odyssey swimrun

Welcome to episode 149 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

It is done! We just got back from Ödyssey Swimrun Austin for our fifth and final race of the year and on this episode we are sharing our recap of one of our favorite events on the U.S. circuit. This was our third time racing Austin and it’s become a tradition to close out our year in Pace Bend Park. The positive Swimrun vibes were omnipresent all weekend and it’s safe to say that fun was had by all.

We finished this year’s Long Course in 3:14:16 which was good enough for 2nd Place Men’s Team (16 minutes behind 1st Place) and 6th Overall (including Long Course Solo athletes.)

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

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 lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

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 lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

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 Course

If 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 Breakdown

The 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 day

Run 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 day

Swim 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)

Summary

The 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 lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

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 Course

The 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 Bay

With 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 Considerations

While 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 Thoughts

We 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 lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

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 Update

Swimrun 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.

Shoutouts

This 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 Endurance

Major 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 Swimrun

Welcome 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.

Updates

Programming 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 Report

We’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 lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

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 Thoughts

There 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 Day

It 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 Thoughts

Obviously, 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 lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode ninety-six of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

This week we have the super talented Swimrun photographer, Mark Simmons, on the show. If you’ve enjoyed those amazing photos from Ödyssey Swimrun over the last few years, then you’ve likely seen Mark’s work. More on this later in the show.

But first... 

Training Update

It’s race week for Ödyssey Swimrun Austin! This also means that it’s a taper week for us. We’re looking forward to racing the Austin course again and seeing everyone in TX.

Shoutouts

This week we’re shouting out Marie and Katie, A.K.A., Team Twisted Sisters-Colo. They reached out recently to tell us that they are racing their first Swimrun at Ödyssey Swimrun Austin this weekend and we’re super stoked for them. We predict that they will have a blast!

Feats of Endurance

This week’s award goes to Kelsie Pearson. Not only is she half of Team Cali Swimrun Girls (check out our interview with Kelsie and Caroline Wolek in episode 33) but last week she threw down a 2:58 marathon at the Rock’n’Roll San Diego Marathon. That’s a 6:47/mile pace if you’re keeping score at home. She definitely, uhm, rocked it!

Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.

This Week in Swimrun

All the news that we could find on the internet is contained herein.

The Swimrun season is winding down but it’s going out with a bang! There are three races taking place this weekend and we’re super stoked about all of them.

In the United States, Swimrun NC and Ödyssey Swimrun Austin are both taking place on November 7th and both events are either sold out or very close to.

In Europe, ÖTILLÖ's last race of the season is taking place on the island of Malta. Best of luck to U.S. Mixed Teams Bronwen and Greg of the Boston Wet Sox and Mel and Andy of Team California Swimrun who are crossing the Atlantic to race the 39km World Series distance.

In case anyone at home is wondering, yes, this race is on our bucket list. 

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.

Updates

It’s free sticker time!! We’ve surpassed 50,000 total downloads and we’re getting close to our 100th episode so we are celebrating by giving away free stickers to commemorate both and show our immense gratitude for everyone that has tuned in to our brand of super-niche Swimrun content. Want some free stickers? 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. 

If you’re racing Ödyssey Swimrun Austin this weekend, we are hosting a casual Swimrun shakeout meetup on Saturday, November 6 at 11 am at the Grisham Trail near the location of the cliff jump for a super chill 3-5k Swimrun/cliff jump practice. We’re not totally sure where the best place to park will be but we’ll try to get as close to the cliff jump area as we can and take it from there. Send us a DM if you think you’re going to make it so we can plan snacks accordingly.

Mark Simmons, Swimrun Photographer

It was super fun to chat with Mark about how he got into photography and wound his way to being the chief photographer for Ödyssey Swimrun. We chatted about his process for scoping out great shot locations, how he moves along a course without wearing a Swimrun wetsuit, and a lot more. Mark’s also a wedding photographer so he’s got that going for him. This interview as great fun and we hope that you enjoy it.

You can follow Mark Simmons on Instagram.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode ninety-three of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

This week we have Stirling Miles and Lolo Armstrong, A.K.A., Team Run For Tacos, on the show. They share their inspiring Swimrun journey of training, traveling, and racing their first Swimrun at Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island a few weeks back. We loved chatting with them and their story will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

But first... 

Training Update

Ödyssey Swimrun Austin is four weeks away. We’re starting to pump up the volume on our training and did a 2 hour-plus Swimrun on Saturday to start dialing things in again.

Shoutouts

This week we’re shouting out Lindsey Ludwick from Virginia. Thanks for being a fan of the show and for wearing your Tie-dye hoodie with pride. Hope to meet you in person at a race soon!

Feats of Endurance

This week’s award goes to Robb Damman and his buddy Yanni for their 8 hour, 30.33 mile point to point Swimrun adventure in Durham County, North Carolina this past Saturday. They called the route “SCRAMP the Falls” and while we don’t know what that means, it’s still an impressive feat!

Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.

This Week in Swimrun

All the news that we could find on the internet contained herein.

It’s race week for ÖTILLÖ Cannes. Best of luck to everyone racing and remember to ignore the paparazzi. We’ll be putting out Cannes memes all week so make sure to follow us on IG to witness the ridiculousness. If that wasn’t enough, we will have some bonus race coverage thanks to our friends G Flo and Tobias from Team Max Mockermann who will be our “LTBz Correspondents in the Field” taking over our IG stories to share all the sights and sounds of Cannes. And it THAT wasn’t enough, we will also be releasing a Cannes Race Recap episode in the next few weeks so stay tuned for that!

This past weekend, Swimrun Cyprus held their annual race on the island. We loved seeing all the photos on IG and the event looked fantastic.

