Team Mr. and Mrs. B

Welcome to episode twenty-six of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show we have Thor Hesselberg, endurance athlete and race director of Rockman Swimrun. We have a fun chat with him about the Swimrun scene in Norway and talk about his truly epic race. More on that later.We wanted to give everyone a quick reminder that we have some discount codes from former guests that are still good. You can use the code SWIMRUN at blueseventy.com for 20% off your order. Check out our chat with the CEO of Blueseventy John Duquette. You can also use the code LOWTIDEBOYZ at precisionhydration.com for 15% off your order. If you missed the episode with Andy Blow the co-founder of Precision Hydration that is one not to miss! Support these great companies and make us look good in the process!We have dual shout outs again this week! First, we wanted to give a big congrats to Amber Ferreira (of Team Better Tethered Together) for crushing her Everesting attempt on June 20th. For those who don’t know what that is, she cycled the total elevation of Mt. Everest (29,029 feet) in one ride. Check out her Strava file to see her stats for the ride. Second, we wanted to give a special shout out Rob Sainsbury, who has been a supporter from day 1. Rob (so_aero on Instagram) wrote a post about swimrun on the VJ Shoe blog. Thanks for spreading the good word about swimrun and the Low Tide Boyz! Our training has definitely picked up now that our pool is open and we will be embarking on some local Swimrun adventures in the coming weeks. Make sure to join our Strava Club to see us bite off more than we can chew.Now for this week’s interview with Thor Hesselberg. An endurance athlete that focused on extreme triathlons and naturally found out about Swimrun in his travels and instantly fell in love with the concept. Thor became involved in Rockman when members of his swim club in Norway were putting together the first edition of the event. He volunteered by hosting a pre-race BBQ and volunteering during the fjord crossing swim. The rest is Swimrun history.We chatted about how Rockman has evolved over the years and the rationale for all the awesome hype videos to showcase the event. (You can check out their hype videos here.) We discussed how he grew the race to now being one of the most recognizable Swimrun events in the world.We also chatted about how he sees the sport of Swimrun evolving and his thoughts on how to keep growing the sport the right way. He feels that the sport needs to stay honest to the original spirit of Swimrun and keep leaving no footprint or environmental impact. Finally, we chatted about the mythology around Rockman (and the 4,444 step climb at the middle of the race) and the experience that awaits anybody that chooses to take on the challenge. We also talked about bison. You can learn more about Rockman here and start planning your trip to Norway! If you need some extra epic photos in your life, check out the Rockman Instagram page here.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

