EverymanTri.com

Video: The Ultimate Stocking Stuffers for the Triathlete Swimmer in your life (part 1)

Getting that perfect Holiday gift for the triathlete swimmer in your life is not easy...that is until today. In this video EMT contributor  Dave Erickson provides you with the top stocking suffers that will make any endurance athlete jump for joy when they see what Santa brought them.

Christmas shopping for the multisport athlete(s) in the family is actually pretty easy unless they're sponsored, in that case maybe they should be hooking you up?!  If they're not sponsored then you have lots of options and many of the items they want can fit nicely in their stockings over the fireplace.

Below is my list of Christmas stocking stuffers for swimmers plus a direct link to where you can buy each, most from Amazon.com.   Not everything on this list fits in a sock but most of it will.  Happy shopping!

Video of the day: The San Fran Golden Gate Bridge like you've never seen it before

You've probably seen the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. You may have even driven or walked across it but we bet you've probably never swan underneath it.

Check out the GoPro video above from the recent 3K Golden Gate Bridge Swim to what it is like to swim with the sharks and the fish underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube.

Diana Nyad quits Cuba-to-Florida swim after being stung by Portuguese man o' war

Diana Nyad gave up her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida today after being stung on the body and on the face by Portuguese man o' war jellyfish.

Nyad said the pain was unspeakable, and doctors warned her that enough toxins had built up in her system that any further stings could be fatal.

The 62-year-old swimmer had finished about 49 miles of the 103-mile open water swim before calling it quits.

Video: Diana Nyad one quarter way to her goal of swimming from Cuba to Florida

Former Olympic swimmer Diana Nyad (62-years-old) is back for a second go. She is trying to swim from Cuba to Florida (103 miles) to break her own open water distance record for an ocean swim without a Shark cage.

"It's been a challenging night and morning," her assistants said through Facebook, "Diana recovered from the multiple Portuguese Man O' War stings enough to swim -- but she is struggling right now. Her usual stroke pace, between 52 and 55 strokes per minute, has dropped to 48, but she is able to swim."

A later tweet said, "Diana seems to be gaining strength. Her rest times per hour are less and less."

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Video: Watch 61-year-old Diana Nyad start her record making swim from Cuba to Florida

Diana Nyad is set on proving that 60 is the new 40. Yesterday, she jumped into the calm ocean waters and began her 103-mile swim between Cuba and Florida.

"When I walk up on those shores of Florida, I want to prove to the AARP crowd that it's not too late to go back and write that book or adopt that child," she said.

"The joke is the 60s are the new 40s, and it's true," she added. "I want to be there to say we have many, many years of vitality and strength and service left in us."

Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube

Exposed: The newest and fastest triathlon wetsuit of the year

What's the best and fastest wetsuit in the triathlon biz this year?

In this exclusive EverymanTRI video report from Bike Dealer Camp 2011 in Utah Ben Greenfield tests the year's newest wetsuits to find out.

Check it out below as Ben swims in some of the newest and best wetsuit on the market and of course struggles, like all of us,  to peel them off.

Photo of the day: Phelps waves after winning 200m Butterfly final in Shanghai

Michael Phelps has not had the best 2011 World Swimming Championships.

Earlier this week he was beat by Ryan Lochte who caught Phelps in the second half of the men's 200m freestyle final to win gold...leaving Phelps with a silver.

But at least in his signature race (the 200m Butterfly) Phelps beat Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda over the last 50 meters while at the same time holding off China’s Wu Peng.

After the race Phelps said, "I didn’t want to lose that race again, Having a number of defeats this year, that was extremely frustrating for me. I didn’t like that feeling. I kind of wanted to have the feeling of winning a race again."

In this photo Phelps waves to the fans after winning the 200m Butterfly final in Shanghai.

While he may have lost some of his speed from the last Olympics he still has has about a year left before the 2012 games in London.

“I want to be faster," Phelps said after the tight win. "That was a little too close for comfort. . . . This is just a small step for my next year."

Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube.

 

 

How to swim 30 miles in just 3 days and not go crazy or blow up

Editor's Note: We just got this email from our friend Brett over at www.zentriathlon.com.

"In my training for swimming across Tahoe, I swam 30 miles in 3 days.  It. was. BRUTAL!  Anyway, I wrote a blog post about it." (see below) Congrats Brett...that's something you'll remember for the rest of your life.

I tried beating Jamie Patrick's challenge of 29 miles of swimming in three days and it was BRUTAL.  I learned a lot during the process, including a tremendous amount of respect for ultra swimmers who do this on a regular basis.  There where many, many times when I thought, "This is freaking CRAZY!  I'll never finish this!"  But, I finally did and here's the breakdown:

• I took my estimated pace and then slowed it down by a bunch.  Using that, I figured that I would have to swim 5 hours every day for three days in a row to do it.  That's around 10.2 miles or 16,500 meters per day!
• Swimming 5 hours is a lot like a 5 hour bike ride.  It's zero impact, so it's all about pacing and fueling.

Top 10 Indoor Pools For Triathletes Who Have Won The Lottery.

I’m sure it’s something we’ve all dreamed about.

When I win the lottery I’m going to buy a big house with an indoor pool.

No more public pools for me! No more sharing a lane, no more getting stuck behind someone swimming breaststroke slowly, no more floating band aids (and other foreign objects), no more lane rage.

