Sunday, September 23, 2007

Swim Clinic and possible 70.3, help?

So it turns out that there is no tracking available for 70.3 Cancun but I just got word that Liz finished at 6:19, Lauren just under 6:30, Geoff speed boy 4:54, and turn out Ryan with a stress fracture must have miraculously heeled and finished in 6:10! Congratulations to ALL!!!

In other news, I went to a Swim clinic this morning that I registered to about 2 weeks ago with our local triathlon club. On deck was Emmit Hines from the H2Ouston Swim club who has worked and coached with Terry Laughlin for many years. There was 15 of us that all jumped in the pool warmed up in about 4 different lanes and then it was out of the water to wait in line to get video taped. We each would swim 75 yards and be taped from the side and head on. It went by really quick and I was the 5th one in the water.

Afterwards it was dry off and time to watch the video of everyone. There was a lot to discuss and different exercises to try while on land. Everyone was asked what they saw in there video that looked wrong or funny to you. For me it, it was clear that my back legs were dragging due to hips dragging, due to head position. Emmit said for every 2" of head lifting (not rotation) translates to 4-6" of hip drag which translates to 12" of leg drag!!
I also noticed that my nose is pointing forward towards the wall while swimming instead of facing straight down towards the bottom of the pool floor. I had good rotation on my right but he would like to see more hip rotation, esp. on my left along with the left arm pulling instead of windmill action and pushing water straight down to the floor. So overall I have some things to work on but so did all 14 others.

It's amazing to see how many swimmers hips/legs drag more than they feel or think. I think there was 2 swimmers that were really horizontal in the water but had other things to work on.

So now I was thinking about signing up with Coach Hines at the swim club which costs $66/mo. and there is a $98 USMS fee/club fee annually so it would be prorated, what you all think?
Or I was excited to think that maybe I could sign up for IronStar 70.3 in 5 weeks? What you think?

Here's the break down I thought about: My longest swim of 1500m was July 15th, regular weekly swims have been about 1200m. Longest bike of 65 miles was 5 weeks ago with weekly long ride at 30 miles, and longest run last week of 10.5 miles. Humm, sounds like I am not that far off but putting it all together in 5 weeks with a Sprint tri next weekend at 400mS/19mB/3mR might be a little tough. I'll wait to see what the consensus is of bloggerville.

This weeks training will continue M-Th with Friday off and light stuff on Saturday as the sprint is Sunday.

rockon`

12 comments:

Di said...

sounds to me like the sprint is just a training race now - for your 70.3

Tea said...

I agree with Di.
it's just a little ole training race now.

5 weeks with a good base. heck I'd try it. What have you got to lose?

Molly said...

I agree - why not!

Take Care!

Joy | Love | Chaos said...

I'd have to agree with the consensus, but with one quick caveat. Have you been doing some long bricks? If not, maybe a good time to fold them in. The run after such a long swim/bike can turn into a completely different beast out there. Not sure how to work that into training, but maybe one or two longer bricks (50/5 or 40 plus 1 hour run, e.g.) in the next couple of weeks would be really helpful. It's hard to mimic race day, but with the 70.3, it's helpful to give it your best try! (teehee)

The Stretch Doc said...

This is my biggest concern as IM Able states. I have not really had any long Bricks so that would be a concern over the next 4 weeks.. and this weekend is my sprint so that kind of throws a wrench into training long.. hummm..

rockon`

What, No Bigun words yet.. he must be sleeping still.. HA!

FunFitandHappy said...

IMO, there's no substitute for swimming with a coached group. It's made a HUGE difference in my swimming. It'll help with form, plus with the coach nad group, you'll do yardage and speeds that you'd probably never push yourself to do on your own.

I'm with everyone else on the bricks. I go for a run, even if it's a short one, after ALL of my long rides now.

Allez said...

I recently realized that I don't always look straight down too. I think I was watching the others in my lane so I wouldn't have a head on collision! The swim clinic sounds great!

Oly said...

im able hit the nail on the head in regards to doing the 1/2.

If you want to train long you have to find a way to get it done. Like go for a ride and run after your race. Talk about a brick. Swim,bike,run,bike,run. :)

Andra Sue said...

I think you could do it. My 70.3 plan didn't have anything longer than a 30 minute run after any given bike ride. The swimming's a no-brainer...you just have to get through it. If you can swim 1,500 you can certainly make 2,000. My longest swims were 5k, but that was waaaaaaay too much junk yardage if you ask me.

So, did you think the videotaping thing was worthwhile? I'm considering signing up for a clinic like that here in Dallas...

Anonymous said...

I am considering doing that, too, not sure where I can find one around my place - Toronto, ON, Canada...

Bigun said...

I was worried about my technique too...so I had Di set up a video camera and film me...turn out my pace was way to fast, my stroke was just not long enough and I'd get tuckered out after just a couple minutes. She coached me a little and I did much better on my second lap....

Like I told you off-line...just do it!

S. Baboo said...

I'm afraid I'm no help because I ALWAYS say got for it and do the 70.3 or 140.6 as the case may be...so...go for it!

You know now that I'm thinking about it I never did a single brick workout prior to my first 140.6. Honestly I'm still looking for the value in a brick workout versus just doing a shorter race. My bricks always go just fine but I find that going from the bike to the run in a race is quite different, especially long course. My personal challenge is nutrition...if it's on it's on and I run well. If it's off, well, I die.

Sorry for the mini-rant but sometimes I just have to question orthodoxy.

BTW, it's just cool to read you going' "Well, maybe I'll do this 70.3 commin' up...I have this little sprint thingy going on for a warm up" It wasn't so long ago you were trippin on your first sprint as were we all. Cool.