What type of swimmer are you?

Happy Feb! 

Maybe you've been swimming all winter (congrats, die-hard!). Maybe like me, you've been avoiding swimming in the winter (getting into cold water is bad enough - why get out of the water into really cold air??). Or maybe for you, no time is a good time for you to be thinking about swimming? 

I thought it might be fun to do a little "visualization" - it's supposed to be good for personal growth after all. And seeing as how we're in the month of "love" with Valentine's Day, I want you to close your eyes and think of the type of water that you LOVE to be in the most. 

OK, eyes are closed? 

Got your visual? 

OK, which of the images below looks most like what you imagined? 

The open water swimmer -- you love to swim long, usually with no agenda other than a time or distance to cover. You might work on technique as you swim, and appreciate the uninterrupted time you can spend focusing on working on an aspect of your stroke. With no good way to measure your pace, you swim by feel and not by numbers, maybe slower than you could if you worked on it more. But, hey, you don't smell like chlorine when you finish a session. 

The pool swimmer -- you may have grown up doing swim team (even if just for a year or two as a little kid), and you feel comfortable swimming with a line on the bottom to follow. Without a coach on the side, you may not really know what you should be doing when you come to swim, though. "Clock skills" come easy to you, so you probably know how long it takes you to swim every 100 of a set of 10 x 100 on 15 sec rest. Chances are you've still got that one stroke flaw that you don't take time to work on between sprint sets. And your open water navigation and confidence could use some work. 

The non-swimmer -- you get in the water now and then so you can survive a triathlon, but maybe with a bit of loathing or trepidation. Not yet a fan of open water, not yet a "fish" in the pool either. When you are in the mood to think about swimming, you have a tight relationship with YouTube and devour swimming videos. Masters swim lingo is indecipherable, and you're not really sure where you're at with your technique development. Hot tub is calling... 

Seriously though, no matter what your type, unless you're training hard for Ironman Texas or Galveston 70.3 right now, you're likely only just starting to think about getting any serious swimming done. If the hot tub is sounding like a great option, but you know you should be in the pool working on your technique and conditioning, here's a good blog from Paul Newsome of Swim Smooth to help you get your mojo back for a good triathlon swimming season -- get started, set a mini goal or two, commit to swimming, and track your progress. 

Go read it! And then pack up your swim bag and get ready to get wet!

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Casey Arendt of Go the Distance Coaching specializes in freestyle stroke mastery for triathletes.
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By the numbers -- a quick test that will reveal your future IronSwim potential

What's your Ironman dream? 

Hearing Mike Riley call your name for the first time?

Running the whole marathon? 

Finishing in a certain time? 

Qualifying for Kona?

Whatever form your dream takes, killing it on Ironman race day requires bringing a lot of elements together - 

• Efficient form that keeps you injury-free as you prepare
• The fitness and speed to finish each leg in the desired time
• An effective taper that energizes you
• A nutrition plan that keeps you going and your tummy happy from start to finish
• A terrific sense of pacing that keeps your desire to "race" through the swim and bike legs effectively in check

What if you could get through your swim leg as fast or faster than you have in the past with perhaps less training time during your preparation and with less effort on race day? That would put you back on land with a lot more in the tank, both mentally and physically, and make for a great beginning to your epic, PR day.

Three elements to a swimming breakthrough

Over the next three posts, I'll examine how you can get a breakthrough in your swimming:

Build a "diesel engine" that goes hard for a long time (this post)

Optimize your technique for greater efficiency and propulsion

Change your mindset to get out your mind out of your body's way

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Element One: Building your diesel engine

Triathlon swims of a mile or more require development of muscular endurance - taking endurance (the ability to complete a long distance), and adding in the ability to complete that distance at 80-95% of your lactate threshold effort. You want to become not a sports car, and not a jalopy, but a semi truck that can pull loads over long distances. 

Build your swimming diesel engine!

I'd like to discuss two numerical models that are useful for defining swimming muscular endurance and pacing yourself on muscular endurance swims to better develop your "diesel engine": SDI and CSS. We'll cover how to diagnose the current state of your swimming engine with SDI, and teach you how to make it better using CSS in your swim sets.

