Category Archives: Swimming

Bridgeland Swim and Triathlon Clinic July 30, 2011

By tjfry | July 27, 2011

This weekend I will be out in Cypress, TX for the Bridgeland Swim and Triathlon Clinic. (I will be handling the swim part of the clinic). If you are new to the sport and have been struggling with the open water swim, then come out and let’s see if I can help. You don’t have to be registered to race in the triathlon the following week (which by the way is the largest sprint distance race in Texas) and there will be plenty of first timers there to keep you company. The Clinic starts at 8am and the cost is $20. Be sure to come over and say hello.

More info here:

http://www.onurleft.com/ONURMARK_PRODUCTIONS/TX3_BRIDGELAND_TRIATHLON_-_Home.html

Posted in Swimming | Leave a comment

The Importance of Flip Turns

By tjfry | June 30, 2011

There are a few endurance sports related websites that I haunt from time to time. In the various discussions there are a few topics that show up on a regular basis. Flipturns are one of them. It usually starts with someone asking about tips to learn or improve their turn. The general response from the hoards are”why bother? You don’t have to do flip turns in open water so it really doesn’t matter”. There will be a few experienced swimmers in the mix who try and stress the importance, but trying to educate an uniformed and unwilling mob is a losing battle. There is one thing that I have learned about flipturns over the years, and that is this: If you can you will; if you can’t you will make excuses. I’ve never met a swimmer who can do an effective turn and chooses not to. Good swimmers use a flipturn. This isn’t some groundbreaking revelation. I would bet that every single person on this planet who finishes an Ironman swim in 55 minutes or better does flipturns in training. 

So why is it met with such resistance? Beats me. The good cyclists all know how to ride in a pace line. No one says “don’t learn how to ride in a group because you don’t draft in a triathlon”. Riding in a group teaches handling skills, pace, and often can push you beyond what you would normally do by yourself in an effort to keep up with those faster. While the skill set learned by doing a flipturn varies a great deal from that of riding in a paceline, the indirect benefits of learning to flip are just as important. So let your guard down for a minute and let’s go over a few perks that come with an effective flipturn.

1. Uninterrupted swimming. I figure I would start with the most obvious benefit. For those who swim in an 25 yard pool (most of us) and do an open turn (meaning you put your hand on the wall to turn around), you are interrupting the pace and rhythm of your swim at least a couple times a minute. Better swimmers who have dialed in the open turn a little are also getting a little extra rest and an added breath.  Hey, wait a minute…you don’t get to grab a wall and take an extra breath every 25 yards in an open water swim! Why the heck are you doing it then? Because it’s easier.

Quick side story. Every year I do a swim clinic for a local sprint race here where I live for first timers or those unsure about open water swimming. We go through a number of things regarding anxiety, sighting positioning, etc. When it’s time to swim, without fail I have a few people who swim 30 to 40 yards, roll over on their back and paddle to the shore (see where this is going?). They almost always get out and tell me how they regularly swim lap after lap in the pool without a problem and they can’t figure out what happened. I will tell you that there are a number of things that go wrong in the first minute of a lake swim, but the lack of a wall to grab to get an extra breath is a large contributor to their problems.

By doing an effective turn, you eliminate breaktime every 25 and create a more continuous workout. It’s going to make you tired faster, but it will also make you faster faster.

2. Breath control. I don’t want to turn this into a long winded (get it? man I crack myself up) discussion on hypoxic training, but I will say this. Trying to simulate altitude training simply by holding your breath is ridiculous, but in swimming there is still a need (and some benefits and adaptations) to learn how to control your breathing while you swim. Swimming is one of the only sports that you don’t have free access to oxygen at all times. Because of this, you need to be able to manage and time your breathing to match your effort. Flip turns are a great way to get better at all of this. If you do, say, a race pace 500 in a workout you will notice that towards the end of the 500 that you have more and more trouble finishing your turns as the need for oxygen becomes overwhelming. Yet over time, your body will adapt by increasing lung capacity, alveolar number and pulmonary diffusing capacity making those turns easier. The nice carryover that you get is that you can manage your breathing in-between turns better because of this. So that desperate gasp for air late in a hard swim becomes lessened. Now apply this to open water. At the start, we have all been or will be hit, kicked or run over at that start and thereby disrupting our breathing. Same goes for wavy or rough conditions. Your ability to adapt easily and not get panicked or out of breath will allow you to maintain form and speed, even you missed some air.

3. Better Technique. In the swimming world, it’s referred to as “feel for the water”. I would also call it better awareness in the water. As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, very small adjustments in swimming can lead to very large improvements. I mostly discuss the larger aspects of swimming here so as not to muddy the waters (get it? man I’m on a roll here. tip your waitress), but there are lots of smaller items that add up as well. Did you know some of the best swimmers glide with their hand at a 25 degree angle and not flat? You get the idea. So with flip turns, the motion of your hands, arms, head, torso, legs, etc will all effect what happens as you turn. Learning that awareness, and applying it to the rest of your swimming will give you tools you didn’t have before in your attempt to get better. The little things add up.

