Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast

Welcome to episode 142 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!On this episode we share our last ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship-related conversation for a while. Joining us this week are friends of the pod Lars Finanger and Andy Blow, A.K.A. Team Old Man Speed. Like the band in Blues Brothers where a motley crew of musicians come together for one incredible show, Lars and Andy teamed up to put on a Swimrun performance. Spoiler alert: they had a great day on the archipelago a few weeks back and it was great to chat with them about how the race unfolded for them.But first...Training UpdateTraining is still in the “do what you feel like doing” stage but we foresee a mini-build coming soon for our next race, SwimrunNC, taking place in just four weeks. (If you’re racing SwimrunNC, make sure to check out our course preview episode.)ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out Sheila and Team Flying Squirrels. She is Chipper’s Mother in Law and has been a die hard supporter of us since we started the show. Dare I say that no other family member has listened to as many shows as she has? Anyway, it just so happened that she was in Orcas Island this past weekend on vacation and heard that there was a Swimrun happening from Team Flying Squirrels on the ferry over. In a classic Sheila move, she asked them if they had heard about the Low Tide Boyz! Rock star!Feats of EnduranceThis week we have two Feats of Endurance winners: First, Abby Rose (a previous winner) just swam the Pailolo Channel over the weekend, an 8.4 mile swim from the island of Maui to the island of Moloka’i. Second, Steve Henn wins with just an epic Strava title, “Morning ride to Aphroditie’s temple,” while on vacation in Greece. Strong work all around!Bonus shoutout to everyone that raced Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island over the weekend. The FOMO level was extremely high. That first swim though! Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWe’re keeping it short this week.One of our favorite races, Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island, took place over the weekend and the weather looked amazing. For more details on how the race unfolded, we have another edition of Race Director Reports with Ödyssey co-founder and today’s guest, Lars Finanger. Enjoy!Yes, join us at Ödyssey Swimrun Austin to close out the USA’s Swimrun season. We can’t recommend this race enough. It’s great for first-timers and experienced Swimrunners alike.Over in Europe, Italy held their Aquaticrunner Solo Swimrunner “World Championships.” It looked like a great day out there. Special shout out to friend of the pod, Christian Götz, for a stout second place finish in the “non-italian” division just a few weeks after racing ÖTILLÖ. 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.UpdatesCheck out our latest episode of Gear Talk with Annie and Brooke from the Swimrun Labs where we breakdown our gear choices at ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship, what we wish we had done differently, and so much more.Celebrations are in order! A few weeks ago we surpassed 100,000 downloads and we are honestly humbled that so many folks have checked out the show. When we started this thing, our mission was to help grow the sport of Swimrun but that does not happen without the support of all the fans that have been tuning in for our brand of super niche content. Thank you so much for sticking with us!A new milestone means new stickers! Our friend Sebastian, A.K.A. @the_radberg designed the new sticker and we’re super stoked to share it with you all. #nospoilers If you want a free sticker or two, head over to lowtideboyz.com/stickers and fill out the form.Team Old Man SpeedWhen a couple of amazing athletes (former pro/could still be pro triathletes) decide to race ÖTILLÖ together and then name themselves Team Old Man Speed, you roll your eyes a bit but you don’t have to be a couple of amateur journalists like the Löw Tide Böyz to know that there’s a good story there. Both previous guests of the show, Lars and Andy love Swimrun and jumped at the chance of racing together…once their wives said that it was ok. In this conversation we get their race report on what was an amazing day on the Archipelago while chronicling their decades long friendship, and sharing a lot of laughs along the way. This was a great chat and we know that you will love it as much as we did. 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 [email protected] 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 an

Gear Selection Recap for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship.Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs.In this episode, the gang catches up about all things…ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. We discuss the gear selection choices, how the race went, and so much more. Annie and Brooke ask most of the questions but this conversation goes beyond just gear. Enjoy!That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk 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. Email us at [email protected] with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to episode 141 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!While we are physically back in California, we are very much still basking in a Swedish glow from last week’s ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. To keep those vibes going, we are joined on the show this week by Helena Sivertsson and Ulrika Eriksson, a.k.a. Team Stena Recycling. Helena and Ulrika are amazing athletes, multiple time World Champions and winners of this year’s race while setting a new course record (and veritably smashing the old one) in the process. But first...Training UpdateIt’s nice to be able to say that there is no training update this week. We took a much earned chill week but will start setting our sights for our next race, SwimrunNC, happening in a month. (BTW, this is the last year that this ÖTILLÖ merit race is taking place. There are still some race entries available so sign up and join us at Hanging Rock State Park in October!)ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out our spouses. We know that we shout them out at the end of every episode but they really went above and beyond handling everything at home while we were in Sweden last week. It’s not easy to have to hear us talk about Swimrun all the time AND be away for races and we thank them for supporting us on this wild journey.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s Feats of Endurance winners are literally everyone that lined up at the start of the World Championship last week. Just getting to that start line required hard work, dedication, and courage. We see you and we’re stoked to have been able to share the day with you.Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWe’ve got a couple of updates for everyone this week.There are a lot of great events happening this weekend!Here in the U.S., one of our favorite races, Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island, is happening on Sunday. This race is awesome and the location is truly magical. We’ve said this before but if you’re the type of person that waits until the last minute, well now is your time to shine…and sign up. Make sure to use the code LOWTIDEBOYZ to save 15% off of your registration. Over in Finland, the Folkhälsan Swimrun is taking place on Saturday. We keep hearing awesome things about the vibes at this event and definitely plan on racing it one of these years. Maybe next year?In Spain, Swimrun Madrid is hosting their Swimrun El Atazar on Sunday. The location is about 45 minutes north of Madrid and looks dope. The race organizers are expecting over 300 Swimrunners from all over Spain and abroad so that is awesome! We definitely want to learn more about the Spanish Swimrunning scene so stay tuned for a future episode about that.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.UpdatesTwo new videos over on our YouTube channel. A Cabbing down overview, tips, and step-by-step guide and an overview and first impressions of the new Ark Sports Utö Air Sleeveless Wetsuit.Check out our Gear Talk: Quick Hits Reels on our IG. We’ve been getting great feedback on these, so let us know if there is anything you want us to cover on that front. Are you enjoying the show and want other people to find it and the sport of Swimrun? Well, consider leaving a review for the show on apple podcasts or rate us on spotify. This is the best way to help new people discover the show and it helps us look good. It only takes a minute and it means a lot to us.Team Stena RecyclingWhat can we say about Helena and Ulrika? They are amazing athletes and it was so great to chat with them about their incredible performance at ÖTILLÖ. Even more incredible is that they teamed up on the way to the race after both of their original partners had to back out due to illness. In this conversation we talked about their racing background, got their race report, and discussed how to get more women into the sport. They were awesome and we think that you’ll love this conversation 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 140 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!“From LFG to WFD (We Fucking Did it!)”Welcome to the Löw Tide Böyz, a Swimrun podcast. This is episode 140 of the show.In this episode, we will be sharing our race report for the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. This race our A-race to end all A-races and delivered on every level. In short, the race was amazing and it was the experience of a lifetime. We had a great day on the Archipelago and only deepened our love for the sport of Swimrun and the Swimrun community at large. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 139 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This is the final installment of our “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we discuss our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Well, the race is finally here. When this show is released we will already be in Sweden drinking Fika and finding slippery rocks to run on before heading to Djurönäset for the pre-race briefing. We have a lot of people to thank that helped us get to this point and we want to share some of the amazing pro-tips that we have received in the course of these Countdown episodes and over the years.But first…We want to give one final giant thank you to our supporters Ödyssey Swimrun, Frank Paddle, and Precision Fuel and Hydration for helping make this show possible. Make sure to use the code “LOWTIDE22” to save 15% off of your first order from Precision Fuel and Hydration. Use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of Odyssey Swimrun’s 2022 events. Finally, Frank Paddle’s new paddles are out now! Definitely check those out if you’re interested in the latest evolution in carbon fiber swim paddle technology.How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?Safe to say that we both feel ready physically and mentally for the race. We are looking forward to sharing the adventure on the Archipelago and it is wild that the race is here after so many months!WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRO-TIPSWe are blessed to have been able to have so many great guests on the show to share with us their insight about the World Championship and we wanted to summarize some of the best tips that we got for everyone racing…or considering trying to quality. We’ve added hyperlinks to the shows mentioned in case anyone wants to listen to the complete interviews. Let’s get to it!Oscar Olsson: Episode 85On the longer runs, you know you’re getting to a swim leg when the gravel road ends. (Good time to start cabbing up)Take a gel before starting the pig swimStrobe lights at the first swim and the pig swimAlso, “take a fucking gel!”Get moving after the pig swim to warm up and shake off the hard swimTether on the long runsDefinitely cab down for the ORNÖ runThe last swim before UTÖ can be tricky, spend an extra five seconds to get a sense of the current before going inMarika Wagner: Episode 105Enjoy the sunrise on the first swimDiane Sadik: Episode 112Eat every 30 minutesSwitch up leading swims early on to stay warmThe Swimrun Monks: Episode 122 Eat a lot.Jenny Ramstedt: Episode 112If you have a chance, running the island of ORNÖ outside of race is a good idea to get a sense of what the terrain will be like (knowledge is power pro tip)Anna Lundberg: Episode 118Namdö cutoff is the one to pay attention toGet your suit on and organized before going to the breakfast on race morningBill Lankford: Episode 109Bring a bag/luggage with wheels for your stuff because carrying a bag the day after the race will be toughJonas and Lars Ekman: Episode 116Visualize minimizing your transitions to save time on race dayDo the race before you think you’re ready for itPace your swims in the first third of the race and try to find feet to draft off ofVille Engberg: Episode 119Watch out for the swim after the pig swim because that one is usually coldTry to find a good pack to swim with early onDon’t worry about not running on the first few islandsNicolas Remires: Episode 126Don’t try to memorize every leg. Instead think about the race in terms of five sections and learn the features of each section from aid-station/cut-off.Andy Blow: Episode 118Don’t go to the breakfast on race morning. It’s a mess. Instead bring whatever food you will eat with you so you don’t have to deal with that.Jonas Colting: Episode 131Don’t worry about doing a warm-up run before the race. Relax on the ferry and avoid the anxious energy: Use the first run as the warmup.Do work and get through the swimsSusie Moonan: Episode 122Take a moment to look at your partner and be present during the raceWhen you feel low, Remember why you are doing the race and focus on the belief that you can do this!See you out there!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 138 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!On this week’s show we welcome endurance legend Gordo Byrn. Gordo is a coach, stud endurance athlete and happens to be the only American to ever win ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. He won the event in 2010 with partner, and fellow endurance legend, Jonas Colting, and we go into all the details of their epic day on the Archipelago. But first...Training UpdateWe just finished our last big week of training with some major pool swims, 4-hour Swimruns, and lots of trail running. With ÖTILLÖ just 11 days away as of this episode’s release, we are feeling pretty good about stuff and are as ready as we’re going to get. ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out to all the teams racing the One Water Race. More on this race later in the show but rest assured that everyone who lined up at the start is more than worthy of a shoutout.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s Feats of Endurance winner is Aaron Morrison who posted a surprisingly not-chilly Swimrun practice from Juneau Alaska over the weekend. Thanks for proving that if there’s a place to swim and a place to go running nearby, Swimrunning is possible!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWe’ve got a big update for everyone this week.In Norway, the epic Rockman Swimrun took place. This race looked as amazing as ever with some incredible photos that you can check out on their fb page. We asked Race Director, Thor Hesselberg, to share his race director report with us so enjoy this latest installment of Race Director Reports.We also have some exclusive reporting to share about Rockman. In 2023, the race will introduce an Experience distance to go along with their ÖTILLÖ merit race distance.In France, the also epic Swimrunman Laffrey (the race with the wild vertical kilometer to finish the world series distance race) and it looked like a perfect day for a super hard Swimrun. We love this race for a lot of reasons but especially because the event offers distances for all ability/desire levels from a ÖTILLÖ merit race distance all the way to a kids Swimrun. In Sweden, there were some fun local Swimrun events that took place including the Skatås Sjöar Swimrun and the Immeln Swimrun. It’s so great to see these local events and it reminds us that these types of events is how the sport grows so make sure to support your local events by either signing up or volunteering.By the time this show is released, teams will have finished, or will be close to having finished, the inaugural One Water Race. This event is easily the toughest/longest Swimrun event on the planet with a total distance of 250 kms and 50 kms of that being swimming! We promise to have a lot more coverage about the event and teams participating in the next few weeks once we are back from Sweden. In the meantime, check out our interview with co-founder and race director, Thomas Ogander, on Episode 104 of the podcast.Here in the states, Ödyssey Swimrun Mackinac Island is happening this coming Sunday, August 28. If you’re the type of person that waits until the last minute, well now is your time to shine…and sign up. Make sure to use the code LOWTIDEBOYZ to save 15% off of your registration. This is the second edition of this race and we are bummed that we won’t be out there this year. 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.UpdatesWe have an update for our LTBZ x SWE meetup on Saturday Sept. 3 at 18:30. Thank you to everyone that DM’d us with suggestions on locations. We are planning on posting up at the rooftop bar area of Tak Bar (you can go to tak.se to get location info.) We hope to see you all there! Special bonus shoutout to Chet for the recommendation.Gordo ByrnWe have to give a special shoutout to Lars Finanger for connecting us with Gordo. It was so cool to go back down memory lane with Gordo about his ÖTILLÖ experience. Even though it was twelve years ago now, his memories of the event are as crisp as ever and it was obvious that he had an amazing experience racing with Jonas Colting. In this chat, we talked about his endurance background, how he found his way to ÖTILLÖ and how he’s seen the sport evolve since his race back in 2010. We loved this conversation and know that you will as well. Enjoy!BTW, check out Gordo’s blog that he’s been updating every week for almost 20 years at feelthebyrn.blog.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 [email protected] 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 ou