Gravity Race hosted the 6th edition of their Annecy Swimrun over the weekend. According to their website, they had 700 athletes participating in their three distance formats. Can’t blame the athletes for wanting to race because the Lac D’annecy is a pretty majestic location for a Swimrun.

If you’re looking for something to do on October 24, we recommend that you check out Swimrun Cote D’azur. We learned about this part of France from our friends Laurene and Irina, A.K.A., The Swimrun Mermaids, and they convinced us that it’s an amazing location for a Swimrun. (I foresee planning a double Swimrun vacation in the South of France with ÖTILLÖ Cannes one weekend and this race the following.)

Finally, it’s never too early to start planning for 2022 and Bauer Swimrun recently opened registration for their May 1st event in ​​Småland, Sweden.

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.

Updates

Programming alert: If you’re racing or thinking about racing Swimrun NC in November, make sure to check out our course preview episode that will drop next week.

Speaking about course previews, if you’re racing Ödyssey Swimrun Austin (it’s on the same day as Swimrun NC) make sure to check out our course preview episode to get you super stoked...and ready for race day. 

Team Run For Tacos

Chatting with Stirling and Lolo about their Swimrun journey was so great! They shared their origin story and how one video changed the course of the endurance lives of two long-time best friends and got them to the start line of Ödyssey Swimrun Orcas Island. Their story is what Swimrun is all about and we can’t wait to see them again at another race.

You can follow the adventures of Team Run For Tacos on Instagram.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode eighty-nine of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

On the show this week we have our course preview for Ödyssey Swimrun Ludington. We're joined by special guests Aaron Palaian and John Stevens from the Ödyssey crew to talk us through their newest race and share some great training tips for this unique course. Trust us, this race sounds like it's going to be dope!

PURE MICHIGAN MAKES FOR PURE SWIMRUNNING

Much Like Ödyssey Swimrun Mackinac Island, Ludington offers Swimrunners an opportunity to explore a very cool part of the state of Michigan. Aaron shared with us how he settled on the coast of Lake Michigan to host a Swimrun and why Ludington will be an awesome venue for athletes and families.

Travelling to Ludington is pretty straightforward with several airport options. Lodging is also straightforward as Ludington has a lot of options.

SAND IS YOUR FRIEND (or at least keep telling yourself that)

We are lucky to have the only person to have actually ran and swam on the course, John Stevens, to walk us through each leg of the race for both the long and short course. The short course meets up with the long course at Swim 4 (of the long course) and follows the same course to the finish line so we will only mention Run 1 of the short course separately.

The long course clocks in at 19.33 miles with 16.2 miles of running and 3.13 miles of swimming with 1,500ft of elevation gain. The short course is 10.68 miles long with 8.55 miles of running and 2.13 miles of swimming with 750ft of elevation gain.

Both courses feature a variety of terrains that should make for a super fun event. As you listen to the leg by leg breakdown, we recommend looking at the course map to help orient yourself and visualize what you will experience on race day.

Annotated Leg By Leg Breakdown

LONG COURSE

Run 1 (1.45mi)

• “Urban running” through the downtown Ludington
• There will be some sidewalk traffic involved

Swim 1 (650m/711yd)

• Coldest swim of the day (Mid to upper 50 degrees Fahrenheit) 
• Pretty straight forward swim along the beach

Run 2 (2.15mi)

• First half is on roads
• Back half of the run is a paved trail through the woods

Swim 2 (565m/618yd)

• The lake is really dark

Run 3 (2.05m)

• Last run on the roads for a while
• Sand dune climb at the end of the run

Swim 3 (400m/437yd)

• “Steven’s Lake”
• Swimming though an old quarry

Run 4 (3.75mi)

• Aid station at the start of the run
• Running on trails and then on sand towards the end

SHORT COURSE Run 1 (1.75mi)

• This first run is a doozy
• There are some wooden platforms at the start that can be very slippery when wet
• There are some sand trails towards the middle
• A “crazy” sand dune climb at the end of the run

Swim 4 (1,365m/1,493yd)

• You swim under a bridge near the start
• It’s a pretty shallow swim on the second half

Run 5 (.40mi)

• Straight up a 200 meter sand dune at the start of the run
• “Embrace the suck.” -- John Stevens

Swim 5 (200m/219yd)

• Nice and short!

Run 6 (3.25mi)

• This run has it all! It goes from woods to sand to the ocean
• Lots of sand here
• You’ll run through some shallow pools
• Awesome climb at the end over a ridge that will give you a cool view of the Big Sable Point Lighthouse

Swim 6 (250m/273yd)

• This swim is around the Big Sable Point Lighthouse
• This swim might be cancelled if the conditions are too gnarly
• Ödyssey will make the call on race day

Run 7 (3.0mi)

• Dirt road run
• It’s exposed so it could be hot if the sun is out
• Definitely hit the aid station at the start of the run

Swim 7 (1,610m/1,761yd)

• This swim is down river so it should be pretty fast
• Near the end of the swim you go under a low bridge that can be a little nerve racking

Run 8 (.15mi)

• Sweet little beach run to the finish line

DO IT FOR THE ICE CREAM!

John Stevens shared a couple key workout sessions that will help athletes prepare for the demands of the Ludington course. He recommends some high tempo running mixed with some hill work such as a running workout consisting of 6-8x 30 second hard uphill into an extended 4-5 minute tempo effort. The swims are pretty straight forward so being comfortable with the distance and being able to apply some power will serve athletes well.

As far as a key Swimrun workout, John recommends doing a couple of rounds consisting of a 300yd swim at race effort with a fast transition into a hard 1-2 minute uphill and then settle into some race effort tempo running for a 1 mile.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

This race looks great and we give major kudos to Aaron, John and the rest of the Ödyssey crew for finding such an awesome location to host a Swimrun. All the different types of terrain that this event offers is very unique and will make for a great adventure for everyone that will toe the line. Huge thanks for Aaron and John for taking the time to help us put this course preview together. 

