Posted in: Training

Anchors Away!  Mastering the Triathlon Swim

15.Feb.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

The Endurance Sports Expo will be held on March 13th - 14th at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

While most of the presentations and exhibitors are focused on terrestrial activities, well-established Bill Hauser, founder and head coach of Mid-Atlantic Multisport and American representative at the 2002 Long Course World Championship, will give a presentation on Anchors Away! Mastering the Triathlon Swim.

The Endurance Sports Expo is a free event where endurance athletes can meet manufacturers, retailers, race directors, clubs, non-profit organization and coaches and learn, experience, demo and buy products and services that can enhance their sports experience.

The value is high - the price is reasonable: $8 in advance and $10 at the door.

Training in Southern California, An Open Water Oasis

13.Feb.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (1) comments

When people think of swimming the English Channel, it is undoubtedly one of the world's most physically and mentally challenging endurance endeavors known to mankind, held in an inhospitable stretch of cold water under brutal conditions and strong currents with success only coming to the most dedicated and toughest adventurers.

Conversely, when many people think of Southern California, the adjectives of tough, harsh and brutal do not usually come to mind. It is the land of celebrities, Hollywood and superficiality with Disneyland, sunshine, skateboards and rollerblades thrown in. A place of multi-culturalism mixed with earthquakes and a puzzling array of liberalism and conservatism. But, digging deeper and researching the annals of open water swimming, we think of Southern California as the ideal place for year-round open water swimming.

One evidence of this fact is that the number of English Channel world record holders from Southern California have included Florence Chadwick, Greta Andersen, Lynne Cox, Penny Lee Dean and Chad Hundeby.

Not a bad track record of success, but there are six reasons why:

1. Relatively mild weather - both in summer and in winter - without humidity and without snow enables athletes to train year-round without interruption. This is especially true of the coastline communities throughout the Southern Californian basin.

2. Narrow band of water temperatures - both in summer and winter - enables athletes to train year-round without interruption, helping them to prepare year-round for swims in any of the Ocean's Seven challenges: English Channel, Irish Channel, Molokai Channel, Tsugaru Channel, Gibraltar Strait, Cook Strait and Catalina Channel - or any open water swims of any length. The relatively narrow band of water temperatures ranges from a low of 55°F (12.7°C) in mid-winter to a high of 72°F (22°C) in the mid-summer with most months between 58°F (14.4°C) and 68°F (20°C).

3. An abundance of pools and competitive swim teams. There are over 20,000 very active (i.e., more than 5 workouts per week) competitive swimmers working out daily at hundreds of outdoor pools under the leadership of professional coaches throughout Southern California. There is a regular training program under dedicated coaches (both USA Swimming and US Masters Swimming-registered coaches) in every city throughout the area.

4. There are a handful of very focused open water swimming coaches who have shared information and experiences with each since the 1970's. The area also has numerous very experienced paddlers, kayakers and observers who have assisted marathon swimmers and race organizers on innumerable occasions.

5. History breeds success. Swimmers expect to be successful while training in Southern California. With an area sprinkled with hundreds of former and current Olympic medalists, world record holders and coaches, the level of expectation to rise to the occasion every day of the week and culminate in success of race/swim day is ingrained in the mindset of Southern California swimmers. World champions who have trained in Southern California include Paul Asmuth, Shelley Taylor-Smith        , Steven Munatones and Gerry Rodrigues        .

6. A large number of open water competitions. From La Jolla to Santa Barbara, the Southern California coastline offers a number of swims and locations for open water enthusiasts to join with thousands of like-minded athletes, enjoying the sport for all its challenges, obstacles and benefits.

7. An overwhelming number of triathletes and extreme sports enthusiasts. "Talking shop" (about dealing with pain, successfully integrating training with work and family, buying new products or sharing endurance stories and training methods, developing the requisite mental attitude for success) is done anywhere and everywhere in coffee shops, organic food stores, over the telephone and online.

