Shokz OpenSwim | Open Water Aerin

The Best of 2024 and Beyond: These are a few of my favourite things

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Aerin Bowers

I’ve never done a “best of” despite having many favourite things, things I’m trying, and places I’m exploring. I also like the idea of giving kudos just because, and because sharing is caring in the real world and the world of open water swimming. I realize that it’s March and awards season is pretty much over, but credit where credit is due can and should be given no matter the season. If you read all the way to the end, you’ll find another reason why I’m in the mood for caring and sharing. (Whee!)

Best Swim of 2024

My best swim was June’s Around Coronado Island, supported by Dan Simonelli and Summer Wesson. It was my first big real ocean swim, and it tested my ability to set my (shark) fears aside and just swim. At night! In the open ocean! San Diego means a lot to me, and I had a great time during my visit. Dan’s guidance before and during the swim makes this one you don’t want to miss. Swimming into the San Diego sunrise…..I’d totally do it again.

Best Race

It’s a toss-up. I had such a blast with my BC swimming community in the Across the Lake Swim Series, which takes place from July – September. Last summer I swam the Rattlesnake Island 7 km, Kalmalka Lake 4.5 km, the Skaha Lake 11.8 km, and the Gellatly Bay 5 km. My favourite? It has to be Skaha, because I love this distance, this lake, and I swam a really good swim with top-notch support. This year the ATLS is adding more swims In Osoyoos and Shuswap Lake, plus a 10 km Kalmalka event to get excited about – check it out and if you want a discount code, I’m your gal. HMU. You can also camp in my yard. Well, maybe not for the whole summer.

Best Goggles

As a long-time Speedo Vanquisher wearer, I didn’t think I’d ever switch to another brand. The little nosepieces can be fiddly and dig into the sides of my schnoz though, so I sought out a new style with a larger eye frame and moulded bridge. I settled on the Roka R1, and bought both the clear (for night) and the cobalt mirror (for sunshiny days). I use them in the pool and the open water, interchangeably. I noticed an improvement in comfort right away, and I really like the slightly wider lens and how they don’t fog, as long as I give them a regular wash with dish soap. I still get the post-swim goggle-eyes, but I’ve sort of accepted that goggle-eyes are par for the (long) course and make me look wise like an owl.

Best Swimsuit

Swimmers, bathers, cossie, banana hammock (for dudes) – not the bane of my existence, but certainly necessary if you want to participate in family-friendly daytime events and not scare children, lifeguards, or people relaxing on their docks. I wore Q Swimwear exclusively for several years, and I love the extensive and fun selection of patterns and designs they offer. Then I decided that maybe half my bum hanging out would be acceptable (to most people), and I ventured into the colourful world of Jolyn. I liked both the “Brandon” and the “Devon” which come in size 38 and offer that partial coverage that is becoming of a woman of my vintage. I recently upgraded to the “Caroline”, which is my favourite suit ever. It contains my bosoms while still fitting a little high-cut, and I am the toast of the hot tub. They’re pricey and they no longer have a Canadian website, but damn I love this brand. I bought a bikini too, a black one – but I only wear it while drinking Aperol Spritzes in Rapperswil, darling.

In the interest of buying Canadian (for reasons that must be obvious), I searched far and wide for a Canadian swimsuit company and was introduced to Rise Swimsuits out of Vancouver, BC. I love their enthusiastic support of women in open water, and I love their bright and vibrant designs. With some very helpful Instagram chat assistance for sizing, I ordered 3 suits that are on their way to me now!

Best Hair & Body Products

I like Malibu Swimmer’s Wellness because it smells like blue lemonade Koolaid, the bottle reminds me of the hand weights in Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical” video, and it makes my hair feel soft and shiny. It really does!

I also love Loma’s Nourishing Oil Treatment, and I apply it religiously after every pool swim.

To keep dry skin at bay, as much as possible for someone whose gills close if they’re out of the water too long, I love Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula. The chocolatey scent lasts all day and it’s a pleasure to slather.

And again, I’d appreciate any Canadian-made suggestions for hair and body.

Best Underwater MP3 Player

After years of allegiance to the Finis Duo, I switched to the Shokz Open Swim and have been in love with this light and durable little headset ever since. It fits behind the ears and wraps around my head, under my swim cap. I load it up with songs each season in an ever-evolving playlist that powers my pool workouts and the occasional open-water swim (always when accompanied by a paddler – safety first!). I build a playlist in Spotify, and then use a YouTube to MP3 converter to save the file to my laptop. Once I have the file, I just transfer it over to the Shokz when they’re connected to the laptop via USB. It does take some time, but it’s one of those little swim rituals that help to keep my head in the game. I like it better than a pesky beeping timer for setting my pace, and I like that the battery lasts the 9 hours it promises. I never use the Bluetooth function, because what would be the point underwater? I used to hate that it wouldn’t shuffle, but I’ve turned that frown upside down by using the playlist as a memorization tool that comes in very handy during long swims where there is no music except in my head.

Best Nutrition

I finally sorted out my feeds last year after ten years of entertaining vomits. I tried everything from maple syrup to Eye of Newt, and the only stuff that’s worked for me is UCan‘s Energy in Cocoa Delite. Please UCan, if you’re listening – never stop making this flavour.

And bananas. Long live the banana.

Best Learning Experience

My weekend swimming with Dover Channel Training last July wins top prize for teaching me so much about what it would take to swim the Channel. I showed up not knowing quite what to expect and expecting to shame myself by barfing in front of the polite and cultured English people. Thanks to the wonderful Emma France, I discovered UCan and then had two awesome days and twelve hours of swimming circles in Dover Harbour with other English Channel hopefuls and luminaries. Even though the weather thwarted my plan to swim in September, I was totally prepared and a key part of that prep was the weekend I spent with DCT.