4. Pool Swim Triathlons – Obvious, but worth mentioning. As you can see in this clip of me flipping under a lane rope, if you can swim a snake in a pool and use turns, you can make some serious time on your competition.

5. And of course …Street Cred: Let’s face facts, if you are doing flip turns in your workout, your street cred goes up. You look like you know what you are doing. We’ve all seen (or in my case been) the guy who wore tennis shoes and a tshirt to his first club bike ride. Not a thing wrong with it, but you knew right away that this guy was new to the sport. Compare that to the day you saw the tshirt guy show up on a new rig and had cycling shoes and cycling clothes. Looked like he knew what the heck he was doing didn’t he?

There are other perks to learning how to do a flipturn, but really now, if you aren’t interested in seeing the light then there aren’t any examples I could give that are going to change your mind. And that’s ok. I am quite aware that there are many out there that deep down aren’t that interested in getting much better at swimming, which is perfectly fine. Sports are about having fun, not torture. Get out there and enjoy yourself. Plus, the less you want to do flipturns, the further down the road I will be before you climb out of the water. And I have no problem with that at all.

Happy flipping.

Also posted in Swimming Technique, Training | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Ironman Texas

By tjfry | June 10, 2011

Below is the long, way too detailed version of Ironman Texas 2011. I write these more for myself than for others, as I try to note events/stats that will help me remember and correct for the next race. But some people enjoy reading. Let the record show that you were warned.

Got up about 4am after poor night’s sleep. Since I live less than 2 miles from transition, prerace was a snap. 3 hard boiled eggs and a small cup of coffee. Previously I have tried to stuff more food down my throat, but it seems to just make me uncomfortable. Mixed up all my race drinks (perpetum and pure sport) and headed over to transition. Being a local was a big help because we knew the good places to park that no one knew about. did my thing with the bags bottles and tires and started walking to the start with Amy.

Event warmup:

Because of the narrow boat ramp and the fact that they had to separate the wetsuits users from the non wetsuit users, they started letting people in the water around 6:40ish. I was sure to be right up front so I could get in and warm up some. Was able to swim easy for about 10-15 minutes before I had to go fight for positioning.

Swim

Since the water wasn’t wetsuit legal for any form of consideration other than being a finisher, there was a mix of wetsuit and non wetsuit swimmers. At first I didn’t really care because I didn’t think I would really be affected, but as the start got closer I noticed a number of wetsuits pushing their way to the front of the start. A quick glance at the equipment they were using told me they were about to get maimed when the gun when off. (Sounds a bit presumptuous I know, but just like seeing a cyclist in tennis shoes, it’s often easy to pick strong/weak swimmers out of a crowd based on their equipment choices). If they weren’t wearing the rubber courage, I guarantee they wouldn’t be in front elbowing me for space. Translate this through the entire field and I would say that this was probably a more congested/violent swim than it needed to be. I’m a big fan of the mass start, but if they’re going to allow 2 sets of rules, perhaps a two wave start would be safer.
Anyway, the gun went off and I hit the gas for a good 20 seconds. I Looked both ways and saw I was leading so I immediately throttled back and worked to settle into my pace. Because of a little mishap working on my bike, breathing to the left was a bit of a challenge because of some lingering soreness/swelling. For this reason, I did very little breathing to the left, and I paid for it. What I didn’t notice was that the two people I was looking for were about 20 yards to my left and slowly passing me. When I finally noticed I tried to move over and catch some feet, but it was too late. Stupid tactical error. I ended up swimming about 25-35 yards behind them alone for about the first 1.8 miles, give or take. At that point I started feeling a little tired, which is something I never feel in the swim. I knew then that my fitness wasn’t nearly where it should have been. Work leading up the race was extremely busy, and swimming is the first workout I cut when I’m pinched for time. So now I had to pay for it. The 2 in front of me started really gapping and I just focused on staying smooth through the canal. The swim course by the way was really great. The last half mile swimming through the canal, there are people on both sides cheering you on. Very cool. Time: 52:24

What would I do differently?Train more, plain and simple. And don’t getted jacked in the jaw with your bike the week before the race.

