Getting out into the open water is one of the best workouts that you can do, the more you do it the more you are calm in the water. Swim parallel to the shore just outside the break, swim out around a buoy and back. Do runs down the beach and into the water to simulate starts. There is more to swimming than just doing lap after lap, turning when you reach the wall at the end of the pool. You can swim in places with no walls - open water. Lakes, oceans, and rivers offer a great change of scenery - go to your local beach for today's workout instead of more laps in the pool. Depending on the reasons you swim, you may find it more psychologically rewarding; it can certainly be just as productive for building your fitness.
This from About.com A few of the things to remember if you are going to swim in open water:
There are no lines on the bottom - look for landmarks to aid navigation, but find the balance between looking too often and not looking enough.
Put on your sunscreen - and don't forget your lips.
Drink plenty of fluids before you begin.
Make sure you follow the buddy system - if you are at a guarded beach, tell the lifeguards what you are doing.
You can do any type of workout - long straight swims, intervals where you vary the intensity level, even short sprints then tread or float in place.
It will be easier to count strokes compared to doing efforts for time or distance; 50 strokes at a high effort, 50 strokes easy, etc.
Base your workout on time spent swimming, not how far you think you have gone.
Stay on the safe side of distance from shore - DON'T GO OUT TOO FAR.
If you are in a race, watch out for the flailing arms and legs of those around you - getting hit or scratched hurts, and can knock off your goggles.
Learn to use the waves to help you ride up and slide down.
Time your stroke so you can breath without getting splashed in the face.
If they are allowed, wetsuits designed for swimming work - you will be amazed at the extra warmth and the additional speed with no additional effort.
Perfect for when you can't get in the water and for the days when you just want dry land training. A swim bench is great for this, Triton Fitness has come up with one of the most ergonomically swim devices on the market;
The Triton is to swimming what a treadmill is to running. And so, efficient freestyle swim training can now be accomplished in a 'totally dry' home or health club setting. For any swimmer or triathlete, swimming is a matter of proper technique and endurance; understanding how to move your body correctly and then practicing it over and over until it becomes habit. Practicing proper swim form is the key to becoming a capable and competitive swimmer. The Triton was designed with that in mind and encourages those using it to execute a correct freestyle swim stroke. It allows swim athletes to customize their freestyle stroke paths to replicate exactly how arms move through the water during pool workouts or competition, thus taking dryland to a much higher level of neuromuscular and training benefit. A perfect swim coaching device. Check it out! Triton Fitness
To open the USA Swimming Trails, Michael Phelps does it again in the 400m IM , shaking off nerves and coming from behind, ok not from behind but even with Ryan Lochte to pull off a win and WR. Then Katie Hoff does it also in the 400m IM. The last couple years have been one of the most exciting times in the Swimming world, records have fallen and Michael has been atop of the swimming world. Whether it the suit or just amazing coaching and swimming from the whole USA team this is going to be a great showdown in Beijing. Phelps is set to do 9 events so this could be a record breaking year for USA Swimming, also making Micheal Phelps "THE" most decorated Olympic athlete ever. GO USA
This is a old film but one that will get you inspired to go train. It really show how and what it really take, what a elite Triahlete gives up. This year 2007 was a break out year for triahtlons, money was being made, USA Traithlon indicated their best year yet. So looking back 2006 really showed how far the sport has come in the last couple years.
What It Takes" follows 4 world-class triathletes around for a year, as they prepare for the world championships in October, 2005.
"At the very top end of the sport, there's a large pool of very good athletes. The physical differences between those athletes are minimal. The people that win are different due to character. That's the #1 thing I look for." - Murphy Reinschreiber, Agent, PCH Sports
Yes this would be the ideal setting for any triathlete but for living in the North East being stuck in door swimming countless laps is what is in store. Well the trickier part is if you are traveling, how do you find a pool, Swimmers Guide can help, find the country, state, city and you are off, it even gives the water temp of the pool. How great is this.
