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#523 Master Your Swim Mechanics: Unlock Efficiency and Confidence in the Water
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In Episode #523 of the Grit2Greatness Endurance Podcast, we dive deep into the art of swim mechanics—what they are, why they matter, and how programs like TriDot Pool School can transform your performance. From body position and propulsion to holding form under fatigue, our coaches share actionable insights to help you swim with less effort and more speed. Plus, we’ve got announcements on upcoming events, the G2G Workout of the Week, and a fun segment: Swim Confessions – Pool Edition! Sponsored by Vespa Power Endurance and TriDot Pool School, this episode is packed with tips to help you train smarter and race stronger.
#Grit2Greatness #CoachingTips #Ask A Coach #TriathlonCoach #TriathlonPodcast #303Endurance #TriDot #EnduranceAthlete #SwimBikeRun #GetGritty #TriathlonTraining #CyclingLife #RunningCommunity
Website - Grit2Greatness Endurance Coaching
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Coach Contact Info:
April.spilde@tridot.com
TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde
RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde
Coach Lauren Brown
Lauren.brown@tridot.com
TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/laurenbrown
RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/laurenbrown
Coach Rich Soares
Rich.soares@tridot.com
Rich Soares Coaching
TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares
RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:17
Rich
welcome to episode 523 the grit to greatness endurance podcast we're your hosts coaches rich sores april spildy and lauren brown and we are on a mission to help endurance athletes train smarter
00:00:31
Rich
race stronger and build the grit it takes to achieve greatness.
Swimming Mechanics for Triathletes
00:00:35
Rich
Today, we are diving into one of the most transformative aspects of the sport of triathlon and that is swim mechanics. If you've ever wondered how to swim with less effort and more power, this episode is right down your lane. Coaches April, coaches Lauren, how are you guys doing tonight?
00:00:55
Lauren Brown
Doing great. I'm always happy when I get to see your faces and talk about swimming. i'm excited.
00:01:03
April
I'm ready to jump into the deep end with both of you.
00:01:06
Lauren Brown
There we go.
00:01:09
Rich
And I just love swimming. I love swimming.
00:01:11
April
yes
00:01:12
Lauren Brown
I love swimming.
00:01:15
Rich
Coach April, tell us what we got going on today.
00:01:18
April
We've got a great show lined up. First, we're going to bring you our announcements and news, get you all so caught up with what's going on in grit to greatness, endurance.
00:01:22
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:01:27
April
We have our ask a coach section, which is featuring our main topic. What is the most important change an athlete can make to improve their swim efficiency?
00:01:37
April
That will include a workout for you all to try. And then we'll bring it in with a little swim confessions, pool edition.
00:01:48
Rich
Love that we are going to end with laughter and aching sides and all those fun things.
00:01:56
April
but
00:01:57
Rich
Can't wait. Folks. We would not be able to do this show.
TriDot Pool School & Velocity Platform Announcements
00:02:03
Rich
This show would like not be nearly as powerful if we did not have the first announcement, which is our TriDot Pool School coming up February 28th through March 1st. This is going to be down in Colorado Springs right there on the Air Force Academy. Listen, whether you're a beginner, you know, struggling to get comfortable in or you know, or just struggling to be get comfortable in open water.
00:02:24
Rich
Or you're an experienced athlete. We've had NCAA swimmers, you know, come and improve their swim times. This is a great place. I mean, like Coach April, what is our average percent improvement on 100 times at our pool school?
00:02:40
April
We are sitting around 15% across the board, as far as like the cumulative score that people have been able to and achieve improvement. That is incredible. Especially when you talk about NCAA athletes, when they're looking just to get seconds, we've seen that in pool school.
00:02:59
Rich
Yeah, it's amazing.
00:03:00
Lauren Brown
I'll say when I did pool school as an athlete, because to be a coach, you have to go through the whole experience as an athlete. And in my lane, one of the athletes, he, is a professional triathlete and he took time off of his swim off of his 100.
00:03:15
April
It's amazing.
00:03:16
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:03:18
April
I took 10 seconds off my 100. I went from a one 34 to a one 24. And that was again a altitude. So cool.
00:03:26
Lauren Brown
awesome.
00:03:27
Rich
Yeah, that's right. You did yours here. That's right.
00:03:29
April
Yes.
00:03:30
Rich
Yep. I remember that. Oh, so we are going to have so much fun, guys. It is a it is not only a great opportunity to improve your swim. And by the way, you're going to be working hard. Like it is no joke, pretty intense, right? I mean, you've got a coach on both ends of the pool, giving you feedback.
00:03:48
Rich
you You change your, your swim stroke pretty quickly. And actually, in fact, it's kind of funny, the first, like two, three hours, you don't even take one single stroke.
00:03:57
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:03:58
Rich
Right?
00:03:58
April
That's such a good point.
00:03:58
Rich
You're working on that streamlined position, right?
00:04:01
April
Yeah.
00:04:02
Rich
We're going talk more about that. So that's just a teaser. Put a pin in that one. Link here in the show notes. Really you know encourage you to sign up now. we are you know I think we are limited in the number of lanes. So please sign up early to make sure you've got a spot. It's going to make a big difference later on.
