Welcome to episode 211 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!In this episode, we head across the pond to Wales for a proper chin wag with We Swimrun Founder, Mike Alexander. We met Mike in Sweden last year and hit it off right away while engaged in an exchange of laurels (We swim caps for LTBz buffs). We knew that we wanted to get him on the show and although it took us almost 4 months to make it happen…make it happen we did! This was a great chat and we can’t wait to share it with all of you.But first…Training UpdateWe’re at the “building consistency” stage of training and trying to be better at incorporating strength work earlier in the year.ShoutoutThis week we’re shouting out our newest Patron on Patreon: Tim S. As far as we can tell he’s our first supporter from Denmark and we’re here for it! Thank you so much for the support Tim!Feats of EnduranceThis week’s award goes to the California Swimrun folks of Andy, Phil, and crew. A They lined up for Elevation Culture’s SD50 Trail Runs over the weekend and all had stellar days out on the trails.Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.This Week in SwimrunWe have so many updates this week! Let’s get right to it.After taking a year off, registration for Swimrun NC is open and this year’s race date will be October 13. We’re already registered for this event and can’t wait to be back at Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina. (We’re also excited to go back to Carolina Zip Lines for some pre-race fun!)New Podcast Alert! (Queue the air horn!) At long last there is another Swimrun podcast coming online soon. The Swimrun Show recently dropped their trailer on Spotify and will be hosted by today’s guest, Mike Alexander from We Swimrun.New Race Alert! The Mudskipper Swimrun Challenge is taking place at Deam Lake, Indiana on May 12th and is offering a “Mini” 10 mile and a “Classic” 18 mile distance options along with open water swims and a trail 5km run. The event looks like fun and yay! more Swimrun events!In ÖTILLÖ news, there are three key updates to fill everyone in. First, ÖTILLÖ announced their merit race list for 2024. Notably absent are any merit races in North America. This is not entirely surprising given the stacked ÖTILLÖ USA race calendar for 2024 but still a bummer for long time local events Swimrun Lake James and Swimrun NC that used to be part of the program. (LTBz Public Service Announcement: Just want to remind everyone that there are many hero journeys in the sport of Swimrun and qualifying and racing the World Championship is just one of many. We highly encourage everyone to continue to support local, grass-roots events to help grow the base of the sport.)Second, ÖTILLÖ announced a new event in North America: ÖTILLÖ Whistler. You might remember that at around this time last year we were super stoked about Swimrun Whistler announcing their new event, only to see it postponed a month or so later. We’ll it’s back and we’re here for it! ÖTILLÖ Whistler will take place on Sunday, June 7th and will offer Experience, Sprint and World Series Distance options.Finally, registration is open for all 2024 ÖTILLÖ USA events. This is a big year for Swimrun in North America and we hope to see you out at the races!A Proper Chin Wag with Mike AlexanderIt was really great to chat with Mike. His passion for Swimrun is infectious and he gave us a tour of We Swimrun’s events, what he thinks the future looks like for Swimrunning in the U.K., and so much more. Needless to say it was a proper chin wag. We know that you’ll love this conversation as much as we did.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 Podcast, Spotify, and on YouTube. Check out our website for Swi