Transitioning Fast and Flawlessly at Your Next Triathlon
Many athletes overlook transitioning and leave it out of their training program. You are not going to win the race on the transition but you can definitely lose it. If you are looking to improve your time by minutes with very little effort then transitioning is where you will get the most bang for your buck.
First off, you have got to have a plan. Too many triathletes wait for race day to start thinking about what they are going to do at each transition point and this shows through in the time it takes them to pass through. You have got to start thinking about this and practicing it weeks before the race. First things first, if you are wearing a wet suit then you will want to have your biking clothes on underneath. That way when you come out of the water all you have to do is peel of your suit and you are ready to go.
At the swim to bike transition it is best to have your shoes already clipped to your bike. You also want to make sure the pedals are in the proper position so that when you go to run with your bike to the mounting area the pedals are not going to get caught on the ground. In addition, most triathletes prefer not to wear socks on the bike, this will save you a lot of valuable time if you can just peel of your wetsuit, put on your shades and helmet and be on your way.
The bike to run transition is also very important. Make sure you get off your bike in the appropriate area. If you are doing a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon you may decide to wear racing flats and so perhaps you won’t wear socks for this leg either. Whatever the case may be, make sure to tie your shoes up tight and grab any accessories you may need like hydration belts, visors, etc. If you practice your transitioning at least once a week you will undoubtedly shave a substantial amount off your overall time. Plus, you won’t run the risk of forgetting something or getting injured while trying to make the switch.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Laboratories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D_Carroll |
Increasing Arm Efficiency in Swimming in a Triathlon
Swimming is said to be a technique sport, much like golf or tennis. Often times the biggest and strongest swimmer is not the one to win the race, it’s the person who has the best technique. With any stroke, but especially front crawl, if you can combine strength with proper form you will surely be a force to be reckoned with.
It may come as a surprise to hear that there are a few common errors that many athletes new to the sport, and even some who have been swimming for a long time, fall victim to. In this post we will discuss some errors people commonly make with their arms, and what you can do to correct them.
Overreaching
1. The most common error is overreaching. You see swimmers young and old bring their hands way out directly in front of their head, basically the 12 position on a clock. This is extremely inefficient and causes you to bob up and down in the water as well as puts you in an incorrect position to start the next as aspect of the stroke. The proper hand placement is at 1 and 11, or if you were to draw a line straight out from each of your shoulders your arms should enter somewhere on that.
Overextending
Very similar to overreaching, but no less common, is overextending. For some reason swimmers think that if they reach out as far as they can it will make them a faster swimmer. This is somewhat true but what people often forget is that you do not want to do all of the reaching in the air.
A proper entry position is about midway between your shoulder and your fully extended arm. From there your hand enters the water and then you extend the rest of the way about 5 inches under the surface. The reason you do not want to do all of the reaching above the water is because it causes your front half to drop and creates a lot of up and down motion, which is extremely inefficient.
These two techniques are a great place to start fine tuning your swim. If you consciously work on these each time you swim you will find your times getting faster but with less effort. Work on these for a few weeks and then check back here again for another set of pointers that will knock off even more time.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
Endurance Training for Your First Triathlon
The goal of all serious endurance athletes is to one day complete an ironman. It is a grueling 3.8K swim, 180K bike, and then a marathon. Completely just one of these legs is no eas
y feat and requires plenty of training, but how in the world can you train for and complete all three?
Well first off you have got to set your goals. If you are just looking to complete an ironman, and I use “just” here loosely, your training is going to look much different then say trying to win your age group or qualify for the world championship. Once you have your goals in mind you then have to determine which ironman you will be competing in. The amount of time you will need to train will vary person to person but for most it is somewhere in the 20 to 30 week range. If you have lived a relatively sedentary lifestyle up to this point then you may need a little more time because you are going to have to strengthen connective tissues that have likely had little use.
Now that you have determined which race you are going to attend you can begin writing up your training plan. The average training time for most amateur triathletes is somewhere in the 13-25 hours per week range. If you are looking to complete an ironman it will be somewhere in the 13 range and if you are looking to compete in your age group or even overall then it is going to be on the higher side.
In the first 10-15 weeks you are going to want to get comfortable with the distances, building muscular and cardiovascular endurance, strengthening connective tissues, and working on overall body strength in the weight room. It is good to plan it out so that each week you gradually increase your training by no more than 10% up until the point where you feel comfortable completing the individual distances.
During the next 5-15 weeks you will want to begin combing the three sports together and working on any weaknesses. So perhaps one day you can swim and then bike, another day you can bike and then run, and then at least one day a week you can do all three.
