68 - Ali Meeks and Conquering Your Fear of Open Water

Explicit content warning

09/03/20 • 59 min

Endurance Innovation

Endurance Innovation is now on Patreon! Have a peek at our page and show us some love.

2:15 meet swim and triathlon coach Ali Meeks
4:30 the motivation behind Ali’s new book: Conquer Your Fear of the Triathlon Swim
6:30 the fear of open water
10:30 the two aspects of swimming
- Safety
- Choreography
13:15 the ‘not seeing the bottom’ fear and the source of our own safety
15:30 the ‘friends in the water’ fear
17:45 the 5 circles: 1 - calm, 2 - nervous, 3 - afraid, 4 - terrified, 5 - panicked
- Awareness of mental state is first step, always trying to come back to that first circle
- Retain connection to the physical body through mindfulness practice
20:45 the ‘non-wetsuit’ fear
23:00 sinkers vs floaters
28:00 the discomfort of wetsuits
37:00 the role of intensity
- Warmup is key
39:00 the difference between nervousness and excitement is expectation of outcome
40:30 the Conquer Your Fear Process
- Agree not to push your limits in the water
- Follow the process as slowly as necessary to increase comfort while staying in that first circle
- Face in water > floating and feeling the buoyancy > propulsion added to floating > back float for safety > open water in the shallows > open water in deeper water with easy access to shallow water
- Allow natural curiosity to drive progression
47:15 the ‘other people’ factor
48:45 the psychological impact of a death in the water on other swimmers
53:00 self-aware risk acceptance

Learn more about Ali at Ready Set Sweat. More info on the book is here. Conquer Your Fear of the Triathlon Swim can be purchased on Amazon.

Endurance Innovation is now on Patreon! Have a peek at our page and show us some love.

2:15 meet swim and triathlon coach Ali Meeks
4:30 the motivation behind Ali’s new book: Conquer Your Fear of the Triathlon Swim
6:30 the fear of open water
10:30 the two aspects of swimming
- Safety
- Choreography
13:15 the ‘not seeing the bottom’ fear and the source of our own safety
15:30 the ‘friends in the water’ fear
17:45 the 5 circles: 1 - calm, 2 - nervous, 3 - afraid, 4 - terrified, 5 - panicked
- Awareness of mental state is first step, always trying to come back to that first circle
- Retain connection to the physical body through mindfulness practice
20:45 the ‘non-wetsuit’ fear
23:00 sinkers vs floaters
28:00 the discomfort of wetsuits
37:00 the role of intensity
- Warmup is key
39:00 the difference between nervousness and excitement is expectation of outcome
40:30 the Conquer Your Fear Process
- Agree not to push your limits in the water
- Follow the process as slowly as necessary to increase comfort while staying in that first circle
- Face in water > floating and feeling the buoyancy > propulsion added to floating > back float for safety > open water in the shallows > open water in deeper water with easy access to shallow water
- Allow natural curiosity to drive progression
47:15 the ‘other people’ factor
48:45 the psychological impact of a death in the water on other swimmers
53:00 self-aware risk acceptance

Learn more about Ali at Ready Set Sweat. More info on the book is here. Conquer Your Fear of the Triathlon Swim can be purchased on Amazon.

Previous Episode

67 - Mikael Eriksson on the Value and Pitfalls of Devices

Endurance Innovation is now on Patreon! Have a peek at our page and show us some love.

4:00 is training tech driving improvement at high levels of endurance sport?
5:00 proliferation of training data and data acquisition devices helps coaches first, with a trickle-down effect for self-coached athletes
9:30 performance tracking devices (watches / bike computers), heart-rate monitors, and power meters
- Mostly beneficial in training, but still useful in racing
- Sensor reliability is affected more in RF ‘noisy’ environments
- Stryd power meter or well-calibrated footpods can be more accurate for distance and pace
17:45 the value of advanced running and cycling metrics like L/R balance, GCT, stride length, torque smoothness, etc.
- No evidence-based value in tracking these metrics. No evidence for effective interventions to make positive changes to performance
- Many of these add-on metrics are marketing tools for product differentiation
28:15 tracking and planning - training diary - programs
- Essential for any serious athletes
- Very important to log subjective comments and RPE along with the physiological data pulled from recording devices + sensors
- Record RPE immediately after the workout
- Watch / head unit integration is very handy
- No need for most athletes to delve into high-end analytics packages like WKO and Golden Cheetah
39:30 HRV and other recovery / 'readiness to train’ tools
- Useful for trend rather than acute - day-to-day - analysis
- Some doubts in validity of studies showing efficacy
- Little value in measuring live or all-day HRV
- Sleep trackers not accurate and not very useful
50:30 Garmin’s recovery advisor / VO2max / fitness / calorie measurement tools
- DO NOT USE!
54:45 Michael is not a fan of Strava
57:45 performance testing: lactate / VO2max
- Find a reputable lab to do any testing, so ask questions and do your homework
- 4’ minimum step duration for lactate testing. 5’ and 6’ also common
- Repeatability is key, so try to use the same lab and the same equipment for subsequent tests
- INSCYD testing is great for repeatability, accessibility, and data quality
1:08 aerodynamic sensors
- Not yet suitable for individual endurance athletes
- Other aero testing is potentially very useful
- A good bike fit goes a long way towards improving aerodynamics
- KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!
1:13 swim video analysis can be quite useful
- The 4 key views: above, side above water, side below water, front below water