These episodes are an iterative process so please let us know what you think about this evolving format.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode eighty-two of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

In this episode, we’re joined by Lars Finanger, Brent Molsberry, and Brooke Lindsley (of the Swimrun Labs) for our detailed course preview of Ödyssey Swimrun’s Orcas Island event. We’re super stoked for this event and think that you will also be super stoked about it after hearing this episode.

Programming note: We are tying a bit of a new format for this course preview. I.e., we are going to try to be a bit more concise. As ever, we would love to hear your feedback on this episode to let us know if it’s a thumbs up or thumbs down.

KILLER WHALE ISLAND DOESN’T SOUND AS NICE 

Taking place on Orcas Island, Washington, Ödyssey Swimrun sets up an amazing course in the Pacific Northwest that has been on our bucket list since the race was first announced a few year’s back. The Ödyssey website describes the race as follows: “Crisp inland lake swims, hauntingly beautiful forest trail runs, big mountain climbs, and stunning scenery around every turn makes this an instant fall classic.” Uhm, they had us at “crisp.”

Course designer and race director Brent Molsberry was cool enough to share his thoughts on the course and the Orcas Island region.

Traveling to Orcas Island is pretty tricky so we asked Brent to share with us all the logistics that participants will want to have lined up well before race day.

The moral of the story here is book your travel to either Seattle or Bellingham, your lodging on Orcas Island, and definitely plan to book your ferry ticket when they become available.

MT. CONSTITUTION SOUNDS FUN (Leg By Leg Course Breakdown)

As with our previous course preview episodes, we recommend having a copy of the course map handy so you can follow along and start visualizing what you can expect on race day. That being said, as with a lot of Swimrun events, the distances are approximate and might change on race day so be prepared for that.

Here are the main stats for Orcas Island: the long course is a total of 24.25 miles with 3.5 miles of swimming and around 6,110ft of elevation gain. The short course is a total of 12.30 miles with 2 miles of swimming and around 2,152ft of gain.

To tee up the leg by leg Breakdown, Lars Finanger shares with us an overview of both the long and short courses.

Lars also shared some extra details about the start and finish location of this year’s race, signage on the course, and aid station fixin’.

Annotated Long Course Leg Breakdown:

R1: Rosario Resort Race Start (1.05 miles)

• Prepare for hills from the get go and hills along the entire course
• The section is very technical so take it easy

S1: Cascade Bay Swim (275m/300yds)

• This will be the only ocean swim on the course and it will be super cold
• Make sure you are warmed up going into the swim
• Consider wearing ear plugs and an extra swim cap that you can stash afterwards or dispose at the next aid station

R2: Rosario to Cascade Lake (.9 miles)

• “Chill” run
• It’s a big uphill when you get out of the water at the start

S2: Cascade Lake Swim #1 (290m/317yds)

R3: Cascade Lake Perimeter (.75 miles)

S3: Cascade Lake Swim #2 (850m/930yds)

• Second longest swim of the day

R4: Cascade Lake Perimeter (.35 miles)

• 10ish foot cliff jump into S4

S4: Cascade Lake Swim #3 (515m/563yds)

R5: Cascade Lake to Mountain Lake (2.5 miles)

S5: Mountain Lake Swim #1 (885m/968yds)

• Longest swim of the day
• Might be hard to see the swim exit from the swim start

R6: Mountain Lake Mini Island Hop (130 feet)

• Keep your goggles on since the run is super short

S6: Mountain Lake Mini Swim (50m/55yds)

R7: Mt. Constitution (4.5 miles)

• Have a plan for this run and make sure you have nutrition and hydration for this section
• Consider cabbing down
• It’s straight uphill. There’s not much relief. Power hiking is your friend.
• There are pretty steep downhills on the way to Twin Lakes.

S7: Twin Lakes Swim #1 (275m/301yds)

• Look for the large pink teardrop flags for the swim exit
• This lake might be colder than the other lakes

R8: Short Twin Lakes Run (.15 miles)

S8: Twin Lakes Swim #2 (100m/110yds)

R9: Mt. Pickett (4.5 miles)

• Not as steep as Mt. Constitution but it’s a long gradual climb
• This is the most remote part of the course
• You might get a little chilly in this section
• Take nutrition and hydration here to get you to Mountain Lake.

S9: Mountain Lake Swim #2 (565m/618yds)

• The start of this swim is the end of a short course swim
• Aid station at the end of this swim and it’s the last aid station before the finish so make sure that you fuel up here

R10: Mountain Lake Perimeter Run (.75 miles)

S10: Mountain Lake Swim #3 (355m/388yds)

• There’s a rope swing at the start of this swim

R11: Mountain Lake Perimeter Run (.5 miles)

S11: Mountain Lake Swim #4 (385m/421yds)

R12: Mountain Lake Island Hop (225 feet)

• A pretty little island according to Brent

S12: Mountain Lake Swim #5 (325m/355yds)

R13: Run back to Cascade Lake (3.75 miles)

• You may see some racers going in the other direction
• Pretty much all downhill

S13: Cascade Lake Swim #4 (725m/793yds)

• Final swim of the day!

