The program I’m placing in front of you today follows the Computrainer program just sent to you (let me know if you didn’t get info on the Computrainer program offered to Slowtwitch affiliated coaches).
Swimovate is the company that got me thinking about programs like this. Had it not been for Swimovate there probably wouldn’t be this Slowtwitch Program Coaches initiative. This product is what got the wheels turning in my head. This one is tougher. It’s nuanced. You really need to understand this product and its benefits and, really, coaches make up the cohort that best understands the product. Swimovate’s products are sold through retailers, but it’s unlikely any but a few retailers really “get” this product.
It’s a sports watch you wear while swimming. It counts laps. It takes times. It counts strokes. It remembers the distances swum during a workout. It’s got its own software that logs and interprets the workout.
Why is this of value to coaches? It’s very rare to find a product that allows the coach to peer in to the swim workout if you’re not on the pool deck. Finis makes microelectronics that can do this. To my knowledge, that’s about it. Swimovate’s watches graduate in their sophistication through their models, including the ability to also record heart rate (very few products have licked the problem of recording heart rates during the swim).
I wrote about one of this company’s models here: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Electronics/Swimovate_Poolmatelive_4264.html
It’s not just a watch that records what you did, it prompts the swimmer. The prompt is vibration. If you want to hold a specific pace, or leave on a specified interval, the watch vibrates at specified, pre-programmed times. This is handy if your athlete does not have a pool clock. It’s nice for sustained swims because a vibration that occurs every, say, 25 percent of the way through the swim let’s the swimmer know his progress and when the swim is over.
This is not a program that just includes a discount. Yes, there is a discount. It’s just like the Computrainer program, where you get a promo code, your athlete types it in, he gets 15 percent off, you get 10 percent off (or in the case of Swimovate a 10 percent product credit sitting on your account, if that’s your preference).
My view was that this program needed to go a bit further. What I wanted was a cohort of Slowtwitch affiliated coaches to make up what we might call the Swimovate Think Tank, where you have access to the engineers behind Swimovate and, more importantly, they have access to you and your front line knowledge. Accordingly, I have offered to Swimovate to set up a reader forum just for coaches, where you can all discuss, ask questions, help each other, and where Swimovate’s brain trust can monitor the forum, answer your questions, field your requests for additional features, and ask your opinions.
Should you also choose to invest in one of these products - not a bad idea if you’re recommending them to your clients - your discount as a coach is 55 percent. If you want to investigate this a little further before you decide anything or contact anyone, I asked the folks at Swimovate to prepare me something to show you coaches, so you can visualize what this might look like. It’s attached.
Your contact to generate a promo code is: John Zolikoff <john@swimovateusa.com>. You may email him, or his direct number is 414-807-3825.
I have set up this reader forum referenced above. You won’t find it (not yet). It won’t be viewable, readable, accessible by anyone other than you (coaches to whom I grant read/write/post access), and the folks at specified companies like Swimovate. I will have to grant you access to this forum. Accordingly, if you want that access granted - the forum is called Slowtwitch Coaches - you should email me back and let me know you want forum access, and include your Slowtwitch Reader Forum user name (I have to know your user name, that “user” is what’s getting access to this new forum. This is the same user name that you used when you set up your listing on our Coaches database). You’ll find this new forum here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Slowtwitch_Coaches_F11/
Just remember you won’t be able to see the forum or its contents until I’ve granted your user account access.
The Swimovate program is not as easy, slick, and obvious as was the Computrainer program. Everybody knows about Computrainer. Not so Swimovate. Some of you will see the value immediately, others among you will not see the value. The middle ground is that you pass this info off to your customers who may well be interested in Swimovate as a useful tool and appreciate the discount, yet you might not choose to rely on this product as part of your coaching routine. Consequently, this is one of those no-harm/no-foul propositions. You have this program available to you, use it or don’t as you so choose.
You may want to have access to this new reader forum in any case, as this might prove to be a good, quiet place where the proletariat aren’t peering over your shoulders for coaches and manufacturers to hash things out and compare notes.