THE TOOL: Use SDI to diagnose your diesel engine status

First up is SDI - Sprint-Distance Index, developed in the 1970s and 80s by Pete Riegel and Jean-Marie DeKonick. The VDOT model from running coach Jack Daniels is similar in concept. It is a "time predictor" model -- if you know your time for a certain distance (for example, an all-out 100y swim), then you can predict your time for a 1500m (or 2.4 mile) swim using a decay constant (SDI) of 1.06 and the following equation:

Time to be predicted = Time known * (Distance to be predicted/Distance known) ^ SDI

The SDI constant is the "decay" in your speed as the distance increases. 1.06 is the ideal value for a triathlete who is well-balanced between sprint and endurance capabilities. 

Where this model gets even more interesting is if you have the results of TWO all-out swims, which allows you to find out how close to 1.06 your SDI is (in addition to predicting swim times for other distances). 

If your SDI is greater than 1.06, you are in need of more endurance and muscular endurance work - you slow down more than expected as the distance swum gets longer.

If your SDI is less than 1.06, then you are a more distance-oriented swimmer and on your way to becoming a "one-speed" swimmer who can't really sprint. If your speed is also fast, this is a good place to be. If your overall speed is slow (>2:00/100y), then you will want to work on your technique and fitness at short distances to improve your speed while keeping an SDI around 1.06 or less.

THE TEST: Let's put this into practice, shall we?

First, warm up well at the pool, and then complete two time trials with 5-8 minutes of very easy swimming/stretching in between. I recommend doing the longer one first since its intensity is lower, but you can do them however you prefer (or do them on separate days). You might do a 100y and a 500y swim, or perhaps a 200y and a 400y swim. If you're highly motivated, you could do a 100m and a 1500m swim to really get an idea of your range. 

If you've done your time trials in a 25y pool (short-course yards, SCY), get your short-course meters (SCM) time conversions here.

Then take your two times and plug them into the SDI calculator here: http://www.arhy.org/swim-predict

Example -- Swimmer 1 completed time trials of 100y and 500y in 1:55 and 10:50 respectively.

• 1:55 in SCY converts to 2:07.9 in SCM
• 10:50 in SCY converts to 12:01.5 in SCM

Then plug these numbers into the SDI calculator like so:

THE DIAGNOSIS

• The SDI calculator gives a value of 1.07 for SDI (a little higher than optimal). More work on the diesel engine is needed.
• Predicted Ironman swim time of 1:46:27 (2:48/100m) at current fitness
• Predicted Ironman swim time at TDF = 1.06 is 1:40:50 (~5 min faster)

In the case of this swimmer, improving fitness to an SDI of 1.06 could result in a 5 minute faster swim at Ironman. If he or she has a real affinity for muscular endurance training and is able to achieve a 1.05 SDI, this predicts an Ironman swim time of 1:37:14 (3.5 minutes faster). Working on more efficient technique in tandem could lead to an even bigger improvement by race day, getting this mid-pack swimmer closer to a 1:20 finish.

What does it take to swim 3800m (2.4 miles) in 1:20?

We can use the calculator for this also:  

Click to predict your required 100m time for YYYYm in XX:XX!

Plugging in 3800m in 1:20 with an SDI of 1.06 gives 1:42 for a 100m all out swim.

Plugging in SDI = 1.0 shows that you need to average 2:06/100m (or 1:53.5/100y) for 3800m to get 1:20.

THE TREATMENT:
Use Critical Swim Speed (CSS) training to develop your diesel engine in the pool

Even older than SDI is the CSS (critical swim speed) model for muscular endurance training. To get your CSS, you can use your 800m pace prediction from the SDI calculator (currently 2:30/100m in the example above), or you can complete 200m/y and 400m/y time trials and use the CSS calculator from Swim Smooth.

CSS pace is your goal average pace for hard but aerobic sets of 200s, 300s and 400s with short rest (~10 sec per 100), with a total main set yardage of up to ~2000y. For example, you might start out doing 5 x 200 with 25 sec rest, and work your way up over 8-12 weeks to doing 5 x 400y on 30 sec rest at your CSS pace (add 1-2 sec per 100 for 300s and 400s).

