George Bjälkemo & Pontus Lindberg of Kraken Swimrun

Welcome to episode five of the Low Tide Boyz, a swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show we chat with the San Diego-based swimrun team Sean and Phillip A.K.A., The Swimrun Monks. But first…we wanted to thank everyone that’s been listening to the show and reaching out with questions and feedback. It has been great to see and even though there are people way more experienced than us we’ll keep trying to answer everyone’s questions. We also wanted to give a special shout out to Pepe And Florian from Sweden for being fans of the show and basically becoming our unofficial Swedish pronunciation coaches and meme suggesters.We’ve hit some adversity in training with our collective kids being sick and Chris traveling for work but we’re still getting some good training in. We finally got in a swimrun practice in Aquatic Park in San Francisco which was fun. We practiced transitions and swimming with a tether, which is always good to do before race day on Otillio Catalina. Speaking of Catalina, our guests on the show today helped design the course with the race directors. The Swimrun Monks, Sean and Phillip are pretty bad ass athletes in their own rights and came together in 2019 to race together. Both had interesting journeys to get to Swimrun and were introduced to the sport by Andy Hewitt and Sean Durkin. They raced the Ötillö World Championship in 2019 and have a stacked race schedule in 2020 as they gear up to hopefully race the World Championship again.The Monks talked about what Ötillö races are like in Europe and how big of a deal it was that they were coming to the United States to put on their first event in Catalina. They also helped Andy Hewitt to design the race course and even put in an 11 hour “training day” when they went from Two Harbors to Avalon to see if that was possible. The official race course will start and end in Two Harbors and The Monks run us through what the course will be like. The water will be clean and clear and the running legs will be all on trails with some good elevation. They talked about race strategy and how to work together with their partner to have a successful race day.We talked about finding and training together with a partner. The Monks train together 3-4 times per week and are always trying to get in some swimrun-specific training at least once a week. We geeked out about swimrun gear and talked about shoes (Hoka Speedgoat Evos are their current shows of choice), pull buoys (of course we chatted about buoys), wetsuits (they are fans of synergy wetsuits), shin floaties, etc. Finally, we chatted about how San Diego is a great place to train for swimrun and the cool crew that meets up to do workouts.We really appreciated the guys coming on the show and look forward to seeing them at the start of some of our races this year…and then seeing them at the finish line since we’ll be way behind them on the course!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.

13 Feb 202054min

Welcome to episode four of the Low Tide Boyz, a swimrun podcast!On this week’s show we chat about finding a swimrun partner. We’ve received a lot of requests for this show from our fans so…here it is. Since swimrun is primarily a team sport, we thought that it would be a to try to cover all the details around finding a partner since the sport is so young in the US.As you know by now, there’s are three team categories for swimrun events: Women’s, Men’s and Mixed. (Some races will also have solo categories.)There are several initial considerations in selecting a swimrun partner. These include the following:Overall endurance/fitnessSimilar swim/running pacesComplementary personalitiesSimilar training/race goalsAbility to train togetherBeing ready for adventureThe take home message being that finding the right partner will be give and take of a lot of factors and your team’s ability to work together towards a common goal (whether that goal is qualifying for a World Championship, just having a great adventure or something in between) will be determined by how well you communicate your goals with your partner. Talking with your partner (or prospective partner) about your goals will be the best way to have your first experience in the sport be a positive one. Given that the races are all challenging in their own ways, finding someone that is up for the challenge/adversity will help ensure that you’ll have a great race, regardless of your finishing time.So where can you find a partner if you’re the only person that you know that knows about swimrun? We think that there are several sources that make the most sense to access. These include your current workout buddies, swim/running/tri clubs, masters programs and gym/boot camps. It’s likely that someone else may have heard about the sport and just needed the impetus to get into the sport. There are also some great online resources to learn about the sport and find a partner. Otillo and Odyssey Swimrum have some great videos that feature their events and the sports beautifully. There are also several Facebook groups, online forums and Instagram accounts  where folks can go to look for partners and discover events in their area. Finally, races and race directors are great resources to find partners.Swimrun Facebook Groups:Swimrun International CommunityOFFICIAL Swimrun Forum - World of Swimrun (WoS)The Swimrun ExperienceIt’s really hard to overstate how welcoming the sport of swimrun is. There are swimrun groups popping up all over the US as well as new races. We encourage everyone to find and support your local race. This will be the best way to help grow the sport and maybe find your perfect race partner! That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.