00:04:20
Rich
We also have the grit to greatness webinar coming up on the 20th of January 6 PM mountain time, 8 PM Eastern link here in the show notes. You do want to, uh, uh, link on this and register.
00:04:33
Rich
We are going to be featuring velocity, uh, and hosting, being, I should say, being supported by velocity. We are going to be talking about the platform. We are going to be showing you what the platform does. we are going to be talking about the programming that coach April coach Lauren and I are going to be providing.
00:04:53
Rich
And do you guys mind like just teasing, like maybe just say a a thing or two each about like what we've been doing to prepare whatever, I'm sorry to catch you off guard, but you know,
00:05:03
Lauren Brown
all good. if Anybody want me to go first?
00:05:05
April
Go ahead, Lauren.
00:05:06
Lauren Brown
Okay.
00:05:06
April
You go ahead, Lauren.
00:05:08
Lauren Brown
i mean I mean, for me, funnest thing we've done to prepare has been that we've taken each other through actual workouts.
00:05:19
Lauren Brown
Coach Rich led, Coach April led, I led, and we got to be on on the receiving end of the workout, which was pretty cool. And also being able to sharpen our ax with using the platform using really guiding through the workout in ways that are going to not just make you a stronger cyclist because of the power output that you're generating or because of your endurance improving, but becoming a stronger cyclist because you're understanding how cadence and
00:05:56
Lauren Brown
affects your pace and effect or affects your pace, cadence affects your power and being able to get the feel for it Right. As opposed to just always looking at a monitor and seeing, oh I'm going 185 Watts. Like you learn to feel it without even actually getting that visual feedback. So I've loved it.
00:06:15
April
Yeah, agreed. Everything that Lauren said, I love about it. I think that's what differentiates it from other different platforms that you can use or apps. And, thing I really enjoy too, with velocity is that we get to be together.
00:06:31
April
Like it's wonderful, in the summer when we can take time and ride together, but now we get the opportunity to be together in this aspect, learning from each other, getting closer to one another and also helping each other in this shared space.
00:06:31
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:06:47
April
That's super inviting, very welcoming, very approachable at any level. And i love that. I haven't seen that before. And I think that's what makes velocity so special.
00:06:58
Rich
You both hit on such great points. One is the skill development. The other is the social aspect of it, right? The community part of it, which is awesome. The other thing I really love about it and I'll, you know I actually, for my tri-dot bike, a 30 nineties yesterday, i simply just imported it into Velocity and I did the exact same workout, the same one that I've done, you know, dozens and dozens of times.
00:07:23
Rich
Only this time it was really different because like I, it actually gave me my prescribed range, you know, visually. And I found that it was, I was like way paying way more attention. And it was because I was trying to make sure that I got a good score on each and every interval. Cause it scores it, you know, either.
00:07:45
Rich
red or blue if you're not, if you're too, you know, hard or too easy relatively, you want it right in the green.
00:07:50
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:07:52
Rich
So it made it a little bit more interactive just taking, so it's kind of, I guess my point is it's a, it's a, you know, an elevated experience.
00:08:00
April
It's a, it's a therm, it's a thermostat versus a thermometer. You're turning up the, you're able to turn it up and dial it in versus taking a temperature.
00:08:10
Rich
but There's definitely that. Absolutely. My point is, it's actually an elevated experience above and beyond just like the normal workout, right?
00:08:21
Rich
It really like enriches and deepens the experience of the workout.
00:08:21
April
Mm-hmm.
00:08:44
Rich
You guys, who loved our team meeting this week? Like so many people showed up.
00:08:49
Rich
You know, we we missed some folks, of course. Not everybody was there. But we had a big, big turnout. great great you know questions, great ideas. And we announced our We are going to have another, holy golly, we are going to have another training camp this summer. It's going to be in June. We're very excited to put on a three-day long camp wrapped up with a race. So it's going to be late June. We're talking June 24th arrival. We do our first day of camp. It's going be swim-focused, open water, six June 25th.
00:09:28
Rich
Then we've got June 26th, we're going to have a bike focused camp. And then on June 27th, a run focused camp. And we are even collaborating with Coach Bobby McGee again. so it looks like we have Coach Bobby McGee to join us and help us with that camp. And then on June 28th, we're going to be racing Boulder Sunrise is the plan. So that's the template. More to come. We just wanted to tease it.
00:09:53
Rich
And, you know, guys,
00:09:57
Lauren Brown
can't wait. I'm like, so I know I don't want to like talk forever on this, but I, one I can't wait for the whole experience and for the athletes to be able to benefit from everything. But man, I cannot wait to race with you guys. Like I just cannot wait to be letting everything that we cover over the weekend come together because we'll be talking about bike handling and just open water swim. and i I'm so excited. I love being racing with friends is like the best experience. So
00:10:31
Rich
Can't wait. Can't wait to see all those grit to greatness, endurance kits out there too.
00:10:38
Lauren Brown
yeah, see a green.
00:10:38
Rich
All right. Sea of green. All right.
