Unstoppable With Shangrila Rendon

Confident on the bike & run, but stuck and stressed in the pool?

Have you tried everything, YouTube videos, books, hours of practice and yet still can’t break 2:00/100 yards?

Rohit from Texas did the same thing:

Rohit had been grinding 8-9 hours a week in the pool without progress last year. He felt anxious, frustrated, and stuck.

But after our Swim Bootcamp, everything changed in just about a month despite getting sick!

Rohit shared, “The swim bootcamp has been rewarding for me. I wasn’t sure how it would be, but by the end, I felt great and confident. Even after a week off due to sickness, proper technique and practice helped me power through my CSS test. Compared to 45 days ago, I’m proud of where I stand, but I know there’s more work to do.”

✅ CSS improved: 2:19 → 1:55 min/100 yards

Now it’s YOUR turn. If you’re stuck in your swim progress, let us show you the way in this episode.

What You’ll Learn:

- Why YouTube videos won’t break your plateau and what will.

In this episode we will be discussing:

Together with Vineta and our athlete Ann we will share strategies, insights and story of Ann training to qualify for Boston Marathon and accomplishing it in only 4 months.

🔥 Half Marathon PR: 1:59:50. Average Pace 9:08 min/mile

Your swim workout says “technique.”

Your Masters swim or triathlon coach gives you drills and corrections. You may be swimming three or four times per week and working on your catch, breathing, kick, balance, or body position.

❓ So why can the stroke still look the same, the pace remain stuck, and swimming continue to take more effort than expected?

Many athletes listen carefully and genuinely try to make the correction. Their coach may tell them they are crossing over, have sinking legs, lifting their head, losing their catch, holding their breath, or allowing their legs to separate.

They focus on the cue during the next length, but the workout moves on before they know whether anything actually changed. The next time they swim, there may be a different drill, a different set, or a different focus. Several weeks later, the same problem may still be there. 😩

The athlete may feel better during the drill, only to lose the movement as soon as the pace increases, the distance gets longer, or they enter open water. Their swim fitness may improve, but their pace does not change much. Swimming still feels harder than it should, and they remain unsure whether their stroke will be there when they need it on race day.

This does not automatically mean the coach is bad, and it does not mean the athlete is not working hard enough.

Masters swimming also can be excellent for building fitness, consistency, pacing, accountability, and confidence swimming with other people. A triathlon coach may also be giving the athlete useful drills and the right direction.

👉 Yet there can still be a gap between completing technique workouts and seeing a lasting change that improves pace, lowers effort, and remains available when the swim becomes harder or on race day.

That gap is exactly what I’m breaking down during this episode.

📍 Your Masters or Triathlon Coach Gives you Technique Workouts... So Why Isn’t Your Stroke Changing?

During this episode, I’ll show you:

This is not about criticizing Masters swimming or telling athletes to leave their coach.

You may have a knowledgeable coach, useful workouts, and the right drills. Yet there can still be a gap between being told what to change and seeing that change appear consistently in your stroke.

That is the gap I’ll help you identify during this episode.

Is it possible to keep improving in your 60s while overcoming knee pain? 

In this episode, we share how Bob proved to himself that "I still got it!" making a powerful comeback to triathlon racing, improving speed, and finishing top in his AG pain-free!

Bob’s Triathlon Comeback Highlights:

What you’ll learn in this episode:

Watch Bob’s inspiring journey and learn how YOU can keep improving, no matter your age!

Most marathoners know the moment when the race really begins.

Around mile 18.

Up until then, everything feels controlled. The pace is steady and confidence is high.

Then the race changes.

Legs get heavy, the pace starts slipping, and the final miles turn into “just get it done” miles instead of strong execution.

What makes this frustrating is that this happens even after months of hard training. Long runs were done, weekly mileage was consistent, and the work was put in. 

But many runners eventually discover the same thing:

In this episode, we’ll break down why so many runners struggle after mile 18 and what actually helps runners stay strong in the final miles.

Using Bryce's story as an example:

And here’s the surprising part.

But this episode is not just about Bryce.

It’s about understanding what allows some runners to stay strong late in the race while others fade.

In this episode we’ll break down:

For runners balancing careers, family, and limited training time, training smarter matters more than training more.

Because strong marathons are not decided in the first half of the race.

They’re decided in the final miles.

Struggling with swimming in your triathlon training? Feeling out of breath after just 50 yards? 