Use the Force, Become a Swimming Master

 

Worried you swim like a wounded duck looking for shore?  Afraid your first triathlon will result in DNF due to being picked up by the swim patrol boat?  Sweating the bottomless depths of the pond, lake, river or ocean?  Don’t worry, it’s just you.  Everyone else is in a masters swim group and you’re the only one not taking advantage…

 

Ok, maybe not, but there are a LOT of triathletes that HATE and DREAD the swim.  Instead of facing their fears head on, a lot will focus on hours on the bike and run and spend 1 to 2 hours a week splashing around in the pool unsure if they are working towards the ultimate goal of surviving the swim.  How do you improve your swim and more importantly your confidence in the water?  Use the force, Luke, and take advantage of your local masters swim group!

Dave Erickson's Road to Ironman 70.3 California: Swimming Form

 

I'm coming down the final stretch of training before Ironman 70.3 California, less than two weeks.   Today I logged 3,850 yards in just under an hour and 20 minutes.  This morning's workout was a pyramid of pull and paddle sets  along with a few balance drills to break it up.

 

Today (Friday) wraps of 12,000 yards of swimming for the week.   I've been swimming about 4 times a week but this week was only three.  My Sunday swim-run brick is being replaced with a bike-run brick.  I'll end up with about 17 hours of training by the end of the day Sunday.  I must admit, I'm very happy with my fitness level up to this point.

Is Aussie swimmer & Olympian Ian Thorpe on the London 2012 comeback trail?

By all indications it looks like Australia's most famous swimmer, Ian Thorpe, is back in the pool and perhaps training for the 2012 Olympic games.

According to published reports the 28-year-old five-time Olympic gold medalist has lost weight and is once again training seriously in Australia.

Thorp's manager, Dave Flaskas, told The Associated Press on Sunday that while "it's a long way from here to London," Thorpe is enjoying swimming again and "never say never."

Top ten ways to improve your swim form, speed and endurance this winter

The roof collapse has forced triathletes and runners (not to mention the Vikings who play football there!) to head elsewhere for their climate controlled jaunts, like Steve in a Speedo. But, they need to look no further than any indoor pool to keep in shape. Here’s a handy list of pool drills and equipment to keep you going when Mother Nature runs amuck!

1. Freestyle Volume

The best way to improve speed, endurance and form in the beginning of swim training is volume. If you aren’t swimming, you aren’t practicing the sport. Like any other disciplines of endurance sports, the more you are training in that sport, the better you will become.

Swimmers compete to break epic long record: Who can swim the Amazon the fastest?

Serbian swimmer Darko Novovic has set a new World record for swimming the 5,450 kms of the Amazon river in just over 46 days according to news reports today. In doing so he broke Slovenia’s legendary Martin Strel's record by 20 days.

The 37 year old professional water polo player began his record breaking feat on September 29th in Atalaya, Peru (near to the source of the Amazon) and swam on average 16 hours and 118kms a day. Novovic finished the epic swim at the mouth of the Amazon in the Atlantic Ocean at Belem, Brazil on November 13th. The Amazon River is the largest River in the world with a total discharge greater than the next ten rivers combined.

Swimming it can be extremely challenging. Dark tannin stained waters contain bacteria which can blind you, dangerous undercurrents can pull you under and it plays host to crocodiles,bull sharks, piranhas and more worryingly candiru (also known as vampire fish) a parasite which is attracted by the scent of urine and enters the body by swimming up the penis where it feeds on blood and tissue. To keep predators at bay a net cage was suspended between two of the four Venezuelan yachts that accompanied him during the swim.

11-year-old rising star swimmer takes on daubting three mile La Jolla Cove swim

Editor's Note: Our partner XTERRA WETSUITS staffer Erin Merz shares her story about 11-year-old swimming standout Jacee Frivaldo.

This was my fifth time making the three mile swim from La Jolla Cove to Scripps Pier and back again, but this was a new quest for my 11-year-old swimming partner, Jacee Frivaldo. Three ocean miles at age 11 may seem like an ambitious feat, but while Jacee and I are sixteen years apart in age, our open water swimming experience is on par.

This fearless Scottsdale, Arizona native is already a seasoned open water swimming veteran and is no stranger to swimming with marine life. When she was just seven, she set the record for the youngest girl to complete the infamous mile and a half swim from Alcatraz to the shores of Aquatic Park.

Four years later on our September 21st cove-to-pier- to-cove swim, Jacee was on a mission to complete her longest open water swim yet. We geared up in our matching XTERRA WETSUITS Vector Pro X2s, and I in my thick neoprene swim cap and neoprene booties. While I have a hopelessly low tolerance for cold water, Jaycee exuded her tough skin with just a couple of latex swim caps. Growing like a weed, she had already moved up a wetsuit size since our first swim together in June. She told me she's going to be 5'11" one day.

Swimming in chlorinated pools may lead to cancer new studies find

Three new studies have found that swimming in chlorinated pools may be dangerous to your health and even lead to cancer.

Environmental Health Perspectives, one of the three recently published studies identified more  than 100 chemical byproducts in chlorinated water in a public pool in Barcelona Spain.

The problem?

Many of the chemical byproducts are toxic.

"People should not be afraid of swimming, but we should get more research on whether there are better practices for disinfecting pools," said Manolis Kogevinas, an epidemiologist at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. "It's all a matter of costs and benefits."