the startline.Staying in the U.S.,TBF Racing in California has opened registration for their Folsom Swimrun. As far as we can tell, TBF primarily puts on triathlons and this is their first foray into Swimrun. The event is taking place on July 23rd in Folsom California which basically means that it will be a crazy hot race and they are offering two distance options: a 3.5 mile short course and a 7.8 mile “long” course. Not to sound like Mr. Swimrun or anything, but those courses look very easy and probably a great event for beginners. Experienced teams might want to try to do two loops of the whole course, if allowed.Finally, while ÖTILLÖ Catalina is postponed, it looks like there will still be a Swimrun extravaganza in Two Harbors at the end of March. Intrepid Swimrunners from Wild Swimrun, Envol Coaching, California Swimrun, and the Löw Tide Böyz are still planning to go out to Catalina and engage in a weekend of Swimrunning. More details are forthcoming so stay tuned for more updates.That is it for this week. Feel free to reach out and let us know if there’s anything that you’d like for us to mention on the show.UpdatesIt’s Chinese New Year! We hope that everyone who celebrates the holiday is getting red envelopes with crispy money and/or shiny coins and munching on moon cakes.Make sure to check out our LTBz Swag shop to get some headwear, apparel, stickers, or all three to show off your Low Tide pride.Team Mr. and Mrs. B (Bill and Chrissy Lankford)This is a conversation that we’ve been wanting to have for a long time! Bill and Chrissy have been huge supporters of ours since we started the show and it was great to finally chat with them about their Swimrun journey and their life and Swimrun partnership. We chatted about all kinds of stuff in this episode and it’s safe to say, if we ever find ourselves at the same race, there will be fights over who will be buying the post-race pints. We loved everything about this conversation and think that you will too. Enjoy!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

3 Feb 20221h 16min

Welcome to episode 108 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Back on the show this week is Purple Patch Senior Coach Mike Olzinski. He was our guest all the way back in Episode 3 and we’re stoked to chat about strength training for Swimrunners. His first show is still on our top 10 list of most downloaded episodes and we thought, who better to talk to us about how to get strong/limber for the upcoming Swimrun season. (If you’re noticing a theme lately, well then a tip of the hat to you…and get your notepads out for this one!)But first... Training UpdateÖTILLÖ Catalina is 8 weeks away! It’s almost time to start doing some Swimrun practices to start dialing in transitions, fiddling with gear, and, most importantly, getting used to cold water again. Until then, it’s all about preparing for the climbs/descents on the Catalina course.ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out Elisabeth Starr. She’s a SF local and active in the local tri clubs and reached out to us because she’s gotten a bunch of her friends to sign up for Catalina and asked us to do a little show and tell and lead a Swimrun practice at our local spot. Obviously, we were super stoked to get the email and more than happy to lead a practice for them.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Mike McMillan. He busted out a Swimrun practice in New Zealand over the weekend and even though it’s Summer there, we are still stoked to see it.Don’t have any idea what we’re talking about? Well every week we use a very scientific process to highlight a member or two or three from our Strava Club for their “athletic” feats. Sign up for our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunWe have a short update for everyone this week.The first Swimrun event of the year (as far as we know) is Breca Swimrun Wanaka in New Zealand. The race is taking place on March 19th and offers a 17.4k Sprint course and a 44.5k Full course. We’ve never been to Wanaka but we want to go!As we mentioned last week, Ödyssey Swimrun has opened registration for their 2022 events and we encourage everyone to sign up before January 31st to take advantage of their early bird pricing and sign up for one or all of their events at the lowest prices of the year! Need another incentive? This year all finishers get custom socks AND hoodies!!That is it for this week. Feel free to reach out and let us know if there’s anything that you’d like for us to mention on the show.Coach Mike OlzinskiIt was great to have Mike back on the show to catch up. He recently got back from coaching at a Purple Patch camp in Kona with our other favorite coach, John Stevens. We chatted him up about strength training for Swimrun, what exercises he recommends and even talked about how he’s getting talked into signing up for Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island by John Stevens. Anyway, there’s just a lot of great content in this one. Take your notepads out for this one.You can follow Mike on Instagram.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

