Introduction & Overview

Welcome to Freshwater Swimmer

This website chronicles my adventures in open-water marathon swimming.
A few of the swims I’ve done (click to view reports):

My recent Santa Barbara Channel swim will be featured in an upcoming documentary film, DRIVEN.

A few of the topics I’ve written about: nutrition, wetsuits, pool etiquette, swim statistics, and Promontory Point. A more comprehensive list of tags, categories, and popular posts can be viewed in the Archive Explorer. You can also read my Year in Review posts from 2010, 2011, and 2012.

I am a co-founder of the Marathon Swimmers Forum, and a board member of the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association.

The most recent blog posts are below, in reverse chronological order. Thanks for reading!

My favorite stroke tip

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Beginning with the catch, and continuing through the finish of your pull:

  • Keep your fingers pointed straight down toward the bottom of the pool,
  • palm facing directly behind you,
  • elbows high.

This is a distilled version of the “paddle stroke,” which has been taught in elite USA Swimming programs since the mid-1990s, but has only recently been widely taught in adult Masters programs.

I like this stroke tip for several reasons:

  • It’s simple and easy to understand, even for new swimmers.
  • It’s high-leverage, meaning it can produce large gains in speed.
  • It’s useful for swimmers of all abilities.

fingers_down

I use this “stroke thought” almost every time I swim these days. If I’m feeling fatigued or unfocused, it’s surprisingly easy to fall back on an “S” pull pattern (an unconscious but ineffective attempt to gain more purchase on the water), or to let my elbows slip.

Yet another reason I love the FINIS Agility Paddles: it is much easier to “feel” the early catch, and sustain it throughout the pull. If you start pulling through at odd angles (rather than straight back), the paddle may slip right off your hand.

fingers_down3Is that a Zoolander face?

 

Swim Report: Five Coves of Death

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I renewed my membership at the South End Rowing Club this year, and am determined to get my money’s worth. So far this year I’ve done two club swims, a “sunriser” swim, an Alcatraz swim, numerous casual swims in and around Aquatic Park with fellow club members, and crewed on Cathy’s epic 3 Bridges Swim. Last weekend was the infamous “Five Coves of Death” – five laps around the perimeter of Aquatic Park at 5:00pm on May 5th. 5CoD is also the qualifier for Bay to Breakers, the crown jewel of the club’s long swim program.

What exactly constitutes a lap of Aquatic Park? This is a source of some confusion and controversy.  A “tight cove” is shown in an illustration by Joe B.…

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Daytime goggles, Nighttime goggles

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In summer 2011, I started using two pairs of Swedish goggles (Speedo Swedish 2-pack) – one with dark metallized lenses for daytime, one with clear lenses for mornings, evenings, & night. As per usual, I eschewed the included latex straps for after-market bungee straps.

swedish goggles

It’s a testament to Swedes’ durability that I’m still using these same goggles almost two years later.

Notice something else about the above photo, though: The color of the straps. Two years ago, these straps were the same color. Remember, the top pair I wear during the day, in bright sunlight. The bottom pair I wear in low light.

These are your goggles. These are your goggles on UV radiation.…

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Moments in Time

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A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away. – Eudora Welty

My friend Rob D is a man of many talents; among them a knack for taking remarkable photographs with relatively low-end equipment (typically, smart-phone cameras). What follows may be a bit self-indulgent; but I thought it worthwhile to collect a sampling of his images (of, um… me) in one place.

One photo in particular, I might even call “iconic.” I can’t remember a picture (of, um… me) that has ever spoken to me so powerfully. From just a few minutes before jump-time for Santa Cruz Island swim last September: scruz_glow Now, going back to the beginning…

2010 – “Freshwater Swimmer” is born

On the shores of Lake Michigan, where it all began. Ohio Street Beach, home of the Big Shoulders 5K.…

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Controlled Stroke Count Drill

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In “Stroke Count Games” and “A Better SWOLF Formula” I suggested a test set of 8×100, as fast as possible, holding a specific number of strokes per length (SPL), to hone in on your most efficient combination of stroke length and tempo.

