Welcome to episode 338 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

This week we are climbing back into the swimrun hot tub for a throwback mixtape, and we are pulling out a fan favorite. We are rolling the original gear talk on the Ark Vigg and Vigg Air, the suit Chris has loved since his first swimrun in 2020 and has not stopped talking about since.

This one comes straight from the vault, originally Episode 188 from August 10, 2023. The crew starts with gear updates, Ark prototype goggles, new flip-flops, and Stasher bags as a solution for organizing electrolyte tabs, before getting into the full Vigg breakdown.

We get into what makes the Vigg and Vigg Air work, the Yamamoto limestone neoprene, the glide skin coating, and the seal on the sleeveless Vigg Air that designer Daniel Sand and his team in Sweden spent so much time dialing in. We talk through who this suit fits best, why it makes more sense as a second suit than a first, the back venting, the pocket setup, and where the fit and sizing can get tricky depending on body type.

Chris also reads an original poem he wrote about the Vigg, because eight months without talking about this suit was apparently too long to go without writing one. Final ratings, a Casco Bay tangent, and plenty of love for a suit that has earned its place in the quiver. Enjoy!

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That's it for this week's show. If you are enjoying the **Löw Tide Böyz**, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star rating and review since that's the best way for people to discover the show and the sport of Swimrun. You can find us on **Apple Podcasts**, **Spotify**, and on **YouTube**. Check out our **website** for Swimrun resources including gear guides, tips, how-to videos and so much more. Also make sure to check out our meme page **@thelowtideboyz** on Instagram. If you have any suggestions for the show or questions for us, send us a dm or an email at **lowtideboyz@gmail.com**. Finally, you can support our efforts on **Patreon**...if you feel so inclined. Thanks for listening and see you out there!

Chip and Chris

Welcome to episode 337 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast! We're going across the pond this week, and not to Sweden for once. We met Bart Vandervaal on the ferry to Sandhamn at ÖTILLÖ last year and immediately started asking about his shoes. Nine months later, Bart and his co-race director Henk de Bock are on the show to tell us about the Dutch swimrun scene and the first ever Dutch Swimrun Championship.

Bart and Henk have been organizing Het Rondje Eilanden, a 6.5-kilometer island circuit race in Vinkeveen just south of Amsterdam, for 15 years. The race predates the word swimrun in the Netherlands, and for years athletes did it in Speedos and surf shoes with no wetsuits, no pull buoys, and no idea there was a global sport building around the same idea. This year, to celebrate the race's 15th edition, they're running the championship as three consecutive loops of the course, 19 kilometers total, in pairs, with 750 participants across all distance categories. The race is on Saturday, July 18th. The classic single loop (6.5K) is filling up fast, but the Dutch Championships distance (3 loops, 19K) still has spots. You can find registration and race info at hetrondjeeilanden.nl.

We dig into how the Dutch swimrun community organized itself from the ground up through WhatsApp groups and international race travel, what makes Vinkeveen's clear water and 12-island layout such a natural fit for the sport, and what the race weekend actually looks like: camping on the island, hot tubs, live music, and a party culture that fits right in with the swimrun ethos. If you're a Dutch swimrunner or just curious about connecting with the community over there, the WhatsApp community lives at swimrun.group with channels organized by region and a main hub called the SwimRun Huiskamer, which translates to SwimRun Living Room. Signal groups are also linked there for the WhatsApp-averse.

Henk shares his own path to the ÖTILLÖ World Series this year, and Bart recounts what it was like to race ÖTILLÖ Stockholm for the first time last year on a foot injury, getting towed to the finish by his partner. Bart and his partner Sander Berk also chronicled the whole journey on their Substack, From Zero till Ötillö, at from0tillotillo.substack.com. The first 30 weekly training blogs have English translations, and the blog has since expanded with writers covering swimrun across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, including race coverage from ÖTILLÖ events.

We also get into the broader Dutch swimrun landscape, including the Backyard Ultra Swimrun happening just north of Amsterdam on June 20th at Het Twiske. Athletes do a 5K loop every hour with short swims and runs mixed in, up to a 10-hour max. Find details and registration at swimrun.amsterdam. And if the Dutch race scene has you wanting to plan a European summer, check the show notes for all the links.

On our end, we're two weeks out from Quest Swimrun Bellingham at Lake Padden and heading into the thick of our training block. After Bellingham comes Folsom Swimrun, then the 10th anniversary of ÖTILLÖ Casco Bay, and then ÖTILLÖ World Series in September. The list is long. The stoke is real.

Welcome to episode 336 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

Three months out from the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship, and we are bringing you our most-requested episode type: the full day-by-day travel guide for race week in Sweden. We have done this race a handful of times and we get the same DMs every single year, so we decided to just answer everything in one shot. Where to stay, how to get from the airport, whether you actually need cash (you don't), what goes in your drop bag, and yes, how many fikas you can realistically fit into a single trip.

We walk you through the whole week, starting from arrival at Arlanda and the Arlanda Express into Stockholm, through choosing between city center or Sigtuna, getting to Djurönaset and entering the race bubble, the ferry to Sandhamn on race morning, and finally what happens after you cross the finish line at Utö. We make the case for staying Monday night so you catch the post-race breakfast, which genuinely might be one of the best parts of the whole experience.

We also check in on where our training is. Chip wrapped up a recovery week after ÖTILLÖ Orcas Island and jumped into a new block with a 4500-yard Monday swim thanks to Coach Liz, plus a new HYROX event on the calendar to keep the strength routine honest. Chris is officially starting his build, has been using the mental performance app from Dr. Erin Ayala's recent episode, and is treating strength as cumulative rather than all-or-nothing.

Before the travel guide, we spend some time on gut training, which is something we are actively working on as part of our ÖTILLÖ prep. We break down how to establish your baseline carb intake, how to ramp it up incrementally, and the two practical tips we actually use in our own training: the 20-minute timer on the watch and grabbing an extra gel at every aid station. If you are planning on being out there for eight, ten, or thirteen hours, this stuff matters. Precision Fuel & Hydration has a free race planner tool with ÖTILLÖ loaded in, and their sports science team offers free one-on-one calls if you want to talk through your fueling plan specifically.

Finally, keep an eye out for our Löw Tide Böyz Fika Meetup announcement. We will be hosting it again in Stockholm on Saturday, and last year we took over a pretty solid chunk of the cafe. You won't want to miss it.

Enjoy!

That's it for this week's show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz**, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star rating and review since that's the best way for people to discover the show and the sport of Swimrun. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on YouTube. Check out our website for Swimrun resources including gear guides, tips, how-to videos and so much more. Also make sure to check out our meme page @thelowtideboyz on Instagram. If you have any suggestions for the show or questions for us, send us a dm or an email at lowtideboyz@gmail.com. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon...if you feel so inclined. Thanks for listening and see you out there!

-Chip and Chris