2 Juli 202046min

Welcome to episode twenty-five of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show, we have Andy Blow, the Co-founder of Precision Hydration. We did a major deep dive into hydration for Swimrun and chat about his quest to solve his own performance issues and how that led him to start PH. More on that later in the show. But we have to tell everyone that Andy was cool enough to set up a discount code for our listeners for 15% off online orders with the code LOWTIDEBOYZ. This code is good through the end of July so place an order and help make us look good while properly hydrating for your training and racing.We have dual shout outs this week! First, we wanted to give a shout out to Tim Fleming of the Endurance Performance Training Center in Mill Valley. As prep for our interview with Andy for this week’s show, he hooked us up with an appointment to get a legit/advanced sweat test. Tim conducted the test and was incredibly knowledgeable. We learned a ton and could have chatted with him for hours. We really appreciated all the time he gave us and we will definitely have him on the show at some point because he is a wealth of knowledge on all things endurance performance.Second, we wanted to give a special shout out to an entire country. The country of Japan has started listening to our Swimrun 101 episode this last week at a super high rate. Somehow the word got out and a bunch of swimrunners or soon to be swimrunners are going to be getting after it in Japan. Konnichiwa and Arigato!We wanted to remind everyone to join our Low Tide Boyz Strava Club. It’s been a fun way to see what everyone is up to training and racing-wise and we make a promise that every person in that group is guaranteed to get kudos from us. So if anyone really wants an extra two kudos for every workout plus the probability of funny comments from us, join up.Now for some exciting news, our pool has finally opened! (Queue the pearly gates music) We are excited to destroy our shoulders and build back up our swim fitness. We are loosely following a training plan from an article from Triathlete Magazine about returning to swimming after a long layoff. Speaking of Triathlete Magazine, make sure to check out our monthly column on all things Swimrun! If you have any suggestions for topics or have questions that you want to be answered, feel free to reach out to us.Now for this week’s interview! Andy Blow has a few top 10 Ironman and 70.3 finishes and an Xterra World Age Group title to his name. He has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science and was once the Team Sports Scientist for Benetton and Renault F1 teams. He raced his first Swimrun (the Ötillö World Championship) in 2014. He founded Precision Hydration in 2011 to help athletes solve their hydration issues. PH became a sponsor and official hydration partner for Ötillö in 2017.Andy’s draw to Swimrun was the idea of being able to race in pairs. After knee surgery and essentially backing away from triathlon, he asked his training partner Elliot if he wanted to check it out. They then reached out to Mats and Michael at Ötillö to get into the 2014 race. (They finished in the top 10) Part of the attraction to Swimrun for Andy was the wild west/infancy stage and the adventure.We chatted about how he started PH by basically trying to diagnose and solve his own fueling problems in races. The idea for the company took shape after helping a bunch of athletes with a lot of success. We also chatted about the misconceptions about hydration and how a lot of symptoms that athletes experience during and after events can be solved by taking proper amounts of sodium. We did a deep dive into how to calculate sweat rate and properly hydrate and how to unlock better race performances. We broke down the different theories around hydration and why hydration now can be much more individualized and effective. Andy explained to us why they designed their products to have three levels of sodium formulas—1500, 1000, 500—and how to determine which to use and when.Finally, we talked about how to properly hydrate endurance events generally (they have a great blog post on their website about this) and specifically for Swimrun. Since teams are limited in what they can carry onboard, properly using aid stations to make sure that sodium levels are kept at optimal levels. We closed out the conversation talking about how to properly recover sodium levels after workouts.Andy and the Low Tide Boyz encourage everyone to take a free sweat test on the PH website and reach out to them with questions at hello@precisionhydration.com. PH also provides free consultations to help individuals get their hydration strategy dialed in which is super cool! Don’t forget to use the discount code LOWTIDEBOYZ that’s good for 15% off through the end of July!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

25 Juni 20201h

Welcome to our third Low Tide Boyz swimrun gear review show! This review is co-hosted by our friends at Swimrun Labs and we’re super stoked to have them back for another episode.This show is all about swimrun shoes! Instead of doing a specific review of a product this week, we thought it would be helpful to take a big picture look at Swimrun shoes and all the considerations that should go into selecting the right pair for everyone. Let’s get right to it!Global Considerations in Selecting a Swimrun Shoe (or a pair of shoes to use for Swimrun training or events.)DrainageTreadCushioning/Stack HeightBuoyancy Good FitParticle Size Impermeability/Water PermeabilityIn general, you shouldn’t do anything different for swimrun than you wouldn’t do for trail running. If you’ve never run in Hokas or minimal shoes, then you shouldn’t go all in because there is a risk of injury. From a medical perspective (courtesy of Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs) is to make sure that you take a graded progression to make sure that you don’t go down an injury rabbit hole. Another consideration is that studies have shown that runners that train in various models of shoes have seen a reduced occurrence of injury by 39%.With all that, let’s talk about specific considerations for Swimrun.Swim ConsiderationsOverall, shoe performance in the water should be a net neutral. Swimming with shoes is an unnatural experience and they create a lot of drag. Some of this is mitigated by using a large swimrun pull buoy but at the end of the day you are swimming with shoes and the best that you can hope for is that they are a non-factor. The features of the shoes should be considered based on the general considerations above. For example, Asher Clark of Vivobarefoot mentioned in Episode 23 of our podcast that they used bright orange on the soles of their swimrun shoes so that partners could easily spot their partner swimming in front of them.Rule of thumb: you shouldn’t feel annoyed while swimming.Run ConsiderationsObviously, shoes are pretty important on the run. A great place to start is looking at what shoes you already have and preferably a trail shoe since most if not all Swimrun events are on trails. Not all shoes are created equal so you should make sure to try a couple of shoes because a sloshy shoe will get annoying quickly and not all shoes will feel this way. Does the shoe drain well? Do they retain a lot of water and feel waterlogged?It is important to test the shoes on various terrains (after swimming in them) to make sure they will work. You can also get technical and soak the shoes in a bucket and then weigh the shoes, wait 2 minutes and then weigh them again to see if they shed a lot of water.Getting into the water is also loaded with considerations. Speaking of loaded…do your shoes load up with rocks and sand? This can get annoying quickly but it doesn’t happen with every shoe. This is where particle size permeability can come into play and help you have a better race experience. Basically, you want particle impermeability and water permeability.Another consideration is having an integrated insole in the shoe that you settle on. Removable insoles are basically sponges for water that can lead to sloshiness on the run. Depending on the course, a shoe with a rock plate or a tough sole to prevent sharp rocks from causing discomfort.Roundtable Discussion, A.K.A. “Shoedown”This is probably the best part of the show but it’s too much good intel to write it all down. So just listen to the show for all the golden nuggets of wisdom shared.Overall ImpressionsIf you haven’t figured it out already, shoes are an individual decision and there are a lot of options to chose from. It’s best to start with what you currently have and experiment in training to make sure that they meet all or most of the general considerations mentioned at the outset. If you have a couple of shoes that work well all the better for injury prevention and for having options depending on the terrain of your next swimrun event. Feel free to hit us up if you have any questions about this special episode and/or reach out the Annie and Brooke from the Swimrun Labs on their website or on their Swimrun Labs Facebook Group.Handy List of Shoes Mentioned on the ShowAltra SuperiorAltra Vanish XCHoka One One Evo JawzHoka One One SpeedgoatHoka One One Speedgoat EvoInov-8 X-Talon 212Inov-8 X-Talon 220Merrell All Out CrushSalomon AmphibSalomon S-Lab AmphibVivobarefoot ECS TempestVJ Shoes IROCK 3That’s it for this week’s special edition show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