T1

My MO in transition is to keep it simple. More stuff to do/think about means more things to screw up. So I got out, ran to my bag and then to the tent. Off came the Torque and on went the helmet and shoes. Passed one of the swimmers that finished in front of me and a pro male in transition. Time: 2:10

Bike:

Hopped on the bike and passed a male pro in the first mile. Once he got adjusted though he took off and out of sight like I was just learning to ride a bike. Because of my limited time to train the bike and therefore relative weakness in this event, I expect to see stronger cyclists begin to pass me by about mile 5. I was riding a bit quicker than usual this time I guess. Not sure if it was more fitness, better set up or what, but mile 5 came and went and there was no one behind me. Couldn’t see anyone. Then came mile 10, then 15, then 20. Still no one. What the? The fastest swimmer was off the front, so I’m sitting second overall and rolling through mile 25. Then 30. Then 35. At this point there were 2 athletes rolling up on me. Ok, here comes the train of cyclists. As they passed I realized that it was a pro male with a pro female drafting him (blatant I might add). So I was still in 2nd. It wasn’t until right before mile 40 that the first amatuer passed me. I was surprised it took so long, but I was riding right at a 5 hr pace so I guess in hindsight it makes sense that it would take a little longer for everyone to catch up. A few miles later the second guy came by, and as he did he asked, “Do you want to take turns taking 2 minute pulls?” I looked at him like he just offered to lick my toes. He then quickly added “legal pulls”. Whatever dude. I might have a slow bike time, but it’s legit. Slowly the cyclists then began coming, most all clean, but a few wheel suckers. Somewhere around mile 50 we came into an area that had just received a heavy rain, and the roads were soaked. I train this stretch every weekend and knew that the tar/oil with the water was going to make this section extremely slick, so I slowed way down. (I later saw a few riders with some healthy road rash and torn clothes, so my assumptions seemed to be confirmed.) I crossed the halfway point around 2:34ish and in 7th overall. I kept a keen eye on my heart rate the entire way and made sure the I kept the legs well in reserve. Even on the few hills I kept the effort so that I had 2 gears left in me. In terms of nutrition, I was drinking 1 bottle every hour, a saltstick tablet about every 30-45 minutes, and drinking the perpetum bottle as needed. 6 months ago in Ironman Cozumel I drank 1 bottle every 30 minutes and ended the ride feeling bloated and struggled with stomach issues on the run a bit because of it. This seemed at first to work much better, especially because the first few hours of the bike were under an overcast sky. The clouds actually made me rethink the hydration a little as at times it felt downright comfortable outside. That turned out to be a bit of a mistake as I would find out later.
Coming back to The Woodlands there was a bit of a headwind, but nothing to complain about. I went through a few rough patches where the back/neck would get tight, but otherwise a pretty consistent ride. Felt pretty good once I got back in the Woodlands, and the crowds on every corner certainly helped. Hear rate consistant throughout, with about a 5 beat rise in the last 10 miles or so. That was a tell…

Time: 5:15

What would I do differently? Drink a more balanced mix of water and Perform. I drank about 90% Perform, and what I thought was a bloating feeling was actually a mild case of sour stomach. Next time I will probably alternate bottles so I can help fix the hydration challenge.

T2

Rolled in, handed off the bike and ran to the tent. When I sat down I thought to myself, “take your time and get everything right for this brutal run”. Was a little surprised that it was still a 3 minute transition. I thought I sat there for a while. oh well. Time: 3:00

Run

The heat and humidity hit me like a wall. This was my 5th Ironman, and each one I have done has been in temperatures above 90 degrees. Having said that, this run felt the hottest. I knew immediately I was in trouble. I kept slowing down and the heart rate kept climbing (even though RPE felt the same). About a half mile in, my breathing started feeling shallow, like an asthma attack was coming. It was at this point that my mind started debating whether I could finish. I immediately kissed Kona goodbye. This was my hometown race and I wasn’t about to drop out in my backyard. As I ran up to the mile 1 aid station, I kept telling myself, “this is the unplanned problem for this race, just figure it out”. Got to mile 1 in 7:40 and hit the port-a-can. Immediatley figured out problem #1. I’m dehydrated. So I stopped at the aid station and started taking in A LOT of fluids. Jogged very easy to the next aid station and repeated the hydration. Struggled this way through the 4th aid station. Then slowly I was able to run at a steady pace again. Things started turning, even if slowly. Ran through a couple of aid stations and then started fighting the overheating. So I dedcided that since a Kona slot was out, I would walk through the aid stations and get as much ice on me as I could find a spot for. Chest, back, groin, and held a handful in each hand. This run was frickin hot! I have never seen so many pro’s walking. I actually passed a few on the run (ok, ok, they were a lap ahead of me but I still passed them technically!) Somewhere around mile 13 I got an update from a friend. He told me that the last update showed that I was 9th in my AG. So I thought back to where the last checkpoint would have been that was already on the internet and it was a good chunk back (maybe mile 8 or 9?), but I did start noticing that I wasn’t really getting passed much out here. I really couldn’t believe it. I was having a horrible run and running at what felt like a snails pace. So I guess everyone was suffering too, and I’m still in this race. Of course heat management was priority, but now there was a little more urgency in my step. Started the 3rd lap and life started getting confusing. I had to try and figure out if the person that was passing me was on their first, second or final lap. (On a side note, the crowds on the run were fantastic, especially on the waterway. Huge props to the director for designing the run course.). When I got to the turnaround (at Landry’s) I forced myself to up the pace as I noticed I was closing in on a competitor in my AG. Made the turn into Market street and soaked it up best I could. Great finish area set up by the way! Time: 4:01

What would I do differently? Start the run well hydrated.