Welcome to episode 137 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Joining us on the show this week is the wife and husband duo of Liz and Jacob Gilden, A.K.A. Team #batmansparents. They are a power couple out of Virginia and are headed to Sweden for their first ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. This was a really fun conversation and we’re stoked to share it with you. But first...Training UpdateWe got in another solid week of training. We had some interesting scheduling challenges though. We ended up doing our Saturday-scheduled mondo Swimrun practice on Friday afternoon so Chris could prepare for his son’s 3rd birthday party. We have one more biggish week of training and then we’re two weeks away from ÖTILLÖ.ShoutoutsWe’ve got a mondo shouting out to give this week to the awesome crew at Traverse Fitness in Denver Colorado: Rob, Sara, Kellyn, Jane, Kate, Timmy, Sarah and Ben, Josh, Chris, Avery and Vivian. Rob Dm’d us a few months back and told us that he was bringing a big crew of people to Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island to do their first Swimrun. All in all, 22 athletes are making their way to Orcas Island. Awesome…we know! Anyway, we offered to do a Zoom call with them to answer any questions that they might have and we had that call this past weekend. We had a ton of fun chatting with them and we are so stoked for their adventure. They will all do great and we can’t wait for the post-race Zoom call to get all the race reports from them!Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Tobias Rop of Team Max Mockermann. Life was imitating “art” when he posted a Swimrun workout from Bled, Slovenia where there’s a baller lake with a castle on an island that we used in a meme a while back. Look at the show notes for the link to the meme. Strong work Toby.Check out episode 57 of the show to learn more about this awesome team out of Germany.Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWe’ve got a short update for everyone this week.In Sweden, the Juniskar Swimrun took place this past weekend and it looked like a warm day out there. Also in Sweden, the popular Ångaloppet Swimrun happened on Saturday and Sunday and it was great to see so many kids racing with their parents. There we also Swimrunners racing in Speedo’s which isn’t something you see every day. (Looking at you George Bjalkemo!)Down in South Africa, Torpedo Swimrun have announced their “Spring” race schedule of Torpedo Val de Vie on October 30th and Torpedo Cape Town on November 20th. They will have seven race distances over the two weekends so plenty of options for everyone.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.UpdatesWe are starting to get our plans together for Sweden and wanted to let everyone know that we are going to host a meetup on Saturday Sept. 3 in the evening at a bar/coffee shop/restaurant in Central Stockholm. Come out and say hi whether you’re racing ÖTILLÖ or not. We’ll post more details as we fine tune them. On that note, if anyone has a suggestion for a location, send us a DM.Team #batmansparentsIt was great to chat with Liz and Jacob. We loved their energy and candor about their build to ÖTILLÖ. It’s always interesting for us to hear Swimrun journeys and theirs is a sweet one. It started as a way for them to get to do events together and now they find themselves at the doorstep of the original Swimrun. We loved this conversation and know that you will as well!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 136 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!In this show we catch up with Rick Mann and Kris Corbett, A.K.A., Team We Be Family. We’ve been following Rick’s endurance exploits on Strava for years and learned that he was racing this year’s ÖTILLÖ Engadin with his niece Kris. We’ve been wanting to get this team on the show and figured we might as well get a race report for an adventure that is high on our (long) bucket list. This was a great conversation of their epic challenge in the Swiss mountains. But first...Training UpdateIt’s been a while since we’ve had a “regular” show but at this point everybody knows what is looming ahead of us on September 5th. We’ve been putting in the work and have a couple more weeks of building before the taper begins. So expect long swims, long runs, and long Swimruns are in our near future.ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out our newest Patrons on Patreon. Big, big thank you to Maikal Gaedker, Tracy Sesselberg, Sarah Estrella, and Chris Wright for your support. We really appreciate it and stay tuned for something special in your mailbox as a token of our thanks to you and all our Patrons. Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Victor Rosado. Victor not only posted multiple Strava workouts from Puerto Rico, but his workouts were literally in Chris’s hometown of San Juan and near his ancestral neighborhood of Ocean Park.Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk!We’re keeping it short this week because we’ve been on vacation.Since we last had a TWIS, ÖTILLÖ Engadin and ÖTILLÖ Gothenburg took place. Both races looked amazing/challenging/epic. Keeping true to their 2022 world class form, Hugo and Max won both events and are primed for great things at the World Championship next month. Also true to form, and adding further evidence that she is the greatest Swimrunner of her generation, Desirée won the Women’s division in Engadin with her partner Amanda Nilsson and the Mixed division in Gothenburg with her partner Alex Berggren (2nd Overall) despite a pretty wicked fall and faceplant on a rock. Speaking of ÖTILLÖ Gothernburg, our friends Marcus Barton and Kawika Tarayao, A.K.A. Team Envol Spam Fika were at the event and finished in a stellar 10th overall and 6th place Men’s team. We asked them to share with us their adventure so here’s a special bonus guest race report of their epic day. It’s also a mini-master class on tactics for navigating such a transition heavy race.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.UpdatesLooking for some of the slickest/only Swimrun casual gear out there? Then make sure to head over to our online store for all your LTBz merch including shirts, hats, beanies, stickers, etc. As a bonus, merch may or may not have supernatural powers, case in point: our friend Sarah B. had podiumed every Swimrun that she has entered since buying her LTBz shirt. (She’s two for two!)Team We Be FamilyIt was great to finally have Rick and Kris on the show. As we mentioned at the beginning of the show, we’ve known Rick and Kris for a while and first met them in person at the inaugural Ödyssey Swimrun Austin. We asked them to come on after their recent epic ÖTILLÖ Engadin adventure. It was so cool to see a team from Florida and Dallas respectively show up at one of the hardest/hilliest Swimruns out there ready for the challenge. While they were literally the last finishers of the World Series distance, they had an awesome day and we’re stoked to share their first-hand account of a race that has been near and dear to our hearts since we started flooding Instagram with cow memes.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 135 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week we have the final edition of our “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we discuss our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. In our quest to leave no stone unturned, we have Helen Wikmar, CEO of ARK Sports to talk about all things gear (one of our favorite topics) for the big day. But first…We want to give a big thank you to our supporters Ödyssey Swimrun, Frank Paddle, and Precision Fuel and Hydration for helping make this show series possible. Make sure to use the code “LOWTIDE22” to save 15% off of your first order from Precision Fuel and Hydration. Use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of Odyssey Swimrun’s 2022 events. Finally, Frank Paddle’s new “PRO” paddles are out now! How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?We are both feeling good heading into our last month of training for the WC. We’ve been putting in some big days in the pool and on the trails and we’re getting our kits dialed in for the race. Mentally we are both in a good place. Nervous for the unknown because there’s no denying that it is a big day but we’re looking forward to the amazing experience, come what may.Helen WikmarIt was great to have Helen back on the show to talk about gear considerations for the World Championship. She’s raced the event 2.5 times (one DNF) and has a ton of experience as both a Swimrunner and as the CEO of Ark Sports. She shared with us her best thinking on how to approach gear selection for the race and gave us her recommendations of what to wear. In the end, it’s a very individual decision but over indexing on not being cold seems like the best advice.Just like that, we’re only a month away from a race that we’ve been dreaming about for many years. Thank you to everyone that is rooting for us!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs.In this episode, the gang catches up after several months since the last show and go through their various gear choices for Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay and the Folsom Swimrun. Since this was the first show in a while there was a lot of new gear that was discussed, including the new Ark Sports UTÖ Air, KORP, and VIGG suits, the VJ Ultra 2 shoe, the Adidas Terrex Speed Pro Trail shoe, Frank Paddle Pro Carbon Fiber swim paddles, and Two Toms Body Shield.Stay tuned for future Gear Talk episodes!That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk 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. Email us at [email protected] with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to episode 134 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Right on the heels of last week’s Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay race report show…we have another race report for this past weekend’s TBF Racing’s Folsom Swimrun. This was our 10th Swimrun and our first with our collective families present to share in the experience. We went in with zero expectations for this inaugural Swimrun and we experienced a really fun, well-organized event that we really enjoyed. (Also, we won the long course team division, so that was cool.)Folsom Swimrun offered two distances: a short course that was around 4 miles total and a long course that was around 8 miles total. There were a lot of first time Swimrunners which was great to see and even a team composed of a guy and his dog. (They won the short course race) We opted to race the long course and our plan was to try to Swimrun at tempo as much as possible. It was a fun way to race for sure and in the end, we finished in second place overall and first place in the teams division.Overall, this was a really fun event and we have to thank Bill and the rest of the team at TBF Racing for setting up a great course for their first ever Swimrun. We hope that they continue to put on Swimrun events since we believe that local, approachable events are the best way to get folks to try the sport in a low-stress setting. Finally, we want to give a big shoutout to everyone that showed up on Saturday for the race! Hope to see you all at the next one.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 133 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’ve got our second race report of 2022 to share with everyone this week! We just got back from Portland Maine after racing the sixth edition of Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay and we’re super stoked to share all the details of our third pilgrimage to the original U.S. Swimrun.It was a great weekend from the moment we arrived and it was amazing to meet so many new Swimrunners and reconnect with old ones at our LTBz Patreon lunch, Ödyssey’s bib pickup, on the ferry to the race start, and at our post-race party. The race itself was another level up for us. Our goal was to focus on keeping a steady effort throughout and be mindful of our nutrition and hydration on what ended up being a pretty warm and muggy day on the islands. We’re happy to report that we felt like we achieved our goal and had a ton of fun out on the course.Our finishing time was 4:34:52, which was good for 5th place overall, 4th place mens team. Probably a better measure of our improvement was that our finishing time was a little over a half hour faster than our 2021 finishing time of 5:10.This event was a blast and we plan on continuing our annual pilgrimage to Portland for this race next year. A huge shoutout to Lars, Aaron, John and Brent of the Ödyssey team for putting on a great event and for setting the vibe tone right from the start of the weekend all the way until the last finisher crossed the finish line.Congrats to everyone that toed the line and hope to see you all again next year!