A nice place to live, a great place to visit, a beautiful place to train and a wonderful place to compete.

Is It Colder Over There or Over Here?

4.Feb.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (1) comments

The open water swimming community is an understated global resource with an incalculable amount of cumulative experience.

The worldwide community is a treasure of mankind’s collective knowledge about open water swimming where people share information and have developed camaraderie that is ubiquitous and genuine.  Swimmers travel the world, looking for different bodies of water to ply their trade.

When an open water swimmer looks at a lake or ocean, it is remarkably different than terrestrial-minded athletes. As they gaze upon the water, the mind of an open water swimmer pulsates with questions: What is the water temperature? How far to that point? Are there any currents? What kind of marine life exists? Do I have time to get in a swim?

Some, like James Pittar, a 2009 honoree of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, adventurer Lewis Pugh, the venerable Michael Read or the incomparable Kevin Murphy, have traveled the world enjoying the sport and challenging themselves in hundreds of bodies of water. Open water swimming is a lifestyle and a mindset that is unique and remarkably healthy, enjoyable and liberating.

Based on the community’s wealth of experience, we wonder if open water swimmers feel any relative difference in water temperature in different bodies of water. That is, assuming all the water and weather conditions are equal (wind speed, air temperature, cloud cover, sunlight, humidity, water depth, water clarity), does the same water temperature (e.g., 15°C) feel differently in a fresh-water lake, a fresh-water lake at altitude (over 1,500 meters), a sea (e.g., Mediterranean or the Caribbean), a lido or outdoor pool, a river, the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean?

You can provide your answers in the FORUM:

In your experience, if the water is 15°C (59°F) and all the other environmental factors are the same, what body of water feels the coldest?

1. A fresh-water lake
2. A fresh-water lake at altitude (over 1,500 meters or 4,921 feet)
3. A sea (e.g., Mediterranean or the Caribbean)
4. A lido (outdoor pool)
5. A river
6. The Pacific Ocean
7. The Atlantic Ocean

In your experience, if the water is 25°C (77°F) and all the other environmental factors are the same, what body of water feels the warmest?

1. A fresh-water lake
2. A fresh-water lake at altitude (over 1,500 meters or 4,921 feet)
3. A sea (e.g., Mediterranean or the Caribbean)
4. A lagoon
5. A river
6. The Pacific Ocean
7. The Atlantic Ocean

Sea Where To Do Open Water

4.Feb.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

The major seas of the world include the South China sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Arabian Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, Hudson Bay, East China, Andaman, the Black Sea and the Red Sea.

The Seven Seas is a figurative term referring to the seas and oceans of the world.

During the Age of Discovery (1450-1650), the Seven Seas were commonly referred to the then seven navigable seas of the world: Atlantic, Arctic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Yet others disagree and report the ancient Seven Seas to be the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, Black Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. But, of course, the ancient Hindus, Chinese, Persians, Romans and many others referred to the Seven Seas as different bodies of water.

Maps of the World has great maps where you can see all the wonderful places to do open water swimming.

Outstanding Open Water Swimming Shots at Tower 26

30.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

We think these are outstanding open water swimming photos.

The photos, including the one on right of Andrew Lockton, were taken at Tower 26 ocean swimming workouts for open water swimmers and triathletes, both pro and amateur, in Santa Monica, California.  If you are in Southern California stop by and join the fun.

Establishing A Champion Mindset For The Rottnest Channel Swim

11.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

Seven-time world professional marathon swimming champion and channel swimmer Shelley Taylor-Smith     is splitting her time and talents as both a motivational coach and an open water coach.

In addition to her speeches, she is coaching solo swimmers, including 1992 Australian Olympic swimmer Deane Pieters, and duo teams for the 19.7K Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia on February 20th.

She is also coaching 40 swimmers from the Kirby Swim team, including 2000 Olympic gold medalist Bill Kirby himself.

