Without a hitch, I start reading about about people complaining about Ironman and the World Triathlon Corporation.  People bitch about the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and all their corporate greed by raising prices on the entry fees. And never would they want to get an Ironman “M Dot” tattoo because it’s a corporate logo and no different than putting a McDonald’s or Shell Oil logo on. Really? Reallllllly?

The anti business hippies out there might hate it, but WTC has been absolutely great for the sport. It’s the freemarket working as it should. Because of “Ironman”, our sport has exploded. Everyone wants to be an “Ironman” now. Ironman has tried hard to control the brand and experience, and because of their success, they’ve raised prices. This has pushed the ceiling up and allowed other race directors to raise their rates and yet still be considered a bargain. REV3 has Ironman to thank for its success. Ironman brought in the participants, and created a gap in the market for a well run race at a more reasonable cost. If I were REV3 I would be sending WTC a bottle of Dom Perignon every Christmas.Those raised prices allow more directors to make money and more races to show up on the calendar. Thanks to WTC’s explosion in participation those smaller races get filled.

With more athletes and more races, there are more products for us to choose from. Look at any product category 6 years ago and the selection is very thin. Now, you can choose from 10 disc wheel makers and dozens of trispecific bikes. In fact, this year Specialized decided to give the UCI the middle finger and develop a tribike that’s not UCI legal. I expect to see more of that, as we as a sport can now support a move like that where before we couldn’t. Some mentioned that the little guys get pushed out, but everything I’ve seen is just the opposite. This year they put Ironman Texas  in my backyard and I can’t even count the number of events, camps, coaches, etc, that have popped up around here. And all this stuff is pretty much selling out.

Some don’t like like the whole corporate logo thing and I understand the sentiment that “Ironman” is the public’s term, not some corporation. The same can be said of the Olympics. Created in a public forum a very long time ago, and now a tightly regulated corporate brand in the modern era. The reality though, is that people desire to be an Olympian even more now than ever. One good event there and you are potentially set for life. Bruce Jenner anyone? (And I wonder if these same people are poo-pooing someone getting an Olympic tattoo because it’s some corporate logo?) Same could be said of Ironman on a smaller scale. Look at the insane demand to get into Kona. The demand and growth were created because it was tightly guarded, not because a bunch of drunk military buddies came up with the idea in a bar back in ’77.

Am I personally going to race IM branded races exclusively? Heck no. But Ironman made the race pool bigger, so now I have more races to choose from when I want a great race at a decent price.

And no…I don’t have a tattoo. Been on the fence now since ’97 when I did my first, and I think now I’m just a chicken.

I know that not everyone agrees with me and that’s fine. I appreciate you reading. Now you can head back to protesting corporate greed while you talk on your  iPhone and drink your Starbucks.

Additionally, the shorts have 2 small, well designed pockets that are big enough to fit a gel or two, and sleek enough that you forget they’re there if you don’t need em. All in all, a great pair of shorts. So great, in fact, that I wore them for Ironman Hawaii with great success. Not a single rub or problem (which may be a first for me in an Ironman distance race).

With this being Nike’s first attempt at a tri short in over 20 years, I’m excited to see what year 2 will bring from them. Welcome to the triathlon party, Nike. Glad you’re finally here.

The first thing I see is Megan’s body position. It’s horrible! Apparently she must have been hanging around some Total Immersion folks a little too long because she took the whole “Pressing your buoy” thing a little too literally. Lose the floaties! She needs to really work on getting her body more prone, or horizontal in the water. She will move much faster through the water that way.

The next thing I see is Megan’s kick. It’s sort of a scissor-breastroke-flutter hybrid. In other words, it’s a total mess. It not effective at all. It reminds me of the kick you would see on a 3 year old. Quite frankly I’m not sure even where to begin to fix it. I think the best thing would be for her to do a lot of kicking sets over the next couple of years and see if she can tighten it up.

Finally, Megan’s breathing pattern. Megan has decided to opt away from bilateral breathing and go for a more head out of the water approach. I would limit this type of breathing pattern for siting buoys and navigation only. If she tries to swim head up for 2.4 miles, it’s going to completely wear her out.

She told me she’s eyeing an Ironman in 2031. That should be enough time to work out some of the kinks. But she will really need to work on her nutrition, because right now she thinks she can get by on chocolate milk and cookies. Time will only tell.