Understanding Swim Mechanics
00:10:41
Rich
Well, listen, let's dive in here. you know we are talking about swimming and the question that came up is, you know what, yeah know like generically, what's the most important change an athlete can make to improve their swim efficiency?
00:10:54
Rich
And you guys know the answer to this, it depends on the athlete, right? There isn't any one thing, right?
00:10:58
Lauren Brown
This is
00:11:14
Rich
And why things like that, try that pool school, especially the ones we're gonna have the one we're gonna have here in Colorado Springs, with the three of us, could be such a game changer for endurance athletes. So this isn't about swimming harder, logging more yards.
00:11:28
Rich
It's about understanding kind of how you move through the water and why that directly impacts speed, efficiency, and confidence on race day. So hang on. I'd say, you know, put on your goggles, put on your your swim cap, because here we go. We're going to dive in. And Coach Lauren, you want to lead us off with what we mean about good swim mechanics?
00:11:51
Lauren Brown
Absolutely. And this is it's so important to understand that being physically fit and having strong endurance doesn't mean you're going to be a good swimmer. Like I think bike and run can carry over a little bit with swimming. You could have the strongest cardiovascular system, but if your form is off, you're just not going to move through the water.
00:12:15
Lauren Brown
So when we talk about good swim mechanics, we're we're talking about three big things. We're talking about one, your body position. So staying long, having balance in the water, being horizontal, right? So a lot of times we'll see that maybe your your feet are starting, your lower body rather is starting to drag and you're just, you know, creating more resistance through the water. So body position is extremely important.
00:12:43
Lauren Brown
Next, you want to think about that propulsion through the water, right? So you're not, you know, taking a stroke and then almost like slicing through the water. You want to be making sure that You're not just turning your arms over, you've got that catch and you're pulling and pressing the water back so you can move forward, right?
00:13:04
Lauren Brown
And then the third is holding that form under fatigue. So it's one thing to be able to get through a couple of drills, but are you able to maintain that form over longer sets, over higher intensity sets, right? Because race day,
00:13:25
Lauren Brown
swimming, like when you're swimming on race day, it's not that you're gonna be fresh from start to finish. You are going to fatigue. If you're doing, you know, Olympic distance 70.3, full distance, you're out there for considerable amount of time, right? So the reality is that you most adult onset swimmers, it's not that you lack effort. It's not that, you know, you're not getting the reps and in the water, but a lot of times it comes down to the feedback which again with pool school is awesome because every 25 yards, you're getting instant feedback on what's going on without the feedback.
00:14:02
Lauren Brown
It's very easy to ingrain inefficient habits, even when you're training consistently. And I have to say like, for me being a coach on deck, or even just for myself as an athlete going through pool school,
00:14:15
Lauren Brown
It's like when you see a video of yourself swimming, all of a sudden you're like, that is there's no way that's what I look like. right It's not like when you're if you're you know on a bike or running or if you're lifting in the gym, you can see like, oh wait, what what am I doing with my form? In a swim, you're like you're getting feedback.
00:14:41
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:14:42
April
That's such a good point, Lauren. It's also, think that's what the distinguisher is here for Trotout Pool School is that, it's not a one size fits all clinic. It's, it's diagnostic.
00:14:54
April
You're getting that feedback in real time so that you can make change and you can connect the body with the mind. Appropriate perception is huge when you don't know what you look like and someone can tell you, Hey, April, you are actually, you need to come out wide with your hand placement.
00:15:10
April
what you thought you were doing. So the great thing also with try.pool schools, you actually don't just start in the water. You start with prep work before the actual clinic that includes land drills, mobility, everything that you need to build, to bring that awareness and muscle memory to the clinic that goes such a long way.
00:15:26
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:15:33
April
When you get into the water, then you have those two immersive days of coaching. on land and in the pool with athletes who are swimming at similar speeds. So we're not just throwing you into the deep, deep end here in our metaphorical way. We are literally giving you the tools you need to succeed with athletes that are at the same ability. So you're in a group that is very welcoming, very approachable, and you're with coaches who are going to give you good feedback to make those changes or to make sure that you're doing the form correctly.
00:16:06
April
So there's really all everything to gain and nothing to lose with this clinic.
00:16:13
April
great thing about Colorado Springs is that it's an amazing pool, very clean. I'll share this with you all too. Right now it's getting completely cleaned because every year they get ready for, uh, the cadets being reintroduced, uh, after the winter break.
00:16:30
April
So they take two full weeks to do a deep immersive.
00:16:32
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:16:34
April
They drain the pool, clean the pool, Make sure it's pristine. So you all get to come in at that time. You're coming in at the most pristine time to try the pullout. So we can't wait to host you here in Colorado Springs where we get that to create that environment where athletes are showing up ready to learn, energized. It's focused, intentional, and you leave with clarity, not confusion.
00:16:59
April
Rich, want to ask you from a coaching perspective, what do you see athletes gain the most from pool school?
00:17:03
Lauren Brown
Yes, yes.
00:17:06
Rich
Well, you know, athletes are going to, athletes come to pool school with the experiences that they've had and their experiences that they've had include all of the noise that's out there, right? There's all sorts of, you know, there's, and I don't, and I don't mean to disrespect any of the, of the information. It's just that.