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 132 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week we have the latest installment in our Swimrun 101 series. In this episode, we are discussing our “official” LTBz top 5 tips for new Swimrunners entering the sport. We get these questions a lot and since we are on a mission to get as many people into the sport as possible, we thought that we would lay out our best thinking on what you should be thinking about if you’re new to this awesome sport. Also, because we are the first to say that we don’t have it all figured out, we asked some of our friends/uber experienced Swimrunners for their insights that we share along the way. Huge thanks to Marcus, Amy and Trista, and Bronwen and Greg for their help in getting this episode together.Let’s get right to it…Tip 1: Start Swimming MoreSwimrun is more than just alternating swimming and running. At its purest, it’s a sport where participants try to move as seamlessly through nature as possible on their way from A to B. Taking that mindset is the best way to approach your first race.That being said…you should start swimming more. The stronger of a swimmer that you become, the more likely that you will have a positive experience at your first event. Put another way, unlike run legs when you can walk, stop, or take a break, during swim legs you just have to get them done and the more confident of a swimmer you are, the less likely that your event will be an ordeal. We recommend that you incorporate swim paddles (that are the right size for you) and a buoy to simulate what you will likely be using during a race. Not sure where to get started with Swimming. We recommend that you check out Tower 26 coaching. They have an awesome online Swim coaching program that we’ve used and helped us tremendously to progress our swimming.Bonus Tip 1b: Eat/Drink More Than You Think You NeedIt’s amazing how many calories you can burn while Swimrunning and you should be practicing your nutrition strategy along with race strategy. Bronwen and Greg of Team Boston Wet Sox (AKA, the most successful American team in the history of the sport) recommend the same and add that if you’re having negative thoughts, it probably means that you are hungry.Tip 2: Don’t Stress Over Swimrun GearWe all love getting new gear and Swimrun opens up a whole new bevy of gear options for us to obsess over. Our advice is to try not to. While procuring a Swimrun-specific wetsuit is a good idea so that you have that key piece of kit covered, you can pretty much get by with whatever you have hanging around the house for the rest of your kit. You can use any trail shoe that you might already own, you can DIY a pull buoy setup (a fun rite de passage for all new Swimrunners), and experiment to find what works for you. That being said, Bronwen and Greg highly recommend that you use a tether (if racing with a partner) and a pull buoy with more floatation that your average pool pull buoy *cough* Ark Keel *cough*. They make a huge difference.If you insist on getting new gear, our hierarchy of things to get are: 1, a good Swimrun wetsuit; 2, a mondo Euro-style Pull Buoy; 3, good swim paddles that are the right size for you; and 4, Swimrun-specific or well-draining trail shoes with good lugs on the soles.Trista and Amy from Team Adorkable recommend that before you go “I’d never use…” to look at what most other Swimrunners are using and be willing to try something new since there’s probably a good reason why people use things like “the tether.”Similarly, Marcus Barton, AKA Mr. Low Tide Boy 2020, and the most experienced Swimrunner in America, suggests that you use the current evolution of Swimrun gear as your baseline. You’ll thank yourself later.Looking for used Swimrun gear? Make sure to check out the Swimrun Swap Meet on facebook where you can find used, new, and free Swimrun gear for your first event.Tip 3: Swimrunning is Cold Business Understanding that you’ll be wet for the better part of a few hours at a minimum means that managing body temperature is important to do correctly to have a positive first experience. What we term as “heat management” is making sure that you’re not cooking in your wetsuit or shivering during the swims. This takes practice…and using the correct gear to help mitigate what the elements are throwing at you.Marcus recommends that you don’t do all your swimming and running training separately. Go on a Swimrun adventure or, if you’re in an urban setting, use your pool and some local roads to get a feel for the sport. This will help better understand whether you run cold or hot and you can start sorting out what your gear considerations should be to make sure that you stay in a good place temperature-wise.Tip 4: Find Your Swimrun MindsetAs the late Jeff Cole would say, “Swimrun is not triathlon.” Swimrun is an adventure sport. It’s less of a time trial and more of a journey from point A to B. While we love triathlon, we think that what makes Swimrun so great is that it takes you

Welcome to episode 131 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This is the fourth and penultimate edition of our “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we discuss our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. It’s hard to believe that we are just two months away from the big day. Joining us on this episode to talk about all things ÖTILLÖ is returning guest, Jonas Colting. We last had Jonas on the show all the way back in episode 11 and it was great to get his perspective on ÖTILLÖ as the only individual to start every single World Championship.But first…We want to give a giant thank you to our supporters Ödyssey Swimrun, Frank Paddle, and Precision Fuel and Hydration for helping make this show possible. Make sure to use the code “LOWTIDE22” to save 15% off of your first order from Precision Fuel and Hydration. Use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of Odyssey Swimrun’s 2022 events. Finally, Frank Paddle’s new paddles are out now! Definitely check those out if you’re interested in the latest evolution in carbon fiber swim paddle technology.How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?Our collective motivation is still very high and as we careen towards our date on the Archipelago we are both looking forward to sharing the day and expressing our fitness. We’ve had a bit of adversity this past month with Chris getting COVID but luckily he’s recovered well and only really missed one week of training. (In hindsight, this might be a really good thing.) Overall though, we are working the process and staying focused on what’s in front of us and not looking too far down the road.Up next for us is Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay in a week-sh. This race will be our last “tune-up” before ÖTILLÖ (not counting the Folsom Swimrun) and we are really looking forward to being at the start line to take on the new long course.Jonas ColtingJonas is awesome. Full stop! It’s almost embarrassing that we haven’t had him back on the show since Catalina. He’s a Swedish endurance legend and it was great to sit down with him to talk about the World Championship and what keeps him coming back year after year to experience the original Swimrun. This was a great conversation that somehow got us even more super stoked for the race. Much like our original conversation in 2020, this one is a continuation of our Swimrun love-fest. You can follow Jonas Colting and Colting Wetsuits 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 130 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’re heading back to Sweden this week and we’re super stoked to share our conversation with Swimrunner extraordinaire, Max Andersson. We’ve been following his exploits for a while and it was great to get him on the show to talk about his Swimrun journey.But first...Training UpdateTraining has been interesting this week. Chipper had a great week but Chris’s training went sideways after his whole household contracted COVID. He’s on the mend and will be ramping back up just in time for Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay…which is just 2ish week’s away! ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out Bradley Amery. He recently reached out to us asking for our preferred cliff/dock jump technique for his first ever Swimrun at Casco Bay and we’re here for it. Thanks so much for reaching out and hope our video from last year’s Austin LTBz shakeout was helpful.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Steve Hann from the U.K. We spotted him on Strava rocking a Ödyssey shirt on a ten mile run and it turns out that he’s flying out for Casco Bay in a few weeks. See you there Steve!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk!We’re keeping it short this week with only one announcement that is near and dear to our hearts…As anyone who has listened to pretty much any of our Gear Talk shows knows (and/or has played the Gear Talk drinking game), Chris is a huge fan of the Ark Sports VIGG suit. Well this week Ark released the 2022 edition of the VIGG Wetsuit. The new VIGG pushes the envelope even more than the original model. The back pocket is re-shaped for extra space. Legs are updated with a new hi-end fabric for increased durability. Leg cut is also improved. New super stretch and soft collar improve comfort around the neck.Anyway, we are obviously ridiculously stoked for this suit! 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.UpdatesCheck out our latest Youtube video all about the new Ark Sports KORP Wetsuit. This suit is awesome and we can’t recommend it enough!We’ve scheduled our next Patreon Zoom Meetup for July 9th at 7pm (Eastern) time. We’ll be chatting about new Ark Sports gear, holding an impromptu Casco Bay race strategy sesh, and other good stuff. Check out our Patreon page to learn more about how you can help support the show for the cost of one grande oat milk latte per month.Max AnderssonIt was so great to finally catch up with Max. We started paying attention to him when he won last year’s EX Swimrun’s Ark Supersprint race and we’ve been rooting for him ever since. In this conversation we talked about his Swimrun journey, how he had less than 12 hours of notice to race his first ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship in 2019, what’s it like to race with the likes of Adriel Young and Hugo Tormento, and much more. We love his enthusiasm for sport and think that you will love this conversation as much as we did. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 129 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We have a fun one this week! Fresh off of the heels of the EX SWIMRUN’s ARK SUPERSPRINT and EX22 events we have Race Director Nicholas Roman back on the show to chat about these trailblazing races. It is becoming an annual tradition to have Nicholas on the show and we’re here for it!But first...Training UpdateÖdyssey Swimrun Casco Bay is a month away! We had a great first Swimrun practice (and first Swimrun since Swimrun Lake James) at our training grounds of Aquatic Park in San Francisco. We were out there for 3+ hours and it was cool to see all of our time in the pool and on the track expressing itself. We’re dialing it back a bit this week but have some pretty big weeks leading up to Casco Bay as we are essentially training through that race on our way to ÖTILLÖ.ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out Alex Sheen from the U.K. We love hearing from our listeners but we especially love hearing about how their first Swimrun adventures went. Alex has definitely gotten the Swimrun bug and in short order has already gotten a couple of Swimruns under his belt and is loving it. Well, we’re loving it that you’re loving it Alex. See you in Austin in November.Feats of EnduranceThis week we are shouting out our friend Stirling Myles of Team Run for Tacos. He’s been doing some cool training up in Montreal and recently ran a quirky “unsanctioned” race called a RUNK where folks meet at a random subway station and then get race directions from there. You can check out his write up about the event on Canadian Runner Magazine.Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk!As we mentioned last week, there were a bunch of events in the U.K. over the weekend and it was great to see so many participants at We Swimrun, As Keen As Mustard and Love Swimrun events. Coming up this weekend, there are some cool events taking place. Over in Spain, we have the first ever Spanish Swimrun Championship as part of Swimrun Madrid. This is an interesting trend of countries coming up with their own national title events and we’re here for it.In Germany, Swimrun Rheinsberg is going down and is offering a bunch of distance options for this urbanish event.Here in the U.S., PBR Swimrun Knox is happening on Sunday June 26 in Knoxville Tennessee and that event offers short and long course distance options.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.UpdatesLooking for some “Gourmet Shit of Swimrun apparel?” Then head over to our online store for hats, shirts, hoodies, and other stuff. Nicholas Roman, EX SwimrunIt was great to have Nicholas back on the show to talk about this year’s Ark Supersprint and EX22 events. We love the energy and enthusiasm that he brings to the sport of Swimrun and it was great to catch up with him and chat about how his events are evolving. Make sure you check out exswimrun.se to learn more about what Nicholas and his team are up to.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 128 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We have a great show for everyone this week! Joining us in Studio G are Liza Dunham and Mike Schiepke, a.k.a., Team Cali-Coed. We first met Liza and Mike in Catalina in 2020 and kept seeing them at the races. We’ve wanted to have them on the podcast for a while and we’re super stoked to share our conversation.But first...Training UpdateÖdyssey Swimrun Casco Bay is 5 weeks away!! We’ve got some “robust” Swimrun practices coming up the next few weekends as we start fine tuning our training and work on transitions, swimming straight, fueling as much as possible, etc.ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out our newest Patron on Patreon: Lisa Decker. Lisa has been a supporter of us since the beginning and we were super stoked to finally get to meet her in person at last year’s Ödyssey Swimrun Austin event. She even had a LTBz sticker on her car. Thank you so much for the support Lisa!Feats of EnduranceWe haven’t done a feats of endurance segment in a few weeks so there are several worthy winners that we want to highlight. In no particular order, a tip of the hat to Justin Young (training for the new Folsom Swimrun), Justin May (Swimrunning in Bellingham), and Scott Suurmeyer (crushing a 106 mile Unbound gravel race in Kansas). Keep up the strong work!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk!Since our last TWIS, there have been a bunch of awesome races and even better stories. Our favorite story though is the return of the super team of Fanny Kuhn and Desirée Andersson at ÖTILLÖ Isles of Scilly. True to form, they crushed the female division and finished third overall. One of our favorite events, EX Swimrun’s Ark Supersprint took place this past weekend and it was an epic day. Desirée repeated as Women’s champion and Hugo Tormento (a.k.a. 2022 Male Swimrunner of the year if the award was being given today) was the Men’s champion. We plan on having EX race director Nicholas Roman back on the show to talk about this year’s race so stay tuned for that! Looking forward, there are a couple really cool events coming up this weekend that we want to highlight.Over in the UK, As Keen As Mustard’s Nene Park Swimrun Festival is taking place this weekend and we can’t wait to see all the photos. We love this race series and highly recommend that folks check out our interview with Nicky and Chelsey Bailey, the mother and daughter race directing duo of As Keen As Mustard.Also in the UK, the folks at We Swimrun are hosting their Tal Y Llyn Swimrun this Sunday. It's a solo, sprint course of 10km (8km trail, 2km swim) in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. This race is ideal for first timers, and a great place to meet a future race partner!Skipping over to France, the seventh edition of Swimrun Cote Vermeille is taking place over two days this weekend. This event offers 5 distances including an ÖTILLÖ Merit Race distance of 63km which looks stout to say the least. New for this year, they are offering a relay option for the 63km distance which is pretty cool and the first relay option that we’ve seen. Our favorite distance might be the 4km kids Swimrun though.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.UpdatesFor folks racing Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay in July, we are going to host our 2nd Annual Post-Race Party at a brewery in downtown Portland somewhere. We will share more details as we figure them out but we hope to see you there.Our friends at Precision Fuel and Hydration have just released their new p30 Caffeine Gels and spoiler alert: they are delicious! Best of all they don’t taste like science. Want to check them out? Use the code LOWTIDE22 at checkout to save 15% off of your first order.Team Cali-CoedIt was so great to finally sit down with Liza and Mike for a proper chat. We joke around a lot about folks needing to pass the vibe check when it comes to Swimrun and in our opinion Team Cali-Coed just exude cool Swimrun vibes. In this conversation we talked about their Swimrun journey, gushed over Tower 26 and Gerry Rodrigues’s training methodologies, and why Swimrun is the greatest. Liza and Mike embody everything that is great about Swimrun and we know that you will love this conversation as much as we did. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to this bonus episode of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swiun Podcast!Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay is coming up in a few weeks and we wanted to share an addendum to our 2021 Casco Bay Course Preview episode. As some of you may know, the Casco Bay course changes every year or so and we wanted to make sure that everyone had the latest and greatest intel going into this year’s edition. In this addendum, we are joined by frequent guest of the show John Stevens to walk us through the new long course that he designed.If this is your first time racing Casco Bay we recommend that you check out our Course Preview episode for all the details about Portland Maine and the mechanics of the race. You can also check out our 2021 Casco Bay Race Report to get some more intel about the race.2022 Short CourseIf you’re racing the short course this year, check out our recent Couch to Casco episode (with John Stevens) where we discuss everything you need to know about short course with some training and gear tips thrown in.2022 Long Course Leg-by-Leg BreakdownThe Long course clocks in at 23-ish miles total with 18 miles of running and about 5 miles of swimming over 13 run sections and 12 swim sections.We asked John Stevens to give us a leg-by-leg breakdown of the course and he did not disappoint. Our chat with John had a lot of great insight from the guy that designed the course to help everyone be as prepared as possible for the race. We recommend listening to his breakdown with the race map and the leg-by-leg breakdown from the show notes handy so you can orient yourself with the course while listening.(2022 North to South Route)Run 1: Chebeague Island (1 mile)Swim 1: Chebeague (460 yds)Run 2: Chebeague Island (3 miles)Swim 2: Chebeague to Little Chebeague (685 yds)Run 3: Little Chebeague (.5 miles)Swim 3: Little Chebeague to Long Island (685 yds)Run 4: Long Island (1.65 miles)Swim 4: Long Island (930 yds)Run 5: Long Island Sandbar (81 feet)Swim 5: Long Island to Vaill Island (380 yds)Run 6: Vaill Island (.55 miles)Swim 6: Vaill to Long Island (530 yds)Run 7: Long Island (1 mile)Swim 7: Long to Cow Island (1375 yds) * Longest swim of the dayRun 8: Cow Island (.6 miles)Swim 8: Cow to Great Diamond (300 yds)Run 9: Great Diamond Island (1.65 miles)Swim 9: Great Diamond to Peaks Island (775 yds)Run 10: Peaks Island (3.1 miles) * Longest run of the daySwim 10: Peaks to Cushing (975 yds)Run 11: Cushing Island (3 miles)Swim 11: Cushing to House (800 yds)Run 12: House Island (.75 miles)Swim 12: House to Peaks (725 yds)Run 13: Peaks Island finish (350 feet)SummaryThe 2022 edition of Casco Bay is going to be challenging and fun. We hope that this addendum helps you prepare for the race. If you were on the fence about signing up and this episode nudged you in the right direction, use the code LOWTIDEBOYZ to save 15% off of your registration for Casco Bay and all of Ödyssey’s 2022 events.That’s it for this bonus episode. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 127 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swiun Podcast!This week we have another installment in our Swimrun 101 series. In this edition, we are opening up the LTBz mailbag and answering the most recurring questions that we get in our emails and DMs. Enjoy!The LTBz MailbagAre wetsuits required at every Swimrun?Yup. As far as we know, every Swimrun requires a wetsuit. Swimskins won’t cut it. Our best thinking on this is for safety reasons including maintaining your core body temperature and added buoyancy. You can learn more about Swimrun wetsuits on our Gear Talk episode “Wetsuit Suit Out.”You can also check out the gear guide on our website for all things Swimrun gear.What paddles should I use?If you’ve seen any Swimrun race content you’ll notice that almost everyone is using swim paddles as part of their race kit. Using paddles helps compensate for the drag created by swimming with shoes on. They also make you faster. Our recommendation in choosing swim paddles are to make sure that you get the right size for you. Check out our Gear Talk episode all about swim paddles to learn more…from people smarter than us.Our favorite paddles are made by Frank Paddle. They are carbon fiber paddles that are super stiff and move a ton of water. You can check out our full review about these swim paddles on Gear Talk.What is the consensus on wearing underwear under your wetsuit?Like with anything Swimrun, you need to test it in practice to see what will work for you. That being said…Chris has converted a bunch of people to not wear underwear under wetsuits. Ladies typically wear a sports bra on top and/or pair it with a kangaroo top for extra storage. Check out our Gear Talk episode all about Swimrun undergarments.Should you use a pull buoy? And if so, what size? YES!!! The Swimrun pull buoy is an essential piece of kit that provides a ton of flotation to keep positioned properly in the water while counteracting the drag created by swimming with shoes on. The general rule of thumb that we follow when we advise people about what pull buoy size to get it to go with the largest that you can handle to get the most buoyancy possible. Check out our review of the pull buoy that we use: The Ark Sport Keel+.What shoes should I wear for swimrun?This is one of the most common questions that we get. While Swimrun-specific shoes do exist and are great, we recommend that you start by looking in your current stable of shoes for trail shoes that might work for Swimrun. Any shoe that has good lugs on the bottom and drains water well are good choices. Like with anything Swimrun, testing in practice is key. Check out our deep dive into all things Swimrun shoes on Gear Talk.Addressing the myth of blistered feet from running in wet shoes.So the myth usually goes something like this: you get blisters from running with wet socks. This has not been our experience. If you use thin, synthetic fiber socks, you are unlikely to get blisters if your shoes fit properly. Ill-fitting shoes are more likely to cause blisters than Swimrunning. We address Swimrun socks on our Undergarments episode and on our Swimrun Gear Guide.What to do if you can’t swim without earplugs?For some folks, swimming without earplugs can lead to headaches, disorientation, and experience less fun in open water. Wearing ear plugs solves these problems but in Swimrun this solution is problematic because of the need to communicate with your partner during the race. We highly recommend Surf Ears which block water out but allow sounds to go in. They also have a lanyard and mini arms to keep the ear plugs in place.How do I find a partner? The age old question. We’ve answered this question in a couple of previous Swimrun 101 shows all the way back on Episode 4 and again on Episode 111. If you don’t want to listen to those shows, our recommendations for finding a partner are basically to look to folks in your training group or pool and see if anyone is up for the adventure and make sure that whomever you partner with has similar goals.Where can someone find/borrow used Swimrun gear?We love getting this question because we want everyone to be able to find Swimrun gear so that they can get out there and try the sport. In that spirit, we created the Swimrun Swap Meet on FB so folks could sell/buy/trade Swimrun gear.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 126 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swiun Podcast!This is the third edition of our “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we discuss our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Joining us on this episode is the Swimrun coach who’s legend keeps on growing, Nicolas Remires from Envol Swimrun.A big thank you to our supporters Ödyssey Swimrun, Frank Paddle, and Precision Fuel and Hydration for helping make this show possible. Make sure to use the code “LOWTIDE22” to save 15% off of your first order from Precision Fuel and Hydration. Use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of Odyssey Swimrun’s 2022 events. Finally, Frank Paddle has some new paddles launching on June 15th so make sure that you mark your calendars if you want the new hotness.How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?We are both still feeling super motivated for the race and our training efforts definitely reflect that. While we have been dealing with a variety of challenges outside of Swimrun, we are working on staying mindful and present and so far so good on that front.Up next for us is Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay in mid-July. This race will be our last “tune-up” for ÖTILLÖ and we are really looking forward to being at the start line for the newest edition of this super cool event.Nicolas RemiresNicolas has a wealth of knowledge about the ÖTILLÖ course and we were lucky to be able to pick his brain for an hour about what training should look like for the big day. In this conversation we covered his experiences at the World Championship, what training should be looking like three months out, gear considerations, where to sample the terrain style of the course, and so much more. This interview is definitely a “get your note pads out” situation. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 125 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We are stoked to have Gilles LaFleuriel, founder of TSR Swimrun on the show this week. Gilles does an amazing job calculating The Salamander Rankings and creates a lot of super-niche Swimrun content. As purveyors of super-niche Swimrun content ourselves, Gilles is a kindred spirit and we know that you will enjoy our conversation with him.But first... Training UpdateÖdyssey Swimrun Casco Bay is 7 weeks away and we have been putting in the work in the pool, on the track, and on the trails. We’ll be getting in some Swimrun practices in the next few weeks but until then we are working on speed on land and sea/pool. Shoutout/Feats of Endurance ComboWe have a very special shoutout/feats of endurance award for our friend Sarah Fergot. A few weekends ago she tackled the Miwok 100, a brutal 100km trail run with almost 12,000’ of elevation gain in the Marin Headlands (A.K.A. our local stomping grounds) and finished the race with just a few minutes to spare before the finishing time cutoff. This race is notorious for its tight time cutoffs and Sarah showed her mettle to get it done under the wire. Major, major kudos Sarah!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk. Swimrun season officially kicked off in Sweden with ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Utö taking place over the weekend. The conditions were classic with chilly air temperature and just as frosty water temps. The new Sprint and World Distance courses looked hard/fun and the podiums were staked with friends and former guests of the show. Congrats to everyone that raced!Over in the UK, Mad Hatter Sports hosted the Hokey Cokey Swimrun. Fun was had by all by the looks of the photos and congrats to all our friends and listeners that raced their first Swimrun at that event. Special bonus shoutouts to Emily from Precision Fuel and Hydration and Tim Wood on racing your first Swimruns! If you want to learn more about Mad Hatter Sports make sure to check out our recent interview with Race Director John Yelland.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.UpdatesLooking for some casual gear to show your Low Tide Pride? Make sure to head over to our online store for hats, shirts, hoodies, and other stuff. As our friend and co-founder of Ark Sports, Christofer Sundberg, recently posted about our swag, this is “the Gourmet Shit of Swimrun apparel.”Gilles LaFleuriel, TSR SwimrunIt was great to finally connect with Gilles. We’ve been following TSR Swimrun since we launched our Meme account (and podcast) and it is definitely a “game recognize game” situation. He is doing his part to help grow the sport that we love and it was great to hear from him about how he found Swimrun and what led him to start his labor of love, TSR Swimrun. We covered a lot of ground in this interview and think 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 124 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’ve got something new for everyone this week. Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay is roughly eight weeks away and we thought it would be cool to do a show where we give everyone that’s on the fence about trying Swimrun (or help anyone that trying to convince their friends to try Swimrun) a road map for prepping for this year’s Casco Bay short course. So welcome to “Couch to Casco.”Joining us for this episode is literally the best person that we could ask to have this discussion with…none other than Purple Patch Coach/Ödyssey Swimrun Race Director and Casco Bay course designer/elite Swimrunner John Stevens. John’s been on the show multiple times and we pretty much bug him anytime we need some sage wisdom.We are breaking up this discussion into three sections that will help any and all Swimrun-curious athletes to get a good understanding of what Casco Bay is all about. We discuss the Casco Bay short course, how to train for the race, and what gear you’ll want to have.Casco Bay Short CourseThe Casco Bay Short Course is a great route for both beginners and experienced athletes. It is similar to some of the original Swimrun courses in Europe and it is a lot of fun! John designed the course and shared with us a course overview.10.5 Mile Short Course Leg By Leg Breakdown:Run 1: Little Diamond Island (.6 miles)Swim 1: Little Diamond to Great Diamond (285 yds)Run 2: Great Diamond Island (.45 miles)Swim 2: Great Diamond to Peaks Island (775 yds)Run 3: Peaks Island (3.1 miles)Swim 3: Peaks to Cushing (975 yds)Run 4: Cushing Island (3 miles)Swim 4: Cushing to House (800 yds)Run 5: House Island (.75 miles)Swim 5: House to Peaks (725 yds)Run 6: Peaks Island finish (350 feet)Training for Casco BayWith the race eight weeks away at the time that this episode is released, athletes have plenty of time to get ready for a great Swimrun adventure. If you’re a triathlete in training then you are already in good enough shape to take on the short course. If you’re just getting started with training and have some swimming under your belt then you have plenty of time to get ready. While the overall distance may seem daunting, in our experience all the different legs alternating between swimming and running during a Swimrun make it easier on the body and it’s not like running for 10.5 miles or swimming that distance for that matter.Gear ConsiderationsWhile there is some specific gear for Swimrun, in general you can use any trail shoes that you already own and can take a used wetsuit and cut the legs above the knees and the arms above the elbow. The typical Swimrun kit consists of shoes, swim paddles, pull buoy, wetsuit, goggles, and a tether if you’re racing with a partner.We have a lot of resources to help folks get the gear that they need to have a good experience. Check out the resources tab on our website and some of our previous Gear Talk episodes that cover a lot of the gear in detail. Finally, check out our Swimrun Swap Meet on facebook for used gear for sale or trade from fellow Swimrunners.Final ThoughtsWe are firm believers that the best way to get hooked on Swimrun is to get out there and experience one. Casco Bay is one of the original Swimrun events in the U.S. and one of our favorites. Whether you’re in hardcore triathlon training mode or more a casual endurance athlete, participating in a Swimrun is a great way to use your training and try something different or challenge yourself in a safe and supportive environment.If we accomplished our goal and you’re ready to sign up for Casco Bay, use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any other questions about Casco Bay or Swimrun in general.