R14: Run to Rosario Resort (1 mile)

Annotated Short Course Leg Breakdown:

R1: Rosario Resort Race Start (1.05 miles)

• Prepare for hills from the get go and hills along the entire course
• The section is very technical so take it easy

S1: Cascade Bay Swim (275m/300yds)

• This will be the only ocean swim on the course and it will be super cold
• Make sure you are warmed up going into the swim
• Consider wearing ear plugs and an extra swim cap that you can stash afterwards or dispose at the next aid station

R2: Rosario to Cascade Lake (.9 miles)

• “Chill” run
• It’s a big uphill when you get out of the water at the start

S2: Cascade Lake Swim #1 (290m/317yds)

R3: Cascade Lake Perimeter (.75 miles)

S3: Cascade Lake Swim #2 (850m/930yds)

• Second longest swim of the day

R4: Cascade Lake Perimeter (.35 miles)

• 10ish foot cliff jump into S4

S4: Cascade Lake Swim #3 (515m/563yds)

R5: Cascade Lake to Mountain Lake (2.5 miles)

S5: Mountain Lake Mini Swim (50m/55yds)

R6: Mountain lake Mini Island Hop (130 ft)

S6: Mountain Lake Swim #2 (485m/530yds)

R7: Run back to Cascade Lake (2.9 miles)

• You may see some racers going in the other direction
• Pretty much all downhill

S7: Cascade Lake Swim #4 (725m/793yds)

R8: Run to Rosario (1 mile)

COLD WATER COMING!

Training for Orcas is all about getting your climbing legs ready for the course. Find hills and run them. If you don’t have hills, use a stairmaster or find a tall building and run up and down the stairwell.

Brooke shared with us what you will find at Orcas from a Swimrunners perspective and how she prepared for the race. She practiced her uphill and downhill running on as technical trails as possible.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode forty-five of the Low Tide Boyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

We’ve got a special episode this week. We just finished racing Ödyssey Swimrun Austin on Sunday, November 8th and we’ll be sharing our race report from our weekend in Texas. We were super stoked to be able to race and hope that you enjoy our thoughts on how that whole thing went. (Spoiler alert: Stoke level is still super high!)

Initial Thoughts

It was a stressful week with the election, COVID, travel, and a race on the horizon. We felt better once we got to Texas and we were really happy with our performance on race day. Sure, we could have trained harder…but we probably would be saying that regardless of how hard we trained. Regardless of our level of fitness, we managed to put together a strong performance and that only a small part of what was an amazing weekend.

Getting to Texas/Pre-race Meeting

Getting to Pace Bend Park from AUS was pretty easy (Chipper picked Chris up from the airport on Saturday afternoon) and we managed to show up only slightly late to the mandatory pre-race meeting.

Shout outs to folks that we connected with this weekend: (We’re really sorry if we missed anyone)

Drew and Michael

Brooke and Samantha

Adrian

Trevor AKA The Copper Paladin

Trista and Amy (Who brought us a giant donut from Round Rock Donuts)

Mel

Jenny

Bob

Rick (from Florida)

Chase

Chris

Matt

Melissa

Gemma

Kristen (RD at Swimrun Lake James in April 2021)

Lee Green LIKE THE COLOR (Chris’s new bestie)

The entire Odyssey team!

It was also great to see previous guests of the show as well:

Bronwen and Greg AKA The Boston Wet Sox

Andy Hewitt

Blake and Beek AKA Team Envol Baywatch

Sean and Phillip AKA The Swimrun Monks

Marcus Barton

John Stevens (he had a cameo on Gear Talk. Future full episode with John coming soon!)

Lars Finanger, Race Director for Ödyssey

It was really great to see everyone and we really appreciated all the kind words from folks saying that they listened to the podcast and found it helpful in their race prep. 

That night we put into practice a lot of the advice that we had learned from previous guests of the show and made our plans for the race. The main things that we wanted to put into practice on race day were: having a detailed plan for nutrition, hydration, and when to cab down (Team Precision Hydration UK and The Boston Wet Sox); focusing on technique especially fast transitions in and out of the water and at energy station (Andy Hewitt and Nicolas Remires); stay mentally engaged in the race and problem solve quickly (Mario Fraioli, Johan Carlsson, and Oscar Olsson); and Swim straight (Megan Melgaard and Jim Lubinski).

Race Day: Leg by leg (Play by play)

The weather on race morning looked pretty great but we were worried about it getting hot during the race. Ödyssey did a great job with their COVID precautions and the race started on time with a time-trial start where teams started 5 seconds apart. 

Run 1 - 2.11 miles: The start was pretty straight forward and, frankly, it was nice to finally get to race again!

Swim 1 - 663 yards: The swim felt a bit short. There was no significant current in the water and the water temp was very pleasant.  

Run 2 -  1.28 miles: This run was pretty straight forward. The classic Texas trails (rocky, rooted, etc.) made their appearance.

Swim 2 - 1,166 yards: This swim was pretty straight forward and sighting was not a problem at all.

Run 3 - 2.12 miles: This run was getting into the meat of the course and we started pushing on the runs a bit more. We made the decision to keep the tether attached the whole time. It was a new experience for us to race that way and we both felt that it was major benefit to not have to worry about putting it away and then attaching it again before a swim saved a lot of mental energy.

Swim 3 - 1,145 yards: The swim entrance was at the end of a steep boat ramp. This swim was against the water current, but it wasn’t really noticeable. It was cool to swim next to the limestone cliffs.

Run 4 - 3.33 miles: This was the longest run of the day. We got to see a bunch of our friends on the out and back portion. We had planned for Chipper to cab down as soon as we got done with Swim 3 and that happened smoothly.

Swim 4 - 536 yards: This short swim started at the end of another steep boat ramp and Chris led the entire swim like a big boy. The swim exit was the most technical water exist.

Run 5 - .56 miles: This short run led to the cliff jump section of the course. We ended up not doing the cliff jump because we were moving so well and wanted to save time by not having to swim another 300 yards or so.

Swim 5 - 955 yards: This swim also felt short and we started mingling with the short course athletes. 

Run 6 - 2.49 miles: This run was the most technical of the day and we were moving well. So well that Chris missed a turn and did a bonus cruise by the finish line (we probably lost a few minutes but not much more than that) before we got back on course. The entrance to that swim was down a bunch of stairs to a boat ramp to jump in the water. 

