Swimrun 201: Tether Evolution

Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast

Welcome to episode 199 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

In this episode, we share another installment to our ad hoc Swimrun 201 series. In this edition, we talk about our “tether evolution.” We’ll rehash some tether basics for new listeners, chronicle our tether use over the years and share our latest thinking on how to achieve Swimrun flow with (and without) the tether.

Tether(ed) Links

Check out our Swimrun 101: The Tether and our article in Triathlete Magazine (Online Edition). “What’s the Deal with the Tether?” for a bunch of great beginner content about the Swimrun tether. We also have several videos on our YouTube Channel on how to make a tether and a video version of our Swimrun 101 episode explaining this magical piece of Swimrun kit.

Tether Evolution

In our 5ish years of participating in Swimrun, we have gone through all the stages of tether use from minimal use, to “all the time” use, and now to our latest stage of trying to race without it. We will see how it goes but given that our relative fitness is pretty close, we thought that we would try what a lot of super experienced Swimrun teams do, namely, use the tether only when needed and/or for swim guidance, and not for “pulling” purposes. Our theory is that this will minimize things to fiddle with during the race and allow us to move through the environment all the more seamlessly.

Tether Caveat

As with anything Swimrun, there are a lot of ways to experience the sport and set up your team’s kit and we highly, highly recommend that teams try everything out in practice before race day.

Enjoy!

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That’s it for this week’s show.

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- Chip and Chris