23 Juni 202054min

Welcome to episode twenty-four of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!We’ve got something completely new this week! For this week’s show we’re doing a deep dive into Ötillö’s Engadin World Series race. We thought that since this was the first major race to happen after shelter in place orders have lifted that it would be cool to test out a new format for race previews.We definitely couldn’t have done this without the help of Lauritz and Mats Skott from Ötillö, Nicolas Remirez of Envol Coaching, Helen Wikmar of Ark Sports and Daniel Hansson. If almost all of these names sound familiar is because with the exception of Daniel, Mats, Nicolas and Helen are previous guests on the podcast. The idea for this format kept coming up in feedback from friends and listeners. Way back when we started the show we thought that it would be could do race previews and all the feedback kept convincing us that this would be fun content to produce and share. We spent three weeks getting everything together and we hope that you enjoy and are inspired to add Engadin to your Swimrun bucket list. (We definitely have it on ours!) So let’s dive in.FIRST, WHERE IS ENGADIN?Located in southeastern Switzerland and situated in a high alpine valley at an elevation of around 1800 meters or 5900 feet Engadin is a long high Alpine valley region in the eastern Swiss Alps located in the canton of Graubünden in most southeastern Switzerland with about 25,000 inhabitants. Engadin means “Valley of the Inn People” and the En (pronounced Inn) is the river that flows through the valley and ends in the Black Sea but not before passing through some amazing looking lakes. This region is known for skiing, hiking, trail running, water sports and since 2014—Swimrun.Travel to Engadin is pretty straight forward. The closest major city is St. Moritz and it’s about 200km or 124 miles from Zurich and 175km or 109 miles from Milan. Flying, driving and railway are all ways to get to the race location. And uhm, what a location! Situated in a high alpine valley at an elevation of around 1700- 1800 meters or 5500-5900 feet the Swiss Alps look like a painting. Check out this race hype video by Ötillö to get a sense of the region and race course. Ötillö describes this destination a fairy tale. It is the race that launched the international swimrun movement in 2014 as the first Ötillö race ever outside of Sweden. “A unique race in a unique place, hosted in the fantastic Engadin Valley in Switzerland.”We sat down with Mats Skott who chose the location and designed the course for his take on all things Engadin.Why Engadin?Up until the Engadin race in 2014 Ötillö (which means island to island) was only taking place in the Stockholm Archipelago and they wanted to show that swimrun could be done anywhere where there is water to swim in and trails/roads to run on. He said that the beauty of the region and the challenge of mountains serve to highlight both that Swimrun is a versatile sport and that it can be truly international. It is now one of his favorite races to produce year after year.Key features of the course?Mats took into account the natural beauty of the region and used the valley and mountains surrounding the valley for great swimming and a lot of climbing on the run legs. Athletes traverse three lakes as they start in Maloja and make their way towards the finish in Silvaplana.Important info for swim runners considering racing Engadin?It’s important for folks to know that the race is in the mountains and as such, athletes need to prepared for sudden changes in weather and account for cold water temps. Having the right equipment and being properly trained is key to have a great experience. Athletes also need to recon with the elevation of the race and the technical/steep climbs and descents on the run legs. Training technical downhill running is key aspect to train for this event.Ötillö Race FACTS (World Series Distance)Total race distance: 45.4 km (28.2 miles)
Trail-running: 39.6 km (24.6 miles)
Run sections: 9
Swimming: 5,800 m (6,343 y)
Swim sections: 8 (12.8% Swimming)
Longest swim: 1,400 m (1530 y)
Longest run: 8.5 km (5.3 Miles)