An Incredibly Special Coach - Penny McDowall

9.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

The Cayman Islands Government wrote a nice article about Andrew Smilley's Open Water Swim of 2009 on its website here.

Andrew's next big competition: the second Latin American Special Olympic Games (II Juegos Latinoamericanos de Olimpiadas Especiales) between February 19th - 27th where Andrew will join over a 1,000 athletes and 250 coaches in front of thousands of spectators and volunteers in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"His dedication is phenomenal," said his coach Penny McDowall (shown below on left of Andrew and his parents). "We have always been very proud of him – now the world knows why."

But Penny herself is also an incredible individual - passionate, thoughtful and experienced - as she is one of only 40 coaches worldwide to receive the Special Olympics' Exemplary Coach Award. 

 
"There are more than 250,000 Special Olympics coaches around the world. And so for Penny to win this international award is really something we cherish," explained Special Olympics Cayman Islands Board Director Maxine Everson.

We also cherish Penny's devotion to her athletes and the sport.  Congratulations.

Battle Training with Pool and Open Water Swimming Superstars

9.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

Multi-world champion Thomas Lurz was interviewed by Swimming World Magazine about the intense two-week long-distance training camp, called Battle Training, that he and other world-class pool and open water swimming superstars (including Trent Grimsey and Chad Ho) are doing in Potsdam, Germany until January 17th.

Thomas said, among other things:

"The training is tough and brutal. We did 102,000 meters in the first week. I had a three-week break [after the season was over] and it is pretty hard. We are going to do 75,000 meters this week, but there are three practices per day for three straight days."

"I sometimes have some shoulder problems when I swim in the waves and winds, but I feel OK. Every session we do a really tough. People are swimming fast [when we do sets like] 20 x 200 or 4 x 800 or 5 X 1500."

"One set was 20 x 200 @ 2:30 with a lactate testing after 10. Paul Beiderman can beat us in the short distance. He was averaging 2:06. I was averaging 2:10-2:12 which is bad for me, but good for the beginning of my season. I train with Jan Wolfgarten, Chad Ho and other good IM'ers, 1500-meter swimmers and open water swimmers. Everyone tries to race [during practice]."

"I will go home after this training is over. My first swim will be a 10K race in Setubal, Portugal in June."

We will be very interested to see the results of the Battle Training come the summer open water swimming season.

The Sand Blanket Warms The Water

8.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

Captain Tim Johnson, author of the History of Open-Water Marathon Swimming explains why it feel warmer in the shallow water, "Because of the shallow depth, the sun's rays penetrate the water and heat up the sand below so you have the surface water being heated by reflection and by accumulated heat from below."

"Shallow waters are definitely warmer than water with depth unless they are feed from an enclosed bay or river. In deeper water, you lose the sand blanket that has absorbed the heat. Now the same heat penetrates the ocean with deeper water, but because the rays penetrate to various depths (you lose the red wavelengths first) the heating is dispersed over a much wider area thus causing the cooler temperature."

Irreverent, Entertaining and Cool Training Interview with Gerry Rodrigues

7.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

Gerry Rodrigues, founder of the Tower 26 Ocean and Open Water Swim Club will be interviewed on Simon Gowen Triathlon Show today. His off-season advice to triathletes and open water swimmers can be heard live at 11:30 am over the Internet on LA Talk Radio, known for its irreverent, entertaining and cool conversations and topics.

Marathoning in Malta

6.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

SwimTrek offers an excellent pre-season marathon swimming training camp in Gozo in Malta between April 24th - 29th.

With a proven record of success with many English Channel swimmers and other endurance athletes, the 5-day camp is led by Cliff Golding and Andy Williams with an average daily swim of 10K.

Gozo offers an excellent training environment with some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean Sea. Working out and talking open water swimming with other endurance swimmers, all of whom have similar goals, the camaderie between the athletes always leads to shared knowledge, entertaining story-telling, greater motivation to, occasionally, even more challenging goals.



