A FREE Ebook about open water swimming fundamentals
Often in life, the most rewarding part is sharing the knowledge & wisdom gained from experience. For the past 32+ years at Vasa, we’ve had the profound privilege of working with and learning from outstanding coaches & athletes worldwide. For most of these accomplished athletes and coaches, there are similar threads of struggles and lessons faced along their journey in sport.
That’s why we asked 11 of the world’s most respected coaches and athletes for their wisdom and practical advice on overcoming the fears of open water swimming. We asked them questions that are relevant to athletes, and coaches, just like you.
The result is our new comprehensive e-book, “Four Keys to Fearless Open Water Swimming”. We invite you to sign up to get your FREE copy now.
After reading this guide, you’ll have a better understanding of what to expect and how to handle whatever conditions you’ll face on the day with strength, confidence, and plenty of skill.
The ebook covers 4 fundamental areas of open water swimming:
- Pool vs. Open Water
- Technique
- Physical Preparation
- Putting It All Together On Race Day
You will learn:
- The differences between pool swimming and open water.
- Ways to get stronger, better, faster.
- Mental training to feel relaxed and ready on race day.
- How becoming fearless in open water carries into the rest of your life.
One customer, a former collegiate swimmer who is currently training for her first Ironman triathlon, sent the following insightful comments after reading “Four Keys to Fearless Open Water Swimming”
“I really enjoyed the swimming ebook Vasa shared with me. I often say that athletics has been my greatest educational experience and the article really highlighted why. There were a few major points that stood out to me that relate not only to athletics but also to life:
- Reverse engineer your success
- Be realistic and honest with yourself
- Identify the issue, aggressively seek solutions. If you can’t find one, seek alternatives
- Be a good listener
- Being out of your comfort zone is where you develop and harden your competitive spirit
- Deal with fear by focusing on the process
- Focus on the bright spots, on the positives in life. Bring the good stuff forward when dealing with hardship.
- Do not wait for others to give you confidence
- Fear is self-made, but it is also natural. Embrace it and manage it.
- You can always control your effort and attitude. Thank you!”
Our Mission
Our mission here at Vasa is to provide the highest quality training equipment and relevant How-to information for athletes and coaches like you. We strive to accomplish this with our values in mind: Quality, Honesty, Respect, and Excellence.
We hope you take the information contained in this guide’s pages and apply it to your training and your life. Our journey is enriched by sharing these insights with you. Remember, there really is no failure…only learning and achieving our goals and aspirations.
Click here to get your free copy
Meet 11 of the World’s most respected coaches & athletes from the Vasa community
Eric Neilsen is an exceptional multisport coach who works with athletes of all abilities. Eric holds an ASCA Level 4 swim coaching certification. At coachericneilsen.com, Eric provides coaching that empowers his clients to achieve their full athletic and personal potential.
Lesley Paterson grew up a rugby player in Scotland and found triathlon at age 14. She has competed all over the world for the British and Scottish triathlon team and eventually got into Xterra. She’s now a three-time XTERRA World Champ and runs Braveheart Coaching in San Diego with her husband, sports psychologist Simon Marshall. She and Simon also co-authored the best-selling book, The Brave Athlete.
Tim Crowley is the head strength and conditioning coach at Montverde Academy, a talented triathlon coach (http://www.timcrowleybiz/), and an accomplished athlete. He has an irrepressibly positive attitude with a knack for simplifying complex tasks that get results for the athletes he coaches.
Dan Bullock is a highly regarded British swimming coach specializing in triathlon and open water. He’s also a champion Masters swimmer. He’s been coaching since 1990 at Swim For Tri http://www.swimfortri.co.uk and is co-author of the book “100 Essential Triathlon Sessions.”
Lisbeth Kenyon is a multiple world champion Ironman triathlete, and a
wonderful, funny, and fearless human being. In addition to being a wife and
mother of three children, Lisbeth is a biomedical engineer and co-owner of www.tkbikefit.com
Joe Maloy serves as the coordinator of the USA Triathlon Collegiate Recruiting Program and is a member of the USA Triathlon High-Performance staff. He was an NCAA Division 1 swimmer at Boston College who began competing on the elite international Triathlon Union circuit in 2010. He was the top American man to finish (23rd place) in the triathlon event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Visit his website at http://www.threesport.co
Martin Hill is a British Triathlon Federation (BTF) Level 3 Coach and a Certified Swim Smooth Coach. He has more than 20 years of experience coaching age-groupers through World Championship level athletes at all distances. Based in Spain and serving as Founder and Head Coach at Masters of Tri, he enjoys coaching athletes of all levels at his swim and triathlon camps. Martin provides an online coaching service as well as one-to-one swim video analysis and an online swim video analysis service.
Steven Bentley is the owner and head coach at Bentley Coaching. He’s been a health and performance coach since 1990 and was selected as coach of the year in Ontario. Canada. His athletes have won the ITU Age Group World Championships at distances ranging from the Olympic to Long Course and he’s helped dozens of people qualify for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships, where he’s raced twice. http://bentleycoaching.com
Ben Gathercole is an Australian-based personal performance coach and triathlete. Author of the best-selling book “Better Than Winning: Lessons Learned On an Olympic Journey.” Gathercole is a former national-level swimmer and IRONMAN triathlete who founded the Tridents Triathlon Club. A celebrated personal performance coach, he was the team director for the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby franchise and later became the high-performance director for Triathlon Australia.
Gerry Rodrigues is the founder of Tower 26, a Los Angeles-based triathlon coaching company and co-founder of the World Open Water Swimming Association. Considered by many to be the guru of open water swim coaching, Rodrigues has won more than 100 open water races. He coaches and consults with more than 1,000 athletes each month and is an expert coach with IRONMAN University. Gerry is the author of the excellent book, Triathlon Swimming.
Jenny Lyle and her husband Mike Lyle own and operate Lyle Fitness Consulting in Carlsbad, California, where they have provided coaching services in person and online for triathletes, swimmers, runners, cyclists, and general fitness clients since 2000. They successfully coach athletes at all levels and have helped numerous individuals reach their specific sport and fitness goals.