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 123 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We have a great show for everyone this week. Joining us in Studio G is John Yelland, one of the founders of Mad Hatter Sports and organizer of the upcoming Hokey Cokey Swimrun taking place on May 21st in Cornwall, UK. This was a great interview filled with lots of laughs, a feel-good origin story, and, of course, Swimrun content.But first... Training UpdateWe are back at it after taking a light break the week after Swimrun Lake James. We are now upping the swim volume, the run volume, and, well, just a lot more volume all around as we barrel towards ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship in September. Want to learn more about our ÖTILLÖ build? Check out our Countdown to ÖTILLÖ episodes.Next up for us is Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay on July 17th. Based on our calculations, it is 9 weeks away!ShoutoutsWe haven’t given out any shoutouts the last few weeks so here’s an outsized shoutout for our new Patrons on Patreon. Thank you Nick and Hannah M., Jeff H., and Dave D. for supporting our brand of super niche content and helping to fund our random sticker giveaway. (BTW, another giveaway is coming soon!)We also want to give a special shoutout to a fellow Bay Area Swimrunner Jonathan Pascual. He was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 paraganglioma cancer, a rare and aggressive form of cancer and he began chemotherapy and radiation last week. If anyone wants to help him and his family cover some of their upcoming medical expenses, his friends have set up a gofundme page to accept donations. Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Abby Rose. She’s been crushing some major open water swims lately including the 5 Cove’s of Death swim in Aquatic Park (5 loops around the perimeter of historic cold water home of the Dolphin and South End Rowing Clubs…and training ground of the Löw Tide Böyz), then a casual 4-hour, 12,000yd-ish swim, and she even swam in the green waters of Foster City. Strong work out there Abby!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk. We got a long one for everyone today so buckle in.Swimrun season is open all over the world and we have a few weeks of races to catch up on!Here in the states, Swimrun Maryland took place on Sunday, May 8 at Greenbrier State Park. We were told that the water was chilly but good times were had by all.In Europe, there were a couple of races this past weekend, including Swimrun Portugal’s Lagoa Swimrun which looked ridiculously epic and the Anjou Swimrun which also looked amazing.But that is not all, in the last few weeks since our last TWIS update, there have been a bunch of awesome Swimruns, including Swimrun Costa Brava and Swimrunman Gorges du Verdon. Both of these events looked world class and so was the podiums that featured a lot of former guests of the show including, Victor Dahl, Alexis Charrier, Hugo Tormento, Desirée Andersson, and Sabina Rapelli. (Sabina was even bitten by a dog during the ultra distance course at Swimrunman and still won the Women’s division and came in 3rd overall!)In the bummer news department, like super bummer news, Breca Swimrun has announced that they are canceling all of their events in the UK and New Zealand for 2022. This news might not come as a total surprise given the messages that have been coming out from them but it’s still a bummer.But all hope is not lost! 3D Events (based in Cambridge, UK) announced that they have been working behind the scenes and will be putting on the Jersey Swimrun on September 3rd, 2022. A lot of folks might be racing another event in a Scandinavian country around that time but we’re stoked that the Jersey Swimrun will go on!Finally, ÖTILLÖ is just a week away from kicking off their 2022 season with their Swimrun Utö event. Both the Sprint and World Series distances have new courses so it should be a fun adventure for everyone.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.UpdatesWe have some discounts for everyone!!The awesome folks at Precision Fuel and Hydration have set up the discount code LOWTIDE22 that’s good for 15% off of your first order. Our friends at Ödyssey Swimrun gave us the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of their 2022 events. John Yelland, Mad Hatter SportsIt was great to chat with John. In this conversation we covered a wide range of topics including the origin story for Mad Hatter Sports, how Swimrun came onto their radar, the Swimrun scene in the UK, and a lot more. We seriously need to make a trip to the UK at some point to check out his events!You can learn more about Mad Hatter Sports on their website.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

Welcome to episode 122 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swiun Podcast!Welcome to the second edition of our “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we will be discussing our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship in September. Joining us on this episode are The Swimrun Monks to catch up and talk ÖTILLÖ preparations and Susie Moonan of Push On Coaching to help us prepare mentally for the big day. A big thank you to our supporters Ödyssey Swimrun, Frank Paddle, and Precision Fuel and Hydration for helping make this show possible. Make sure to use the code “LOWTIDE22” to save 15% off of your first order from Precision Fuel and Hydration and code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of their 2022 events. How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?We are both still feeling super motivated and encouraged after a strong showing at Swimrun Lake James a few weeks back. Our communication has been really dialed and we are both feeling like our teamwork is getting to the next level.Our next training block is already upon us as we ramp up the volume and intensity on our way to Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay in July.The Swimrun MonksIt was great to have Sean and Philip back on the show (for the third time) to chat about their World Championship experiences. Right after we found out that we qualified, Philip reached out to tell us that there were things that we needed to know. We are grateful for their friendship and their advice for us as we barrel towards September.Susie Moonan, Push On CoachingWhat can we say about Susie Moonan? Every time we chat with her we feel like we have gained a better perspective of racing. She joined us to talk about how to think about approaching a race like the World Championship and have a clear vision of our values going into the race and how to deal when those values are tested when things get tough. She is a wellspring of knowledge and we feel super lucky to have her share her insights with us.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 121 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’ve got our first race report of 2022 to share with everyone this week! We just got back from Swimrun Lake James in North Carolina and we’re super stoked to share all the details of our latest Swimrun adventure. (Spoiler alert: we had a blast!)It was great to meet so many Swimrunners at the LTBz/Wild Swimrun shakeout and at the pre-race briefing. We tried to remember everyone’s names and we apologize if we missed you in our shoutouts.Swimrun Lake James certainly lived up to the hype and the unexpected warm weather made it for a pretty straight forward race experience. We went into the race with the plan of focusing on nutrition, pacing well, and having fun. We achieved all three! We ended up finishing in 3:38:29 which was good for 4th place men's team and 5th overall behind Bronwen and Greg Dierksen of the Boston Wetsox who won overall, Marcus Barton and Kawika Tarayao, Caleb Batey and Joe Day, and Lee Greene and Jay Seymoure. We were 4ish minutes behind Lee’s team which was a surprise to us.We are super stoked with our race execution/result and the progress that we have made during our first training block. There are a lot of people to thank for all that progress and you know who you are. Up next for us is Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay in July. Hope to see you there!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 120 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 what to do when things go south/sideways/bad during a race. We’re joined by Senior Sports Scientist Abby Coleman from Precision Fuel and Hydration who shares with us the latest and greatest information on the common pitfalls that Swimrunners could face during a race and what to do about it. Get your notepads out for this one!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 119 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!On the podcast this week we have Swimrunner, Endurance Coach at TOT Endurance, ÖTILLÖ Broadcaster, and our friend, Ville Engberg. We first met him in the DMs during last year’s live coverage of ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship and have kept in touch since then. If you’re super stoked–or even just run-of-the-mill stoked–on Swimrun, then you’re going to love this interview.But first... Training UpdateSwimrun Lake James is getting so close that it’s almost time to taper! Last weekend we did a race course simulation Swimrun practice that has us feeling pretty good about our prep for the event. Famous last words??ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out Abby Rose. Chipper met her on Catalina during the Catalina Swimrun Adventure and just wanted to say hi! Also, she did an Alcatraz crossing swim over the weekend sans wetsuit which is twice as much fun. Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Sarah Estrella. She ran the Zion 100k in Utah over the weekend. This race is no joke and she crushed it. Strong work Sarah!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk!The Bellignham Swimrun, put on by friend of the pod and race director Brent Molsberry, is scheduled for June 5th in beautiful Bellingham, Washington. We definitely encourage everyone who’s down for a chill local Swimrun event to check out Brent’s race in a few months.The Blackwater Swimrun in Asarum Sweden has announced that this year’s race date will be Sunday, September 4th. The race offers 10k and 20k distance options and looks like a fun one.Over in Spain, this year’s Swimrun Costa Azahar will take place on Sunday, June 5th and registration is open now!In the feel good story department, Hugo Tormento and his training crew are racing the 47.4km Swimrunman Gorges du Verdon to raise money for pancreatic cancer research. Anyone interested in supporting them can donate to their Swimrun for ARC initiative.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.UpdatesWe are working on logistics for a shakeout Swimrun on Friday, April 22nd at Lake James after or before packet pickup. Stay tuned to our IG feed for more details on that.Save the date of Wednesday, May 4th at 10AM California time for the TSR Swimrun’s Annual Awards. We will be on a panel with a bunch of people who we know and love talking about our favorite topic: Swimrun.Finally, we haz discounts!The awesome folks at Precision Fuel and Hydration have set up the discount code LOWTIDE22 that’s good for 15% off of your first order. Our friends at Ödyssey Swimrun gave us the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of their 2022 events. Ville Engberg, TOT EnduranceIt was great to finally have Ville on the show. He’s a soulful guy that loves Swimrun and sharing it with the world. In his coaching practice he works with a bunch of Swimrunners and had a lot of insights to share about training for Swimrun in general, and the World Championship in particular. We chatted with him about his own Swimrun journey, his coaching philosophy, and his tips for a successful race day in the Archipelago. Ville is an awesome dude and we loved this conversation. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 118 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swiun Podcast!We have a new show format for everyone this week. Welcome to our new “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ” show where we will be discussing our journey to the start line of the 2022 ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship in September. Joining us on this episode is two-time ÖTILLÖ finisher Anna Lundberg who give us a her perspective on the race from the middle of the pack and three-time finisher (and walking knowledge bomb) Andy Blow, Co-founder of Precision Fuel and Hydration, who shares with us a roadmap for training our “gut” for the big dance.How’s the Body? How’s the Mind?When we started this show in 2020 our thought was to help grow the sport but also share our journey. I’m that spirit, we figured we might as well put it all out there now that we have a chance to race what is going to be one of the craziest events that we’ve ever done. ÖTILLÖ is a quest. It really feels like such a privilege to have the chance to race the original Swimrun. This is a quest that many have taken and it’s going to be a thrill to experience all of it.Sitting here 5 months out, we’re both feeling super motivated both from a training and team perspective. We are trying to keep in focus that we want to be as prepared as we possibly can for ÖTILLÖ so that when the event takes place, we can have as much fun as possible out there in the Archipelago.Rich Roll’s 2017 ÖTILLÖ ExperienceWe recently re-listened to Rich Roll’s race report podcast from his 2017 race with coach Chris Hauth. It was really interesting to hear about his journey and definitely got us stoked for our forthcoming adventure. Anna LundgergAnna reached out to us after we found out that we qualified for ÖTILLÖ and offered to share with us her perspective on the race from the middle of the pack. She is a two-time finisher of the race and we really appreciated her coming on to discuss the important race cutoffs and her training tips for the event.Andy BlowAndy was cool enough to come back on the show during his latest trip to the U.S. to chat with us about fueling and hydration for ÖTILLÖ and how we should be approaching gut training to be able to take in as many calories as we can to keep our energy levels up. He was recently on a webinar with Matt Dixon of Purple Patch Fitness that is a great long form discussion of what we discussed on the show. Here are some additional resources from PFH regarding the interplay between fat burning and fasted training. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 117 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We have a super random episode for everyone this week. We’ve gone deep into the LTBz vault and found a one-off podcast that we recorded after racing our second Swimrun ever back in 2018. We’re talking about SwimrunUSA’s (now Ödyssey Swimrun) Casco Bay a.k.a., “Cole Classic.” This is a peek back in time to the primordial origins of LTBz and the race that caused us to fall in love with the sport of Swimrun.But first... Training UpdateSwimrun Lake James is less than a month away and we finally did our first Swimrun practice together. Short story: the water was cold AF! Like 51 degrees Fahrenheit (10.5 Celsius) cold AF! Despite that, it was great to bust some rust and start dialing in transitions and different paces as we head towards Lake James.ShoutoutsThis week we are shouting out Dan Streetman. By chance, Dan was running on the Embarcadero on Saturday morning while we were experiencing brain freeze in Aquatic Park when Dan noticed us (the only two dudes running out the water and down the street) and snapped a photo to send to his Swedish co-worker (and future guest of the show Anna) mentioning that he saw a couple of Swimrunners. Long story short, Anna recognized us and proceeded to blow Dan’s mind. Small world indeed!Feats of EnduranceMajor feats of endurance this week from Marika Wagner and Ingrid Kjellström for their completion of the 2022 Cape Epic. This race is an 8-day mountain bike stage race covering 700km (435 miles) with 17,250m (56,594ft) of climbing. So yeah…a major feat!Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk!Hero Swimrun took place over the weekend in Rio de Janeiro and the event looked as epic as ever. Joining us to talk about how the race went is our friend and race director Fabio Iskandarian for our special segment: Race Director Reports.In other news, Envol Swimrun recently announced that they are hosting a Swimrun camp from April 1-3 in Cap Martin in Monaco. Anyone looking to train with coach Nicolas Remires and crew and/or get an F1 driver sighting should check this camp out!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’re debuting a new show format next week called “Countdown to ÖTILLÖ" where we will be chronicling our Swimrun journey to Sweden in September. We’re pretty stoked about this new monthly show and can’t wait to share it with you.Casco Bay 2018 Race ReportWe’ve gone into the LTBz vault and found a relic of our Swimrun past. Way back in 2018 we lined up at the start of SwimrunUSA’s/Ödyssey Swimrun’s Casco Bay race for our second Swimrun ever. We’re not sure why we decided to record a podcast of our race experience but here we are. It was fun (and a bit weird) to look back on that momentous event that was the progenitor for this show and we figured we would share it with all of you. Enjoy the hot tub time machine trip back to 2018!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 116 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We have a great show for everyone this week. Joining us in Studio G are brothers Lars and Jonas Ekman, A.K.A., Team Bröderna Bäver (The Beaver Brothers.) We’ve known about this team since we first started watching Rasmus’s ÖTILLÖ hype movies and noticed these two tall, fast and generously mustachioed guys that we perennially on the podium. It was super fun to get to chat with them.But first... Training UpdateWe have an extended training update this week. The Böyz split up this weekend and engaged in separate feats of endurance (Chipper was in Catalina for the “Catalina Swimrun Challenge” and Chris ran the LA Marathon as part of a charity team with fellow Swimrunner and Kancho Boy, John) and we are sharing our “race reports” to each other for the first time here.(Also, Swimrun Lake James is 4 weeks away) Shoutouts/Feats of EnduranceThis week we’re doing a combo feat of endurance/shout out to everyone that came out to Catalina this past weekend and made it such a memorable event. This shoutout includes several first timers, several sherpas, some photographers, videographers, ice cream eaters, water stop volunteers, bike supporters, and generally amazing people.So, in no particular order: Marcus, Beek, Trista, Amy, Anna, Matt, Ben, Alison, the Maestro twins Fatima and Roxan, Lindsey, Elisabeth, Greg, Bronwen, and Gwen, Chipper, Kristen, Charlie, Sonny, Liza, Tony, Laura, Abby, Kerianne, Mike, Christine (water and COKE!!) at ATWATER , and Sabrina. Extra-special shoutout to Christine for offering coke at her water stop. It was a game changer that late in the day, and so unexpected and appreciated.Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk. We’re keeping it short this week because he have a packed show…and we didn’t have enough time to scour instagram for event updates.Swimrun Maryland has announced that this year’s event will take place on Sunday, May 8 at Greenbrier State Park. This race has short (9.5 miles total with 1.6 miles of swimming) and long course (18.8 miles total with 2.4 miles of swimming) distances with solo and team options available for both. Over in France, the 2022 edition of the Anjou Swimrun is going down on May 7th. This is the 4th running of this local race and if you’ve never been to Angers or this region of western France, put it on your list!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.UpdatesThe awesome folks at Precision Fuel and Hydration have set up the discount code LOWTIDE22 that’s good for 15% off of your first order. Our friends at Ödyssey Swimrun gave us the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of their 2022 events. Team Bröderna BäverLars and Jonas are brothers, excellent athletes, and elite Swimrunners. They have done a ton of racing together and it was great to get to meet and catch up with them about their Swimrun journey and their team dynamics as siblings. We talked about a lot of stuff in this interview and even managed to get more pro tips to add to our running list for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Chipper has even been inspired to grow a righteous mustache for the race in their honor. (Chris would as well, but his wife won’t let him.) This interview was a lot of fun and proved once again that Swimrunners are some of the best folks out there. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 115 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week’s episode is one for the books! Friend of the pod, Bill Lankford (from Team Mr. and Mrs. B,) suggested that we do an episode helping “older” folks get into endurance events and Swimrunning in particular. We couldn’t think of a better person to ask to come on the show than the legendary endurance Coach Joe Friel. This is a seriously great conversation and we’re blessed to have Coach Friel on the show!But first... Training UpdateSwimrun Lake James is 5 weeks away! Chipper will be rust busting this weekend in Catalina while Chris will be just trying to not bust during the LA Marathon. ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out our newest Patron on Patreon, Brooke Fallon. Thank you for supporting our podcast journey! Stay Fearless!Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Leung from Indonesia. Posted a ride over the weekend and it’s just so cool that we have folks in our Strava Club living in Indonesia.Join in on the fun and sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns, life, and stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk.Down under in Australia, The 26km Trans Cape Swimrun took place this past weekend. So great to see this event grow the last few years as well as seeing more Australians getting into the sport of Swimrun.In case you’re looking for a cool race plan in a few weeks…Hero Swimrun is going down on March 26th in Rio de Janeiro. If you can get there, go! (Programming alert, Fabio Iskandarian of Hero Swimrun will be joining us at the news desk in a few weeks for our special/random segment, Race Director Reports.)Finally, our friends at Wild Swimrun announced the date for this year’s Utö Swimrun Camp. This year’s camp will be on the weekend of May 14th. Make sure you follow them on Instagram for more details about the camp or sign up at raceid.com.Shameless plug time: we are raising money to help fund scholarships for women and girls to be able to participate in Wild Swimrun through their Wild Youth Initiative. We’ve already funded two scholarships but we would like to keep it going. If you’re interested in contributing to that, just go to our website and scroll to the bottom of the homepage or click the link in the show notes.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.UpdatesWe gots discount codes! The awesome folks at Precision Fuel and Hydration have set up the discount code LOWTIDE22 that’s good for 15% off of your first order. Trust us, try out their hydration powder and gels.Our friends at Ödyssey Swimrun gave us the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” that is good for 15% off of your registration for any and all of their 2022 events. Hope to see you all at their first race of the season this July in Casco Bay Maine.Legendary Coach Joe FrielIt was a very Wayne’s World moment to interview Coach Joe Friel. That moment was made even more so by how welcoming he was and how generous he was with his time. In this conversation, we focused on the topic of training for older adults and peppered him with listener questions. Despite Chris almost ruining the interview at the end, this interview was a lot of fun and somehow raised our already ridiculously high opinion of Coach Friel. Get your notepads out for this one! 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 114 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week’s episode is a good one. For the first time on the show, we have a Mother/Daughter duo joining us to talk about how that works! We are stoked to have Brooke and Samantha Fallon, A.K.A., The Fearless Fallons, on the podcast to share their Swimrun journey with all of us.But first... Training UpdateSwimrun Lake James is now only 6 weeks away! Open water swims are coming soon but until then, make sure to check out our course preview episode if you’re racing Lake James or are just curious about what we’ve gotten ourselves into.ShoutoutsWe’ve got multiple shoutouts this week! A big shoutout to the previous guests of the show Lolo Armstrong of Team Run for Tacos for running his first marathon over the weekend. Super stoked for you dude! Another big shoutout goes out to our favorite journalist Adam Skolnick for completing the 4x4x48 Goggins Challenge for the second year in a row. Bonus shoutout to Adam’s wife April for completing the challenge as well. Strong work!Feats of EnduranceThis week’s winner is Ignacio Eduardo Duarte Harriet for posting a nuts 77 mile, 8,000ft of elevation bike ride from Caracas, Venezuela. The elevation profile from that ride looked totally bonkers so strong work there!We have a bonus winner this week as well. Special kudos to our friend Derek Rosner for posting a run from Chris’s hometown in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (For those just tuning in, any workout posted from Puerto Rico is an automatic winner for this segment.)Join in on the fun and sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns, life, and stuff.This Week in SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk.Race season is almost upon us in the United States and now is a good time to put one or four Ödyssey Swimrun events on your race calendar. Need an additional incentive? Use the code “LOWTIDEBOYZ” at checkout to save 15% off of your registration. Swimrun Lake James, taking place on April 23rd in Lake James, North Carolina is super close to selling out so if you are waiting until the last minute to sign up…now is your time! See you there! By the way, if you happen to be in North Carolina this weekend…DM Marcus Barton for deetz on a low-key Swimrun training that he and fellow Swimrunners are doing on the course. Over in Europe, Swimrun Portugal’s Azores Islands Swimrun is taking place in a few weeks on March 22nd. The race looks amazing so if anyone is racing it, let us know how it went.If you’re not familiar with the French Swimrun Man series, well you really should be. Their races look as picturesque as they are intense. Case in point, their first event of the year, the Gorges du Verdon Swimrun taking place on May 1st offers four distances, including a kids Swimrun (cool!), a “Classic” 28km Swimrun (sounds doable), a “Half” 47km Swimrun (that’s the half?!), and an “Ultra” 66km Swimrun…that’s also an ÖTILLÖ Merit Race. (We’d hope so at that distance!)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.UpdatesThe Catalina Swimrun Adventure is almost here! 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.We have a new LTBz supporter to announce!! The awesome folks at Precision Fuel and Hydration are taking us under their wing this year to help us prepare for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Everyone that has listened to the show knows how big of fans we are of PFH products since we did our first Sweat Test a few years ago and we are super stoked to get their support this year. If that wasn’t enough, PFH has set up the discount code that’s good for 15% off of your first order. Help make us look good and use the code LOWTIDE22 at checkout.Team Fearless FallonsIt was great to catch up properly with Brooke and Samantha. We loved how they found Swimrun and decided to team up to race together. In this conversation we talked about their athletic roots, how they prepare for races while Samantha is in college, and why Swimrun is awesome. We loved this conversation and know that you will as well. 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 113 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!In this special episode, we are sharing our course preview for Swimrun Lake James. This race has been on our bucket list for a while and we are super stoked to be racing it this year. We are joined in the episode by race director Kristen Jeno, Purple Patch coach/race director John Stevens, and Mr. Swimrun himself Marcus Barton. So get your notepads out and enjoy listening to our breakdown of this super fun race.Deep in the Heart of North CarolinaSwimrun Lake James takes place at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Lake James State Park in North Carolina and offers long and short course race distances that are full of rolling terrain and beautiful/chilly lake waters.Getting to Lake James is pretty straight forward with several airports in the general area including Charlotte and Asheville. The race begins and ends at Fonta Flora Whippoorwill Farm just outside of the park entrance. Don’t let the name fool you, the race begins and ends at a local brewery called, Fonta Flora. Course Overview(s)The Long Course clocks in at about 4 miles of swimming and 15 miles of running. The course will have 14 run sections and 13 swim sections. The swim sections range from 20yds to 1600yds in a unique and picturesque lake setting. The run sections range from 25 meters to 7.5 miles. The Short Course is about 2.7 miles of swimming and 10 miles of running. The course will have 8 run sections and 7 swim sections. The swim sections range from 20yds to 1300yds in a unique and picturesque lake setting. The run sections range from 25 meters to 5.5 miles. The runs are made up of fire service trail roads, single track trails, paved roads, and off the beaten path wooded sections. The swims are in a lake and there could be some chop if it’s windy out. Water temps range from the mid 50s-low 60s fahrenheit.We asked race director Kristen Jeno for a course walkthrough when we interviewed her back in episode 65 of the show and it was so good that we are sharing that again for everyone to listen to. We also have an annotated leg-by-leg breakdown that folks can reference as they listen.Note that Kristen is walking everyone through the Long Course but the Short Course pretty much follows the same route until the end of the long run Leg 5 and then head’s back to the start line from there.Leg-by-leg BreakdownLong CourseRun 1: Whippoorwill Farm - OV Trail (.97 miles)This section turns into a single track pretty quickly from the start to be towards the front if you don’t want to get stuck in the bottleneckSwim 1: (800yds)A big swim right out of the gateRun 2: Paddy’s Creek Trail (.30 miles)Swim 2: (50yds)Run 3: Paddy’s Creek Trail - Beach area (.08 miles)Super short run so better to not do a full transition, maybe just get the pull buoy out the way and run to Swim 3 with the rest of your kit onSwim 3: (700yds)Run 4: OV Trail - Unmarked Service Road (.55 miles)Swim 4: (300yds)Run 5: Paddy’s Creek Trail - Homestead Trail - Lower Tindo Loop Trail - Unmarked Service Road (7.70 miles)This is the longest run leg of the day by farTeams should have a nutrition plan and pacing strategy dialed in The aid station on this leg is the first time cutoff. Teams need to reach the Homestead Trail intersection aid station by 10:00amThe second time cutoff is at 11:30am at the end of this run.Short course heads back to the finish line from hereSwim 5: (1,600yds)This is the longest swim of the dayLook for the strobe light signaling where the swim exit isCan get choppy if there’s windRun 6: Long Island (.08 miles)Swim 6: (450yds)Run 7: Middle Island (.05 miles)Swim 7: (350yds)Run 8: BBQ Island (.05 miles)Swim 8: (50yds)Run 9: Long Arm Campsite #3 - Long Arm Campsite #2 (.42 miles)Swim 9: (125yds)Run 10: Unmarked Trail (.05 miles)Swim 10: (175yds)Run 11: Unmarked Trail - Unmarked Service Road - Long Arm Campsite #1 (1.30 miles)The third and final time cutoff is at 1:30pm at the end of the runSwim 11: (1,300yds)This is the last long swim of the dayRun 12: Half Mile Island (.45 miles)Swim 12: (200yds)Run 13: Unmarked Trail (.05 miles)Swim 13: (100yds)Last swim of the day!Run 14: Park Service Boat Ramp - Whippoorwill Farm (2.35 miles)Last run of the day!It’s an incline until the last mile so be ready for thatTraining for Swimrun Lake JamesAs with any Swimrun, every course is different and requires athletes to prepare as best as they can for the demands that the course will present them. We asked our friend, endurance coach and stud Swimrunner, John Stevens to share with us how he would approach training for this race and what workouts he would recommend to prepare for the unique challenges that the race presents.Deck ups!!!! You heard it here folks. John dropped a lot of knowledge about the importance of getting ready for all the swimming, quick transitions, and dealing with the terrain on the runs. Race TipsFor race strategy and tips we couldn’t think of a better person to ask than the Swimrunner that has ra