Campers will receive a fully guided tour with safety escorts, swimming technique analysis, accommodations, breakfast and lunch.

Open Water Canine Competitions

6.Jan.10   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

Manaia, a canine competitor in the 1980 Waikiki Roughwater Swim, reportedly finished in 90 minutes, faster than about 400 of the 922 official finishers in the 1980 2.4-mile ocean race across Waikiki Beach. Unfortunately, the Labrador-Irish setter dog's photo however has been lost over the years.

However, it appears that the Canine Spa in Pennsylvania is prepared to help your canine pet become competitive in the water.

Of course, if you are a little nervous that your pet is not completely water-safe in the open water, you can always use a dog life jacket, dog life preservers or dog life vest.

If your dog is not acclimated to cold water, Ruff Wear (shown above) is one alternative.

Like humans in the sport of open water swimming, there are an increasing number of open water disciplines and opportunities for canines, like dock diving and at dog beaches.

Open Water Swimming Clubs, Teams and Groups

28.Dec.09   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (1) comments

Back in the 1970's, a quiet, hard-working open water swimming team in Southern California, coached by Siga Rose, had a number of young ocean swimmers who trained constantly along the coast of California. Those swimmers - Lynne Cox, Penny Dean, John York - eventually became world-famous as they went on to set numerous records in channels around the world.

Dial forward forty years and there are now hundreds of open water swimming teams, groups, clubs, societies and associations flourishing around the world.

Here are a select few in no particular order:

1. La Jolla Cove Swim Club that trains in La Jolla Cove just north of San Diego. The club is an informal organization of friendly people who like to swim in the ocean with training sessions and sponsored activities once a month. The club organizes a Polar Bear Swim on New Year's Day, the 1.5-mile CYA Across the Bay Swim in June, and the 1.5- and 5-mile Tour of Buoys Swim in early August.

Club members and non-members swim in the beautiful La Jolla Cove daily usually around 6:30 am, 8:00 am, 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 4:00 pm and other times throughout the day regardless of weather and water temperature throughout the year. Some swimmers swim less than 1K while others train for the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Cook Strait and other marathon swims.

2. Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association has a number of informal and formal training sessions and events, all held north of Los Angeles in the Santa Barbara area, including the 26-mile Big Swim channel crossing. The members are extremely helpful and knowledgeable about swimming in the Santa Barbara Channel area and sanction a number of channel swims every year.

3. Tower 26 (see photo above) is an ocean swimming group of nearly 300 seriously competitive athletes of all ages and abilities who enjoy (free) hard-core ocean workouts in Southern California, headquartered appropriately at Tower 26 on Santa Monica Beach. The workouts are geared towards learning and practicing positioning, drafting, turns, starts and finishes.

The practices are preceded by a warm-up period and end with presentations from a number of new product vendors and service providers, but the 60-minute in-the-water practices quickly morph into a high-intensity, high-energy friendly competition where a mix of world championship swimmers, professional triathletes and beginner endurance athletes are each placed in their appropriate groups.

4. Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA), first founded in 1907, is an umbrella organization that currently incorporates 305 local surf lifesaving clubs throughout Australia. These clubs are undoubtedly the epitome of open water swimming clubs where competitive swims are organized as part of the famously competitive, extremely popular, highly social and entertaining surf carnivals.

The clubs hold training sessions and teach nippers how to handle themselves - and others - in the ocean. The club tirelessly and passionately promote all forms of open water athletic events in a social, enjoyable manner. Two examples - representative of what is available in Australia - include the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club and the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club.

5. The Lorne Surf Life Saving Club hosts the nib Lorne Pier to Pub Swim and, as every Australian surf life saving club does, provides voluntary patrols of its coastline in summer so that swimmers and surfers can enjoy the ocean and surf safely.

6. The Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club is the oldest surf lifesaving club in the world and hosts the Bondi To Bronte Ocean Swim whose video can be seen here.