Total elevation: 1,499 m (4918 feet)The World Series race starts near the town of Maloja and ends in the town of Silvaplana. (The hub for all pre-race activities including packet pickup, course briefings, etc.)Sprint and experience distance events take place in Silvaplana the day before the World Series distance event.Average race times: Based on 2019 results, the winning team finished in 5:27:29 (Team Simployer.) Daniel Hansson and Helen Wilkmar who we interview later in the show each finished second in 2019 with their teams ARK Swimrun for Daniel and ARKsouls for Helen. The last team finished in 9:21:31 in 2019. 5 teams missed cutoff times at aid stations. 13 teams did not finish.Fun fact: 29 countries were represented at the 2019 event.Weather on Race DayIn the middle/end of July, it is usually summer in the Engadin Valley with daytime temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit). The elevation of the course is around 1700-1800 meters (5,500-5875 ft) and this means that there could even be snowfall. Water temperatures will be between 10-14 degrees Celsius (50-57 degrees Fahrenheit) depending on where you are along the course. Ötillö recommends making sure that teams dress accordingly and consider wearing something under your wetsuit if you tend to get cold on the long swims. Use a Neoprene cap if you are not used to cold water.Ötillö’s describes the course as “challenging and beautiful. The varied course, the altitude and the very strong group of participants will challenge everyone to put in their best performances.”“The start is in Maloja, at the top of the valley and finish is by the lake in Silvaplana. The course passes Sils and Silvaplana along the way. The running sections are on dirt roads, single tracks, rocks and with some challenging steep sections to climb. The uphills are rewarded by amazing views. This is tough.”We chatted with Daniel Hansson who has raced the event four times for his tips on the course. He tries to arrive early to Engadin to start acclimating to the elevation and taking it easy when he arrives with some light hikes and easy swims. He also keeps a closer eye on his effort on race day to make sure that he’s keeping his heart rate from exploding to be able to race well. He encourages everyone to take the time to enjoy the beauty of the region.World Series Course Leg Breakdown Leg 1: Maloja to Lej Cavloc 3.2k run (1.9 miles) (110m or 360ft of climbing)Leg 2: Lej Cavloc 300m swim (328 yards)Leg 3: Leg Cavloc to Sils Lake Malija 7.6k run (4.7 miles) (330m or 1082 ft of climbing in this section narrow single track technical section)Leg 4: Maloja 500m swim (546 yards)Leg 5: Camping to Isola 6.5k run (4 miles) (210m or 689ft of climbing) (uphill all the time)Leg 6: Isola to Chaste Point 900m swim (984 yards)Leg 7: Chaste Point-Chaste Second Swim 600m run (.4 miles)Leg 8: Chaste 2nd Swim 600m swim (656 yards)Leg 9: Chaste to Lej Silvaplana 6.3k run (3.9 miles) (150m or 492ft of climbing)Leg 10: Lej Silvaplana 600m swim (656 yards)Leg 11: Lej Silvaplana loop 3.2k run (2 miles) (210m or 689ft of climbing)Leg 12: Lej Silvaplana 2 800m swim (875 yards)Leg 13: Lej Silvaplana to Silvaplana 1.9k run (1.2 miles)Leg 14: Lej Champfer 1400m swim (1530 yards)Leg 15: Lej Champfer Loop 8.5k run (5.3 miles) (375m or 1230ft of climbing) (Lots of switchbacks in this leg on the climb up and a gravel fire road on the way down)Leg 16: Lej Champfer 2 700m swim (765 yards)Leg 17: Shore to finish line Silvaplana 2k run (1.3 miles)We were lucky to be able to get Nicolas of Envol Coaching to give us a course breakdown and mini-race report. There are a lot of nuggets of wisdom here for anyone considering racing this event.Engadin Race ReportsWe asked Helen and Daniel to give us their respective race reports from 2019 to help everyone get a sense of what the course would be like on race day. More great nuggets of wisdom for everyone to stock away. Training for the Engadin World Series DistanceWe asked Nicolas for his advice on training for Engadin. He gave us a lot of tips about training for the elevation and the weather conditions. He recommends athletes try to train at least a few sessions in altitude to get a sense of what the race effort could look like. He recommends long hill repeat training sessions and swim straight after running downhills, if possible. A key weekly session that he asks all of his coaching athletes that are racing Engadin to do every week leading up to the race is pretty intense: a three-hour workout with 30 minutes of steep hill repeats (last downhill really fast) followed by a 20 minute swim at race pace, then 25 minutes of hill repeats followed by a 15 minute swim at race pace, then 20 minutes of hill repeats followed by a 10 minute swim at race pace, then 30 minutes of hill repeats followed by a 15 minute swim at race pace and finally 15 minutes of hill repeats.The other key weekly session is to find the steepest hill in your area and do hill repeats for one hour non-stop.SummarySo with that, we hope that everyone found some value in this race preview. Again, we could not have produced this show without all the help that we got from Lauritz and Mats Skott from Ötillö, Nicolas Remirez of Envol Coaching, Helen Wikmar of Ark Sports and Daniel Hansson. We were truly humbled that so many people were willing to give us some of their time to help make this show great and we hope that you find value in listening to it and, ultimately, that you are inspired to add this race to your bucket list.We’d love to hear your feedback so let us know what you think!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