00:17:22
Rich
We don't all use the same language and there are some very functional things about this about freestyle the you know the freestyle stroke that you just go by different terms. You know people use different thing you know terms to say but it gets confusing. What I see athletes get from this is.
00:17:42
Rich
we actually we actually talk about the swim stroke in terms of its function. And because we connect what they're doing to the function of it, it helps make sense of why your shoulders and hips might be at a 45 degree angle, for example, right?
00:18:00
Rich
It it it starts to make sense. It also, you know, things like, you know, we've got to a specific hand position
00:18:02
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:18:08
Rich
When you have finished the stroke, where does that hand sit against your body? where you know what's the What's the position of the hand? How is it rotated? All of those things actually matter.
00:18:20
Rich
So at you know to answer that question, in April, it is they end up no longer guessing about like why they
Improving Swim Form & Technique
00:18:27
Rich
are doing something. They walk away with, well, yes, you know a clear understanding of why they're doing something and they can actually experience the the impact of it quickly because we get to that smoother stroke stroke so fast, right?
00:18:45
Rich
They can, it's sort of like, I always joke about like it being like golf, right? There's that time when you hit the ball, it just feels sweet, right? You're like, oh, I finally know how to golf, right?
00:18:58
Rich
And then you have those days where like you shank it, you know, you're like, oh God, you know, I have those same days swimming, but you will have more days where you're like oh my gosh, this feels so much better. Or all of a sudden you'll have the, aha, wait a minute, I'm bilateral breathing. I've never bilateral breathed. Oh, it's because you drilled both sides a gazillion times over eight hours. And now it just comes second nature.
00:19:26
Lauren Brown
I love that brought up golf because I always say that swimming makes me think of golf because it's like, if somebody throws too many things at you at once to think about all of a sudden, it's like, what the hell am I doing? And they're like, I'm lifting, i'm I'm dipping, I'm not like turning my hips. So there's so many things that you can have to focus on. And real quick, i just have to share this cause there was a reel that I thought was so fitting for swimming. And this guy was showing his like perfect form under the water. He's streamlined, he looks beautiful. And then like the text on the screen is like, you know,
00:20:04
Lauren Brown
my swimming when I first start. And then as I start to think about everything, I'm supposed to be correcting all at once. And it's like, all of a sudden he's like bending his knees and kicking and he's like over rotating. And I think I may have shared it to my story because I was like, dang, if this isn't the truth, like, and it's like the same thing with golf. If you try to, everything falls apart.
00:20:26
Lauren Brown
anyway, I don't know if i cut you off, Rich, if you finished what you're going.
00:20:30
Rich
no No, I'm done.
00:20:31
Lauren Brown
Okay.
00:20:31
Rich
We're good.
00:20:32
Lauren Brown
Okay. Well, so then I'll segue into common issues that we that we see with the, at pool school or just when we're dealing with anyone, right, who is trying to work on their swim form. And I like to say like,
00:20:44
Lauren Brown
Everyone is, everyone's unique. We're all our own person, but a lot of, a lot of us, you guys were not unique with the things that we struggle with in the water. We all deal with some variation of these, you know, we often see that it's like a dropped elbow. So, you know, sometimes you'll be told to do maybe a fingertip drag drill. So that way you're keeping your elbow up another one which is huge crossing over the midline, which again, Rich, when you were talking about like where you realize,
00:21:14
Lauren Brown
how it it impacts certain things on your swim. i was demonstrating this to one of my athletes at the pool that we swim at and she crosses over and I was like, and noticing that because she was crossing over, she also was like breathing so high up out of the water and realizing like, you also want to go wide to create that space so you can actually breathe without having to over rotate.
00:21:39
Lauren Brown
And you get to have, again, like these little ahas where you're like, If you go wide, this will happen, but crossing over the midline, i think it is one of the most common things that we see. Inefficient kicking.
00:21:55
Lauren Brown
So you're either over kicking, you're not kicking at all, or you're like literally kicking from your knees as opposed to kicking from your hips. Super common.
00:22:06
Lauren Brown
And then again, I said this before, where you start to lose body position as fatigue sets in. So really being able to maintain form. So at pool school, you know, we spend a lot of time on recovery mechanics, right? Keep the elbow high breathing without disrupting body alignment. So just the head.
00:22:28
Lauren Brown
And then, you know, the, the key takeaway really is that these are mechanical issues. not fitness issues. So they're absolutely trainable. You don't have to all of a sudden go from like here, like, you know, baseline all through to the moon with an increase in your cardiovascular fitness. It's these little mechanical adjustments that that's, what's taking 15% improvement that we're seeing at pool school. It's mechanical, not cardiovascular, cardio respiratory.
00:23:03
April
Yeah. Beautifully said. So let's actually talk about how we can build better mechanics. One of the things that we as coaches and athletes, uh, usually see and want to to prescribe our drills drills really help reinforce those good mechanics that when we put it all together, we have a beautiful stroke.
00:23:24
April
So aerobic swimming is where a form is built. It's where you have the mental space to focus on body position, recovery, and efficiency without fatigue, forcing those bad habits.
