I tried a triathlon!! (pics)

[walm]

Rich_W said:

walm said:

if you MTFU and build strength in your arms your legs will cease to be a problem.

If you think that the only reason Phelps or van der Weijden are fast is their arm strength you are sadly mistaken. Good technique will out strip pure muscle every day of the week. And far more important than arm strength is position in the water. "pressing the buoy" to nick the quote from the TI guys. Especially if you are doing distance work.

All I really thought was that the many people I see dragging their legs appear to have a really weak arm stroke.
I hadn't considered whether it was technique or strength but getting down to the pool and putting in the miles should help with both!

[Muzzlehatch]

I have a powerful stroke with a strong upper body, but my legs drag along behind me acting like anchors. It really is more about form.

If I beast it anaerobically, I can go pretty quickly for a couple of lengths (with a mahoosive bow wave and wake), then I blow up from oxygen debt. If I go at 70% (say for an olympic distance swim) then I can feel how much I'm slowing myself down simply through poor technique.

A wetsuit makes me about 20% faster. Which I why I like open water tris . Saying that, I have an oly tri in a fortnight - the 1500m swim is non-wetsuit in a pool, so that's going to take me forever.

[SystemParanoia]

im not seeing any PH stickers!

[Rich_W]

The TI guys stress 3 parts to a decent crawl.

(essentially)
1) Balance
2) Rolling
3) Long stretch

If you find your legs dragging along not parallel to the floor of the pool. You need to really work on the Balance part first. Basically as you swim along try and imagine that your lungs is on a pivot point.


(not to scale )

So to get your legs to ride up to near the surface. You need to push your head and shoulders down into the water. Ideally your heels should just be breaking the surface. Once you get that sussed. It makes everything else so much easier.

Watch some of their vids

http://www.youtube.com/user/tiswim?blend=2&ob=...

Edited by Rich_W on Friday 27th August 21:36

[dubbs]

walm said:

Good work.
I can't imagine anything worse than losing goggles in an open water swim.
Plus your head stays extra toasty warm.

then...

i.e. if you MTFU and build strength in your arms your legs will cease to be a problem.

MTFU and put the goggles back on if someone knocks 'em off.... the fastest swimmers in the world don't worry about double hats and goggles falling off

[Rich_W]

dubbs said:

MTFU and put the goggles back on if someone knocks 'em off.... the fastest swimmers in the world don't worry about double hats and goggles falling off

Brownlee in the Serpentine?

O/T He's an amazing athlete. You don't win the ITU in your first attempt otherwise. But I'm not sure he comes across as well as someone like Don.

[dubbs]

For most amateur triathletes the knack of the swim comes down to technique and breathing - very little is the pure arm strength until later on as simply through swim practice and general fitness the arms will be strong enough.

Only once you have technique and breathing right should you then worry about trying to gain arm strength for a more powerful stroke.

I, for one, still find being able to exhale properly to not get into hyperventilating a problem (lungs not fully exhaled will not pull enough oxygen in to keep things going non-stop, race pace, when also constricted by a wetsuit)

[johnny senna]

All good stuff guys, thanks.

[Rich_W]

dubbs said:

I, for one, still find being able to exhale properly to not get into hyperventilating a problem (lungs not fully exhaled will not pull enough oxygen in to keep things going non-stop, race pace, when also constricted by a wetsuit)

I'm sure you've heard the "bubble bubble bubble" thing. The basic premise seems to work for me, though I don't actual say anything. I found it gives your breathing more rhythm. As your body then takes your intake naturally. I find something similar when running, if I "think" about my breathing. I do it crap. if I don't think about it. It works

On the subject of wetsuit constriction. Are you 100% you have the right size. I'm 6'1 80ish KG and use a B70 Fusion, in Medium Tall. Technically I could fit into about 4 between Medium or even Large suits. But the MT although tight, doesn't seem to constrict my lungs or arms excessively. I would guess that other manufacturer suits could be better or worse for the same size.

Though I can think of nothing worse than spending a couple hours trying on more than 4 different suits in a tiny changing room in a shop!

[johnny senna]

Rich_W said:

dubbs said:

I, for one, still find being able to exhale properly to not get into hyperventilating a problem (lungs not fully exhaled will not pull enough oxygen in to keep things going non-stop, race pace, when also constricted by a wetsuit)

I'm sure you've heard the "bubble bubble bubble" thing. The basic premise seems to work for me, though I don't actual say anything. I found it gives your breathing more rhythm. As your body then takes your intake naturally. I find something similar when running, if I "think" about my breathing. I do it crap. if I don't think about it. It works

On the subject of wetsuit constriction. Are you 100% you have the right size. I'm 6'1 80ish KG and use a B70 Fusion, in Medium Tall. Technically I could fit into about 4 between Medium or even Large suits. But the MT although tight, doesn't seem to constrict my lungs or arms excessively. I would guess that other manufacturer suits could be better or worse for the same size.

Though I can think of nothing worse than spending a couple hours trying on more than 4 different suits in a tiny changing room in a shop!

The size thing is strange. According to the charts I should be medium tall (6 foot one and a half, 78 kg) but the 2XU I tried in that size was very short in the body and the legs were half mast. That was the 135 quid 2XU, whatever that's called.
I'm going to try the Blue Seventy Axis in medium tall next and see what that feels like.

[Rich_W]

The legs on mine come down to just below my calf muscle. But I've seen some that come down very close to the ankle. I've heard that some Pro's cut the legs even shorter to facilitate fast removal.

[johnny senna]

Rich_W said:

I've heard that some Pro's cut the legs even shorter to facilitate fast removal.

Aye, that's what I heard, but I would rather mine be as long as possible to aid floating ze legs.

[dubbs]

Did the Chicago Tri yesterday... swim was 32m so not too bad. Decided to take it easy and concentrate more on breathing - worked well... again, kept technique smooth an concentrated on getting it right at a pace I was comfy with rather than battling people/time/distance.

[Rich_W]

johnny senna said:

Rich_W said:

I've heard that some Pro's cut the legs even shorter to facilitate fast removal.

Aye, that's what I heard, but I would rather mine be as long as possible to aid floating ze legs.

Isn't most of the leg buoyancy in the thigh area?

[johnny senna]

Rich_W said:

johnny senna said:

Rich_W said:

I've heard that some Pro's cut the legs even shorter to facilitate fast removal.

Aye, that's what I heard, but I would rather mine be as long as possible to aid floating ze legs.

Isn't most of the leg buoyancy in the thigh area?

Yes, but any buoyancy on your calves is going to worth relatively more (even though the neoprene is thinner on the calves), see-saw style.

[PeteG]

Nice one! And in Stockton too