30 Jan 202022min

Welcome to episode three of the Low Tide Boyz, a swimrun podcast!On this week’s show we chat about ramping up our training for Catalina and our swim build workout plan that was written by this show’s special guest, Michael Olzinski. More about him later.We started swimming at a great outdoor Olympic-sized pool that is a huge upgrade from our current crappy 25 yard pool at our crappy gym. Long course swimming has been a great addition to our training given that swimrun is all about swimming long. We’ve started dialing up the swim volume and have been putting in some diabolical sets, curtesy of today’s guest!We’ve gotten some great feedback about our Swimrun 101 episode so thank you for that. It was also brought to our attention that we didn’t talk about socks and what to wear under a wetsuit. For both of these it comes down to personal preference and we recommend testing whatever you’re going to use before the race. We are lucky to have Michael Olzinski on the show this week. He’s a multisport coach with Purple Patch Fitness. He’s a stout athlete in his own right, has a ton of coaching certifications and he’s joining us to chat about swimrun training. Mike first heard about swimrun when some of Purple Patch’s international athletes started asking for training plans to their races.We chatted with Mike about how to best train for swimrun, focusing on the Otillo Catalina course…since that’s what we have coming up. Acknowledging that training for these events are really an experiment in training and while there are some analogies to events like super league triathlon, where there are multiple short sets of swimming, biking and running. The overarching idea though is that swimrun athletes have to be just that, athletes. As much as swimrun is a swimming and running sport, there’s a lot of room for strength training to handle the impact on your legs and shoulders from all the transitions. This is especially true for newer athletes to the sport. Mike also recommends combining running and swimming often and mix it up to develop the adaptation for transitioning back and forth.Courses like Otillo’s Catalina World Series race be aerobic event but it will have a lot of spikes and drops in effort levels and, as such, training should have a lot of fartleks thrown in to simulate the spikes in effort that athletes will experience during a race. For swim workouts, Mike is a big fan of doing deck ups at the pool. These are great for getting the body adapted to transitioning from swimming to running. Mike also recommends that during swimming sets, that it’s not necessary to do all your swims with paddles and buoy. Use paddles and buoy mostly for key sets in the water. Adding an ankle strap is also great. Mike recommends trying some fartlek swimming in open water and using swim strokes to count off the sets, such as 30 hard and 30 recovery, then 20 hard and 30 recovery and so forth. Finally, Mike recommends doing a lot of strength and core work to help with maintaining proper posture during long endurance efforts in the water and on land. Mike thinks that everyone should be doing deadlifts. Full stop!You can find Mike on Instagram, on the Purple Patch platform and at the Nth Degree Athletic Club.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.

16 Jan 202040min

Swimrun 101We got some great feedback from listeners that they wanted a primer on Swimrun. So this week we’ve released a special episode to cover all the basics about Swimrun. What is Swimrun?A Swimrun is a multiple-stage competition which involves participants running and swimming over a race course or loop-course that involves at least two transitions between the swim and run stages of the race. All equipment used by participants has to be carried all the way to the finish line. (Thanks Wikipedia!)When was it invented?The sport was invented in 2002 in Sweden when 4 friends made a bet at a bar about who could get from the Island of Utö to the Island of Sandhamn (more that 75 kilometers away across 26 islands) using just their “4 limbs.” It took them more than 24 hours to complete the distance and the rest is history!Who is it for?This sport is really for everyone. Having an endurance background is very helpful but not required. Swim experience is definitely required and comfort in open water is a must. In general though endurance swimmers, trail runners, etc. are well suited for these type of adventures. Similar to how Spartan races or other OCR events are great ways for Crossfitters to use their fitness in different ways, Swimrun offers endurance athletes a way for them to use their training in more of an adventure setting.The sport is very welcoming and chill while still creating challenging experiences for participants. We definitely encourage folks to find their local races and support the race directors that are trying to grow the sport in the US. You can see a list of events on our website.How does it work?The whole point of the sport is to get from A to B as quickly as possible. The sport allows for things like hand paddles, pull buoys and fins to be used on the swim to help get this accomplished. We will discuss equipment for swimrun later in the show notes. The sport is mostly team based and there are four categories at most events.Solo: Kind of the anti-team category. More events are offering this option to help grow the sport and encourage participation from people who may not have access to a partner or couldn’t get one in time for an event. (We don’t recommend this, we think that one of the things that makes this sport special is the team aspect of it.)Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Teams: These are all self-explanatory.These categories compete on a course that’s either short, long or very long. The courses are either a loop course or point-to-point with alternating legs of running and swimming. Each race will have its unique challenges, whether elevation on the run, “swim-heavy” or “run-heavy” courses, participants can essentially select what suits their strengths or try something outside of their comfort zone.Race strategy for each event will be different and teams need to make sure that they have planned for such things as pacing, nutrition and water currents. The longer the course, the more race strategy will play a role in having a successful event.Partner selection is also important. You want to make sure that you and your partner are pretty compatible pace-wise. Since the sport requires that teams be tethered together on the swim, a gross mismatch of swim ability might be problematic. What equipment is required?There is definitely gear that is required for the sport. Whatever you bring to a race must be carried at all times by the teams. We will outline the key gear below:Wetsuit: There are Swimrun specific wetsuits that are designed for running and swimming. There are a bunch of companies in the space that are making these types of wetsuits, and similar to triathlon or open water swimming wetsuits, each brand will have its own take on sizing, cut and neoprene thickness.Pull Buoy: Our favorite swimrun accessory! Most are DIY’d to make sure that you can carry it while running with most efficiency. You can now buy pull buoys that are already set up for swimrun but we recommend that new athletes to the sport make their own. We see this as a rite of passage in the sport.Tether: Yes, a tether. As mentioned above, during the swim legs of an event partners are expected to be connected via a 3ish meter tether so that they remain in contact. This takes some getting used to so we recommend practicing in open water with your partner. More on this later. The tether is made of paracord and also be easily DIY’d.Shoes: Yes, you swim with shoes on. They make swimrun specific shoes but in general you want shoes that have good drainage and some decent tread on the soles since most of the run courses will be on trails. Paddles: The last piece of a swimrunner’s arsenal in the water are hand paddles. Paddles in conjunction with a pull buoy are the most helpful things to get through the swim legs of an event quickly.Multisport Watch: This isn’t mandatory but it’s helpful to know distances and the like. We like watches like the Garmin Fenix 5 that have a multi-sport setting specific for swimrun.Personal Flotation Device: Athletes competing in solo categories are required to use one of these during the swim legs of a race for safety.Some optional equipment for race include collapsible cups, shin guards, shin flotation sleeves and fins. There are also some mandatory items that most races require teams to carry throughout a race. These include a tether, compass, whistle, course maps and a first aid compression bandage. Make sure to check your events race rules to make sure that you meet their requirements.How do you train for it?Basic endurance training is obviously required but we recommend race-specific training. Swimrun bricks in open water and covering terrain similar to the race course is helpful to being ready for the adventure on race day. For example, if a course is “swim-heavy” then some longer steady state swim sets to match the course.We also recommend testing out and practicing with your gear to make sure that you can race well with whatever gear you will end up racing with. Swimming with a tether early and often can’t be overstated!If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.