Swim 6 - 1,582 yards: We definitely felt the water current on this swim and we were moving pretty well. Chris was supposed to take over leading after Chipper started the swim but he was doing so well (and Chris was staring at the cliffs) that he closed it out.

Run 7 - 1.15 miles: The last run was uneventful until Chipper tripped on a poll (that a volunteer warned us about). Like a graceful cat he did a roll and got right back up. He managed to mask his embarrassment and we finished the race. We got a nice shout out from Lars’s dad on the mic.

Our finishing stats: we finished in 3:30. (9th place Men’s team and 14th overall out of 65 long course teams)

We felt like this was our best race performance. We put into practice everything that we had been learning throughout the year. Chipper gave our performance 4.5 pull buoys.

Post-race

Ödyssey had masks at the finish line for people to don. The finisher sweatshirts were super high quality and the food was great.

It was really great to hang out at the finish line and see a lot of our friends and folks in our Strava Club cross the finish line. It was great to see Lars and the Ödyssey Swimrun crew so stoked with how the event ended up. Given that three of their races got cancelled this year, we were so happy that they got to close out the year with a success.

Overall impressions of the event

We would definitely recommend this race to everyone who’s curious about Swimrun and experienced Swimrunners alike. The race was a lot of fun! Logistically, it was super easy to get to the park and there was good food all around.

Final Thoughts

Huge shout out again to Lars and the Ödyssey crew for putting this event together during COVID. It was not without risk to try to put on this event in the age of COVID and they did an awesome job!

To be able to race and forget about everything that was going on in the world for a little while at least was like a salve to the soul. We look forward to going back in 2021 to race the event again.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to this bonus episode of the Löw Tide Böyz, a Swimrun Podcast!

A few weeks ago, we dropped our deep dive course preview of the Ödyssey Swimrun Austin race coming up on November 8th. That episode has been listened to over 500 times and it appears that folks are getting a lot of value from it…which we love. 

Given that this is a first-year race, there are a lot of gaps in our review. Fortuitously, Ödyssey put together a course recon training day at Pace Bend Park this past weekend and one of our Strava Club members, Adrian Cameron, was on the scene and brought back some great intel that he shared with the club. The intel was so great that we thought that we should produce a quick addendum to the Course Preview episode and get Adrian on to share his insight with everybody.

So without further ado, we welcome Adrian to the show and get right to it!

Ride’em Cowboy AGAIN! (Updates to our Short and Long Course Leg Breakdowns)

As a refresher, Swimrun Austin offers two distance options: short course (total distance 8.96 miles; total run 7.04 miles; total swim 3396 yards/1.92 miles) and long course (total distance 16.42 miles; total run 13.04 miles; total swim 6036 yards/3.38 miles). Both courses offer solo and team divisions. You can check out the detailed map for both courses here.

The Ödyssey course recon training day didn’t cover the entire course but there were a lot of additions that we were able to make to our leg by leg breakdown of the course.

Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Short Course Annotated Leg Breakdown:

Run 1 - 2.11 miles (Flat run)

Swim 1 - 663 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 2 - 1.28 miles (Slightly hilly run)

Swim 2 - 1166 yards (Swimming with the current; wind might be an issue)

Run 3 - 2.49 miles (Flat/rocky run; Cliff jump option into Swim 3)

Swim 3 - 1582 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 4 - 1.15 miles (Flat run)

Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Long Course Annotated Leg Breakdown:

Run 1 - 2.11 miles (Flat run)

Swim 1 - 663 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 2 -  1.28 miles (“Lite” hills run)

Swim 2 - 1166 yards (Swimming with the current; wind might be an issue)

Run 3 - 2.12 miles (Narrow trails, rocky, and hard-packed; first half is mostly uphill; Sandy at points in the second half the run; finishing with a very steep run down a boat ramp to Swim 3) 

Swim 3 - 1145 yards (Swimming against the current; Current mild or non-existent if water levels remain low; stick close to the cliffs to keep the swim as short as possible; very steep water exit so make sure your hands are paddle-free upon exit)

Run 4 - 3.33 miles (Slightly less flat but still pretty flat run; this run is exposed and could be very hot; very steep start but then levels off; pretty narrow trail so it will be mostly single file; the end of run has another super steep boat ramp to get to the swim leg)

Swim 4 - 536 yards (Swimming against the current; Current mild or non-existent if water levels remain low; wind might be an issue; swim start has about 6 inches of muck for about 20’ out; make sure your shoes are on tightly so you don’t get a “flat tire”)

Run 5 - .56 miles (Flat run; this is a “teamwork-heavy” section; the swim exit for this run is very steep; you will need your hands free for this technical section; there are bathrooms along the road of this run; cliff jump option into Swim 5; the highest jumping-off point is around 20’ but athletes can scale down some ledges to make a smaller jump)

Swim 5 - 955 yards (Swimming against the current; Current mild or non-existent if water levels remain low; wind might be an issue)

Run 6 - 2.49 miles (Flat/Rocky run; cliff jump option into Swim 6)

Swim 6 - 1582 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 7 - 1.15 miles (Flat run)

Final Thoughts

It’s important to note that the water temperature was 78 degrees Fahrenheit (the air temperature was 62 degrees) during the course training day. You can check the water temps for yourself here. Folks should plan accordingly for that. Other than that, paying attention during the trial runs will help prevent collisions and tripping on roots, rocks, and the like. 

We want to thank Adrian again for taking the time to give us his field report. He’s going to do great on race day…and so will all of you!

That’s it for this week’s bonus show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to episode thirty-eight of the Löw Tide Böyz, a Swimrun Podcast!