00:23:37
April
If every swim is hard, there is literally no room to learn. So we want to start with a warmup that is mechanic focused.
00:23:50
April
The warmup is designed to help reinforce the same skills we are learning, right? So the same skills that are going to apply to our freestyle. First thing we want to focus on is kicking.
00:24:05
April
And we do encourage kicking with fins.
00:24:07
Lauren Brown
and
00:24:24
April
that's not to say that all your kick set should be with fins, but when we're talking about warmups and getting the streamlined position and waking the body up to reinforce good form, it's good to start with fins.
00:24:38
April
And then we have, Four by 25 single arm lead. The focus here is fingers flat, arm stretched shoulders and hips at 45 spine align. And what we'll do too, is we're going to link in our show notes, different videos that are going reinforce the form here with, uh, with these different drills. And then we have four by 25 archer drill, which is focusing on a high elbow recovery.
00:25:04
April
Relax shoulder four by 25, six, one, six, which is rhythm and timing without rushing. So learning how to get that body balance with a different stroke on each side, and then finishing it up with a four by 25 fist drill. And that is to help with forearm engagement, not just the catch with the hand.
00:25:26
April
And then our main set is aerobic with purpose. Once mechanics are established, we carry them into our aerobic swimming. And I have to say for me personally, the is my favorite part of the entire swim set because I get to focus. It's almost meditative for me when I think about one thing at a time, uh, especially when it comes to the relaxed breathing and just feeling the water, getting my body awake and aware.
00:25:53
April
We want to make sure that we drill with purpose and then going into that main set. Once our mechanics are established, we carry them into our swimming, looking at the main set.
00:26:04
April
The goal here is a four by 200 at zone two, holding that good form, putting it all together while maintaining a relaxed breath and an efficient rotation. This is where your bot, your training This is where you're training your body to stay efficient for longer periods, which is exactly what you need on race day.
00:26:26
Rich
Awesome. You know, and and let's talk about like how this like gets transitioned into kind of faster speed and how you will take this intentional work that you're doing in zone two and now start to bring it into take that same form and basically carry it with you into higher intensities. So how do you how do you do that without sacrificing your form? Well, the first thing is to to start where where you're at and and doing like four by so four to six by 50. So do a 50 build think into zone four. So you start with that nice, easy zone two effort where you can where you've got the best form that you've you've got, right? You're really that you you're starting there.
00:27:11
Rich
And as you go through that 50, all you're doing is starting to just speed up the effort, speed up, keep the exact same mechanics. Don't change a thing.
00:27:22
Rich
You're just picking up the tempo and you're picking up the, you know, the, maybe the, the you know, the, effort that you're putting in on that stroke, but otherwise you're trying to stay as relaxed as you were in zone two and you're just picking up
Benefits of TriDot Pool School
00:27:38
Rich
that tempo.
00:27:39
Rich
When you notice your form start to break down and and rest assured, everybody that goes through pool school has two or three things that they're, you know, they're still, call it ironing the the the wrinkle out of the sheet, right?
00:27:41
Lauren Brown
the street.
00:27:53
Rich
you'll notice those things come back and it's it's something for everybody. Like it might be that you, you know you know you know maybe your kick breaks down you know as you build up your speed. Well, that's a back up, back off, wait till that wrinkle comes out of the sheet.
00:28:11
Rich
And maybe that's you know that's the point where now you've got to work at that speed and just kind of keep going back over that. You know, work that wrinkle out of that sheet at that speed, then pick it up again, you know, and and find the next limit or find the next time where your form starts to break down or pace that your form starts to break down. That's how you'll start to build in your speed.
00:28:36
Rich
So takeaways, aerobic swims aren't junk, right? This is where you, this is where you really could do that intentional work and that intentional drills, awareness and controlled speed.
00:28:47
Rich
That's where the real gains are going to happen. it could be the most important part of your workout, of the drills. So that's why pool school exists for TriDot, you know, whether you're a TriDot athlete or not, you're welcome to register and, um, and,
00:28:54
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:29:00
Rich
and you these drills that were yeah and it was really cool about the tri.application is after you go to pool school the the drills in your swim workouts turn to these pool school drills the actual so the actual ones not the ones we're talking about here so Anyway, for speed starts to, if your form starts to fall apart, slow down, speed comes after control. One of the big advantages of being at these, these, you know, these pool schools and the app is that it's gonna constantly be re reinforcing these mechanics so that you build in the muscle memory over time.
00:29:39
Lauren Brown
I loved that once I was able to open up my app and have all of those drills in there, because I'm the type of person who, if it's there, um'm definitely doing it right. If it's written down, i do it. And it now it's like, it doesn't, it's not just like, oh, just do some drills when you get to the pool. It's like, you know, you're doing these specific drills two to three to four times a week. And it is the drills are drilled into you basically. So, Wrapping that up, good swim mechanics aren't, it's not about swimming pretty, right? It's about swimming efficiently, confidently, and repeatably without wasting energy. So when you swim with better form,
00:30:24
Lauren Brown
on race day, right, you're going to exit the water feeling more composed, controlled. You're going to be better prepared for the bike and run because, again, you didn't expend wasted energy with poor mechanics on the swim.