7. The Cabrillo Beach Polar Bears was started in 1953 by John Olguin and Jack Cheaney with the goals of health, physical fitness and community service.

The club has held formal and informal ocean training sessions, starting at 6:00 am and ending at dusk, near the Catalina Channel finish (on the California mainland) and a New Year's Day Swim for nearly 60 years.

The club annually selects a King and Queen of the Beach from its many daily ocean swimmers and has a convenient Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse as its official home only steps away from one of the coldest beaches in Southern California. The King and Queen represent the club at many community functions and are featured in the San Pedro Christmas Parade on the Polar Bear float.

8. The Shadowcliffs Orcas is an open water swimming club headquartered at the Shadow Cliffs Eastbay Regional Park near San Francisco. Members of the club must first pass an open water swimming test, but are then allowed to swim outside the designated swim area in the Shadow Cliffs Lake. As the club promotes, no lane lines, no chlorine, just sunshine and fresh air.

9. The Jersey Long Distance Swimming Club is a powerhouse in the world of open water swimming with numerous members who have completed channel swims and endurance swims all over the world. Its member includes those of all ages and abilities and it is affiliated with the Amateur Swimming Association Swim South East Region, British Long Distance Swimming Association, the Jersey Amateur Swimming Association and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation.

10. The Serpentine Swimming Club has own changing facilities and is allowed to swim in the Serpentine in Hyde Park in central London during certain morning hours. Its members swim year round and organizes the annual Peter Pan Cup Christmas Morning Swim.

The water temperature in the Serpentine ranges from 0°C (32°F) to 21°C (70°F). Even when the lake is frozen, the swimmers break a hole in the ice for some ice swimming.

11. The CIBBOWS (Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers) is a non-profit group dedicated to being a community resource for open water swimmers of all levels. Members conduct regular group swims at Brighton Beach and Coney Island in New York from April to November and host the Grimaldo's Mile, the Aquarium 5K and 1 Mile, and the Veteran's Day 5K, 1 Mile and 2 Mile Swims.

12. The Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club, established 1877, has rightly developed a proud tradition of safety, camaraderie and accomplishment over its long history. The iconic clubhouse is located near Fisherman's Wharf in full view of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay.

Like the other clubs on this list, it has many members who have conquered most of the most difficult channels around the world.

Members swim year-round in the waters of Aquatic Park where the water temperatures ranges between 10°C (50°F) to 15°C (61°F) year-round. A line of buoys parallel to the shore marks a quarter-mile course. After six months' membership in good standing, members may participate in the Club's organized swim program: approximately 20 swims inside and outside the cove throughout the year. Highlights of the Dolphin Club program include the Golden Gate and Alcatraz swims, twilight swims followed by potluck barbecues, and the Fort Point to Aquatic Park swim. If members swim at least 40 miles between December 21st and March 21st, they are honored as an official Dolphin Club Polar Bear.

Its members, photographed above by Susanne Friedrich, are welcoming and warm to everyone who takes a cool dip in San Francisco Bay.

13. The Ocean City Swim Club is an independent open water swim club based in Ocean City, New Jersey that holds a number of ocean training sessions, including popular weekend swims.

14. Member of the New England Marathon Swimming Association have been swimming in the waters of New England for 30 years from Booth Bay to Narragansett Bay and host a swim in Gloucester Harbor. The Association was formed to ensure open water swimming opportunities in New England's rivers, ponds, lakes, harbors, bays, sounds or ocean are available now and in the future.

15. The South End Rowing Club, founded in 1873, has a club adjacent to the Dolphin Club, located near Fisherman's Wharf in full view of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. The club hosts the annual 1.25-mile Alcatraz Invitational Swim and a series of club swims, but its members train year-round in all conditions with only a swimsuit and a thermal cap. The camaraderie of the club is enticing and engaging. Like most clubs on this list, getting started is easy: just come down to the club and introduce yourself or help out at a club event.