We’ve got a super-comprehensive course preview for you this week. We’re doing a deep dive to give you as much information as possible for Ödyssey Swimrun Austin happening on November 8, 2020. This is our second attempt at this type of show and we tweaked the format a little bit to take into account that this will be the first year for this event.

These episodes are pretty labor intensive and we definitely could not have done this without the help from Lars Finanger and the rest of the crew from Ödyssey Swimrun, Lauren and Matt Hurley from the Black Sheep Endurance Project, and Bronwen and Greg from team Boston Wet Sox. A huge thank you for sharing all their insight for this show.

Let’s get right to it!

The Stars at Night are Big and Bright…. (Getting to Austin and What to Do)

Swimrun has arrived in Texas! For anyone who’s not familiar with the great state of Texas, it’s a pretty massive state with a lot of variety in terms of terrain and climates. Swimrun Austin takes place in Pace Bend Park in Spicewood, Texas. This Park is within the city limits of Austin and is about an hour drive (40ish miles away/1hr drive) from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Here’s a handy link for directions via Google Maps.

Hotels, rental cars, and food are plentiful. If you’ve never spent time in Austin, we think that you’ll enjoy the vibe and the food is amazing although it skews towards non-vegetarians, I.e., Texas BBQ is legendary and totally worth checking out places like Salt Lick and Iron Works for BBQ and Moonshine Grill for southern comfort food (they have vegetarian options here.) You also can’t go wrong with any of the restaurants on Rainey St. near downtown Austin. PRO TIP: save the BBQ for after the race.

Yee-haw! (Intro to Swimrun Austin)

The Austin Hill Country, where the race is located, is well known for trail running and water sports so it’s a natural place to combine those two activities for a Swimrun race. We chatted with Ödyssey Race Director Lars Finanger about how he found Pace Bend Park and why he thought that it would be a great place to host a Swimrun.

Lars gave us a lot of info about Pace Bend Park and explained why this location is perfectly suited for Swimrunning. The courses don’t favor runners or swimmers and have a good mix of both making it a great race for everyone. 

Ride’em Cowboy! (Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Short and Long Course Breakdowns)

Swimrun Austin offers two distance options: short course (total distance 8.96 miles; total run 7.04 miles; total swim 3396 yards/1.92 miles) and long course (total distance 16.42 miles; total run 13.04 miles; total swim 6036 yards/3.38 miles). Both courses offer solo and team divisions. You can check out the detailed map for both courses here.

The air temperature on race day can be unpredictable. While the average air temp. for early November is 70 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the weather almanac, the weather on November 8 last year was 50 degrees. The water temps are pretty much unknown and could be anywhere 60-80 degrees.

Lars shared with us a leg by leg breakdown of both the short and long courses and we have added as many details as we could to our leg summaries below. In short, the theme for Swimrun Austin is race “heads up” and follow the pink ribbons and flags.

Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Short Course Leg Breakdown:

Run 1 - 2.11 miles (Flat run)

Swim 1 - 663 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 2 - 1.28 miles (Slightly hilly run)

Swim 2 - 1166 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 3 - 2.49 miles (Flat/rocky run; Cliff jump option into Swim 3)

Swim 3 - 1582 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 4 - 1.15 miles (Flat run)

Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Long Course Leg Breakdown:

Run 1 - 2.11 miles (Flat run)

Swim 1 - 663 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 2 -  1.28 miles (“Lite” hills run)

Swim 2 - 1166 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 3 - 2.12 miles (A little hard to plot out but it looks pretty flat)

Swim 3 - 1145 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 4 - 3.33 miles (Slightly less flat but still pretty flat run; this run is exposed and could be very hot)

Swim 4 - 536 yards (Swimming against the current)

Run 5 - .56 miles (Flat run; this is a “teamwork-heavy” section; cliff jump option into Swim 5)

Swim 5 - 955 yards (Swimming against the current)

Run 6 - 2.49 miles (Flat/Rocky run; cliff jump option into Swim 6)

Swim 6 - 1582 yards (Swimming with the current)

Run 7 - 1.15 miles (Flat run)

Time for Supper! (Nutrition on the course)

The short course has 3 energy stations. The long course has 5 energy stations. It’s important to note that several of the aid stations are before swim entrances so planning your nutrition and hydration accordingly. The aid stations will have gels, electrolytes, and other snacks for participants. Both courses are cup-less so remember to bring a collapsible flask or cup with you.

As far as we know, there will not be any Texas BBQ at the aid stations.

Giddy Up! (Training for Swimrun Austin)

We chatted with Lauren and Matt Hurley from the Black Sheep Endurance Project to get their advice for training for the terrain in Pace Bend Park. They emphasized making sure that the swim fitness was dialed in before the event to make the race experience more enjoyable. They shared some key swim workouts to do that emphasize doing main sets after fatigue has set in.

We also asked Bronwen and Greg of team Boston Wet Sox how they are training for the Austin Long Course distance. They shared with us how they are ramping up for the race and mentioned that they plan to do a couple of race simulations of 3.5-4 hours to make sure that they are dialed in for the race.

Both Lauren and Matt and the Boston Wet Sox emphasized having a plan for the cliff jump sections. To sum it up, teams should have already figured out how they are going to negotiate the jumps (if they even decide to do them). Definitely do not jump with the tether attached. Jump feet first. Think about what you are going to do with your gear to make sure that it doesn’t go flying off.

Finally, our friends at Envol Coaching have also put together a 6-week training plan (for a fee) for folks that want a plan from the super-experienced Nicolas Remirez for both the short course and long course distances.

We think that participants have plenty of resources for training even though this Is a first-year event.

Ride off into the sunset (Final Thoughts)

Well, there you have it! 