I frequently do a modified version of this set as a quick tune-up before a competition or a challenging distance workout: 12×100 short-course, aiming for the following SPL on each rep: 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Moderate, controlled pace on all – no more than 75%.

Obviously, the specific SPL goals will differ for each individual. For me, 15 SPL is my 400m/500yd race pace. 14 SPL is my 1-2 mile race pace.…

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Ranting into the void (or not?)

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Some reactions from ’round the intarwebs to recent Freshwater Swimmer posts. I am, as always, grateful for the engagement.

The Global Drowning Prevention Forum picked up on my commentary about the tragedy at the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. As you may recall, I wrote:

In my view, there’s absolutely no substitute for proper training and preparation. … A wetsuit is not going to keep you safe. Swimming competence will keep you safe.

While wetsuits may decrease the chances of an individual person drowning, I believe they actually increase collective risk – by giving people a false perception of safety and encouraging them to put themselves in situations they are not prepared for.

Some interesting discussion ensued. I was particularly gratified by the comment of Audrey D.…

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SBCSA announces drug-testing for marathon swims

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Last month, the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association (SBCSA) became the first major channel swimming sanctioning body to prohibit swimmers from intentionally drafting off the escort boat. The SBCSA prides itself on its position at the vanguard of protecting the integrity of marathon swimming.

Today we are excited to announce another major step forward in ridding our sport of cheaters.

Starting with our 2013 swim season, the SBCSA will be collaborating with the World Anti-Doping Agency and its counterparts, the USADA and ENGSO, to carry out random testing for prohibited substances. We expect that our fellow channel swimming governing bodies, the CCSF, CS&PF, and CSA, will soon be following suit.

What does this mean? Very simply: When you arrive on the beach at the end of your swim, exhausted, chafed, and possibly jellyfish-stung — you’d better be ready to pee in a cup.…

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A better SWOLF formula

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SWOLF (“swim golf”) is a drill that measures swimming efficiency. A SWOLF score is your time (in seconds) on one lap of the pool, added to the number of strokes you took. Lower scores = Higher efficiency. SWOLF is a fuzzy, indirect measure of efficiency, because stroke count doesn’t necessarily reflect effort. In my view, the most precise definition of SWOLF is that it identifies the most efficient stroke count for a given level of effort.

I originally wrote about SWOLF in April 2012, and the post has become – by a wide margin – the most widely-read in the history of this blog. In a subsequent post a month later – “Stroke Count Games” – I described how SWOLF doesn’t quite capture the most efficient stroke count.…

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One year in the life of a marathon swimmers forum

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One year (and one week) ago, Donal and I launched the Marathon Swimmers Forum with the following mission statement:

  • To celebrate and promote the sport of marathon swimming.
  • To foster connections and information sharing among the global community of marathon swimmers.
  • To provide an educational resource for aspiring marathon swimmers.

Donal and I are both pretty proud of what’s happened since then. Just by the numbers, 565 confirmed members have contributed 5,437 posts in 400 separate discussion threads. Even better, the quality of the contributions has been gratifyingly high.

To celebrate the Forum’s first birthday, here’s a quick peek at the site analytics:

A Global (yet, to be honest, mostly anglophone) Community

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Geographical distribution of visits by city

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Geographical distribution by country, full year

Geographical distribution by country, first month

Geographical distribution by country, first month

Everybody Loves a Controversy

Top Threads, as measured by pageviews:

New Year, New Look

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If you are an email or RSS subscriber, you may not have noticed the new banner image:

The WordPress theme has also been updated and the menus have re-arranged a bit. Come check it out sometime.

Anyway, the new banner image shows me stroking along in the middle of the Santa Barbara Channel. There’s Cathy in the kayak (this must have been about 7 hours into the swim), and behind her the Fuji III (containing Rob, Mark, Dave, Ben, Capt. Forrest), heading off at a strange angle. The photo is actually a GoPro still-frame from Ben, one of the filmmakers behind the documentary DRIVEN.

For old-times’ sake, here’s the previous banner image – that’s me warming up at the Noblesville 10K in July 2010.…

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