Jeannie Safer is very likely the most avid TI student of all. Since August 2005, she has taken almost -weekly 1-hour lessons at our New Paltz Swim Studio, during which time we have progressed from basics to skills that would be envied by any adult. Her sole goal has been to enjoy swimming and continue learning. She takes profound pleasure in every new insight - the subtler the better.

Along with

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November 21   I swam a third 2500-yard, single-set practice today. In the past week I had done two versions of 5 x 500, working from 500 down to 10 x 50 on one, and going in the opposite direction on the other. You can read my notes on the former here and and on the latter here.

To allow easy comparison of my practices, I decided to keep my practice distance the same at 2500, but to keep my

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This clip is a one-minute (approx) promo piece we produced yesterday to include as a trailer on the new Outside the Box DVD. It gives a feel for what we do at our Open Water Adventure in Eleuthera. Shot in Dec 2007 by my daughter Fiona.

Nov 17     Today I swam the 5 x 500 test set from five days ago in reverse. Here's how it went.

10 x 50 on :50 (6:52)
5 x 100 on 1:40 (6:52)
4 x 125 on 2:00 (6:48)
2 x 250 on 4:00 (6:51)
1 x 500 (6:56)

I swam with the same conditions as last Wednesday.
Each swim at "relaxed cruise" pace.
Stroke count at or under 14SPL.
Breathe every 3 strokes.
Minimize kick - light, passive 2BK with feet separating

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This fall I extended my usual summer break from pool training, into November, swimming in Lake Awosting until its temperature dropped to a brisk 45 degrees on Oct 31. That was two weeks ago, but I've been slow to resume pool swimming, partly as I've yet to decide how intensively I wish to train, or how much Masters racing I'll do this winter.

The past two winters I experienced a "swimming

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NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE!

We just finished editing our latest video yesterday. I expect it to release on Dec 1. It's called Outside the Box and is a guide to open water. As I watched the final edit yesterday to approve it for mastering, I felt this would be the most visually interesting video we (or anyone) have ever released.

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Brian Vande Krol, TI Coach in Denver, sent me this email query today, which raises perhaps the most provocative question in all of swimming:

>>From time to time, I've heard you mention a study about olympic swimmers and power output. Can you elaborate on it for me? >>

Here are the details of the study Brian refers to:

In 1992, Rick Sharp and Jane Cappaert, "performance science" specialists for

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Steven Munatones, proprietor of 10kswimmer.com asked me if I've used the Endless Pools at our Swim Studio to train for cold water acclimatization. In fact I have often trained regularly in EP's and gained marked benefits for my open water swimming, but have never been able to use them to acclimate to cold water - quite the opposite in fact, since we keep them at 88 degrees for the comfort of our

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If you ask, "What's different about 3 x (3 x 100 IM) from 9 x 100 IM," the difference is in: (1) intensifying my focus; and (2) increasing the

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Crazy Men in Halloween Plunge
Willie Miller and I swam at a local lake  on Oct 31, Halloween. It had snowed four days earlier and there were still patches of snow an inch or two deep alongside the trail and some snow and ice on the trail at points as we biked to the lake. The higher we climbed the more snow we saw. We briefly questioned our own sanity, but our sense of excitement over doing

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