On this episode, we’re joined by my long-time friend, Christine Garrido! Christine is a certified swim instructor and has taught swimming for over 10 years. She recently founded @breatheandsplash swim school, which serves swimmers of all levels throughout Miami Dade and Broward County.

Christine has been swimming since she was seven years old; she was a competitive swimmer throughout her childhood all the way to college, and even swam for the Peruvian National Team!

She’s also provided sports mental performance coaching and consulting services to many high schools and private swim teams. When Christine’s not coaching swimmers, she spends her time with her son, Joaquim, who is 16 months old and already loving the water. Christine also continues to swim herself and regularly competes in open water swims and triathlons. I’ve raced with her before, and she’s very fast!

Christine shares with us her journey of how she got into swimming as a kid and how she fueled her passion for the sport to eventually start her own swim school. She explains why kids should learn how to swim, gives tips on how we can train our mind to get out of a “rut”, and even gets into how she kept health and fitness as a top priority throughout her pregnancy.

I had a great time chatting and catching up with Christine - you can feel how passionate she is about swimming and helping others be the best they can be, both mentally and physically.

This episode was originally recorded on June 9, 2020. The 3 three month delay is totally my fault - it’s been a pretty busy past few months! Since this recording, Christine’s swim school has grown so much that they now have a team of instructors. Way to go, Breathe and Splash Swim School!

I hope you all enjoy this episode!

|| Show Notes ||

- Follow Christine and her swim school on Instagram: @breatheandsplash

- Check out the Breathe and Splash Swim School website

- Subscribe to The Triathlete Beat podcast and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode!

- Follow me on Instagram to keep up with my swim/bike/run adventures: @thetriathletebeat

|| Thanks for listening! Cheers! ||

Dan Eisenhardt is the CEO of FORM, the company behind the world’s first smart swim goggles. Dan is no stranger to swimming and emerging technology - before starting FORM, Dan swam competitively for 14 years and founded Recon Instruments, which introduced the world’s first smart eyewear for sports (skiing, cycling, running) in 2010.

Dan and I discussed his journey to creating FORM, all of the goggle’s features (metrics, build quality, open water functionality, etc.), their rigorous development and testing lifecycle, and other fun topics like Dan’s experience filming their promo commercial and his vision on the future of triathlon tech.

You might be wondering, what makes these goggles so special and…smart? Why should I ditch my Speed Vanquishers or Swedish goggles? Well at a minimum, the goggles are created with the highest quality of materials, giving you a swim companion that’s comfortable, durable, and built to last. In addition, the goggles can display all the swimming metrics that you’ll ever need, right in front of your eye as you swim, such as: split time, pace per 100, distance, interval time, rest time, total time, stroke rate, stroke count, distance per stroke, length count, calories burned, and even heart rate (with a Polar OH1). All those metrics you have while running and cycling? We have them now for swimming. That’s pretty cool!

It’s also 2020, which means YES, the goggles sync with Strava and TrainingPeaks and YES, the goggles come with its own app for both iOS and Android. The app breaks down all your metrics into easy-to-read tables and charts for you (and even your coach) to learn and improve upon for your next workout.

You can also follow other athletes with the goggles as well. I don’t remember seeing a “Share to Instagram Story” feature yet, but I’m sure that’s in the pipeline ;)

I’ve tested the goggles out in both the pool and open water, and I think they’re pretty amazing. They really do what they say they’re going to do, and work pretty damn well.

I had a great time with Dan, and it was a pleasure to have him on the podcast today! I really felt his passion and excitement for the goggles…and I hope that you do too.

Enjoy the chat!

|| Show Notes ||

- OPEN WATER SWIM UPDATE (July 30, 2020): In the goggles, you’ll now see an “Open Water Swim” option in addition to the standard “Pool Swim” option! Prior to this update, you had to select “Pool Swim” and set an “Unknown” distance if you wanted to use the goggles in open water. This update formalizes FORM’s open water functionality in both the goggles and mobile phone app.

- For open water functionality (as of July 30, 2020), with just the goggles itself - you get stroke rate, total time, calories, and heart rate (if you have a Polar OH1 +). For GPS features like distance and speed in the open water, you’ll need to pair your goggles via bluetooth with the following compatible smart watches: Garmin Forerunner 945, Garmin fēnix 5 Plus and fēnix 6 Pro, and Apple Watch Series 3, 4, and 5.

- FORM Swim’s awesome commercial on YouTube

- FORM Swim’s Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and website

- Subscribe to my triathlon YouTube channel for triathlon tips, training/racing vlogs, and reviews: Jeremy Tri

- Follow me on Instagram to keep up with my swim/bike/run adventures: @thetriathletebeat

- Hit me up on Twitter for podcast topics, guest recommendations, questions, etc.: @triathletebeat

|| Thanks for listening! Cheers! ||

Today we dive into sweat and hydration - two essential but often overlooked aspects to any athlete’s training - with Andy Blow, the Co-Founder and CEO of Precision Hydration.

Andy is a Sports Scientist with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Bath, UK. He’s an expert in sweat (swexpert?), dehydration, and cramping, and previously worked as the Team Sports Scientist for the Benetton and Renault Formula 1 teams. In his younger days, he was an elite level triathlete and finished in the Top 10 of Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races. He even won an XTERRA Triathlon World Title!

We discussed a variety of topics including salty sweaters, hydration for endurance training sessions and races, dehydration and hyponatremia (over hydrating), the effects of having a beer before/after a race, and so much more.

This was a really fascinating and fun chat with Andy. You’ll definitely learn a few things about hydration, and his tips will hopefully help you on your next swim, bike, run, walk, hike, workout, etc.

I found it pretty cool that in addition to endurance athletes, Precision Hydration has also worked with the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. Being an NBA fan myself (#ballislife), I couldn’t miss this opportunity to ask Andy about hydration for NBA players!

Precision Hydration offers electrolyte supplements that match how you sweat, and have a variety of products that will benefit all levels of sweaters. I’ve tried their stuff during my training sessions in the 90F & 90% humidity conditions of South Florida…and they definitely WORK.

Their team was a delight to work with, and they were awesome enough to offer 15% off any of my listeners’ entire first order off their site, precisionhydration.com. Just use the code TRIATHLETEBEAT at checkout. So cool - I have my very own coupon code! Go order something…you won’t regret it!

I hope you enjoy the podcast!

|| Show Notes ||

- The swimming resource that helped me out the most when I first started triathlon (I didn’t know how to swim prior): swimsmooth.com. Shoutout to Andy’s buddy, Paul Newsome!

- Yes, you can use Precision Hydration’s products to cure a hangover ;)

- Helpful PH blog posts:

--> How to estimate how much sodium you lose in your sweat

--> How to start hydrated (preload) and why that's so important

--> What is hyponatremia and how can you avoid it?

- Book a free 20-minute video call to chat with one of PH’s Sweat Experts (they’re all athletes too) on their website, or click here.

- Get 15% off your entire first order off their site, precisionhydration.com. Just use the code TRIATHLETEBEAT at checkout!

- Check out Precision Hydration on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter

- Subscribe to my triathlon YouTube channel for triathlon tips, training/racing vlogs, and reviews: Jeremy Tri

- Follow me on Instagram to keep up with my swim/bike/run adventures: @thetriathletebeat

- Hit me up on Twitter for podcast topics, guest recommendations, questions, etc.: @triathletebeat

|| Thanks for listening! Cheers! ||