Ödyssey Swimrun Austin in a nutshell. We hope to see a bunch of familiar and new faces in Texas and look forward to closing out 2020 with some racing. If you were on the fence on signing up but we’ve managed to convince you…use the code LOWTIDEBOYZ when you register to save 25% on your registration fee.

We’re always trying to improve the show and we’d love to hear your feedback so let us know what you think. We wanted to give a final thanks once again to Lars and the Ödyssey Swimrun crew, Lauren and Matt Hurley of Black Sheep Endurance Project, and Bronwen and Greg of the Boston Wet Sox for their help in getting this course preview together.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram, and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to episode nineteen of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!

On this week’s show we have Lars Finanger of Ödyssey Swimrun. This might be one of our favorite shows so far. (Every other show is tied for second place!) 

We’re still under shelter in place and still training for life at this point. We’ve also committed for some reason to grow our hair out. Chris has already been on that train but Chipper just joined. Fans of the show can suggest what type of mullet Chipper should grow.

For shout outs this week we are virtually waving our hands to Sarah Fergot. She’s a Novato resident and stout swimrunner in her own right. She’s had a bunch of the races she had on the calendar get cancelled including a 50K and a 100 mile ultra. She’s channeling that energy positively and is currently running the virtual race across Tennessee. That race is a 1000 kilometers and she has until August 1st to cover that distance. Best of luck Sarah!

Now for this week’s interview. It’s safe to say that Lars has done a ton to help grow the sport of swimrun in the US. While in this interview we chat about his background as an athlete, writer and race director, we could dedicate an entire episode (and we shall) to talk about Ödyssey Swimrun (formerly Swimrun USA.)

Lars was born in Norway and grew up in Saudi Arabia. He participated in his first triathlon event in an Eighth Grade Physical Education class (it was organized by his Dad) and grew up playing baseball and endurance events. He has two kids and his wife Emily is a stout athlete in her own right (she won Norseman twice!)

Lars learned about swimrun when he was working for Slowtwich.com and Jonas Colting was commenting on the forum about that Mats and Michael were putting together. Fast forward to 2014, the timing was right to try to cover the event for the magazine that Lars was working for. When he reached out to Ötillö about getting an entry to the Otillo World Championship. They told him no but that he should come out and somebody might be injured and he might be able to sub in. Sure enough, there was a guy that got food poisoning before the race and he was in! His “teammate” was from Spain and didn’t speak much English and somehow managed to put together a decent race. Loving every minute, Lars was hooked but in 2014 there were only three swimrun races in the World.

Fortuitously, Jeff Cole reached out to Lars while he was still in Sweden to tell him about swimrun and about a course in Maine that would be a perfect venue. Right then and there the idea was hatched for Casco Bay Swimrun.

In addition to starting Ödyssey Swimrun, Lars still races a lot of swimrun events. He recently raced Ötillö Catalina with his partner John Stevens (a stout swimmer and athlete in his own right.) They had a great race experience in Catalina and add to that that they even chartered a giant sail boat to stay on. On Catalina, Lars unveiled the Kraken Collective, an online swimrun community for training and racing team. With COVID-19, the collective is on hold and we’re looking forward to seeing that re-launch once all the shelters in place orders have lifted.

We ended the interview chatting about why swimrun is so different from triathlon and why it’s such a unique experience. Lars wants to see the sport grow organically and keep the vibe that’s similar to gravel riding or ultrarunning. Swimrunning can fun and hard and not have it be super serious. 

You can learn more about Lars and Ödyssey Swimrun here.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Welcome to episode twelve of the Low Tide Boyz Podcast, a Swimrun Podcast!

This week’s show should really have been episode number 2 for reasons that we’ll explain later but we are thrilled to have Amber Ferreira and Aryn Marsh of Team Better Tethered Together on the show. This is our last interview that we will be releasing that we recorded while we were in Catalina for Ötillö. More forthcoming.

Our top story this week again, and pretty much the top story in the world is still COVID-19. As the World continues to deal with the pandemic and more shelter at home orders are made, here in the Bay Area they have now closed most parks to vehicular traffic and outright closed others because people can’t take to heart the concept of social distancing. We encourage everyone to stay safe and keep listening to the scientists and doctors advice about what to do.

We wanted to send a shoutout to Dave Dammer this week for posting the IG photo with his Ark Keel Pull Buoy on his head and tagging us. We know it’s silly but these are tough times, might as well try to get some laughs in! Keep the posts coming!

We’ve gotten a little more press courtesy of Nancy Heslin for Ötillö Swimrun Magazine. You can check out that story here if you want to learn a little bit more our origin story.

Our collab shirt fundraiser for the WILD Youth Initiative created by WILD Swimrun is selling well! As a reminder, all proceeds from this apparel will go towards providing scholarships to help girls attend the WILD Swimrun camps. Have enough shirts (and/or pillows)? You can head over to lowtideboyz.com to donate to the WILD Youth Initiative on our homepage.

Now for this week’s show. Amber and Aryn of team Better Tethered Together met up with us in Catalina for a pre-race interview. They have been big fans of the show and it was great to have them on. It was a pretty vivid interview so we wanted to issue this warning: THERE IS TALK ABOUT POOP ON THIS EPISODE. It’s all in the context of racing Swimrun but we still wanted to warn anyone that might get the willies when hearing about that topic. We encourage people to fast forward a bit once it comes up if you’re not into it. That being said, this interview is a great story about one of the things that we love about the sport, the partner aspect. We chat about their race experience, how they see the sport of swimrun in the U.S., and their hopes for the future of the sport. We hope that you enjoy the interview.

Amber is a pro-triathlete that has raced triathlon professionally for eleven years, is an Ironman champion and has raced 70 Ironman events. Aryn is an elite swimmer that met Amber In New Hampshire and started swimming together soon after that. They knew right away that they wanted to train together and agreed to become a swimrun team. Aryn first learned about Odyssey Swimrun’s Casco Bay and raced the sprint race solo in 2018. They first raced together at Casco Bay in 2019.