Merry Christmas

The problem is that if you want to compete in endurance sports, then quantity (or volume) IS quality.  Let’s face it, the basis of our racing is quantity. Heck our sport is used as a punchline when referring to extreme endurance. So let’s split the triathlon up and look at the best in the three individual sports to see how much they train. Then we’ll circle back around to the triathlon sport as a whole.

Swimming – Outside of open water swimming, most of the events in competitive swimming are relatively short compared to the other two sports in triathlons.  Swimming also has an enormous emphasis on technique; something the other two sports don’t really have to worry about. Having said that, because the low impact/ low stress nature of swimming, you will see the highest training volume to racing distance ratios. Just look at Olympians Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, and even sprinter Alain Bernard.

Lochte has mention that regular training for him is around 100,000 meters per week. Phelps was training 90,000 meters per week as early as age 11 and well above that now. And Bernard? the 100 meter sprint champion? You got it. 100,000 meters per week for a race that lasts less than 50 seconds.

Cycling – While an incredible amount of volume is done to compete in the sport of cycling, there are usually great distances covered in the races as well. The average pro cyclist spends about 450 to 500 miles per week on the bike. Of course if your name is Lance Armstrong then you would be riding almost that much by the age of 13. Want to make the podium of a major tour? Then find a comfy saddle because you’ll be sitting on it for about 700 miles per week.

Running – fits inbetween swimming and cycling when it comes to the training volume to race distance ratio. The tricky thing with running, moreso than the other two sports, is that training durability is much more of an issue. To put it another way, because of the high impact/ high stress nature of running, large amounts of volume need to be built up very gradually so that you don’t get hurt. Having said all of that though, You would be hard pressed to find a middle distance or distance runner in the elite ranks running less than 100 miles per week. Sort of a training minimum in the world of the elite. Take Deana Kastor, marathon Olympic medalist and American record holder. When asked about her training volume in Track & Field Magazine, she responded, “We haven’t really focused as much on mileage this time around as we have on quality workouts. I was typically getting up to 140 miles per week and keeping it up there for a few weeks in a row in the past. This time, I’ve gone to about a 120 miles and feel great doing it.” Hmmmm….decreasing to a meager 120 miles per week.

Triathlon – While training for 3 sports instead of one can be a complicated task, one thing is consistant with the single event sports. Volume. Triathletes don’t do near the volume that single athletes do in their respective sports, but if you look at the training as a whole, you’ll see that top triathletes put in some very long days in their quest to be the best. Numbers you typically see are 300-400 miles on the bike, 45-60 miles running, and about 20,000+ meters in the pool.

So what is my point? Afterall, you’re not a pro and don’t have the time to spend all day training. While you may not be able to put up the huge numbers the pro’s do, the strategy should be the same. Volume first, intensity second. If you are looking to get better in triathlons, or would like to do well in an Ironman, then volume needs to be far and away your first focus. Are you going to be able to fit in 45 miles of running every week? Maybe not. But if you take a look at your training logs and you find yourself focusing your week around the track workout at the expense of the long run, or trying to fit in weights instead of swimming or cycling, then you’d be wise to reevaluate. Speed workouts are great, just make sure they don’t negatively effect the total volume. If you’re racking up 15 miles of running per week in your preparation for an Ironman, look for ways to get a little more quantity in each week, not for ways to add another speed workout in that 15 miles. No one ever gets to mile 23 of an Ironman run and wish they had done more windsprints.

Which brings me back to my initial thought. When I surf around the internet in the various forums I read a lot of training advice from triathlon coaches of all kinds. The information they offer is often all over the place. Some good, some strange, some dangerous. Many of these coaches have taken a weekend seminar and are now certified experts. Others have grabbed a book or two and after flipping through them consider themselves experienced. If the one’s that you’re looking at claim that you will get more out of short, intense workouts then all that boring volume, then start asking some questions. If they say that they don’t believe in a ‘base’ period (more on the here), you might want to get a second opinion before you open your checkbook.

I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine (and college coach) this past weekend at a championship meet and we got on a very similar discussion. When she goes to swim meets where the athletes are slower/newer, the coaches at those meets have training philosophies that are all over the board. When she goes to a national event where the faster swimmers race, the coaches are extremely similar in how they think. I think you see my point here.

Something to keep in mind the next time you’re shopping for a coach or reading all those opinions on the internet.

Good luck with your training.