Finally, you want to begin to taper about 2-3 weeks out from your target race. Basically you want to reduce the mileage but still train each day at your target pace. The goal is to get rested up without losing any fitness.
Completing an ironman is a challenging feat but if you set your goals, write up a manageable training schedule and stick to it there is no reason why you cannot achieve what you have set out to do. There will be times during the season where you will not feel like going for that 20K run or 100K bike ride but you have got to do it in order to achieve the ironman designation.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
An Incredible Training Tool for Runners – Hills!
Many runners cringe when they hear the word hills, often coming up with a myriad of excuses why they can not or should not incorporate hills into their weekly routine. The truth is hills are a fabulous training tool and should have a spot in everyone’s training regimen, whether you are training for a 5K all the way up to a marathon.
Yes, hills are hard, very hard, but the reason they are hard is because they require a lot of strength in order to scale them successfully. If you cringe when you think about running hills then it is likely that you are lacking in the strength department. Unfortunately this is a necessity in any race, especially when the going gets tough, so you will definitely want to improve on this if you want to reach your full potential. In the beginning it is best to start off small, something like 3-5% of your weekly mileage. Once you start to get stronger though you will want to increase this to something like 10-15%. You definitely do not want to incorporate hills into your interval or repetition workouts because these are designed to be run fast and to increase your lactic threshold. Instead, it is best to save the hills for temp runs and longer easy runs.
If you are training for a race that has a hill in it and you already know the course layout you can design a workout that simulates the run. So for example, let’s say you are running a 5K and you know there is a hill at about the 3K mark. A good training workout would be to run at or above race pace for 15 minutes or so and then do a few hard laps up a local hill, and finish with another 15 minutes hard. Another great workout to improve your finish is to do short intervals that end up hill. A great workout for this would be to mark off a mile but make sure the finish is at the top of a hill.
There is a ton of different things you can do with hills to spice up your training and increase your strength. Running up hill is comparable to doing squats, lunges, and even leg presses, so if you do not have access to a gym or want to reach your full potential in running then hill running is just what the doctor ordered.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
7 Top Tips For Running Your First Ironman
So you made the decision to race an ironman and you have been training hard for 20 weeks or so. Now its race day and you are waiting nervously at the start of the swim for the horn to go. Here are a few things to keep in mind throughout the race and to practice in training so that they are not a surprise when you finally get out there.
1. During the swim you are going to want to go as hard as you can for at least 400 meters so that you get a decent position to swim the remaining 3.5 kilometers. There is nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of the pack for the first couple kilometers because by the time you finally get in a rhythm the swim is basically over.
2. Look up every 20 strokes or so. Do not trust that the person in front of you is swimming a straight line. There have been pro triathletes who failed to look up and found themselves a few hundred off the lead pack because they were swimming such a inefficient path.
3. Wear your bike clothes under your wet suit and clip your shoes to your bike pedals. This will save you a couple of minutes in transition and will allow you to concentrate on more important things like putting on sun screen and making sure you have your sunglasses and nutrition.
4. Do not draft! If you are caught drafting it is a hefty penalty at first and if you do it again you are out. Make sure when you go for a pass you do it swiftly and never remain in another riders slipstream. If it is too close to tell then it is better to back off, you are not going to save any time drafting for a few seconds but you definitely will lose time if you get caught.
5. Make sure to hydrate and take calories and salt throughout the bike. Its obvious that you need to hydrate but many athletes often forget that they need sodium as well. Most collapses and end of race muscle cramps are due to a lack of sodium. So before you compete in the race make sure you have been supplementing with salt in your training rides and make sure you have plenty on race day.
6. Do not unlatch your helmet at any point during the ride. If you are caught with your helmet undone at any point on the bike leg its an automatic disqualification.
7. During the run you may want to walk through every other aid station so that you get a chance to thoroughly hydrate and take a few gels. You are almost done so the last thing you would want to do is run out of energy to burn.
Finishing an ironman will probably be one of the greatest achievements of your life. You should visualize the race as much as possible in training and come up with a strategy for every situation you can think of. With hard work and determination there is no doubt that you will complete the race and you will likely catch the triathlon bug in the process.
Biomedical Research Laboratories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll
Improve Your Lactate Threshold and Swim Faster in Your Next Triathlon
Whether you are a runner, cyclist, triathlete, or an endurance athlete you need to train as fast as possible without hitting the wall from high levels of lactic acid in your blood. Elite athletes and coaches know that increasing lactate threshold is essential to success.