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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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

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

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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 104 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’ve got a mind blowing episode this week! On the show we have Thomas Ogander, the mastermind behind the One Water Race, who joins us to share the story of, what is sure to be, one of the toughest endurance events in the world. Make sure you’re sitting down for this one!But first... Training UpdateThis is the final “our off-season is almost over” update because starting next week we’re back to training for ÖTILLÖ Catalina and Swimrun Lake James.ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out to our four new Patrons on Patreon: Lee, Helene, Lindsey, and Amy. We’re super grateful for your support! You all rock! Feats of EnduranceThis week’s Feats of Endurance winner is Lars Finanger. You might know him as the Race Director of Ödyssey Swimrun, but what you might not know about Lars is that he’s capable of just casually dropping a 10,000yd swim in just under 2.5 hours on Christmas Eve like it’s nobody’s business. Strong work!Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and life.This Week In SwimrunWe have a short update this week.Swimrun Lake James only has 34 team spots remaining for their long course distance. This event takes place on April 23, 2022 and it’s a ÖTILLÖ Merit Race for those trying to accumulate ranking points. We’re super stoked to be heading to NC to race this event in a few months! Staying in the western hemisphere, Hero Swimrun in Rio de Janeiro has opened registration for their 2022 event taking place on March 26th. If you can get there to race this year, let us know so we can live vicariously through you! (if you want to learn more about Hero Swimrun, check out our interview with Race Director Fabio Iskandarian.)That’s it for this week. Make sure to tip us off if there is any news that you’d like for us to share on the show.UpdatesAs this is our last episode for 2021, we wanted to thank you all for listening and wish you a safe and healthy 2022.Thomas OganderIt was great to chat with Thomas about the One Water Race and his Swimrun roots. To say that concept of the One Water Race is crazy doesn’t do it justice. This event is going to be a spectacle that combines Swimrunning, adventure racing, orienteering, and just straight up grit. We chatted with Thomas about the genesis of the race, the worthy cause that it champions, and the mechanics of the event. Thomas is also part of the Kraken Swimrun crew so we had to chat with him about that. All in all, this was a great conversation that was blowing our minds while it was happening. You can learn more about the One Water Race 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 103 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!Welcome to the second edition of our annual LTBz Fireside Chat. In this episode, we look back at our year and discuss the state of the show, our racing journey, and look forward to what’s coming up in 2022.Huge thank you to all our listeners, Patreon supporters, sponsors, and friends and family for pushing us to try to produce the best show that we can and keep us super stoked on our labor of love.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode 102 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week we have the 3-time ÖTILLÖ World Champion Adriel Young on the show. For those who don’t know Adriel, he’s a Swimrunner whose legend is being written as we speak…and also happens to be one of the nicest guys in the sport. We caught up with him at the start of his holiday and had a great chat.But first... Training UpdateThe end of the off-season is nigh! It’s almost time to start getting back to work for our build to ÖTILLÖ Catalina and we predict a lot of steep hill work in our near future.ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out our newest member on Patreon, Molly Erker. Thank you so much for the support. We really, really, really appreciate it!Speaking of Patreon…we are going to start beefing up our engagement on that platform for our super fans. Starting in a few weeks we will start hosting quarterly virtual meetups on Zoom, set up webinars with coaches, race directors and other personalities in the Swimrun space, give phat discounts on LTBz swag, and do random giveaways throughout the year. Really we’re just trying to give back more to the folks that help us keep the lights on. Want some of that action? Go to patreon.com/lowtideboyz to learn more.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s award goes to Simrranvier Rana from Thailand. Sim is our first Strava Club member from Thailand and he’s planning on doing his first Swimrun next year.Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and life.This Week In SwimrunWe have a short update this week.A friendly reminder that the registration window is now open for teams seeking to race ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. Best of luck to everyone trying to qualify for the original Swimrun.Don’t know what we’re talking about? Check out our podcast episode all about qualifying for ÖTILLÖ.In other news, Ödyssey Swimrun has released their list of 2022 events and dates. Casco Bay will be held on July 17th about a month earlier than in previous years. Mackinac Island will take place on August 28th. Orcas Island is happening on September 18th. Closing out the year, Austin will take place on November 6th. Unfortunately, the Luddington event is not going to have a second edition in 2022. Registration is opening soon, so make sure that you’ve signed up for the Ödyssey newsletter to stay on top of the early bird registration prices. That’s it for this week. Make sure to tip us off if there is any news that you’d like for us to share on the show.UpdatesOur new headwear is here! Head over to our shop to see our new hats and beanies. They won’t arrive in time for Christmas but that’s ok.Our latest episode of Gear Talk is out! In this show, The Swimrun Labs and us review the Ark Sports Keel s pull buoy. Check it out to find out why we think that there’s not much “s” about it!Adriel YoungWe are super stoked to have 3-time World Champion Adriel Young on the show. There are too many superlatives that we could use to describe Adriel so we’ll just say that he’s pretty cool. We had a lot of fun chatting with him about his epic 2021 Swimrun season, his Swimrun “training,” why Oscar Olsson is such a legend (this is definitely a “game recognize game” situation), and why this year’s World Championship was so special. We keep saying this of pretty much all our guests but it’s true, Adriel is a great ambassador for the sport and we love his energy and enthusiasm for Swimrun.You can follow Adriel 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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to Gear Talk: The Löw Tide Böyz and Swimrun Labs review show!In this episode of Gear Talk, the gang is back to chat about one of the best topics in Swimrun: Pull Buoys! We’re super stoked to review the newest addition to the Keel family, Ark Sports Keel s.Before we get into that, we have some gear updates.Gear UpdatesChris and Chipper tested the Ark Sports UTÖ suit and had nothing but positive things to say about the suit. They wore the suit at two Swimrun Shakeouts before Ödyssey’s Orcas Island and Austin races.Chipper also raced Ödyssey Swimrun Austin in the Ark Sports VIGG. This was his first race using the suit that Chris won’t stop talking about and spoiler alert: he loved it.Untethered ThoughtsChris shared an untethered thought about how Swimrun reminds him of random Olympic sporting events that people within the niche really care about but that others literally do not know that they even exist. Keel s Pull Buoy ReviewThe smallest in the Keel Pull Buoy line, the Keel s is described by Ark Sports as “suitable for the pool season and training, but also for those who likes a smaller pull-buoy during their swimruns.” While the size and weight is comparable to the NU Orza Pull Buoy (see our review of that pull buoy here) that is where the comparisons end. The Keel s provides much more buoyancy for the size. Best part…they are only $28.Swimming ImpressionsChipper knew from the start that the Keel s wouldn’t be a pull buoy that he would use in the race but was perfect for pool training. Testing it in the pool with the NU Orza pull buoy, Chipper liked the thickness of the Keel s over the Orza.Brooke found that the shape of the Keel s resulted in it being slightly slower than the Orza in testing. She also thought (and everyone agreed) that the Orza is more comfortable between the thighs than all the Keel varieties. She prefers the Orza for pool swimming.Chris thought that the Keel s mimicked more closely what Swimrun swimming would feel like than the Orza. Performance-wise, they were pretty much the same.Annie surprisingly really loved the Keel s after having a lot of adoration for Orza. Chipper diagnosed Annie’s reasoning: that the Keel s is shorter than the Orza and other Keel varieties. Annie would definitely use it in a race.Transition and Running Impressions Everyone thought the Keel s is better for running because it feels much sturdier than the Orza and easier to store during transitions. The gang also thought that the Keel s might be a good option for the thigh mount.Pull Buoy RankingsChipper’s Pull Buoy Ranking4.5 Pull Buoys. It’s a good value and has multiple applications and while he won’t be racing in it, he will be using it in the pool.Annie’s Pull Buoy Ranking5 Pull Buoys. She loved it and it was just right for her. She loved the price and will be using it for races.Brooke’s Pull Buoy Ranking4.5 Pull Buoys. For all the reasons that Annie mentioned. She docked .5 pull buoys for the girth of the bridge was a little too thick for her liking and less comfortable than the NU Orza.Chris’s Pull Buoy Ranking4.5 Pull Buoys. It’s a great pull buoy that checks off a lot of boxes. He thought it was slightly over-engineered in terms of shape and could have been a bit more comfortable but that didn’t take much away from its utility. Overall ImpressionsThe Ark Sports Keel s is a great pull buoy for smaller and lighter Swimrunners and those that are exceptional swimmers that might not need the help of a larger pull buoy. While it doesn’t have universal applicability due to its size it’s a great pull buoy and we loved it!That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk 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 [email protected] with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to Episode 101 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!In this episode, we expound upon the various ways that Swimrun teams can qualify for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. This episode is pretty self-serving since we were trying to figure this out to determine our own chances of qualifying for the World Championship and figured that we put it together for everyone before the application period opens on December 14th.There are a total of 160 team spots available for qualification for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. The race is held on the first Monday in September every year.To be able to participate in ÖTILLÖ you have to race in a team consisting of two persons that are at least 18 years old and able to swim. Each team member needs to have valid insurance for swimrun or sports similar to swimrun. Some other things worth noting:Your application is final and will not be reimbursed if a team is accepted. Use your insurance if you have a medical issue and need a reimbursement.You are allowed to change one team member of the same gender. This can’t happen until after ÖTILLÖ Engadin.No external sales of your entry is allowed.There are five ways to get a spot at the legendary race. We will discuss each below:1. Podium at ÖTILLÖ World Series Distance RacePretty self-explanatory here9 spots available at each event, 3 for each category (Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed)2. Direct Qualification9 spots per eventThis is essentially like a roll-down qualificationSpots are distributed between classes according to the number of races per class E.g., 4 men, 3 mixed, 2 women3. 7/24 ConceptStarting in 2017, The 7/24 concept is a guaranteed way of getting a spot at the Swimrun World ChampionshipYou and your teammate have to race 5 World Series races & 2 Merit races in 24 months. It can be any of them and it can also be the same races two times. All you have to do is finish them. Then you apply and you will get a guaranteed spotThis way will also put you relatively high in the ranking which will allow you to apply in that category too4. Race Directors Choice10 spots at the race director’s discretionTypically given throughout the year for sponsors, media and/or special circumstancesE.g., when Rich Roll/Chris Hauf qualified in 2018 it was through a director’s choice5. Swimrun Ranking Points: (We’ll spend most of the time on this one since it’s the method that affects us)78 SpotsThe spots are distributed evenly between the classes according to the amount of applications per classIf you apply in more than one category we will select the team with the highest ranking in the respective category (Men, Women or Mixed)Reserve lists will be made per class and are based on ranking Presentation of teams on the first Thursday of February. The application opens on December 14thImportant to note for Race Directors and ranking slots:The distribution of Ranking and Directors choice Spots will be done according to the amount of applications per category (men, women and mixed) so that we have an equal percentage between the categories.In other words, if more women teams apply than in year’s past, there will be more spots assigned to that category. Wild Swimrun has a great article on their website explaining how this works. How does the Swimrun Ranking system work?It’s basically a points system. Teams register at swimrunranking.com and results are assigned points after teams either submit their finish times or they are auto-populated for ÖTILLÖ events. The points are distributed based on the following criteria:The system is built using inverse property.40% of the points are based on your overall result in the race. No matter which class you are in.60% of the points are based on your time in relation to the average time of all finishing teams. This means that teams finishing very close together get very similar “time points” in relationship to their position and vice versa i.e. performance driven.Races are weighted differently. The base points are multiplied by a coefficient that are as follows: ÖTILLÖ World Series Races x 1,25 (ÖTILLÖ World Series Races before 2020 had the coefficient 1,1) and ÖTILLÖ merit races x 1,0.All teams that finish a race get ranking points.Your points will devalue with 75% after 365 days from getting them, after 24 months they will disappear completely.Your six (6) best points over the last 24 month period will count towards your ranking (this means that devalued points might be exchanged for more current points).Race Entry Fee: 15,900 Swedish Krona (SEK) or about $1,738 per teamFee includes:Transport from Stockholm City to Pre- Race Hotel (Sunday)Hotel accommodation (Sunday)Dinner (Sunday)Breakfast (Monday)Transport to Start (Monday)Race (Monday)Transport of bags to Finish (Monday)Dinner Utö (Monday)Accommodation at Utö or Monday Night Transport to Stockholm (Monday)Breakfast at Utö (Tuesday)Ferry transport to Stockholm City (Tuesday)We hope this has demystified the process a bit and wish everyone the be