The level of effort required to maintain CSS pace over long distances is at the far upper end of your aerobic range - it's hard, but it's not sprinting. These are challenging sets, but the payoff is tremendous if you incorporate one into every week instead of just doing long, easy swims to work on endurance only. 

You will find that you must really concentrate on your technique to maintain the desired pace as you tire, and knowing what points of technique help you do this can be quite valuable information - you will want to keep these in mind when racing as well! 

Make sure to pace yourself well from the very beginning of the set and stick slavishly to the rest interval for best results. If you have an SDI that is greater than 1.06, you will be tempted to swim faster than the assigned pace at the beginning of a set (or interval), but resist this temptation! Your goal is to finish a long distance at this pace, not to sprint faster than it at the beginning and slow down as you go through the set. Don't worry if it seems too easy for the first couple intervals. If it feels too easy by the end of the set, though, try a quicker pace the next time. 

If you have difficulty pacing yourself within an interval (you set off too fast in the first 25 or 50 and then slow down at the end) or difficulty pacing yourself through a set (interval times get slower and slower as you go), then try using a Tempo Trainer set to 1/4 of your CSS pace in mode 1. Your goal is to make every turn right with the beep to learn how to pace very evenly.

To learn more about training with CSS, check out this page from Swim Smooth.
Check out this thread in the Total Immersion forum to learn more about SDI.

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Casey Arendt is CEO of Go the Distance Coaching, and is a USA Triathlon and Slowtwitch Coaching certified swim coach who specializes in freestyle technique development and conditioning for triathletes. She offers private swim lessons and swim video analysis in Central Texas. You can reach her at casey@gothedistancecoaching.com

Three stroke flaws that ruin your propulsion

Three Stroke Flaws That Ruin Your Propulsion

A Swim Coaching Article By Swim Smooth
reproduced with permission (see here)

Introduction

One of the reasons an elite swimmer is able to swim so quickly is that they have a very good catch on the water during the underwater phase of the stroke. Developing a truly great catch can be technically very difficult to achieve but if you can make even small improvements to this part of your stroke you'll notice the benefits straight away and start to move more quickly and efficiently through the water.

For most swimmers getting a good purchase or hold on the water is a very elusive experience and working on this area of the freestyle stroke can be very frustrating. Perhaps you've been told to 'keep your elbows high' or tried to 'reach over a barrel' and struggled to get these concepts into your freestyle? In this article we're going to take a step backwards and look at what happens immediately before the catch – as your hand enters the water and extends forwards.

Setting Up For A Better Catch

The catch setup phase is very important in freestyle - if you don't take the time to develop this part of your stroke then the catch itself will be heavily compromised and working on it will be frustrating and largely fruitless. However, take a step back and work on getting your body, arm and hand into the right position prior to the catch and your feel for the water will take a big step forwards, helping you generate much more effective propulsion.

We're going to look at three very common problems you may have in this 'catch setup' phase of the stroke and in each case give you a simple drill centred on fixing it. Try each drill and stroke focus, even if you don't think you have that issue in your stroke – you may be surprised what benefits it brings!

Catch Setup Problem 1: Crossover

On the last Swim Smooth Clinic Series in the UK, 76 of the 108 attendees had some level of crossover in their stroke. A crossover is where the hand crosses the centre line in front of the head. A crossover does a lot of harm to your stroke but in terms of your catch it causes you to collapse on the elbow and lean on it. This dropped elbow position in the water will then stay put for the rest of the catch and pull through – ruining your propulsion.

To overcome this in your stroke, focus on entering the water straighter without crossing the centre line. You may be tempted to think about going wider with your hand entry but we don't recommend this, it tends to make you flatter in the water and harms your body roll. Instead of thinking about going wider, think in terms of going straighter, entering the water and extending arrow straight forwards in front of the same shoulder:

A great way to work on this is the 'on your side' drill. This is one of the simplest drills possible but is fantastic for getting you straighter and more aligned in the water. With a pair of fins (flippers) on, simply kick on your side with your bottom arm out in front of you and your top arm by your side. Try to get perfectly on your side with your hips at 90° to the bottom of the pool. Look down at the bottom of the pool and turn your head to the side when you need a breath before returning to look at the bottom.

