Three weeks down! I hope you that the past few weeks have helped you become more comfortable with training for the traithlon. If you’ve been following along, hopefully you may have noticed some improvements in your fitness and are ready to take on new challenges! This week we are going to continue working on some of the skills introduced last week.
Swim: In the swim I will introduce a few more drills. If during the main set you are still finding it difficult to manage the distances, simply repeat last weeks drills in addition to those I have listed below.
200m Warm Up, varying up your strokes (freestyle and some backstroke/breaststroke).
600m Drill as:
100m Fist – Hold your hands in fist and swim normal. You will notice that you aren’t really going anywhere. To fix this, really focus on keeping your elbow high in the water as you pull. This will use your entire arm as a lever rather than just your palm.
100m Zipper – Similar to last weeks finger drag, this time you are going to run your thumb up the side of your torso as though you had a zipper going from hip to shoulder. Focus on keeping your elbow high during the recovery and making sure to fully extend your arm when reaching.
100m Breathing alternate sides – This is a drill you should work on anytime you are swimming. By getting used to breathing on both sides you will have a much more balanced stroke. Often individuals who only breathe on their right or left tend to have a choppy swim stroke which in addition to being inefficient also causes you to swim in an arc rather than a straight line.
100m Kick. Focus on keeping hips high, same as last week.
200m Swim Smooth. Taking all those new focus points from the drills try and incorporate them into a good smooth stroke. Pace time is not important here, its all just about getting a good feel for the water.
Main set. Continuing with our longer distance swimming, this week will be 4 X 200m. The swim should be even paced and smooth. Additionally, the first 200 should really focus on reaching far ahead of you with your stroke, lengthening out as much as possible. The second 200 focuses on the pull (good high elbow position). The third 200 focuses on the finish of the stroke (make sure to really push the water past your hip). The final 200 will really be a solid effort where you focus on all three.
Compare your times for this and see how it improves.
200m Cool Down.
Bike: In regards to last week’s biking conditions, I must apologize. I said the weather was going to get better, but then Mother Nature decided to have the last laugh and this Saturday I woke up to snow. Hopefully this week turns around a little more.
Stadium loop is a great place to practice power cycling. Photo: Google maps
This week there are two workouts. Option 1: For those who feel distance is their biggest adversary in the triathlon, I want you to go out and try and ride 30km. A sample route is to from UBC and complete one lap of Stanley Park before heading home. Regardless of your route, the goal is to simply put in the saddle time. Depending on your riding speed, this will range from 1 hour to 90min.
For those that are a little more confident on the bike, we will do some power training. If you head to the UBC Thunderbird Stadium, there is a great 1 mile loop (Stadium Rd, East Mall, 16th, SW Marine). Go and do 30 minutes on this course. It teachers you good cornering, but also has a medium sized hill every mile on which you can focus on strong pedal strokes and learn proper gearing for when you hit the hill 16th during the UBC triathlon.
Run: This week will be a pyramid workout, where you will work to increase and then decrease the distance run through the workout. You need to find a gradual hill, roughly 500 meters long.
Fortunately we're not talking about running this kind of pyramid. Photo: bibleplaces.com
Starting from the bottom you will run:
1/3 of the way up then back down
2/3 of the way up then back down
The whole way up then back down
Rest and recover (2 min)
Descend:
The whole way up then back down
2/3 of the way up then back down
1/3 of the way up then back down.
Teach yourself to take short powerful steps on the way up. If your legs start to slow, pump your arms more. Your feet will follow. While running the downhill, don’t ease off the intensity. Lengthen your stride and focus on smooth steps trying to focus on not breaking with your heel everytime you land. While running try and keep your fingers and shoulders relaxed. I was always told to imagine you are holding a cracker. Firm enough not to drop it, but gently enough not to break it.
Good luck this week! Week 4, halfway there!
Hey Vince, I’ve just signed up for the Short Triathlon and also just started following your column. As a newbie I’m wondering how many sessions each of swim/bike/run it’s optimal to do per week?
Hi Betty, sorry this took me so long to get back to you, I would suggest at least one workout in each sport per week. Those that I recommend would be the ones I have outlined each week in the column because they focus on a specific part of training with the intention of getting you the most bang for your buck come race day.
That being said, 3 workouts I would say is the minimum. Specifically if you are worried about your fitness and one specific event scares you. If that is the case I would try and throw in a second workout in that specific sport just to build confidence. This second workout shouldn’t be structured, it should just be a long easy swim, bike or run simply to build your base. One of the hardest things about Triathlons is having the confidence to actually toe the line. With a little extra training in your weakness, this can easily be overcome. And you will see that come race day there was really nothing to worry about.
Hi Betty, sorry this took me so long to get back to you. I would suggest at least one workout in each sport per week. Those that I recommend would be the ones I have outlined each week in the column because they focus on a specific part of training with the intention of getting you the most bang for your buck come race day.
That being said, 3 workouts I would say is the minimum. Specifically if you are worried about your fitness and one specific event scares you. If that is the case I would try and throw in a second workout in that specific sport just to build confidence. This second workout shouldn’t be structured, it should just be a long easy swim, bike or run simply to build your base. One of the hardest things about Triathlons is having the confidence to actually toe the line. With a little extra training in your weakness, this can easily be overcome. And you will see that come race day there was really nothing to worry about.