18 Juni 202053min

Welcome to episode twenty-three of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show, we have Asher Clark, the Co-founder of Vivobarefoot. We will be talking about the origin story of the company and do deep dive into the new Vivobarefoot ECS Tempest Swimrun shoe. (We also talked about surfing, which is awesome!) More on that later in the show.We added another thing to the list of “things the Low Tide Boyz are doing” with the first swimrun column at Triathlete Magainze! Be sure to give it a read and share it with your networks. Training is about to get a kick in the pants as it appears that pools are starting to open and open water swims are now fully allowed at our usual spot. RIP to our shoulders! We also just dropped our ARK Keel Swimrun Pull Buoy Review, so be sure to check that out as well. We wanted to give a shout out this week to Helene from Sweden. She has been sending kind words and feedback along since the very beginning. Thanks for the support Helene!Now for this week’s interview. We’re stoked to get to chat with Asher of Vivobarefoot. If you’re not familiar with Vivobarefoot, they are a minimalist shoe company and are a staple in the Swimrun space. The company was started in 2010 with a simple idea to make shoes that allow feet to do their thing and, in effect, respect human movement.We chatted about the origins of the company and the simple/profound idea that feet should be allowed to unleash their natural potential and the shoe should be as minimal as possible and be as sustainable as possible by using a few materials as possible. Vivobarefoot had the goal of being sustainable since the beginning. The foundation of making a sustainable shoe for Vivo is to make sure that the shoe functions to allow for natural movement. The guiding light being regenerating as a concept and not just being sustainable as a company to get closer to the ultimate goal of mimicking nature.Vivobarefoot got into Swimrun while they were developing their Primus trail shoe. They tested the prototype of the shoe with some elite athletes in Sweden. Asher then met with Mats Skott and Michael of Ötillö in 2015 and went for a short 10k Swimrun (No wetsuit, cold water) and Asher was hooked. Swimrun to him was one of the most visceral ways to be connected with nature. It’s human locomotion over land and you hit the coast and you keep going. The first Swimrun shoe was released soon after adapting the Primus Trail shoe for Swimrun with the now iconic orange sole.The new Tempest shoe was a few years in the making. The ESC (Extreme Survival Collection) Tempest is basically the best Swim Run shoe on the planet, for the amphibious athlete. It is inspired by nature's aquatic animals and blended with modern technology, Vivobarefoot created a lightweight organic cage to provide flexibility, drainage and protection. The sole was developed in collaboration with Michelin to provide super grip to the ground in both slick and dry conditions. The shoe sounds awesome and looks like it would work in every race condition easily.The main caveat to using minimal shoes is that the Tempest isn’t for everyone because there’s not a lot cushioning and if your feet aren’t used to running in barefoot or minimal shoes, you can get hurt. Like anything, it’s a journey and Vivobarefoot has a guide to transitioning to barefoot-style shoes on their website to help people transition to running well in their shoes. Make sure to check out the Tempest shoe. They are available now!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