00:30:38
Lauren Brown
And, you know, that's why the three of us believe so strongly in TriDot Pool School and why Y'all should be signing up for Colorado Springs. It's in a powerful environment. Whenever I hear Coach April talk about the area, i'm like, oh, I wait to be there, right? And then you you leave again knowing what to work on.
00:30:59
Lauren Brown
Like Coach Rich said, why it matters and how to apply it every time you get into the pool.
00:31:05
April
Okay, we did
Swim Confessions & Fun Segment
00:31:05
April
all the work.
00:31:05
Rich
I love.
00:31:07
April
Now we ready to have some fun?
00:31:09
Rich
Oh yeah. Well, yeah, absolutely. We've got a shout out to our, our sponsor. Right.
00:31:16
April
Yes.
00:31:16
Rich
Yeah.
00:31:16
April
the
00:31:17
Rich
Okay.
00:31:19
Rich
Okay. Oh, go ahead.
00:31:21
April
No, you go ahead, Rich.
00:31:23
Rich
No, I'm sorry. you you're, you're trying to, you were still trying to wrap up. I can edit this out. You were still trying to wrap up the, the, uh, the,
00:31:30
April
Yeah, i was going to do like, now we're going fun, but first let's bring in our show a sponsor,
00:31:31
Rich
the
00:31:32
Lauren Brown
Oh,
00:31:36
Rich
Oh, gotcha.
00:31:37
Lauren Brown
yeah.
00:31:37
Rich
Okay. Go for it.
00:31:38
April
but it wasn't clear.
00:31:38
Rich
You do it.
00:31:39
April
It wasn't clear, but we can, start we can start over from here. If you're, if everyone's good,
00:31:44
Rich
Yeah. I did have one comment I wanted to make on Lauren's update.
00:31:49
April
please.
00:31:50
Rich
So yeah.
00:31:52
Rich
Oh yeah.
00:31:53
Rich
Lauren, one of the things that that i yeah I love that you said was, you said this right at the start, we're going to drill the skills into you, right?
00:32:00
Rich
Or something to that effect. And you know it's so funny, you know, we say that sort of tongue in cheek, but it is really when you're out there racing, I can't tell you the times that, oh, something comes to me just like, it becomes like a meditative thing.
00:32:17
Rich
You know, just find FAST, you know, find FAST, find, you know, or you know you know that's the acronym. we More on the acronym if you come to pool school, but, you know,
00:32:28
Rich
you know, just, and then all of a sudden i'm like I know what that is. Cause I know what the acronym stands for. And that becomes all of a sudden my focus instead of where's everybody at, where's the next buoy? Why are my, you know, why can't I see the buoy? Because you know, I, it gives me something more constructive to focus on. And frankly, when you're like going for a buoy, if you could just sit there and think about like, you know,
00:32:52
Rich
just that mechanics, just finding fast on both sides of that buoy as you're like aiming right at it. It'd be surprising, like, you know, how smooth you start to feel in a race.
00:33:04
Rich
So anyway, just wanted to wrap that up.
00:33:05
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:33:07
Rich
Just one final comment. What we got next coach April? What's going on?
00:33:11
April
Well, we did all that work. Now let's have some fun. first off, we're going to bring in our show sponsor, which is Vespa power Vespa power endurance helps you tap into steady clean energy. So you stay strong, focused and in the zone longer. Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source.
00:33:36
April
Vespa comes in CV25, junior, and concentrate.
00:33:40
Lauren Brown
I'm here.
00:33:41
April
Less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery.
00:33:42
Lauren Brown
I'm here.
00:33:44
April
And we also have a discount code here for a first-time purchase. 303 endurance 20. When you check out, that's a great, uh, code discount for you to give Vespa a try.
00:33:57
April
So let us roll into our fun segment. This is also pool themed and I have deviously called this swim confessions pool edition.
00:34:09
Lauren Brown
Ready.
00:34:11
April
There is no judgment. No technique talk. Okay. Maybe a little, but we're all admitting the swim habits.
00:34:18
Lauren Brown
and
00:34:18
April
We pretend that we don't have. So there's going to be two rounds here. Uh, first is going to be a rapid fire. There's no explanation. You either have to say yes or no. And then the second, we're going to finish the sentence.
00:34:31
April
You both ready.
00:34:33
Rich
ready
00:34:34
April
All right. Have you ever skipped a swim because it quote felt cold in an indoor pool?
00:34:43
Rich
No, I don't think so. i i mean, like once I get there, you know, if I'm in the water, pretty i'm committed.
00:34:49
April
You're going half the battle is just getting there.
00:34:51
Rich
Yeah.
00:34:53
April
Honestly, i would agree. i have not said no.
00:34:57
Lauren Brown
i got to the pool once and I was getting ready for Haines City. So this was last, last December. And I got there and I was like, it's like chilly in here. And the owner, he's like,
00:35:08
Lauren Brown
heat ain't working today. And this was in December, or like the end of November. I was like, oh, you gotta be shitting.