16. The Cape Town association in South Africa has a number of cold-water training swims on Sunday mornings at Camps Bay beach as well as long-distance training sessions (5K or more) as well as a number of events and solo swims in and around the Cape Town area.

17. The L Street Brownies, officially organized as a club in 1902 with a history that has been traced to 1865, enjoys the L-Street Bathhouse as its headquarters. Members have been enjoying the cold waters of Boston Harbor for over 100 years and annually host the L Street New Year's Day Swim - a Boston tradition since 1904. Their club name comes from the beach where the club member meet and for the nut-brown skin color members develop from exposure to the sun.

Membership in the club costs US$1 and averages between 35-50 swimmers throughout the year.

18. The Cork Masters Swimming Club in Ireland hosts training sessions, the Lee River Swim and the The Edge Sports Sandycove Island Challenge jointly with the Cork Lions Club. Sandycove Island has become a popular training area for endurance athletes, channel swimmers and triathletes with an interest in open water swimming.

19. The Half Moon Swimming Club in Dublin, Ireland was founded in 1898 and has a history of success and enjoyment in the open water.

20. The Colorado Masters Swimming Association hosts open water swimming sessions at the Chatfield State Park in the Gravel Pond. There are also regular series swims in the middle of the Rocky Mountain at the Grant Ranch Swim Series and the Aquaman Series.

21. The Nadadores of South Florida host weekly Sunday ocean swims in Miami, aimed primarily at masters and adult open water swimmers.

22. In central Florida's Lake Cane, the tireless promoter of open water swimming Dr. Lucky Meisenheimer is the lightening rod behind the global band of merry open water swimmers who regularly gather at his famously hospitable residence - home to the world's largest yo-yo collection - to enjoy open water training sessions, events, get-togethers and relays.

Besides promoting wellness and the enjoyment of open water swimming, Lucky has organized world record distance lake swims (solos), relays (up to 100K), 1K races and hosted thousands of swimmers and hundreds of lake swims at his daily swims in a well-marked 1K course.

23. The Waikiki Swim Club has held weekly swims throughout Oahu including Saturday morning swims at Ala Moana Beach Park and Sunday morning swims at Kaimana Beach (on the Diamond Head side of Waikiki Beach) since 1971 as Hawaii's oldest organized club devoted to promoting safe and fun ocean swimming.

It hosts a number of ocean swims every year and sent teams to the Maui Channel Swim every year since its inception. The club sponsors the North Shore Swim Series, the Christmas Biathlon, and the Valentine's Day Biathlon. Members include swimmers of a wide range of age and ability.

24. The private Olympic Club, America's oldest athletic club, was established in 1860 in San Francisco. Its 5,000+ active members are dedicated to the pursuit of amateur athletic excellence and include many Olympic heroes, accomplished athletes and world open water swimming champions. The Olympic Club hosts the popular Trans Tahoe Relay that is a high-altitude masters swimming relay from the state of Nevada to the state of California across Lake Tahoe.

25. Open Water Chicago exists to deliver adventures in fitness to both the local and global communities of open water swimming enthusiasts that centers its training swims in Lake Michigan on the shores of Chicago.

26. The Capo Masters is located San Juan Capistrano, California and has been meeting in Laguna Beach and other beach locations throughout Orange County and Los Angeles County for over twenty years.

Its regular ocean swimming groups have as many as 30 swimmers at one time and are led by ocean aficionado and ultra-marathon swimmer Scott Zornig (photo on left).

27. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club, established in 1903, is the oldest American winter bathing organization whose members swim in the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island every Sunday from November through April who have continued to organize one of the most publicized Polar Bear Swims in the US for decades.


28. The Avila Dolphins Swim Tea practices every Sunday year-round in Avila Beach, centrally located between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Californian coast. In the water by 11 am, the team sometimes splits into 2-3 groups to accommodate the varying levels of skill, expertise, enthusiasm and level of tolerance for the ocean conditions over the 1-2 mile course. The team members also travel to numerous races from Maui to San Francisco.