My warm down amounted to zero. Almost passed out about 10 minutes after the race while talking to friends and family, so I spent a few minutes with the docs, drank some chicken broth and then headed for home. On the way out I heard from a couple of people that I finished 11th. The prerace predictions were that 11 slots would go to my age group (the largest age group starting). So it was just a matter of waiting until morning to see if it would be official. Went home, had friends come over, drank beer and ate pizza. The next morning I got my confirmation that it was indeed 11 slots and got my golden ticket to Kona! This will be my 3rd trip there, and I haven’t had the best history in Kona (more on that another time) , so my goal is to actually experience the legendary Kona finish, even though I finished both times.

Of course if I trained for the swim a bit more I might be able to…well….we’ll have to wait and see ;)

**Photo’s taken off of Facebook via firends who took the pictures. I would like to thank them and If any of the pictures need to be removed, just let me know.***
Also posted in Biking, Running | 2 Comments

Connor’s Stroke

By tjfry | May 10, 2011

I had the opportunity to take a look at Connor’s stroke not too long ago, and I have to say that my first impression was a good one. Typically, when someone starts swimming in front of me, I can pick up on 2 or three things that need to be corrected within the first 25 yards. Connor though, has a good rhythm to his stroke and at first glance was doing all the things I look for correctly (or mostly correct).  He’s a rising star in this sport and World Cup racing could be in his future if he continues to train hard and is able to get a stronger swim. For most who read this site, you’re going to look at his stroke and think that he is more than a strong enough swimmer to be a good triathlete. And you’re right. Problem is, you can’t be a good triathlete and race World Cup. And you certainly can’t be a ‘pretty solid’ swimmer and expect to survive a World Cup race. You are either in the first group out of the water or you’re sitting in the hotel room during the awards ceremony. But I digress. Let me beat up Connor’s stroke a little….

First thing that catches my attention is Connor’s kick. It’s fluid and functionally correct, but man he does a lot of it. In the videos here Connor is using a 6 beat kick for his freestlye, and while effective, it’s an energy hog. The two big reasons I see him using this are his head position and his stroke rhythm. If you look at the video where I’m filming from overhead, you can see that Connor lifts his head pretty significantly when he breathes. When you do this you tend to put a lot of downward pressure on the hips and if you don’t kick more, your butt sinks. So in order to stay flat on the water, Connor must kick a little more/harder, especially when he breathes. The other thing that I noticed is Connor’s rhythm. Notice that pause in his stroke on his breathing side. Fairly common among swimmers. You even see Phelps do it from time to time. The difference here is that the pause is often comes as he breathes. With Phelps and others, that pause comes during his glide, which is essentially a streamlined position. So take the fact that the head is being lifted more than it should with the pause during the breathe and you have a portion of Connors stroke that is basically applying the brakes.

The fix is not especially easy either. This is one of the things that becomes part of the habits of a stroke, and bad habits can be hard to break (Take note beginners, this is what a bad habit looks like. It’s subtle. What’s not a bad habit is struggling with freestyle because you only swim 1,500 yards per week of mostly drills in fear of forming bad habits). This first thing Connor needs to do is lower his head when he breathes. That will eleviate some pressure on his kick. Next he needs to work on a quick breath and a long glide. In other words, he needs to change where he puts the pause in his stroke. It’s actually pretty good on his non breathing side.  Finally, when those two have been fixed, he needs to lighten up the kick to save energy for the rest of the race. I’m a fan of the two beat kick, but even dropping down to a 4 (which I don’t like at all) or alternating between a 2 beat kick and a 6 beat kick would help save the legs.

Beyond that there are some minor things that could be adjusted. I see Connor drops his elbow a little when he pulls. Not by a lot, but it’s still happening. As he gets better at the glide he could rotate a little more to get more bang for his buck. Again though, not a major issue, and more than likely something that will fix itself as he ramps up the yardage.

All in all a really good stroke, with some adjustments and a healthy dose of hard work (and VOLUME), he’ll be getting out of the water in the first pack feeling relaxed and well rested for that ever so quick bike and run. Good Luck!

Also posted in Swimming Technique | 2 Comments