00:35:15
April
yeah but
00:35:15
Lauren Brown
I was like, I can't do this. In my mind, I'm like, I have to, I have a race coming up in like, you know, three weeks. I'm not skipping, or like whatever it was. So, and it was, and was pretty chilly in there that day, but I did not skip it.
00:35:27
Lauren Brown
I was like the only one in the pool.
00:35:30
April
That's grit building right there.
00:35:30
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:35:31
April
Okay. Next, next one. Have you checked the clock mid set and immediately lost motivation?
00:35:38
Lauren Brown
this
00:35:38
Rich
Yep.
00:35:40
April
Yes.
00:35:40
Rich
Oh, golly. or or Or like if you, yeah, or like, yeah, you'd like, or maybe like you're doing a CSS test, right? So you're like, you're going for time and you're on a two, you're on a 400 and you look at the split on 200.
00:35:49
April
Oh yes.
00:35:55
Rich
You're like, behind.
00:35:56
April
No. who
00:35:58
Rich
That's the worst.
00:36:00
April
oh
00:36:01
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I agree 100%. If all of a sudden you're like, I wasn't really feeling great. that just like That just confirmed it. And now I'm like, gas off.
00:36:12
April
Have you worn fence just to feel fast again?
00:36:15
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:36:17
Rich
Yeah.
00:36:18
Lauren Brown
I'm too fast.
00:36:18
April
yeah
00:36:19
Rich
You want me to admit you want you want me make my confessions about pull buoys?
00:36:24
April
Yes. Yeah, I get that.
00:36:31
Rich
yeah you ever get Yeah, you get to that, you like at the end of the workout, there's a 300 zone four and you're like, okay.
00:36:37
April
Oh.
00:36:39
Rich
The the little crotch maybe.
00:36:39
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:36:40
April
Oh, yeah.
00:36:42
Rich
maybe take it
00:36:42
April
Mm hmm. Mm hmm. me put those fins back on.
00:36:44
Rich
maybe take it
00:36:45
April
Yeah.
00:36:46
Rich
or or maybe take it as far as you can. And then you're like, okay, I'm tapping out and grabbing the buoy for the rest.
00:36:50
April
but
00:36:52
Lauren Brown
like I'm just going to get at least 100 in really fast with my fans to wrap this up.
00:36:55
April
Yes.
00:36:56
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Get my pace to come down a little bit. Yeah.
00:37:00
April
Yes. Oh, I love that. Uh, have you accidentally drafted someone in the next lane?
00:37:08
Lauren Brown
No.
00:37:09
April
How about raced? Have you raced someone in the next lane and never mentioned it?
00:37:14
Lauren Brown
Yes.
00:37:14
April
yeah
00:37:17
Lauren Brown
Definitely.
00:37:18
Rich
Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, for sure. and it's so...
00:37:22
April
You're always racing.
00:37:25
Rich
but well
00:37:27
Lauren Brown
was like, they didn't know, but that was race.
00:37:29
April
yeah yeah, exactly.
00:37:29
Lauren Brown
And I did. but
00:37:32
Rich
I mean, i I try to stick to what I'm doing. Like if I'm like doing a zone two and somebody is like clearly like, you know, crushing it, like, no, but like, if I'm like zone four, like, all right.
00:37:44
Rich
and Somebody's just like barely passing you.
00:37:46
Rich
You're like, oh yeah, come on, let's go.
00:37:49
April
ha
00:37:50
Lauren Brown
because sometimes in my head where i'm like thinking i'm like oh are you trying to race me and like they might not be but you're thinking they are game on yeah
00:37:57
April
Yeah, exactly. They that flip turn just a hair faster than you and then push off the wall.
00:37:59
Lauren Brown
game on
00:38:03
April
Yeah. Oof.
00:38:04
Rich
can Can I throw a question out to you guys? Have you ever raced somebody or been swim or maybe even accidentally just swimming next to them and have somebody flip out on you for doing it?
00:38:19
Lauren Brown
No.
00:38:20
April
no oof
00:38:23
Rich
like did one time. This guy just happened to be swimming the same pace as me for a couple of hundred, came to the wall, and the guy just flipped out.
00:38:24
Lauren Brown
Oh my God. Wow.
00:38:31
Lauren Brown
That's like.
00:38:31
Rich
Like, can you stop swimming my same pace? I'm like, like, it was really?
00:38:36
April
Wow.
00:38:39
Rich
Wow.
00:38:39
Lauren Brown
then you should
00:38:39
Rich
Yeah. Didn't mean anything by it.
00:38:41
Rich
Like, yo.
00:38:42
Lauren Brown
and wow
00:38:43
April
lot of ego there.
00:38:44
Lauren Brown
you know what that like
00:38:44
April
Geez.
00:38:46
Lauren Brown
yeah that's like
00:38:46
April
Hmm.
00:38:46
Rich
Etiquette. We got to talk etiquette one of these days too. Yeah.
00:38:48
Lauren Brown
Yeah, that's the the four agreements.
00:38:48
April
Yeah.
00:38:48
Rich
Yeah.
00:38:51
Lauren Brown
That's like your reminder of like, that says, that has totally something to do with him and nothing to do with you.