27 Jan 202255min

Welcome to episode 107 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!One the show this week we have a Bay Area legend and a man that is very well known to an entire generation of endurance athletes. Kevin Burns runs San Francisco Sports Massage and Performance and has gotten countless athletes (and even NFL teams) ready to compete. We have both been on Kevin’s massage table and he’s the first person we call when niggles show up. We asked him to come on to chat about the importance of having a mobility practice to keep Swimrunners primed for peak performance. Get your notepads out for this one people!But first... Training UpdateÖTILLÖ Catalina is 9 weeks away! We’ve been hitting all the hills and kicking our own butts in the pool to get ready. Chipper has also been reading up on bison. We should be ready for all the fun by race day. Hope to see you all there!ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out our three new Patrons on Patreon: Andrea, Ryan, and Adrian. We really appreciate the support and hope to see you three on our first Patreon Zoom Meetup taking place on 1/22 at 4pm PT.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Sweden’s own Victor Västernäs for his Sandjöbacka Trail 60k that he ran over the weekend. Strong work Victor!Don’t have any idea what we’re talking about? Well every week we use a very scientific process to highlight a member or two or three from our Strava Club for their athletics feats. Sign up for our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunOur journalism department is back from their extended European-style holiday and we have a new update for everyone this week.Ödyssey Swimrun has opened registration for their 2022 events and we encourage everyone to sign up before January 31st to take advantage of their early bird pricing and sign up for one or all of their events at the lowest prices of the year! Swimrunning in Tahiti? Uhm, yes please! Xterra recently opened registration for their Xterra Tahiti Swimrun taking place on May 29th. Somebody please sign up for the race and let us know how it went.The One Water Race announced some more of the teams that will be traversing the Stockholm Archipelago on August 23-25 including the American team of Quest Racing with our very own Annie and Brent Molsberry and Jason and Andrew Magness. This race is going to be so epic it’s crazy!This is the last week (today/Thursday, Jan. 20) to enter your ranking application for the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Best of luck to everyone looking to spend a nice Monday on the legendary course.In the bummer department, Swimrun NC announced that this year’s edition of their epic Swimrun at Hanging Rock State Park taking place on October 16th will be its last. Let’s make sure that we send this race off in style by signing up to race and celebrate this event/labor of love. We’ve officially put in our application to race and hope to see everyone there.To close it out on a high note, our favorite hydration company, PH, recently rebranded as “Precision Fuel and Hydration.” The name change makes sense given that they are definitely in the fuel game after recently introducing their first gel, the PF 30. But rest assured, the same awesome athlete support isn’t changing.That is it for this week. Feel free to reach out and let us know if there’s anything that you’d like for us to mention on the show.UpdatesDid you know that we have a FB group that its sole purpose is to help people get Swimrun gear? If not, then let us introduce you to the Swimrun Swap Meet. Everyone is encouraged to join and give your used Swimrun gear a new life like in Toy Story 2. Kevin BurnsIt was great to chat with Kevin. He’s an encyclopedia of knowledge and we peppered him with all kinds of self-serving questions. We chatted with him about the importance of sleep as a key feature of recovery, what common swimming and running issues he sees in his practice, his ideal prescriptions for pre and post-workouts, and got his take on all the newest “recovery” gadgets that are out there. We learned a ton and think that you will as well.You can learn more about Kevin and SF Sports Massage and Performance here.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

20 Jan 202242min

Welcome to episode 106 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This episode is the latest installment in our ad hoc series: Swimrun 201-Advanced Topics in Swimrun. In this show, we discuss in detail “Swim Paddle Hieroglyphics” wherein we break down why athletes should be writing legs and distances on their swim paddles before their Swimrun events and we share some of our theories for what to write down and when. We are joined on this episode by Brooke Lindsley and Marcus Barton who share their expertise on this super random topic. That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

13 Jan 202224min

Welcome to episode 105 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’re kicking off 2022 with an amazing guest. On the show this week we have the uber talented endurance athlete Marika Wagner. We’re huge fans of her feats of endurance and we’re super stoked to start off the third year of the podcast with her on the show.  But first... Training UpdateIt’s back to training this week and somehow we’re already only 11 weeks out from ÖTILLÖ Catalina! While it definitely helps to have raced that course before, we also know what’s waiting for us so it’s game on as we start ramping up the training volume.ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out the country of Belgium. They recently cracked the top ten in terms of downloads by county and we’re stoked on that. Thanks for checking out the show or Hartelijk bedankt!!Feats of EnduranceThis week we have two winners of the Feats of Endurance “award.” First up is Victor Rosario for posting a workout from Puerto Rico. As mentioned before, any workout posted from Puerto Rico is an automatic selection. The other award goes to Bay area local Brian Ramirez for his Headlands run on New Years Day…where he ran by Chris on his Ninja Loop run. Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and life.This Week in SwimrunThis segment is on hiatus for the next few weeks while we give our news department some PTO. If you’re missing the segment music, you can check it out here.UpdatesOur first LTBz Patreon meetup is scheduled for Saturday, January 22nd at 4PM Pacific. Got gear questions? Got race questions? Got life questions? Your Swimrun community is here for it. Not in our Patreon Community yet? Head over to patreon.com/lowtideboyz to learn more.Marika WagnerIt was so great to chat with Marika. We’ve been following her on IG pretty much since we launched the meme account and to call her endurance exploits impressive really doesn’t do justice to how versatile of an athlete she is. She calls herself an “Adventure Racer” and honestly, that’s probably the best way to describe her athletic exploits. In this interview we chatted with Marika about her endurance background, how she found Swimrun, what keeps her motivated to try new feats of endurance, and the adventures are in her future. We loved her candor and confirmed our long-standing opinion that Swimrunners are some of the best humans. We loved this conversation and know that you will too.You can follow Marika’s endurance exploits on Instagram.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!-  Chip and Chris

6 Jan 202255min