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Swim Training Plan - Olympic Distance

Doc Tri — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:20:19 GMT

2007 Share a Smile Triathlon

Kevin Liljenquist — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:37:20 GMT

How to blog and add video

Active Toby — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:17:18 GMT

One Page Guide to Biking

Trihardist — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:14:00 GMT

One Page Guide to Biking

Body Position: Always maintain a flat back, whether you're on a mountain bike, riding in the drops of a road bike, or in aero position. Keep your core engaged. Ideally, if you were to take your hands off of the handlebars, you would be able to hold your body erect without using your arms for support. Keep your shoulders rotated down and relaxed. Head is aligned with the spine (avoid tucking the chin or arching the head back). Maintain a slight, relaxed bend in the elbows; don't lock out your arms. Relax your grip on the handlebars. Focus on keeping your body engaged, but relaxed.

Bike Fit: Make sure that your bike fits you. Frame, wheels, and handlebars all influence your bike fit, and can all contribute to a poor fit. The best way to make sure your bike fits is to have a professional bike fitting.

Pedaling Technique: Rather than firing your legs up and down like pistons, try to effect a lateral movement. Think of your pedal stroke like the face of a clock: From 11 to 2 o' clock, push forward, as though you're rolling your foot over a barrel; from 2 to 5 o' clock, push down; from 5 to 8 o' clock, pull your foot back as if you're scraping something from the bottom of your shoe; from 8 to 11 o' clock, unweight your foot so that the opposite leg doesn't have to work to push it up. Be sure that your hips, knees, and ankles are aligned. If your knees or toes turn out or in, you'll put extra stress on your hip and knee joints. Also make sure that your legs don't wobble as you turn the pedals.

Cadence: Strive for a cadence between 88-95 RPM, especially if you're a newer cyclist. Optimal cadence is a fairly individual thing; in other words, your optimal cadence is likely different from your training partner's. But 88-95 is a good range to begin with. If you've been training on the bike for a while, you'll probably be comfortable in a wider range of cadences. When riding, always choose a gear that will enable you to maintain this quick, efficient cadence. Turning the pedals more slowly in a higher gear might allow you to achieve the same speed as a high cadence, but it is less efficient, and can put unnecessary stress on the hip and knee joints.

Climbing: Find a gear that will allow you to keep your legs turning quickly and efficiently. It's normal for your cadence to slow, especially on a long, steep hill. The key here is consistency.

Standing: Maintain a relaxed and engaged body. Maintain a flat back and loose, relaxed elbows. If you're climbing a very steep hill, you may need to shift your body weight from side to side, or pull on the handlebars to give yourself enough leverage to keep turning the pedals. With those two exceptions, try to prevent any excessive movement in your upper body. Keep your hips and torso as still as possible.

Sprinting: Maintain proper form throughout a sprint. If you can't maintain proper form, the extra energy you generate for your sprint will be lost to inefficiency, which is usually an uneven trade.

One Page Guide to Swimming

Trihardist — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 03:03:27 GMT

Head position: Look straight down, your nose pointing towards the pool floor, when you're practicing swimming. Your chin shouldn't be tucked or lifted, but held in a neutral position. Allow water to almost cover the back of your head; in other words, hide your head below the water. As you rotate from side to side, try to keep your face pointing at the pool bottom (except when breathing, of course).

Body Position: Always preserve a straight body line in the water; head, neck, shoulders, stomach, and hips should be in alignment, as though you have a steel rod passing from the crown of your head down to your hips. Don't allow your back to bow, or suck in your stomach too far. Press your lungs toward the bottom of the pool. Your lungs serve as a fulcrum for the rest of your body, so to get your body horizontal while swimming, you have to push extra hard on the head/torso end of the lever. The overall sensation should be one of swimming downhill. If your legs are low in the water, they will produce more drag (which means you'll go slower!) and pull you down, forcing you to spend extra energy by kicking in order not to sink. When swimming on your sides (or when rotating from side to side), focus on pushing your armpit down. Reach towards the pool wall immediately after your hand entry and before your catch (but not so far that your hips get out of alignment). Think about squeezing your body through the smallest hole possible.

Hand Entry: You swim with blades, not with fish. Your hand should slice into the water somewhere between your goggle line and a couple of inches in front of your head; they should not fully extend, then flop into the water. It is more efficient to finish extending your hand under water, rather than extending fully in the air. Your hand should enter directly in front of your shoulder, not at the center line of your body (i.e. in front of your head). Keep your arm from crossing over. Pinky should be highest of the fingers during entry.

Pull: Pull doesn't begin until just before your opposite hand enters the water. Don't let one arm sink as your opposite arm recovers (particularly as you breathe); one hand should always be extended in front of your body (this is called front quadrant swimming). Fingers of your hand should be together, thumb straight out to the side. Elbow should be higher than the hand at every point of the stroke. When initiating your pull, think of grabbing a handful of water, holding onto a chunk of “hard” water, or anchoring your hand and swimming past it. Use the rotational force of your hips and torso to pull yourself past your hand, rather than pulling your hand down towards yourself. Your hands should pull back past your hips, your thumbs brushing against your thighs as your hands exit the water. The last part of your stroke is a push back past your hips, not a pull up out of the water.

Recovery: Keep a high elbow throughout your recovery. Imagine that your elbow is attached to a puppet string that is pulling it up out of the water. Make sure that your whole arm is fully clearing the water with every stroke.

Breathing: Do not lift your head out of the water to breathe; raising your head will screw up your body position. Use a slow, controlled exhale throughout your stroke; do not (at any point) hold your breath. End your exhale before turning to the air to breathe. Every second of time you have your face exposed should be used to draw in air; don't waste it on finishing your exhale. Practice bilateral breathing (breathing to both the left and right side, not just to your dominant side) whenever possible by breathing every third or fifth stroke.

Kick: Avoid using an extra strong kick to make up for poor balance and body position in the water. Feet should stay just below the surface of the water, your heels barely kissing the air; you shouldn't be kicking up a lot of foam.

Interval Swim Workout 1-24-08

Trihardist — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:42:24 GMT

Warm Up

100 SPK

Drill Set

50 6/6, 50 3/3

50 fingertip drag, 50 swim

50 catch-up, 50 swim

50 fist swim, 50 swim

Main Set

7x200 on 4:30

7x100 on 2:10

Cool Down

50 EZ