00:38:55
April
Yeah.
00:38:56
Lauren Brown
That's
00:38:57
Rich
yeah yeah Yeah.
00:38:57
April
Exactly.
00:38:57
Rich
Of course.
00:38:58
April
boof
00:39:00
Lauren Brown
crazy.
00:39:02
April
All right. Last one. Have you this, he have you added a pool boy when the set got hard and told yourself it was intentional?
00:39:14
Rich
I got to tell you, I did not read ahead.
00:39:16
April
not yeah You just had a willing confession.
00:39:16
Rich
i wasn't even looking at the questions.
00:39:20
April
I love it. I didn't even have to pry it out of you.
00:39:25
April
Lauren, have you used a pool boy in that regard?
00:39:29
Lauren Brown
I'm sure I have at some point, but I feel slower with a pull buoy on. So I don't, I use it more when I'm like, I just feel like being lazy right now and just like letting, letting my legs stay afloat.
00:39:40
April
Let it do the work.
00:39:42
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. But not if I'm going for, if I'm trying to go faster, if I'm trying to go faster, that's when I'm like, where are those fins at?
00:39:49
April
Yeah, I would definitely say fins are the ones that I would go to for this, but pool boy can feel really good when your legs are tired.
00:39:55
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:39:58
April
So it can be a, it can be one of those things that you reach for when, yeah, when you're struggling,
00:40:05
April
Okay. Round two, you're going to finish this sentence. The hardest part of swimming for me is.
00:40:13
Lauren Brown
Getting in the pool.
00:40:14
Rich
I would say the hardest part of swimming for me is my mobility, just my just my flexibility, getting into a nice, you know, good shoulder position.
00:40:24
April
Hmm.
00:40:25
April
I agree with Lauren. I think my hardest of heart is just getting there because, uh, whether it's to the Academy or it's to Peterson, it's like, it's like a, it's, it's almost an hour of drive time at it.
00:40:38
April
So it's just hard, just adding that extra layer of time in there.
00:40:38
Lauren Brown
I
00:40:44
April
the moment I knew I was becoming a swimmer was when
00:40:47
Lauren Brown
signed up for my first triathlon.
00:40:50
April
Oh, I love that.
00:40:52
Rich
I would have to agree with that because i don't think before that I would have called myself a swimmer. Like even like I took, know, like swimming 101 in college. I'm like, mean, mean, I could do it barely, but like, but man, you've got to learn. If you're going to be like swimming open water, you got learn how to, you know, learn to be a swimmer.
00:41:09
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Well, I gotta say when I first decided I was like, okay, I'm going to do a triathlon because like I said, that the triathlon was on the other side of my fear, right? I was doing the duathlons and, but it's funny, like I'm, I'm a pretty like, okay swimmer now, but I'll tell you when I first got in the pool, I was nervous as all like anything doing 25 yards. Like at first I was like, wait, do I even remember how to get completely across this pool? So it is like,
00:41:35
Lauren Brown
Just a little friendly reminder that you know i signed up and decided to do a triathlon. I was scared to get from one side to the other of a 25-yard pool.
Personal Growth & Reflections
00:41:45
Lauren Brown
And now i'm like i it's it's become one like my a strong
00:41:51
Lauren Brown
trump thing for me. so
00:41:53
April
Okay. Last question. If you, if you could give one piece of advice to your younger swim self, what would it be?
00:42:02
Lauren Brown
that's
00:42:04
Rich
Start when you're eight.
00:42:06
Lauren Brown
actually perfect.
00:42:07
April
oh
00:42:09
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Start when you're eight. And maybe like get some coaching early on. If you can't start when you're eight.
00:42:16
Rich
Yeah.
00:42:18
Rich
When's the best plant time to plant a shade tree 20 years ago?
00:42:18
April
I think yes,
00:42:22
Rich
When's the next best plan time right now? Come to pool school.
00:42:25
Lauren Brown
Yep. Yep.
00:42:27
April
I would say, don't worry about what you look like in a swimsuit. You're just fine. That would be my piece of advice.
00:42:33
Lauren Brown
Amen. Amen.
00:42:34
April
Yes.
00:42:35
Rich
There you go.
00:42:36
April
All right. We want to hear from you. Send us your swim confession. We might even read it on a future episode. Remember the pool is where the ego to your point, rich goes to get baptized.
00:42:50
April
And if the pool had a confessional, we would all be in trouble.
00:42:54
Rich
Oh, man, I love that. What a fun way to wrap that one up. what a fun way to wrap up the fun segment. Actually, i guess today.
00:43:00
April
yeah
00:43:00
Lauren Brown
Perfect.
00:43:02
Rich
Guys, blast as always. Folks, thanks for spending some time with us today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. If you've enjoyed the show, come visit us on Instagram. We've got a new handle. it is at G2G Endurance. And leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And also, we are on YouTube. So come check out the video. like we we are Touch us We're real. we've got expressions and goofiness and all that you can actually see.
00:43:33
Rich
and so anyway, we'd love for you to leave us an athlete. We really appreciate you stay gritty, train smart, keep chasing greatness, and we will see you next week.