If you feel like you're drifting from one side of the lane to the other or struggling to support yourself to breathe, then chances are you are crossing over and dropping that lead arm in the water. To remove the crossover, think about pushing your chest out and drawing your shoulder blades back. In doing so visualise going straighter, not wider. Perform this drill as 25m on one side before swapping to 25m on the other side, all the time thinking about improving your swimming posture and becoming straighter in the water.

Once you've performed the kick-on-side drill, try some full stroke swimming and simply think about the middle finger on each hand as you enter the water and extend forwards. Thinking solely about your middle finger pointing straight down the pool, this helps you focus on keep that lead arm straight as it enters the water and extends forwards.

Catch Setup Problem 2: Thumb First Entry

Many of us were taught to enter the water thumb first with the palm facing outwards when we learnt to swim. This method used to be taught because coaches believed it created a smoother hand entry into the water - this might be true to some extent but a thumb first entry puts stress on the shoulder, causing most swimming shoulder injuries. It also harms your catch because by entering thumb first there's a tendency for the lead hand to slice down in the water without getting any purchase on it.

Instead of entering thumb first with hand pitched vertically, we need to enter more naturally with a flatter hand and slight downward angle. This creates a nice clean hand entry whilst setting your hand position up for a great catch as soon as you enter into the water:

Catch Setup Problem 3: Dropping your wrist and over-reaching

In an effort to make their strokes long, many swimmers over-reach at the front of the stroke, this causes their wrist to drop and show the palm of the hand forwards:

This dropped wrist position can feel good when you swim because as the water flow hits the palm it creates a pressure on the hand and many swimmers perceive this as a good catch. Of course, dropping your wrist creates drag and it also tends to cause your elbow to drop down low in the water, which harms your catch. Instead of doing this you should extend forwards in the water but all the time keeping your elbow higher than the wrist and your wrist higher than your fingertips:

(see more of our animated swimmer Mr Smooth on the swim smooth website here)

A great drill for developing a better extension forwards in the water is Doggy Paddle. Perform Doggy Paddle with a pull buoy between your legs, don't kick and keep your head high - eyes either just above the surface or just below. Extend forwards underwater and focus on keeping your fingertips very slightly downwards as you do so. When you reach the front of the stroke, tip your fingertips further downwards to initiate the catch and bend the elbow to press the water backwards:

Imagine a rope about 50cm directly under your body and that you are pulling yourself along that rope as you do the drill. This visualisation can help you perfect the movement of the drill.

Tip: Try using more body rotation than with children's Doggy Paddle - say to yourself 'reach and roll' as you extend forwards and catch the water. In some parts of the world this form of Doggy Paddle is known as 'Long Dog'.

You can also work on developing a better hand and wrist position whilst performing the kicking-on-your-side drill described earlier. Whilst your lead arm is outstretched keep your elbow higher than the wrist and your hand flexed so it points just very slightly downwards:

If you are used to feeling the water striking your palm then you will feel less pressure from the water in this improved hand position. Expect this to feel strange at first.

Conclusion

Setting up for a good catch within your freestyle stroke is very important. Many swimmers make the mistake of jumping straight to developing their catch action itself and pay no attention to what happens before. Developing your catch will be a frustrating and largely fruitless experience without first working on becoming straight in the water with your hand and arm in the correct setup position.

If you take the time to develop this key area of your stroke then the catch itself often falls naturally into place and starts to give you the propulsion you need in your stroke. It's very much cause and effect!

One last tip: When you make changes such as this to your stroke it can feel strange at first or in some cases it can even feel wrong to begin with. Give yourself a little time to adapt to the changes above and get used to the feel of your modified stroke. We recommend around six sessions focusing on your catch setup before deciding whether these changes are beneficial to you. Give it a go – we're sure they'll help you and have you moving more quickly and easily through the water!

more about your authors: Swim Smooth

Swim Smooth is a swimming coaching company based in the UK and Australia. We're famous for our straightforward approach to improving your swimming. On our website you'll find a wealth of easy to read articles to improve your swimming. We offer swimming DVDs, swimming training plans and training tools to improve your stroke technique. Also don't miss our animated swimmer "Mr Smooth" showing you an ideal freestyle stroke in action. Yes he really does move! :

Article © Swim Smooth 2011

February swim challenge week 4 - rhythm and pacing

Each week in February we have been challenging you to swim a little more than the week before, try a new drill and complete an endurance challenge during one of your workouts. If you don't have time to do all three challenges each week, don't let that stop you from doing one of them, or perhaps two!