Swimmers Guide contains the only international, descriptive directory of publicly-accessible, full-size, year-round swimming pools available. There is no resource available in any format with as many pool listings or as much information about each pool as you'll find on this Web site.
This 133rd monthly update of the database since May, 1996, lists 18,380 facilities with 19,572 full-size, year-round swimming pools in 10,457 cities and towns in 165 countries.
Every listing includes:
* The name and address of the pool or facility; * The area or city code and telephone number for inquiries about hours, rates, schedules, and programs; * A description of the pool(s) there - always with length and indoor or outdoor location, often with water temperature and number of lanes or width; * Admission information, including (where available) drop-in prices and discounts for members of affiliated groups and facilities, for senior citizens, and for guests registered at nearby hotels.
Many listings also include:
* A key-word summary of the aquatic programs and activities regularly offered or available at the pool; * Directions and/or links to street address-specific maps to help find the pool ( 10,669 map links, alone); * Descriptions of its board and platform diving facilities; * Contact information for Masters and youth swim clubs and competitive diving, water polo and synchronized swimming teams which train at the pool; * Links to the facilities' and teams' own Web pages - 15,472 of them, more swimming links than any other Web site!
Summer is coming and that means the summer Olympics. Watching Michael smash a ton of records mostly his own at this point is going to be great. The U.S. and Olympic Committee even got the events moved around so we (U.S.) will have prime time coverage. After seeing all the construction and nervousness of the village not being finished it is great to see this progress. The pool looks great. Get ready to rock.
599 wore the PointZero3 at the 2007 Hawaii Ironman. I would say that blueseventy is on to something. From what is being written and how many people are donning this over there race gear fast is an understatement. Now others make them ZOOTS, Orca and XTERRA and they all basically do the same thing, shed water like a wetsuit and have low drag coefficient. They are also FINNA (PDF download). NICE So get training, get happy, and get one to be faster on race day. PointZero3
posted by HC Fitness and Technology Solutions @ 4:58 AM
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Swim Planning
Swim Planning is one of the hardest things to do. You can run steps or hills, cycle can be time trials, endurance or just a local ride. Well SwimPlan.com changes that. Once you register, you can plan your workouts, from triathlons to full competitive swim workouts. Here is an example one that you can run.
Duration 45-60 mins Distance 3800yd Pool length 25yd Issued Jan 14 2008 Warm up (repeat 6 times)
• 1 x 50yd Freestyle Swim (even pace), rest 0:15 / 50yd [Easy] Freestyle swim at a steady pace. • 1 x 50yd Breaststroke Swim (even pace), rest 0:15 / 50yd [Easy] Breaststroke swim at a steady pace. Build up (repeat 2 times)
• 2 x 100yd Lateral Kick with fins, rest 0:15 / 100yd [Aerobic] Freestyle side-on kick drill. One arm held out front, the other held loosely at your side. Keep your ear on your shoulder (except when you turn to breathe) and kick on your side. The arm out front sculls the water with a flat hand and fingers below the wrist. Reverse arms and side every full or half pool length. • 1 x 300yd Single Arm with fins (arm out front) 12 x left, 12 x right, 12 x full stroke, rest 0:20 / 300yd [Easy] Freestyle using one arm at a time, focusing on shoulder and hip rotation. Complete 12 arm strokes with the left arm then 12 strokes with the right arm, followed by 12 strokes using both arms. The non-stroking arm is held out front in a streamlined position. Core (repeat 4 times)
• 5 x 100yd Freestyle Swim, target time 01:14 / 100yd, rest 0:20 / 100yd [Aerobic] Freestyle swim at a steady pace, trying to keep closely to the given target time for every 100yd. If your target time is too easy or too difficult please complete another time trial. • Rest 0:30 seconds [Easy] Warm down
• 2 x 50yd Backstroke Easy, rest 0:10 / 50yd [Easy] Backstroke swim at a slow, relaxed pace. Concentrate on long slow strokes. • 2 x 50yd Freestyle Push & Glide, rest 0:10 / 50yd [Easy] Freestyle swim, pausing at the end of every stroke with arms out-stretched, one held out front, the other held loosely against the body.
posted by HC Fitness and Technology Solutions @ 2:13 PM
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Dry Land Swimming - Bands or machine - Dara Torres
Dara Torres is back in the pool after giving birth about a year ago and setting records. Well if you are not sure who she is, then here is the surprise she is 40 years old and breaking records and shamefully putting it to kids half her age. How is she doing it, by spending less time in the water and hitting the gym for dry land training. The NY Times has a great article about her.