There are hundreds of other open water swimming clubs around the world - these are just a select few. Enjoy their fellowship and camaraderie wherever you travel.

Swimming Thoughtfully, Aging Gracefully and Growing Intellectually

27.Dec.09   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (0) comments

As part of the Total Immersion 2010 Coaches Manual, founder and CEO Terry Laughlin advocates swimming to grow new brain cells rather than simply to grow new blood vessels. Instead of thinking about swimming from a physiological perspective, Total Immersion is advocating swimming for its neurological benefits.

Terry, who has developed a global following in over 30 countries while producing numerous multi-media teaching videos and books, aims to become the oldest and 36th member of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in 2010 with a 24-mile Tampa Bay Marathon scheduled for April, a Catalina Channel swim scheduled for June and an English Channel two-way solo scheduled for August. The three planned swims from 2010 will add to his Manhattan Island Marathon Swims and his English Channel relay already under his belt. But his Triple Crown goal has become secondary to his more fundamental goal of growing new brain cells while training in both the pool and open water.

Terry explains here in his blog about what how brain cells function and grow while he swims – a benefit available to anyone. The enlightening and colorfully descriptive explanation is far different from the traditional perspective of thinking about swimming in purely physiological terms.

John J. Ratey, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and renowed author of Spark - The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, is a learned advocate of the relationship between exercise and the brain’s performance. In Spark, Dr. Ratey shows how even moderate exercise can supercharge mental circuits to beat stress, sharpen thinking and enhance memory.

"We all know that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. We assume it's because we’re burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit of physical activity is far more important—and fascinating—than what it does for the body. Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain."

In a revelation after three decades of coaching and teaching tens of thousands of people around the world, Terry has developed an innovative methodology to strategically train for his Triple Crown goal with life-long benefits. As a result, he is now advocating swimmers to think about their own goals from a neural perspective first and foremost.

Pool Workouts by Professional Chloe Sutton

24.Dec.09   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Training   |  (1) comments

Open water Olympian and professional swimmer Chloe Sutton is known for working out very hard.

With her permission, we observed a few of her 50-meter pool workouts in Mission Viejo, California under the coaching of Bill Rose. where she was working on both her endurance and speed .

Day One:
400 warm-up on 6:00
4 x 100 on 2:00 (drill 25 armpit and 25 fingertip drag + swim) + 200 kicking
9 x 50 (3 x variable sprint) + 1 x 50 fast on 1:00
6 x 100 pull, breathing once every 5 strokes (odd) and distance per stroke (even)
1 x 800 on 11:00 - first half cruise + second half best possible pace (4:25)
2 x 400 on 5:30 - first half cruise + second half best possible pace (2:10, 2;13)
4 x 200 on 2:45 - first half cruise + second half best possible pace (1:04, 1:02, 1:03, 1:05)
6 x 100 on 1:30 - first half cruise + second half best possible pace (31.6, 31.1, 30.5, 30.5, 30.6, 29.9)
5 x 200 on 3:30 - swim 100 + kick 100 descending
16 x 50 with 5 seconds rest - odd form, even fast (all 28.8 - 30)

Day Two:
Descend 3 rounds of 200 freestyle on 3:00 + 100 IM on 1:45 + 100 kick on 2:10 + 100 backstroke and breaststroke on 1:30.
Pull 4 x 150 freestyle, backstroke, freestyle on 2:30
Pull 4 x 150 frestyle, breaststroke, freestyle on 2:35
10 x 50 (3 x Variable Sprint + 1 Fast) on 1:00
30 x 100 on 1:15 - Best Average
4 x 50 variable sprint + fast
4 x 50 (#1=35 fast, #2=25 fast, #3=15 fast, #4=all easy)

Variable sprint includes #1 = last third fast (15 meters), #2 = middle third fast, #3 = first third fast