Aerin Bowers and Emma France at Dover Channel Training

Best Surprise of 2025 (so far)

Saving the best for last, as is my practice. I’ve got an English Channel slot for 2025! My new window is July 1-10, so I’ll be hopping back on the Dovercoaster once again for what promises to be another thrilling ride. More on that and how it happened COMING SOON in an upcoming post. Whee!

In the Thick of it

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Aerin Bowers

March: month of leprechauns and lions, Ides and madness. I am in the thick of it!

In my last post, I mentioned a little challenge that I will take on in September – swimming the English Channel! It’s a dream several years in the making – all the way back to Grade 7, in fact. Some Howard Coad School bully (there were a lot of them) probably said to me, not kindly, regarding the extensive amount of swimming I was then doing: “What are you gonna do, swim the English Channel? What a barf bag.” and I probably said “YEAH!” and ran home before they could steal another Beaver Canoe t-shirt right off my back. 12-year-old Aerin would have had very little conceptual understanding of the actual undertaking or what I’d agreed to, but it’s really feeling VERY REAL now as I start to check off the application requirements and make VERY REAL plans.

Pass the medical. Confirm insurance. Decide who will be my support team on the boat. Accommodations. Flights. Align training cycles to travels. Documentation. Deadlines, which are helpful and also seemingly always approaching. I’m a reasonably organized sort of person who takes great pleasure in any sort of checklist, and the remaining items mostly involve the coordination of people who are not me. There’s also the 6-hour, sub-16-degree qualifying swim that must be completed before September, but I’m waiting for that sweet spot between 12C and 16C that usually happens in the middle of May. Sweet = a temperature that turns your nipples blue and gives you several subsequent episodes of afterdrop, but I’ll take those over hot flashes any day.

Only Harriet is swimming in the lake so far

Lots of people have asked me lots of questions about this swim. How far? Why? What the fuck? How do you train for that? I will endeavour to answer many of these questions in subsequent posts but thought I’d write a bit about training since that’s what I’m in the thick of. In the meantime, this helpful FAQ from the Channel Swimming Association (the official body under which my swim will be ratified) contains lots of interesting information for the curious.

My training plan is the most detailed and specific that I’ve ever used, thanks to the expert stylings of one Amy Ennion. I followed Amy and her impressive swimming accomplishments for a while before reaching out to see if she’d build a plan for me. And what a plan! I’ve worked on technique, speed, and swimming at my threshold pace. I’ve forced myself to swim slowly to swim faster. I’ve used paddles and my buoy more than ever before, so much so that my buoy has become a second buoyfriend. I am also swimming all four strokes, even though my Channel attempt will be 99% freestyle/front crawl. The other 1% is peeing during backstroke, a technique I have nailed. I might figure out how to pee better on my front between now and September, but no pressure. Right now it’s just fun to splash kick away the yellow so that the lifeguards don’t see. I have just entered a new “mesocycle” to prep for the approaching open water season, replacing 2 of the interval sessions with 2 long back-to-back swims each week. I’m in the pool four times a week, in the gym twice, and at yoga twice (if I can be arsed – I’m trying to fall back in love with yoga). My weekly distance has now ramped up to between 16-20 km. For instance, this week I did 2 interval sessions including a speed test and a pull/paddle-focused workout. I also did 2 back to back 90-minute swims of 5 km each. I’m also in the thick of my busiest season at work, with many long days and lots of travel in the mix.

Fitting it all in is an opportunity and a challenge. In January, I swam in some pretty cool pools in Palm Springs, including the Palm Desert Aquatic Center and Palm Springs Swim Center. The PDAC accommodated my super early mornings and I am still feeling the thrill of swimming outside in January! Under palm trees! I also swam in Toronto in January which was the complete opposite experience with limited morning lane times within the downtown corridor, although the Varsity Swim Centre was fun and very fast! In February and March, I swam in Calgary at the MNP Community & Sport Centre, Waterloo at the Swimplex, London at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, Hamilton at the McMaster University Pool, and Montreal at the Parc Olympique. Montreal was a highlight as the World Aquatics Championships of Diving were happening, and it was such a thrill to watch the competition between sets! Such tiny splashes, and yes, such tiny Speedos.

I’m using a Garmin Swim 2 to track my training sessions and have slowly become a convert, or at least less of a skeptic since I got the watch in September. The battery life sucks, the features are somewhat limited, and it sort of ruins any nice outfit, but it’s what I have for now. The stats are great, and I actually look forward to reviewing my swim data after every session. I’m working hard toward not working so hard and the ability to track how much time I’m spending in each heart rate zone is helpful. A chest strap would give more accurate data, but I’ll take the watch for now. I’m saving up for a Garmin Fenix 6 Solar for the open water season. The Garmin integrates with Strava, and if you’re a Strava-er you can follow me here. I also use a pair of Shokz OpenSwim Waterproof Headphones for long pool sessions – I do love them and they are a significant upgrade from the Finis Duo that I used for years. My latest swim playlist is here.

I will finish off this month back at the Trail Aquatic Centre during my long weekend Kootenay getaway. I hope yours is filled with giant bags of Mini Eggs filling your cheeks (6 at a time in each), great globs of caramel running down your chin, and several toasty, heavily buttered hot cross buns. Training makes me so hungry. It’s one of the best things about swimming. Come on April!