Anyway the most interesting part was that "her day had begun just after dawn in the weight room, where she worked her legs until they quivered and her arms until they ached — without pressing a weight or lifting a dumbbell. The 90-minute workout was the first leg of her training triathlon. It was followed by 90 minutes of swimming and 60 minutes of stretching." So does a swiss ball and bands or weights help or a dry swim trainer help you stay fit. From the looks of Dara I would say whatever she is doing it is working.
The results are in the time that you put into any sport. As we get older it is much more difficult to recover and with science and technology helping us understand our bodies better, doing exercises different from the sport in which you compete might help jump start and heal you for taking it to the next level. Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving
KONA, KONA, KONA, is upon us! If you can watch the race, it is going to be one of the best based on all the trash talking going one. Here are some of the stats: The field racing here in Kona on Saturday will include just over 1,800 athletes.
Of that group, 73 per cent are men.
There are 90 male pros and 52 women professionals.
The largest category is the men 35-39 with 259 athletes, but the men's 40-44 is only nine behind on that front.
The largest women's categories are the 30-34 and 40-44, each with 75 participants.
51 countries are represented here, making this truly a world championship
There are 49 states represented.
One way to celebrate your birthday would be doing an Ironman, which is exactly what Patrick Bless, Marty Bulcock, Erik Grimm, Michelle Krelle, Hiroyuki Nishiuchi and Lynette Warn are doing.
The youngest competitors on Saturday include Phan Long from Carmel, Indiana and Tatiana Vertiz from Dallas, Texas.
Frank Farrar, the former governor of South Dakota, is our oldest competitor at 78. He's a few months older than our other 78-year-old, California's Loren Leonard.
Sister Madonna Buder, 77, from Spokane, Washington, is our oldest female competitor.
The one competitor that is sure to excite is the defending Ford Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Samantha McGlone, is here to compete in her first Ironman. She’s prepared carefully and arrives here in Kona both fresh and with lots of bottom-end speed thanks to a career that included both the Olympics and lots of World Cup experience. She has breathed some life back into the smaller events and has shown that you don't need to do Kona to be successful. Samantha is the best at the 70.3 distance.
and
Craig Alexander who is a world class professional triathlete with nearly a decade of racing experience. Craig, known as Crowie, is based in Boulder Colorado in the USA for the spring and summer, then heads home to Cronulla for the Australian summer. He too is also the male Ford Ironman 70.3 World Champion 2006.
Photo: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images Tapering seems to be on everyone's mind lately, with several triathlons coming up, New York Triathlon and Mercer County Triathlon all need to be in full taper mode. So what does this mean? In short less work/time/milage at a race pace or faster, to get your system ready for the race ahead. Active.com puts it like this: "In the last week before an Olympic-distance triathlon, your run training must be sharply reduced in volume so your body can fully recover from and adapt to the peak workouts you did the previous week.