11 Juni 202051min

Welcome to episode twenty-two of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show we have Erika Rosenbaum. She’s a key historical figure in the sport of Swimrun with two claims to fame: she coined the word swimrun and produced the first swimrun event (Swimrun Hellas) that wasn’t Ötillö in 2012. She’s an amazing human being and we really enjoyed chatting with her. We wanted to give a shout out this week to Iain from the UK. He’s given us great feedback on the show and explained the UK Swimrun scene to us. There are certainly some events that we’ll want to check out there in the future. Thanks for taking the time to write us Iain!We also just dropped another bonus swimrun gear review episode. We reviewed the ARK Keel swimrun pull buoy. Now for this week’s interview. After starting a family, Erika started running in 2007 to get back into shape. She started running and it turns out that she was good at it. She then turned to triathlon and raced her first Ironman distance event in 2010 after mastering the Olympic distance. (She has since raced 8 Ironman distance events) She’s a running coachShe raced her first swimrun race in 2011: Ötillö (The only swimrun event in the world.) And she just loved that race! She came home after a 3rd podium finish thinking of how this activity has to be available to all people, not only the long-distance athletes. So she said that this has to be a sport and it’s going be called “Swimrun.” (She has since raced the World Championship 5 times and finished third place three times!)First, she thought the sound of the word Swimrun was really corny, but every word she came up with was corny so she said Swimrun 100 times to herself so it would sound more normal. She then sent out invitations to Swimrun Hellas, made the course and started to bake. The first race was in June 2012 and many of the competitors from then are still racing. That race was officially the first swimrun event that wasn’t the Ötillö World Championship. More on Swimrun Hellas later in the show.She now races marathons and swimrun events with her daughter Maja and hopes to race the Ötillö World Championship with her one day.When she first heard about Ötillö she thought that it sounded impossible, so it was definitely the race for her. She instantly fell in love with the sport, the Stockholm Archipelago and being in nature. She also loved not having to have as much gear as triathlon.  At that race, she had the epiphany that this sport should be accessible to everyone and there should be shorter races for people to discover swimrun without having to commit to race 75km.After coining the name swimrun, Erika had thoughts about trademarking the name. Instead she had a conversation with Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott of Ötillö and she agreed when they asked her to use the name for their event. Other events also reached out to her to use the name and she said yes. She, in effect, gave a name to the sport and then shared it with the world so that the sport could grow. Now there are 1,500 swimrun events in the world.Erika is happy with how the sport has been growing and really appreciates the attention to every detail that Ötillö takes with each of their events. It’s been fun to see all the races popping up all over the world. Swimrun is such a great way to for people to exercise and be with nature. She now races swimrun events one or two times per year with her daughter.In 2012, when she started Swimrun Hellas, her goal was create a course that people could try out the sport and do “social sport.” Hellas is a national park near Stockholm with a marked course that people can go visit and train for swimrun. Her event sees World Championship winners racing alongside beginners and sharing the love for the sport with everyone. By creating the first short-course swimrun event, Erika was the catalyst for the evolution and growth of the sport that we all enjoy and love today.We encourage everyone to check out the Swimrun Hellas website, Erika’s Swimrun Family facebook page and follow Erika on Instagram.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