In this episode, we share how Ron, a competitive athlete in his 50s, went from struggling with breathing & pacing to winning a Sprint Triathlon, improving his swim efficiency, and finishing his first Olympic triathlon under 3 hours!

💬 “Every now and then, I would get into a good rhythm, but I didn’t know what the correct form felt like. I’d watch my swim videos but didn’t know how to fix my technique.” — Ron

Ron wanted to do well in triathlons, feel strong, and have plenty of energy for the bike & run, but swimming was holding him back. After focusing on the right strategies, he gained endurance, improved technique, and unlocked race-day confidence!

Ron’s Triathlon & Swim Breakthroughs:

What you’ll learn in this episode:

If swimming is your weak link, this episode will give you the breakthrough you need.

Think you're too busy to train for a 70.3? 

Struggling with knee pain, Achilles issues, or open water swim nerves? 

In this episode, we break down how Madison, a business owner working long hours and dealing with injuries, trained smart and finished his first Half Ironman strong in just 4 months!

💬 “I was traveling, working crazy hours, and dealing with knee & Achilles pain… but I made it happen!” — Madison

Madison’s 70.3 Race Breakthroughs:

What you’ll learn in this episode:

If you're aiming for your first 70.3 but feeling overwhelmed, this episode is for you.

Struggling with an old injury that keeps coming back?

You signed up for races... but deep down, you're scared.

“What if I make it worse?”

That’s exactly what this episode is here for.

Most athletes think pain means “just rest” or “power through.” But that approach rarely fixes the real problem.

This episode is for runners and triathletes who are:

You’ll learn:

We’ll break down what actually helped one mom, nurse, and runner, who thought she’d lose her World Marathon Majors season because of lingering Achilles pain. She didn’t just get back. She raced 4 times in 10 weeks… strong, happy, and pain-free.

As she said after Boston:

"I stuck to what my coach told me. listen to your body. I had no cramps, no pain, and just enjoyed the race. I finished strong. Injury-free."

You know how to swim. So why does race day make it feel like you don’t?

You trained for months, completed the pool workouts and practiced in open water. Yet when the race begins, your stroke changes.

Manuel, Heather, Amaar and many other athletes we have helped came to us with the same frustration:

“I can’t translate the swim work I put in during training to race day.”

They’re dedicated and doing the right things. Some had already worked on technique, completed swim analyses, or joined Masters swimming. Yet when race day arrived, their stroke changed.

Some felt their legs sinking and forgot how to use their kick. Others started spinning their arms faster. Their glide disappeared, heart rate climbed or breathing became harder to control. The harder they fought the water, the more the water seemed to fight back.

The answer was not simply to become mentally tougher. It was not just doing more open-water swimming.

The problem was that nobody had connected what they were feeling and experiencing on race day with what was physically happening to their stroke.

To change the result, we had to connect several parts of their training.

- Technique

And the ability to recognize and correct what was breaking before it turned into panic.

The result looked different for each athlete.

Manuel, a multi-time 70.3 World Championship finisher, had struggled with anxiety and losing his stroke under pressure. After one month in the program, he earned a swim PR at Ironman 70.3 Australia and finished the race in nearly five hours.

Heather had panicked during a 70.3 swim just a few weeks earlier. After three weeks in the program, she completed her next race swim calmly, without stopping, and won her age group.

Amaar had previously finished only five minutes to spare before the 70.3 swim cutoff. One month later, at age 60, he completed the Ironman Lake Placid swim in under two hours, confidently and without panic.

Different athletes and experience levels but the same underlying problem.

They did not suddenly become tougher. They learned how to recognize what was breaking and access their technique when pressure appeared.

That is what I am teaching in this episode:

📍 Race day does not create a completely new swim problem. It exposes the part of your stroke that has not yet been trained to hold under pressure.

During this episode, I’ll show you:

- Why a stroke that feels fine in the pool can collapse under pressure

This is not about splashing around, swimming harder, or forcing yourself to “get comfortable” in open water.

It is about intentionally testing whether your technique is still available when your breathing, heart rate, effort, and environment change.

Is it possible to go from barely swimming a lap to finishing a Full Ironman in just 9 months? 

Meet Gaye, an athlete from California, who transformed from a beginner triathlete to an Ironman finisher while balancing a busy life and staying injury-free!

Gaye’s Incredible Journey:

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Listen to Gaye’s journey and apply these powerful strategies to your own Ironman training!