In addition, you must include a modest amount of running at race pace or faster to ensure your neuromuscular system is primed. Cutting your peak tempo run and your peak transition run in half and eliminating the long run should do the trick. If you like, do this last, short transition run at a near-maximum effort level -- just so race pace doesn't seem quite so fast come Sunday!" Full article and chart at: Active.com
Photo, Underwater by Rowell Spencer, All Posters I was asked the other day, how do I catch my breath while swimming? First, make sure you breathe out all of your air before you rotate to take a breath. This is not like running or biking where we can get a breath anytime we like, part of establishing a good breathing technique is more swimming and becoming comfortable in the water. The more you swim the better everything gets. Here are some good pointers: •On a 100 yard freestyle (4 laps of a 100 yard pool) break up the laps into sections, on the first 25 breathe every 3rd stroke, the next 25 breathe every 4th stroke, next 25 every 5th stroke and last 25 on the 6th stroke. This will take some time to get used to but it is a great drill, especially if you are doing triathlons where sometimes you have to switch up your breathing in a pack full of people. • Side kicks are great to practice, make sure you are rotating while you are taking a breathe not just turning you head. • Extend your arms, make sure you are reaching with the opposite arm keeping you moving through the water. If you would like to know more read The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimmingby Kevin Koskella
posted by HC Fitness and Technology Solutions @ 4:45 AM
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Open Water Swimming
A buddy of mine, Dan Blank, told me a story of him trying to reach shore after his kayak over turned. Now I won't bore you with my version of the story let's just say it was funny, but also reminded me to get some practice before NY Triathlon. Open water swimming is much different than a pool, you have current, waves and debrey floating sometimes in your way. Not to mention sun glare, which could mess your stroke up when you turn to breathe. The main difference is making sure you have a high stroke, if it is too low and a wave catches your arm you will find yourself out of sequence. Go to the shore early morning and jump right in, the water will be colder or feel colder, and the sun will be coming up. There is only one way to get ready for open water that is to go and practice. So get going!
posted by HC Fitness and Technology Solutions @ 5:55 AM
Friday, May 25, 2007
Transition: Swim-to-Bike, Bike-to-Run
The triathletes spend their time focused on swimming, biking, running rather than the transitions. You should spend some time focused on the transition, it is an event all it's own. Build transitions into your workouts, after a swim workout have your stuff layed out and do the switch, time yourself and get riding. Make a mental not of where you had trouble. Check out this article from About.com. Tips for getting in and out of the triathlon transition zones quickly Most triathletes spend the bulk of their training time focused on the three events: swimming, cycling, and running. But the transition between each event also requires training. Each triathlon has two transitions: a swim-to-bike and a bike-to-run. Although they seem simple a poor transition can add precious time and waste energy during a race. A good transition can improve your position and spirits while a bad one can leave you struggling to make up lost time. Here are some tips to help you prefect your transitions. more...
The hardest thing to do over a 16 week training schedule is to break it up! Swimming free the whole time can cause stress on the joints and even wear you out. Learning to swim different strokes can make training fun again! Swimming the Butterfly or "fly" is tough, but once mastered you are stronger and more flexible then when you started. "Butterfly is a difficult stroke to swim as it needs both stamina and style. The movements you need to make, however, are not difficult because you will have done many of them before in other strokes.
Under and over with the arms 1) Both of your arms work at the same time and keep moving throughout the stroke. 2) Put your hands in the water in front of your shoulders and push towards your feet. 3)When your hands reach your thighs, lift them out of the water and throw them back to the start.
Sounds easy doesn't it?
Well, it can be if you make sure that you are pushing hard as your hands reach your thighs. This will help them to fly out of the water.
Look forward to breathe 1) You need to keep your head in the water all of the time, except when you need to breathe in. 2) If you lift your head up at other times it will be almost impossible to get your arms over the water. 3) The easiest way to breathe in is to push your chin forwards so that your mouth comes out of the water. It is best to do this when your arms are almost at your thighs.
Getting the order right. If you do not do everything in the right order your stroke will have no style. Try this: • Kick your legs down as your hands go in • Kick your legs down as your hands come out • Head down when arms go over the water • Keep head down until arms are near thighs • Breathe in quickly • Remember to try to improve one bit at a time.