There are several factors that can be modified to improve performance and endurance in athletes. VO2max, exercise economy, and lactate threshold are all factors that can be improved with training and nutritional supplementation. If you can improve your lactate threshold your race speeds will improve. This article will focus on training to improve lactate threshold in swimmers.
If you are an amateur swimmer training for a local event like a triathlon then you need to understand the mechanics of a swim workout. A workout is basically comprised of two elements, endurance and threshold. Let us say you are training for a sprint triathlon with a 500 meter swim. What would be the point in swimming three miles continuously three times a week? Every time you hit the water you are swimming almost ten times your race distance. This kind of practice is known as swimming “junk miles” and many swimmers do it.
For a short race like a 500 meters you are basically going to be sprinting the entire way; endurance should be of very little concern. Instead, your preparation should be geared towards increasing your lactic threshold. All world and Olympic endurance athletes incorporate lactate threshold training into their workouts.
To increase your lactate threshold you are going to want to swim at or even faster than race pace in training. So let us say you do five 50 meter repeats. If your goal is to swim the 500 in 6:25 then you would want to shoot for somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 seconds for your 50 meters. Perhaps the first couple of times you will need to have a few minutes break between each 50 meters in order to repeat the time, but as you progress in your training you should decrease the rest period until you are basically swimming ten – 50 meters at around 40 seconds a piece.
This same sort of practice can be used with just about any swim distance; lactic threshold expansion is an integral part in your training program.
Of course, if you are training for an iron man swim of 2.4 miles then endurance is going to be a factor. But once you feel comfortable swimming the distance in order to get faster you will have to do the same kinds of workouts as the person training for the 500 just on a bit larger scale, 100 or 200 meter repeats for instance.
Designing a swim workout is that simple. There is no need to look for a long fancy training plan that is difficult to follow. If you want to improve your times then you have got to swim faster in practice, it is that simple.
Your training program will be difficult in the beginning, but if you stay determined to improve then you will see astronomical gains in a very short time. Combining this training workout with nutritional supplementation to increase VO2 max and exercise economy and increase your speed and endurance.
DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Laboratories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll
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Visit www.epoboost.com to learn more about how you can improve your endurance, speed and strength. You have nothing to lose with our 90 day money-back guarantee.
Boost your endurance with EPO-BOOST™ and you’ll run faster and farther, we guarantee it!
Training Tips for Open Water Swim in Triathlons
If you’ve been swimming in a pool all season and your priority race is an open water swim then there are a few things you’re going to want to keep in mind before race day. Of course, it’s ideal if you can get in some open water training sessions before the race, but for many that’s not an option. Whether or not you can get into open water before the race it would still be wise to consider the tips listed below so that you can practice them in the pool, and when you do finally hit open water it won’t be as big of a shock.
1. Swimming the shortest distance. When swimming in open water you’re obviously going to want to swim the least possible distance as you can. If it’s an ironman distance then it would be nothing to swim an extra 400 meters just by taking an irregular path. In order to prevent this you’re going to want to get into the habit of turning your head and eyes when you breathe in order to see what’s in front of you. Now you don’t want to do this every breath as it will lead to inefficient swimming, but you definitely want to get in the habit of checking every 50 to 100 meters. It should be a smooth motion, not jerky, and should be barely visible from an outsider’s perspective. Many of the best swimmers have develop the technique so well that they don’t even need to turn their heads they can just turn their eyes as they submerge their face after taking a breath and see everything that’s going on in front of them.
2. Another important technique to get comfortable with is taking a breath on both sides. You never know where the wind is going to be coming from in an open water swim. If you can only breathe on the right then you’re going to have big problems if the waves are coming from that direction. It’s not hard to learn to breathe from both sides; it just takes patience and effort. If you make a vow to improve breathing on your weak side then there’s no reason why you can’t get it up to par within a month.
These are the most important aspects to keep in mind when open water swimming.
3. Sprinting workouts. One final tip you might implement in the training sessions leading up to the race is getting into the habit of sprinting for a few hundred meters at the beginning of the workout. This is a great way to simulate the commotion at the beginning of a race and if you do it enough times it shouldn’t be a problem for you to break away from the main pack and get out front. This will make the swim much more enjoyable and allow you to get into your rhythm much quicker than those jockeying for position in the back.
Visit www.epoboost.com to learn more about how you can improve your endurance, speed and strength. You have nothing to lose with our 90 day money-back guarantee.
Boost your endurance with EPO-BOOST™ and you’ll run faster and farther, we guarantee it!
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