9 Jan 202024min

Welcome to the first official episode of The Low Tide Boyz, a swimrun podcast!We (Chipper and Chris) will be covering a bunch of topics related to Swimrun from upcoming events and news, new gear and product reviews as well as our own journey in training and racing in this growing sport. We hope that folks will join us on our journey and that we will inspire everybody to sign up for Swimrun events in their area.By way of background, we are an endurance team out of Northern California. We’ve been training together and racing endurance events for years and raced our first Swimrun event in 2018. This year our “A” race will be Ötillö Catalina (World Series course) and our “a” race will be Odyssey Swimrun’s Orcas Island long course. We might try to do some more events…if our wives give us clearance. Our upcoming Catalina race in late February will consist of 30k run and 7.6k swim or 18ish miles of running and 4ish miles of swimming. This will be our first hilly Swimrun race with over 4,000’ of climbing on the course so we are excited about that!We’re about to really start “training” and we will be chronicling our built for Catalina on the show. We are hoping to have a good race, but have no delusions about winning anything, we’re just looking forward to working hard and experiencing an official Ötillö race. That disclaimer aside, we will be doing a pretty heavy swim build for this event and will be doing a diabolical swim program that will likely render us unable to do high fives…so we will see how that goes.Our guest this week is Kelly O’Mara. Kelly is a writer and reporter in Northern California. She is also a professional triathlete. She’s the co-host of her own podcast called If We Were Riding (available everywhere) and is an all-around awesome human being. She joined us on the podcast to talk about her own journey in discovering and racing Swimrun and about how she thinks that the sport could/should grow in the US.Kelly first heard about Swimrun from a friend at Triathlete Magazine who had done the Ötillö World Championship and she just heard a lot of buzz about those events. So she signed up for Casco Bay/ Cole Classic Swimrun event in Portland, Maine put on by Odyssey SwimRun in 2018 and returned to race in 2019. We hung out with her on the ferry in 2018 and that’s where she first met Chipper. (Chris and Kelly used to go on training rides together in Marin back in the day.)Kelly sees 2020 as “the year of Swimrun” and thinks that there will be many more events coming online as folks learn about the sport. We agree! It will be interesting to see what happens now that Ötillö has their first event in the US and the growing trend of endurance athletes compete in a variety of things to get a variety of experiences.If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to drop us a line then email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.

2 Jan 202037min

We are the Low Tide Boyz, a SwimRun team based in Northern California. Our podcast is a window into the sport of SwimRun that we want to grow in the U.S. We’ll share our love for sport while chronicling our own training and racing adventures, interview race directors, athletes and other folks in the space and try to have a lot of fun in the process. Follow along at lowtideboyz.com and subscribe where ever you consume your favorite podcasts.

20 Dec 20191min