Welcome to Episode 100 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We did it! It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached 100 episodes of the show, yet here we are. We have a very special show this week to commemorate hitting the century mark. We will take a walk down memory lane over the almost 2-year history of the show. If that wasn’t enough, we are joined on the show this week by reigning ÖTILLÖ Mixed Team World Champions and World Record holders Desirée Andersson and Victor Dahl, A.K.A. Team Envol HEAD Swimming.There are no words to adequately express our gratitude for you listening to our super niche show...but that won’t stop us from trying. “What Does Your Show Do?”Rich Roll was asked this question when he was visiting Minneapolis to cover the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by some community activists. He mentioned that he wrestled with how to answer the question because it was so direct and in the moment. Hearing that struck us by how easy a question that is for us to answer. What does our show do? We get people super stoked on Swimrun!Our Swimrun/Podcast JourneyIt’s safe to say that when we started this show in January of 2020 that we did not have many expectations. We knew that we were super stoked on Swimrun and that no one we knew had heard about the sport...except from us. Given our backgrounds in digital marketing and brand building (and crucially, Chipper’s previous podcast experience), we thought that we could put out a good show, help people discover and de-mystify Swimrun, have some fun writing the first Swimrun Meme account, and we would see what happened. Our plan was to at least chronicle our Swimrun journey through March of 2020. Our first few guests were friends that gave us the “why not” answer with a chuckle when we asked them to come on. The Swimrun Monks and Team Envol Baywatch were awesome enough to answer our DMs and come on the show in the early months. Our first “get” of a guest was Christofer Sundberg, Co-Founder of Ark Sports. While this interview probably also falls into the “why not” reasoning for coming on, Ark Sports will always have a special place in our hearts for saying yes. When we got to Catalina for the ÖTILLÖ World Series race we began to realize that we may have started something when some “fans” came up to us on the ferry to show us their pull buoys. (Shoutout Colleen, Libby, and Tori!) The weekend just got wilder and wilder and that didn’t even take into account the race! Oh, and Chipper got quoted in a New York Times article about ÖTILLÖ Catalina. (Shoutout to our brother and forever favorite journalist, Adam Skolnick!)We were definitely riding high after Catalina and had pretty much committed to keep doing the show and then BAM! Planet Earth got hit with a once in a generation pandemic. We weren’t sure what we were going to do at first but quickly decided that we were going to try to keep the “stoke level” high and just keep following our curiosity to learn more about the sport and the amazing people that are a part of it. Along the way, we started the Gear Talk show with Annie and Brooke from the Swimrun Labs (whom we love) so we could geek out about all things gear and help answer all the questions that we had started getting from folks getting into the sport, we launched a YouTube channel to share more info about Swimrun, and our Meme account found new levels of ridiculousness. Well, fast forward to now, it’s safe to say that the show is a “thing.” We have tried to foster community wherever we could, we’ve made friends from all over the world, we’ve gotten better at swimming and running, and our love for the Swimrun community keeps blossoming. So. Many. People. To. Thank.Now for the longest shoutout segment in the history of the show.First, no walk down the LTBz memory lane would even be possible without the seemingly undying support of our respective wives, Kristen and Susan. Their encouragement/acquiescence on our Swimrun journey has been amazing and we are truly thankful for their support. The support that we have gotten from races and brands including ÖTILLÖ, Ödyssey Swimrun, Ark Sports, Frank Paddle, Precision Hydration and so many others has been amazing. It’s inspiring to us to see so many companies trying to grow the sport in the right way.A giant thank you to all the show guests that agreed to come on the podcast. Thank you for your enthusiasm, candor, and perspective. A special thank you to our LTBz correspondents in the field for just agreeing to do that. We know it was super random.Last, but definitely not least, we want to thank all our listeners and fans for tuning in. We’re constantly amazed that people actually listen and find the information useful. Obviously, that’s what we are going for but it’s still surreal to us that we’ve had over 61,000 downloads at the time of recording and the pace is only speeding up. Thank you all so much for the encouragement, for giving us feedback on how to make the show better, and for fueling us to keep

Welcome to episode ninety-nine of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week we have a Portland, Maine local legend, Burcay Gurcan on the show. He’s a Portland Maine institution and we chatted with him about all things Portland/Casco Bay, water polo (yes, water polo,) and how he’s single-handedly gotten so many people into Swimrun. We got a bunch of requests to get him on the show and we’re glad to share his story with you!But first... Training UpdateIt’s still the off-season for us for a few weeks and life is good. (So is all the food we’ve been eating!)ShoutoutsThis week we’re shouting out the crew at Palisades Tahoe (the ski resort formerly known as Squaw Valley) for turning on their snow-making machines so that our kids could have some snow to play with on our recent vacation to Lake Tahoe.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s award goes to Jonathan DePriest. He’s a San Francisco native and we’re super impressed that he’s been consistently jumping into Aquatic Park (our usual training grounds) to swim in the bay without a wetsuit. We wish we were as tough as you! Keep up the strong work!Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunTime for all the news that we could find on the internet.We’re back with the second edition of our ad hoc “Race Director Reports” segment! This week we have our friend Bruno Safara of Swimrun Portugal on the show to talk about the Lagoa Swimrun that took place a few weeks ago and his plans for 2022.This past weekend, Swimrun Hydra took place in Greece. While no actual mythological creatures (hydras) were spotted on the race course that we heard about...it was still an awesome event with a ton of participants.Over in France, Swimrun Man announced their race dates for 2022. We’ll save everyone our attempts to pronounce the names of all the events so head over to their website to see their four events for next year. As a bonus, all four events have ÖTILLÖ Merit Race distances for those trying to accumulate ÖTILLÖ ranking points.Finally, one of our favorite races (to view from a distance) Hellas Frostbite Swimrun is taking place on December 1st. This race raises funds for the Swedish Cancer Society and it’s an all around crazy event in water cold enough to make you blush...whether you want to or not.That’s it for this week. Be sure to tip us off if there’s any news that you would like for us to share on the show.UpdatesOur new headwear is here! Head over (see what we did there?) to our shop to see our new hats and beanies. These make great gifts for either loved ones or yourself. In other words, “treat yo self!”Our friend Will from Above/Below sent a note our way about their new US patent and an exciting opportunity for anyone to invest in Above/Below (the company) and help fund more Ruck Rafts to get out into the world. Here is the link to the crowdfunding here (open to UK residents only at this time.) We’ve officially signed up for Swimrun Lake James. We’re really looking forward to racing Kristen Jeno’s event in late April and hope to see you there! Burcay GurcanIt was great to chat with Burcay about the circuitous route that brought him from Turkey to New England, how he discovered Swimrun, what it was like to race some of those early Casco Bay events, and why he keeps coming back every year. This was a fun conversation and we think that you will enjoy it!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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode ninety-eight of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!This week we welcome back to the show Bronwen and Greg Dierksen, A.K.A. The Dierksens, A.K.A. The Boston Wet Sox. They recently made American Swimrun history at ÖTILLÖ Malta and they joined us on the show to share their race report of their epic day.But first... Training UpdateThis week’s update is that there is no update. #offseason #YOLO #LFGagaininmidDecemberShoutoutsWe’ve got triple shoutouts this week for our three new Patrons on Patreon. Thank you Sarah, Scott, and Brett for helping us keep the lights on. As we mentioned last week, we have a special holiday gift for our patrons as a token of our gratitude that we will be mailing out in the next few weeks.Feats of EnduranceThis week’s award goes to Jess VandenBussche from Hamilton, Canada. She recently posted one of the best strava titles that we’ve seen in a while for a 5k Personal Best that she accomplished during a race: If I Puke, I Puke. The only response that we have to that is...HELL YEAH! Strong work Jess!Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.This Week in SwimrunAll the news that we could find on the internet contained herein.The Swimrun season is winding down but there were still some cool events that took place over the weekend.Our friends at Swimrun Portugal hosted their Lagoa Swimrun and the photos looked amazing. We can’t wait to get to Portugal to race one of Bruno’s races one of these days!To say that Hugo Tormento is on absolute fire since racing ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship where he finished third with Matthieu Poullian (You can hear all about their race on Episode 92 of the podcast) would be the understatement of the year! Hugo won ÖTILLÖ Cannes with Max Andersson, won ÖTILLÖ Malta with Adriel Young (Adriel has also had a legendary year in his own right with 9 podiums--8 wins and one second place--in 9 races this year), and then a week later (this past weekend) won Swimrun Reunion (an race on an island off of the coast of Madagascar) with Heneman Guillaume. And if that wasn’t enough, he finished 11th in the Aquathlon World Championships just two weeks after Cannes.In other news, if you’re already planning your 2022 calendar like we are, heads up that Swimrun Costa Brava announced that next year’s race will be on April 23 and registration is open now. Over in the U.K., Mad Hatter Sports opened registration for their Hokey Cokey Swimrun that is taking place on May 21st.Here in the U.S., Ödyssey Swimrun will be announcing their 2022 race lineup soon so make sure that you sign up for their newsletter and/or follow them on the socials for updates on that.That’s it for this week. Be sure to tip us off if there’s any news that you would like for us to share on the show.UpdatesWe still have a handful of 50k download and 100th episode stickers left. If you want some free stuff just go to lowtideboyz.com/stickers and fill out the form and we’ll put some Low Tide love in the mail to anywhere in the world. We have new hats and beanies arriving soon. Stay tuned for updates on new ways to show your Low Tide pride this holiday season.The Dierksens Go to MaltaWhat can we say about Bronwen and Greg? They are just the best! We’re lucky to have them come back on show to share their historic experience at ÖTILLÖ Malta. Why historic? Because they are the first American team to ever win an ÖTILLÖ race. They are also the first team to ever podium an ÖTILLÖ race (Isles of Scilly in 2019.) They are great ambassadors for U.S. Swimrunning and also happen to be the nicest and most generous athletes around. They’ve contributed to a bunch of our course preview shows and whenever they dispense advice, we listen.It was great to hear about their experience in Malta and we think that everyone will enjoy this interview.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 [email protected] 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

Welcome to episode ninety-seven of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We’ve got our last race report for 2021 to share with everyone this week! We just got back from the Lone Star state after racing Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Long Course on November 7th and we’re super stoked to share what was a great weekend for Swimrunning. (Spoiler Alert: We had our best race to date!)Initial ThoughtsThere were a lot of thoughts going into race weekend. It was unexpectedly our last race of the year after ÖTILLÖ Catalina was postponed to March 2022. It was the first time that we would be racing the same course after having raced the inaugural Ödyssey Swimrun Austin in 2020. Being able to have an “apples to apples” comparison was definitely intriguing for us given how much improvement we had seen from race to race this year.With all this in mind, we were super stoked to go back to Pace Bend Park and spend some quality time with our Swimrun Community.LTBz Shakeout Swimrun (Austin Edition)It was great to be back in Pace Bend and get there early enough to host a Shakeout Swimrun on Saturday for everyone that was already in town. Over 35 people showed up and we had a ton of fun Swimrunning part of the course and taking a bunch of jumps at the cliff jump area. We ended the shakeout with some fika (minus the coffee) in honor of Team Adorkable that was racing in North Carolina the same weekend.Race DayIt was cold and super foggy on race morning. So foggy that Ödyssey made the very prudent call to push the start time for the long course from 7:00am to 7:45am. Once the race started we knew that we were going to have a good day. We really didn’t know how good of a day we were having until the out and back section of Run 4 and saw that there was only one team (and two solo athletes: Adrian and Josh) ahead of us. We figured out that we were pretty solidly in second place and spent the rest of the race making sure that we consolidated that position and weren’t passed. As we neared the last swim of the day a volunteer told us that we were three minutes back from the first place team. At that point, we were just racing the clock since it looked like a sub three hour finishing time looked possible. We crossed the finish line and got confirmation from the Voice of Swimrun himself that we finished in second place. (We were only 0:03:43 behind the winning team of Vincent and Justin, A.K.A. Team Eggplant Emoji.)Obviously, this was our first Swimrun podium haha!Our race stats: finish time: 2:56:43. Good for 2nd place Overall, 2nd place Men's team. (84 teams registered)Given that the field wasn’t as deep as in 2020 due to a bunch of teams racing at Swimrun NC the same weekend, we thought that calibrating our improvement would be a more accurate measure of our development as a team. We finished last year’s race in 3:30:16. Our 2021 finishing time was 0:33:33 faster! Another comparison was our overall pace: this year our overall average pace was 10:38/mi. In 2020 our overall pace was 12:21 per mile. A difference of 1:43/mi.Final ThoughtsObviously, we are overjoyed with our race result and the progress that we have made all year. There are a lot of people to thank for all that progress and you know who you are. We are also so appreciative for all the congratulatory notes from our worldwide Swimrun community. We’re looking forward to a break from training and then get back to our Swimrun journey at ÖTILLÖ Catalina in March.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 [email protected] 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