Once you think you have done all of these things spend a few sessions practicing them and then have a look at intermediate butterfly." Check it out! BBC Sports
posted by HC Fitness and Technology Solutions @ 5:17 AM
Friday, May 4, 2007
Freestyle Drills to Improve Swimming Technique
image from www.ironmanbaja.com Here is a list of Drills that one can do, thanks to: Mat Luedders, from About.com Swimming drills are specific movements, done repetitively, to get your technique "in the groove." They can help you get more efficient and they can help you become a faster swimmer. Generally included in all workouts, most coaches feel that you can never do enough technique work. You should include some in your workouts, too. • Catch-up: to isolate one arm, to practice a long stroke and a long body position. Swum like regular freestyle, except one arm is stationary, always extended forward (front arm), pointing towards the destination, while the other arm performs the stroke (working arm). When the working arm moves forward and "catches-up" with the stationary arm, they change places. • 3/4 Catch-up: Just like full catch-up, except the stationary (front) arm begins to work or move before the other arm fully "catches-up" - it begins to move after the working arm is about 3/4 of the way through a full arm motion. • Catch-up with a board: Just like regular catch-up, only your front hand is holding a kick board. As the arms trade places, they hand off the board to each other. You can substitute a pencil - or anything else that won't make you sink. • Fingertip Drag: to promote a high elbow recovery and to make you aware of your hand position during recovery. Swum like regular freestyle, except your fingertips never leave the water as your arm moves forward during the stroke recovery. You drag your fingers forward through the water, slightly off to the side of your body, focusing on good body roll and keeping your elbows pointed up. Change how much of your hand stays in the water: fingertips, hand, wrist, even your whole forearm. • 10/10 (simple): to promote good body roll and head alignment (when you add breathing - see the next drill). This looks like regular freestyle in very slow-motion. • One arm is extended forward, pointing towards your destination (front hand). The other is backwards, pointing towards where you just left (back hand), with the arm resting against the edge of your body. • You should be on your side, with the back hand side of your body up, the front hand side of your body down (towards the bottom of the pool). • Your ear should be against your front hand shoulder, chin in line with your chest, eyes sideways (or even up a bit), mouth out of the water (so you can breath). • Take 10 kicks, then stroke, so that your body rolls and your hands switch places. • The front hand takes a stroke underwater and finishes against your side, becoming the back hand. • The back hand recovers over the surface of the water, becoming the front hand. • Your head switches, rotating with your body (rolling down into the water and then up on the other side), and you continue, taking 10 more kicks, then everything switching again. • When you have this drill figured out, move onto the next step, adding breathing (see the next drill). • Fist: to promote "feel" for the water. Swum like regular freestyle, except you hold either one or both of your hands in a fist. • Vary the pattern and the number of strokes that you are "fisted." • When you unclench your hand, you should notice a difference in pressure on your hand - use this feeling to keep your hand holding water as you move through your pull pattern. • When you are clenched, you should also try to press on the water with the inside (palm side) of your forearm - think of the lower arm, from elbow to wrist, as an extension of your hand. And don't forget body roll! One-arm: to focus on one arm at a time. • Swum like regular freestyle, except only one arm is moving. • The other arm is stationary, either forward (front hand) or backwards, against your side (back hand). • The moving hand takes a series of strokes, each arm performing a set number of pulls before they switch roles. • Practice this drill with the stationary arm in both positions. • When your stationary arm is on your side, breath towards that side (away from the moving arm). • When your stationary arm is forward, breath away from it (towards the arm doing the work). • Again, time the breathing so that as your body rolls, your head rolls with it for a breath, then your head should return to its forward alignment.
posted by HC Fitness and Technology Solutions @ 4:00 AM
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Triathlon, Swim Coaching - Catch up drill
Well we all want to improve our technique wether in the water, bike or run. I have found that YouTube has some very good short videos of various types of triathlon training videos. This one is swim - Catch up drill: Catch-up: to isolate one arm, to practice a long stroke and a long body position. Swum like regular freestyle, except one arm is stationary, always extended forward (front arm), pointing towards the destination, while the other arm performs the stroke (working arm). When the working arm moves forward and "catches-up" with the stationary arm, they change places.