4 Juni 202041min

Welcome to our second Low Tide Boyz swrimrun gear review show! This week we are reviewing the Ark Sports Keel Pull Buoy. This review was co-hosted by our friends at Swimrun Labs and we think that you will enjoy this review as we left no stone unturned for this one.We first learned about the Keel while researching swimrun brands to interview for show and quickly became obsessed with this pull buoy once we bought one a put it through its paces. Ark Sports is a great company that we are really rooting for. If you want to learn more about Ark Sports, check out Episode 7 on our podcast where we interview the co-founder of Ark Sports, Christofer Sundberg. The Pull BuoyBy way of introduction, Ötillö rules state that the maximum size that a pull buoy can be to be “legal” for any race is 32 cm x 30 cm x 15 cm. You can even use more than one pull buoy but the total size needs to be the same.The Ark Sports Keel Pull Buoy comes in at 28 cm x 26 cm x 12 cm. It costs 45 Euros or 50 dollars plus shipping to the U.S. from Sweden. (Ark Sports is currently working on setting up U.S. distribution so the shipping costs will come down in the near future.)According to the Ark Sports website, the Keel was developed and optimized by the world’s best swimrun athletes and the swimrun community. Its distinctive shape claims to minimize drag and maximize floatation in order for you to move as fast as possible through water. The pull buoy is made of EVA foam provides massive floatation with a rating of 46.1 Newtons. (The force of gravity on Planet Earth is only 9.8 Newtons.) Needless to say…this pull buoy really floats!The TestWe all tested the buoy extensively in training and raced with the Keel.The Swim Review Have we mentioned that this pull buoy is super buoyant? So buoyant that you want to be careful in the water because if you’re not bracing yourself, you could flip over in the water. The Low Tide Boyz tested the Keel with other pull buoys in the pool it was pretty clear that the Keel was faster than the Ark Sports Pontoon, the Roka Pro Swim pull buoy and a TYR Swim Float buoy by about 5 seconds per 100 yards (this was not a super scientific study). The ladies of Swimrun Labs also put the Keel to the test in a much more controlled trial…that took five days…where they tested 4 types of pull buoys and 1 calf flotation device and found that the Keel was the fastest option. (You can see the results of their study here.) They also found that the Keel was a great leveling agent because it put you in an optimal position for swimming. They experienced some chaffing from the shape of the buoy and the girth of the buoy did require some adductor work to keep the buoy in place. This appeared to be mitigated by using the lasso system to keep the pull buoy in place.The Transition ReviewSwim to Run: This was mostly a non-issue with the Keel. Due to the massive floatation we all recommended making sure your bracing yourself as you come out of the water because the Keel will explode out of the water to the surface and that can be interesting if you’re not ready for it. The shape of the buoy was also conducive to placing it on the hip or back depending on a swimrunner’s preference. Run to Swim: This transition was a bit more complicated. Given the buoyancy of the Keel, it was important to make sure that we were ready to enter the water and start swimming because if not the pull buoy would affect entry into the water. In effect, you have to drown the pull buoy to place it between your thighs if you already waded into the water before being set to swim. Getting horizontal immediately is the best way to get going without having the buoyancy affect you. One point of note is that since the pull buoy is asymmetrical you want to make sure that it’s point the right direction.The big zoom out is to get to know how the pull buoy acts in the water because it requires a bit of practice to understand how it works.The Run ReviewRunning with the Keel takes some forethought. If you’re using the thigh attachment method, it could cause problems on really technical trails getting caught on branches and brush. The lasso/back method resolves that problem, but It takes some getting used to as well. The material of the pull buoy doesn’t slide around and stays in place which is nice.Low Tide Boyz’z RankingsChipper: 4.5 Pull BuoysChipper thinks that the Keel is the gold standard of swimrun pull buoys. It looks good and it durable. He docked some points for the cost and for training with the Keel to make sure that you know how to wield it by the time race day comes around.Chris: 4.5 Pull BuoysChris loved the Keel but docked some points for the cost and the fit. It’s not as comfortable as it could be due to the design. That being said, this pull buoy does make you faster. Similar to how the Nike 4% running shoes essentially make you faster (if you know how to run in them) over the marathon distance due to the technology on board, the Keel pull buoy will make you faster in the water. Swimrun Labs’s RankingsAnnie: 4.5 Pull BuoysAnnie thought that the Keel is a super powerful pull buoy, that looks cool and increases performance. She docked it .5 pull buoys because of those slightly overdesigned elements that could lead to some discomfort for certain body types.Brooke: 4 Pull BuoysBrooke agreed with Annie’s take on the Keel. She arrived at 4 pull buoys by docking .5 pull buoy lost for being overdesigned and another .5 for the cost of the Keel. It’s a little cost prohibitive for people getting first into swimrun when you include shipping from Sweden. All that being said, the performance gains offered by the Keel in the water are undeniable.Overall ImpressionsOverall, we would definitely recommend the Arksports Keel Pull Buoy. It’s pricey but it checks off all the boxes for what a swimrun pull buoy should provide. While it might be slightly overdesigned and not as comfortable as it could be, it’s still an amazing piece of swimming technology. Not only will it literally make you faster in the water, you’re supporting a great brand that is synonymous with the sport of swimrun.