If you haven’t heard, The Woodlands, TX and the World Triathlon Corporation are in discussions about putting a full Ironman in Texas.  Most of the issues have been worked through and it seems that all that’s left is the vote. Click below to listen to the township discussion. The vote comes June 23rd. I will post that as well if I have the audio/video. Keep your fingers crossed.

wdlndsironman

A while back I met up with Kyle to take a look at his stroke. You can see right away that he has a good rhythm and is comfortable in the water. He’s an Ironman finisher, so this isn’t exactly his first lap in the pool. There are a couple of things that jump out at me right way though. And that, if you read this site much, is the fun part, as I get to pick it apart. Let’s get started.

Looking at the above video it’s pretty clear that that Kyle is dropping his elbow. This is extremely common, and often hard to fix for alot of people. Watch as his right arm pulls through the water. About a third the way through the pull you can see a definitive “<” form with his arm (Let pretend that this symbol < represents his arm). It becomes pretty clear to see that his elbow is leading that vertical plane of his pull through the water. Want you want to see is is more of an upside-down, backwards “L”. pulling through the water. In other words, his forearm needs to be vertical.  Need a better visual than “<”? Fair enough. Lets do a side by side with Olympian Grant Hackett.

Notice how different Hackett’s pull looks. He gets his elbow so high that he is hyper-extending his lats. It almost looks a little freaky in that last pic. This is extremely effective as you might guess. He’s got some serious Olympic hardware afterall. Now look at Kyle’s. It is almost the exact opposite. For the many of you out there who have asked me and are still confused on exactly what a high elbow is, these pics couldn’t be a better visual.

This tends to be a tough habit to break. Drills like the fist drill, exaggerating a really deep pool, and various dryland/weight exercises can help break this.

The next thing that I notice is the lopsided pull and recovery that you can see from the above water shot. As you can see, Kyle likes to breathe to the left. While there’s no problem with doing this on race day, to do it all the time during training creates an imbalance. In other words, you create a weak arm and a strong arm by favoring one side to the other. Take another look at the above water shot. Notice where his left hand enters the water and extends versus the right hand. The left enters and extends pretty much straight forward. The right, on the other hand, enters the water and extends in a much wider position. There are other differences if you look underwater, but the bottom line is that having an unbalanced stroke can cause problems in your race. You will consistently swim off course, and the weak arm will tire and the form will begin to fail sooner. This all adds up to more work for you. The fix? Pretty easy actually. Learn to bilaterally breathe, or learn to breathe on both sides like a basketball player dribbles on both sides. Once you learn it, then you need to train using that style for at least 90% of your workout. Once you become proficient at it, you won’t even notice you are doing it. Then on raceday, just breathe as you need knowing that your form is balanced.

Here’s another shot of the unbalance. As you can see in the above clip, Kyle’s right arm pulls much deeper than the left. A big part of this is because his body rotation is more pronounced when he breathes. Nonetheless, if one arm is pulling deeper/better than the other, you are going to end up with problems. The fix is the same as before. Learn to breathe from both sides equally as comfortable. Otherwise, you are going to be frustrated come race day.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on Kyle’s kick briefly. In this clip you can get a pretty good look at his kick and his mechanics are really good. He kicks like one kicks a ball and not like he is running or cycling. The problem I see is the lack of flexibility in his ankles. The key to a good kick is that whipping motion you get from from a flexible ankle. Not unlike the motion of a fin. While it seems minor, an improved kick can make your life so much easier in the swim. The best part for kyle is that the fix is an easy one. STRETCH. Regularly do some kick sets with fins, and go home at night and sit on your ankles.

Good luck and see you before the cannon fires.

Let me go on the record by saying that I have literally shed blood, sweat and tears for my school while I swam there, and there are few things closer to my heart than Clemson. Heck, I was almost late for the start of the Hawaiian Ironman so I could catch College Gameday on tv at 4am (Hawaii time) when they came to town for the Georgia Tech game a few years ago. So its pretty safe to assume that I’m pretty pissed at my school right now. Is this over? I seriously doubt it. There are some pretty successful people that came out of the Clemson Swimming and Diving programs, so I wouldn’t be surprised if an effort is made to save the teams. We have two years to fix the problem after all.

I would ask this though. If you are a Clemson Alum that donates to IPTAY or just a swimmer who’s tired of teams and dreams getting cut, let Clemson know what you think. Right now I don’t plan on writing anymore checks to my school unless they come to a different conclusion. It saddens me to think that all that was accomplished, all the work, all the history, all the traditions, all the family members known as the Clemson Swimming and Diving Team, will simply be a page in the history books of such a fine university.

I never thought I would give a half assed cheer for my football team. I wonder what else is on TV in the fall…