Their first race together was quite a story. They were leading the women’s race for three hours when their friendship and partnership as teammates was put to the test…the poop test, if you will. You’ll have to listen to the show to get the details but it’s a pretty amazing story of quick thinking, perseverance and the fighting spirit. It’s also about a lot of poop! They still managed to finish in third place.

Despite the adversity that they faced at Casco Bay, they made it their goal to try to qualify for the Ötillö World Championship. They came to Catalina to try to podium and get their slot. (Spoiler alert: they qualified!) 

You can follow their journey to the World Championship at Better Tethered Together, Amber Ferreira and Aryn Marsh.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com. 

Welcome to episode three of the Low Tide Boyz, a swimrun podcast!

On this week’s show we chat about ramping up our training for Catalina and our swim build workout plan that was written by this show’s special guest, Michael Olzinski. More about him later.

We started swimming at a great outdoor Olympic-sized pool that is a huge upgrade from our current crappy 25 yard pool at our crappy gym. Long course swimming has been a great addition to our training given that swimrun is all about swimming long. We’ve started dialing up the swim volume and have been putting in some diabolical sets, curtesy of today’s guest!

We’ve gotten some great feedback about our Swimrun 101 episode so thank you for that. It was also brought to our attention that we didn’t talk about socks and what to wear under a wetsuit. For both of these it comes down to personal preference and we recommend testing whatever you’re going to use before the race. 

We are lucky to have Michael Olzinski on the show this week. He’s a multisport coach with Purple Patch Fitness. He’s a stout athlete in his own right, has a ton of coaching certifications and he’s joining us to chat about swimrun training. Mike first heard about swimrun when some of Purple Patch’s international athletes started asking for training plans to their races.

We chatted with Mike about how to best train for swimrun, focusing on the Otillo Catalina course…since that’s what we have coming up. Acknowledging that training for these events are really an experiment in training and while there are some analogies to events like super league triathlon, where there are multiple short sets of swimming, biking and running. The overarching idea though is that swimrun athletes have to be just that, athletes. As much as swimrun is a swimming and running sport, there’s a lot of room for strength training to handle the impact on your legs and shoulders from all the transitions. This is especially true for newer athletes to the sport. Mike also recommends combining running and swimming often and mix it up to develop the adaptation for transitioning back and forth.

Courses like Otillo’s Catalina World Series race be aerobic event but it will have a lot of spikes and drops in effort levels and, as such, training should have a lot of fartleks thrown in to simulate the spikes in effort that athletes will experience during a race. For swim workouts, Mike is a big fan of doing deck ups at the pool. These are great for getting the body adapted to transitioning from swimming to running. Mike also recommends that during swimming sets, that it’s not necessary to do all your swims with paddles and buoy. Use paddles and buoy mostly for key sets in the water. Adding an ankle strap is also great. Mike recommends trying some fartlek swimming in open water and using swim strokes to count off the sets, such as 30 hard and 30 recovery, then 20 hard and 30 recovery and so forth. Finally, Mike recommends doing a lot of strength and core work to help with maintaining proper posture during long endurance efforts in the water and on land. Mike thinks that everyone should be doing deadlifts. Full stop!

You can find Mike on Instagram, on the Purple Patch platform and at the Nth Degree Athletic Club.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com. 

Welcome to the first official episode of The Low Tide Boyz, a swimrun podcast!

We (Chipper and Chris) will be covering a bunch of topics related to Swimrun from upcoming events and news, new gear and product reviews as well as our own journey in training and racing in this growing sport. We hope that folks will join us on our journey and that we will inspire everybody to sign up for Swimrun events in their area.

By way of background, we are an endurance team out of Northern California. We’ve been training together and racing endurance events for years and raced our first Swimrun event in 2018. This year our “A” race will be Ötillö Catalina (World Series course) and our “a” race will be Odyssey Swimrun’s Orcas Island long course. We might try to do some more events…if our wives give us clearance. Our upcoming Catalina race in late February will consist of 30k run and 7.6k swim or 18ish miles of running and 4ish miles of swimming. This will be our first hilly Swimrun race with over 4,000’ of climbing on the course so we are excited about that!

We’re about to really start “training” and we will be chronicling our built for Catalina on the show. We are hoping to have a good race, but have no delusions about winning anything, we’re just looking forward to working hard and experiencing an official Ötillö race. That disclaimer aside, we will be doing a pretty heavy swim build for this event and will be doing a diabolical swim program that will likely render us unable to do high fives…so we will see how that goes.

Our guest this week is Kelly O’Mara. Kelly is a writer and reporter in Northern California. She is also a professional triathlete. She’s the co-host of her own podcast called If We Were Riding (available everywhere) and is an all-around awesome human being. She joined us on the podcast to talk about her own journey in discovering and racing Swimrun and about how she thinks that the sport could/should grow in the US.

Kelly first heard about Swimrun from a friend at Triathlete Magazine who had done the Ötillö World Championship and she just heard a lot of buzz about those events. So she signed up for Casco Bay/ Cole Classic Swimrun event in Portland, Maine put on by Odyssey SwimRun in 2018 and returned to race in 2019. We hung out with her on the ferry in 2018 and that’s where she first met Chipper. (Chris and Kelly used to go on training rides together in Marin back in the day.)

Kelly sees 2020 as “the year of Swimrun” and thinks that there will be many more events coming online as folks learn about the sport. We agree! It will be interesting to see what happens now that Ötillö has their first event in the US and the growing trend of endurance athletes compete in a variety of things to get a variety of experiences.

If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to drop us a line then email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.

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