The Hardest Start line I ever made it to.

Dramatic enough title I will admit but this was my very first Triathlon and my training for this started on September 17^th 2012 when I got into the pool for the first time with the Shannon Master’s Swimming Club. It would be unfair to say that I couldn’t swim at all , it would also be unjust to the sport to say that I could , someone (not mentioning who) put it best months later when he said my ability at the start was just a slower version of drowning. The next 7 months were to involve between 4 and 7 hours a week in the pool , multiple books , every Youtube video ever made on the topic , an amount of frustration that if I had known about at the start  may have put me off the whole thing completely.

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The clare duathlon series report

We came we saw we conquered, only to find out we weren’t eligible for the team prize ( it turned out to be an inter-club league between the series organizers- cheeky pups 

Andree Walkin and David Richardson grabbed the over all series wins with Andree claiming victory in all 3 races and dave one 1st,

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DRILLS FOR SKILLS 

Deciding that drills are needed over punishing yourself in a swim session with a grueling workout is not that hard when you decide to pay attention to hydrodynamics and resistance.

Fighting the gorrilla is hard enough, you dont stop when you want to, you stop when the gorilla decides your dead!! what I mean by this is… drills are swam everyday by the bet of the best in the world, why would you not want it to be a part of your warm up and cool down for each and every training session?

For the time crunched athlete, drills are still your number one chance to lower the effort levels or levels or exertion during the triathlon swim portion, while trying to save energy for the bike and run legs of the tri.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a point of no return on drills for swimmers and there is a point when certain athletes will always be high volume swimmers. however here is my Question to you, ” do you think about every stroke you take’?? give me an honest    answer of yes and there is no need to continue to read this post. however if like most of us, the pure bred water fish or the amateur extortionist a simple rule to engage the brain will lead to huge swim time deductions.

 Now before I go any further with this I have some rules for triathlete swimmers 

1. swim cadence or stroke rates — triathletes need the ability to be able switch / match /alter their individual strokes to suit races, race types and conditions.

2. Hips and shoulders must move together – hips are the driving force of the stroke- just because your moving your shoulders doesnt mean your hips are following

3. bilateral breathing in training– I don’t care what you do in races. do what comes natural.

4. A neutral head position – keep working on rotation drills, please do not neglect your kicking drills

5. Get the sequence right when choosing your drills and remember technique over speed with these, the speed will come eventually

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Well done to all the athletes who took part in the GoTri training camp this weekend. The training was tough but spirits were high on Saturday morning when we set off on an introductory warm up hour run. It was great to see athletes from so many different tri clubs get the chance to discuss their training and plans for the year ahead.

After this we descended on the 50m Olympic sized pool at the University arena. It was a fantastic sight to see nearly 40 swimmers and 6 coaches take over half the pool for a technique focussed set. There were lots of swim tips picked up throughout the day which hopefully the group can use to continue their swim progress into the triathlon season!

The group still all smiles after the swim session

After a quick lunch it was out to Kellys gym for a bike session. Some of the group braved the cold and the rain for hill repeats, while the other half did a tough turbo core set…. By the end of the day there were a few tired bodies. That evening there was a nutrition talk for the group from the GoTri Sports Dietician Gillian Quinlan. Some of the links Gillian gave in her talk are given at the bottom of this page.

Gillian giving important nutritional advice to the group

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