2 Juni 202038min

Welcome to episode twenty one of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show we have Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs. We had a great chat with them about their journey in the sport and their review website.Training was interesting this week. Chipper remains sane and Chris ran from his house to a coffee shop 37 miles away hitting all the main peaks of Marin County. You can check out the run and our strava group here. We are also ramping up our bonus episodes where we do some swimrun gear reviews, so be sure to subscribe to get those. Wild Swimrun hosted their first camp of 2020 in Sweden this past weekend. It looked like a great event with perfect weather and chilly water. You can learn more about the founders Mia and Fanny and Wild Swimrun on Episode 10 of our podcast and help support their efforts to grow female participation in the sport by buying some swag from our store. (100% of proceeds go towards the Wild Youth Initiative that provides scholarships for women and girls to attend a Wild Swimrun camp.)We have two shout outs this week! First, we want to give a special shout out to Grace from St. Paul, MN for supporting us on Patreon. She’s a fan of the show and we appreciate her support to help keep the lights on.We also wanted to give a shout out to Greg from team Boston Wet Sox. We interviewed Bronwyn and Greg on Episode 15 of the show and Greg recently sent us some great feedback and suggestions for the show that we will definitely take to heart. We love getting feedback because we are committed to growing the sport and understand our place in that process. It really helps us to make sure that we are creating content that folks will find helpful and letting us know is the best way for us to iterate to keep making the show better!Now for this week’s interview. Annie and Brooke of Swimrun Labs are amazing ambassadors for the sport of Swimrun. Not only are they great athletes, they put out a lot of great information about Swimrun racing and gear on their website. They have competed in 9 swimruns together and qualified for the Ötillö World Championship in 2020.Annie initially convinced Brooke to sign up for a race but Brooke pretty much taught her how to swim. They fell in love with the sport after their first race in 2016 at the Bellingham Swimrun in Washington. (Note: the race director of the event is Annie’s husband and that’s how she learned about the sport.)They started their website in late 2019 to try to help educate people about the sport and help impart the love for the sport and differentiate the sport from triathlon. The main purpose to create the site was to create a space to help the sport grow in the “right way” and encourage everyone that comes along to help steward the sport. Given that swimrun is so different from any other type of event out there, describing that vibe and magic is really something that has to be experienced to sense. They apply a data-driven approach to the reviews to test products and help make the research digestible for people to make good decisions about their training and gear.We chatted about their favorite races (Casco Bay and Orcas Island), race stories (listen to the show for that!) and what makes a good partner. They thought that having similar goals and temperament are the best qualities to look for. They encourage team pre-race dance routines and having as much fun as possible on the course.You can learn more about Swimrun Labs on their website and on Instagram. Lastly, Annie and Brooke encourage everyone to sign up for a swimrun race! We second that sentiment.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

28 Maj 20201h