Training Tips and Info

WHAT RACE WEEK IN NOT ABOUT

Race Day Here I Come
So many people become overly anxious as their race approaches, never more than during the week leading to race day. As we all know, in reality, we've done pretty much all you can by that point as far as physical training goes. And of course there are many resources, techniques and practices athletes participate in for mental readiness. But even if you don't have a greater mental skill tool bag, there is a far great calamity awaiting you if you're not careful.


Sharpening The Tip
Race week is all about preventing yourself from over doing it. Whether it be a sprint or ironman, we all can unhinge the best laid race plans by trying to squeeze that extra bit of training in on race week. Sharpening the tip (let's say it's a knife), I think, is the perfect analogy. The rough work has already been accomplished, so that 3 x10 minute bike interval set you've decided to squeeze in 4 days out is only likely to dismantle all the hard work you've put in previously, leaving you feeling flat come race day. Sure you could do more, go harder, pass the guy or gal on the track, but do you need to? 

The tip of a knife is thin and narrow and takes only a few passes on the sharpening stone to create a razor sharp blade. The Tip is Narrow = low volume, The Edge is Sharp = race intensity. Keeping it short and sweet, with a race like intensity, hones your technique and leaves your feeling focused and fast. So don't sweat the swimmer next to you who you always beat during intervals. Feel confident you've prepared properly and you will feel relaxed and ready for the big day.

SAMPLE OLYMPIC RACE WEEK SWIM

                          Warm up: 150m Freestyle

                          3x50m (Drill 25, Swim 25)
                          4x50m (Build speed throughout each 50)
                          2x100m (Race pace)
                          Cool down: 100m

A Better Way To Spend Your Time
Nothing can serve you better than taking the time to go over a few key items on race week to distract yourself from the reduced training.

• Gear check. Look over that wetsuit you haven't used in 6 months, pull out those race wheels, and find your race kit and see if it still fits. An hour or two finding and inspecting the condition of your race equipment can avert a disaster come race day. Make sure everything is in good condition and proper working order. If you can't find all your accessories like water bottles, spare tires and tubes, or that second pair of just in case goggles, this gives you plenty of time to see what you need and go get it.

• Use it. From quick laces and shoes to sunglasses and helmets, try everything out and make sure it fits, works and is fine tuned. Sure you might get a few stares at the local pool while wearing your wetsuit, but reminding yourself what everything feels like and being confident it all works will pay off during the race.

• Race Recon. Whether you get to the venue a week before or race morning there is always an opportunity to evaluate the race course. Be it YouTube, race reports, course maps or personal advice, take the time to find out as much about the race as you can and make your own race day strategies. On site you can see which direction the sun will be during the swim, feel when you'll have a head or tailwind on the bike and discover the quickest way through T1 and T2. 

RUNNING

"It's all in the hips" Those wise words from Chubbs, weren't just true for Happy Gilmore. So much of what we do as athletes depends on strong and flexible hips. From IT-band syndrome to lower back pain to an asynchronous freestyle swim stroke, the hips are the key. So often athletes are told to improve their core strength, yet most people don't realize the "hips" (gluteus medius and maximus, illopsoas, pectineus, and others  ) can be far more relevant than the more commonly associated abdominal musculature.

Hip strength is most often apparent to us when we have running problems like IT band syndrome. Take a look at some of your old race photos in a running race or the run portion of your triathlons, preferably head-on. If you look like my good buddy below, you have an injury problem "potentially" waiting to happen or just as bad, an inefficiency in your running form. Hip Drop if the dreaded biomechanical break down of your running stride when you allow your hip to drop and knee to flex, more and longer than necessary. Just Google "running" and "hip drop" if you don't believe me.

It's not difficult to revamp your stride to begin to eliminate this inefficiency, but it doesn't take work. First and foremost run with a higher cadence. You are less likely to sink into the hip dip if you spend less time collapsing your body down into the ground and more time moving quickly from foot to foot. Second, imagine you have the legs of Oscar Pistorius. If you don't know about Oscar (see below) he is a gold medal para-olympian track athlete and he has stiff and springy carbon fiber legs. When you plant your foot into the ground maintaining the firmness of the knee and hip joint allow you to full maximize the stored energy within the elastic elements of your legs, providing a quick recoil and return of energy.  All of which improves your efficiency.

So next time you see a picture of yourself, maybe you can look better than Lance?

SWIMMING

Let me start by confessing I've never been the biggest fan of using a pull buoy, that is once my swimming technique became relatively efficient. I mean we're not all Michael Phelps, right? So yes, I must confess that like most new swimmers (especially with a kick so awful it would cause me to go backwards) I was addicted to the buoy, at its worst "swimming" up to a continuous 2,000 meters with one. Ugh! It's miserable to even think about now. But upon the thoughtful decision to take triathlon more seriously and put my best efforts forward, I finally conceded to give up my crutch and I began to (pardon the pun) "kick" the habit. Further bolstered by comments from the likes of top USAT coaches like Ian Murray, that the pull buoy disconnects the natural rhythm of the swim stroke, I became a full fledged Buoy-Basher.


Which brings me to the reasoning behind this post. As the coach for the University of Missouri triathlon team, I work with a wide range of swimming abilities. Our coached swim sessions are where I get to push each athlete's limits and provide technical feedback. Knowing that several of the athletes have only been swimming a short period of time, I have become keenly aware that they need everything from fundamental instruction to technique refinement. This also includes the proper use of swimming equipment, as I know not what type of (un)structured swimming environments they might find themselves later in life. Therefore, I like to provide a highly varied practice, with a focused goal for each session. As we are just a few months away from the USAT Collegiate National Championship, speed and intensity are at the forefront. Generally, from a workout design standpoint, I like to find ways for my athletes to gain some recovery from the intense stuff, while maintaining their endurance and preventing excessive rest. And so the buoy occasionally makes an appearance in a recovery set.

Recently at swim practice, a striking observation occurred to me, there is a proper and useful technique for using a pull buoy! Duh, right? Because swimming can be a challenge for most of us and at times we seem to have a million things we are trying to improve and focus on in our stroke, this often gets lost. I mean how often do you push off that wall thinking, "I'm totally going to nail this pull set?" Much like the kick board the pull buoy can be a mindless swimming drill, dominated by the upper body and used for building strength and power up front. After watching several swimmers of varying skill level all lose their Cylinder (the vertical, head to toe streamline, about which a swimmer rotates horizontally), I realized something was being missed. 

Whether it happens in your regular freestyle stroke, just when using a pull buoy, or both, if you lose your cylinder when you swim by over-arching your back, flexing at the waist or letting your legs sway generally about, you are losing focus. The core of swimming (and running and biking for that matter) are the hips. I don't mean the anatomical hips, but the muscles surrounding the pelvis that stabilize our torso and lower body during activity. 
If you have poor hip drive, then you likely lose your cylinder when using a pull buoy. For the ideal technique take a look at this short video. Although a head-on viewpoint would be more dramatic, I think the point still comes across well. Pay attention to the hip rotation of the swimmers and the excellent streamline/minimized drag of their lower bodies. You might also notice the occasional kick, which I think addresses Ian's point, and helps maintain a more natural rhythm with the upper body while pulling.

Additionally, hip drive and strength may be augmented by the substitution of a kickboard for a buoy (see image below). 

(Please ignore the significant differences from an anatomically correct pair of legs) 

By placing the board vertically between your thighs, the board acts as a resistance to your hip rotation, providing great sensory feedback and promoting strong, powerful hip rotation. Give it a try, you might be surprised by what you've been missing.