Triathlon Swimming

Gerry Rodrigues is the guru of open-water swimming. As Head Coach of the prestigious Tower 26 swimming program based in Santa Monica, California, Rodrigues is the swimming technique expert behind top triathlon coaches like Matt Dixon (Purple Patch Fitness), Jim Vance, Rad Hallman (Head Coach, USC Triathlon), celebrity open-water swimmers, and many high-performing professional and age-group triathletes. Rodrigues grew up swimming off the Caribbean island of Trinidad, where he won many open-water ocean swimming races and earned an athletic scholarship to Pepperdine University. He won U.S. Masters Swimming national championships, set several U.S. and world masters swimming records, and has won over 100 open water swimming races. Rodrigues started coaching triathletes in the early 1980s, helped found the first triathlon club in Los Angeles and Team Malibu, and organized the Malibu Masters Swim Club. He cofounded the World Open Water Swimming Association and has managed and coached numerous swimming clubs and teams in Southern California and coached dozens of swimmers to top 10 national rankings, national championship wins, national and world records, and has coached Olympic gold medalists and world champions. Rodrigues was owner of SWIM Magazine and publisher of Swimming World and Swimming Technique magazines. He launched one of the world’s earliest swimming websites, swiminfo.com in 1995. In 1992, Rodrigues was named U.S. Masters Swimming Coach of the Year. Emma-Kate Lidbury is a journalist and professional triathlete. She was coached by Gerry Rodrigues at Tower 26 during the peak of her racing career. She has won six Ironman 70.3 titles and has finished twice in the top 10 at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Originally from the UK, Emma-Kate began her journalism career in the British newspaper industry where she worked for several regional titles. She was assigned to cover the Blenheim Triathlon in 2005 and, after participating in the race, she was inspired to pause her journalism career to focus her attention on becoming a professional triathlete. She continued to work as a freelance writer in the endurance sports and triathlon space, writing for publications and websites around the world. She moved to the U.S. in 2013, landing in Santa Monica, California, where she joined Tower 26 and has since swum nearly 2,000 miles as part of the program. She now lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband Aaron and their mischievous puppy Indie.

Preface

1: An Introduction to Triathlon Swimming

2: The Tower 26 Training Cycle

3: Training

4: Technique

5: Breathing

6: Kicking

7: Swim-Specific Strength and Mobility

8: Mastering Open Water

9: Race Preparation

10: Athlete Development

Appendix A: Equipment

Appendix B: The Tower 26 Program

Acknowledgments

About the Authors