This week we bring all the pieces together with a terrific drill for nailing your breathing timing - UNCO. We also get you started on knowing how to pace yourself on long interval sets that have short  rest intervals by showing you how to determine and use your "critical swim speed". These sets should be your bread and butter as you train your swimming "diesel engine" (as the guys at Swim Smooth say) for long triathlon swims.

Whether you've been following the swim challenge from week 1, or you've just discovered us now, it's not too late to be entered in the drawing for a pair of Agility Paddles, a Tempo Trainer Pro, 50% off a swim video analysis session or $50 in nutrition. Four prizes will be awarded! All you have to do is share about what you've been doing in the pool on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #GTDCSwimChallenge.

 

Last week we encouraged you to try out the scull #1 drill to start to harness more propulsive power and pace yourself through a long swim of 500y or more. If you have the stamina  and pacing ability to finish a 500y swim, you are ready to step up to this week's challenges! This week we use the Unco drill to improve your breathing timing so you can get a great catch and pull on every stroke, not just the ones when you're not inhaling. And we also determine your critical swim speed, a very useful tool for programming tough aerobic interval sets of your own going forward and learning the pace you should be able to hold for a 1 mile open water swim. Here are your challenges for Week 4 (Feb 23-Mar 1):

1. Swim 3x for 45-60 minutes each.

2. Try the Unco drill. This is a one-arm drill that is performed with fins, and it isolates the stroke that most swimmers don't do well -- the one when you're inhaling. Even if you have successfully used sculling drills to get a solid catch and pull for most of your arm strokes, chances are that your forward arm slips down through the water while you inhale with engaging it like it should. If you breathe every third arm stroke, that means you're only 66% efficient. If you breathe every time on the same side, you're only 50% efficient!

Typically a swimmer will fail to catch the water properly on the inhale stroke because she turns her head too late. As you do the Unco drill, focus on rotating your body and your head as soon as your fingertips go into the water so that you inhale as your arm is still entending and then catching the water instead of after that.

Swim Smooth explain the Unco drill well on their website, and I highly encourage you to find all the details there. You can also see an excellent demonstration on YouTube. Briefly, while wearing fins, swim with one arm staying at your hip and one arm stroking. Each time the stroking arm goes into the water, take a breath to the OPPOSITE side so that you are inhaling as the arm extends forward and then catches the water. Then rotate your non-moving shoulder (and hip) down toward the bottom of the pool. This will help you recover your moving arm over the top of the water. Practice breathing on time on one side with the drill all the way up the pool, and then swim freestyle back the other way, still breathing only on that same side. Then repeat the sequence breathing on the other side. If it is difficult for you to breathe on one side or the other, it is likely because you don't rotate your body enough into that breath and/or it is happening quite late. The Unco drill can help you make that "off-side" breath happen more easily so you can become a more symmetrical, bilateral breathing swimmer!

3. Determine your critical swim speed. Whether you are a born sprinter or seem to go the same slow and steady speed regardless of the length of the interval, you will benefit from learning to swim near the top of your aerobic range for long intervals with short rest between them. This type of swimming trains your body to give you its best when you head down to the lake to start a triathlon with a 750m or 1 mile swim. The critical swim speed test will show you what pace per 100 you should be using for these sets as you get started with them. If you're a sprinter, it will give you what you feel is a quite slow pace goal, but I highly encourage you to stick with the recommendation so that you can swim much farther than you usually can! If you're a one-speed swimmer, your pace may feel tougher than you think you can do, but you may just surprise yourself by finding a gear you didn't think you had!

To start the test, pick a day when you are well rested and the pool is not crowded so you have your own side of a lane to work in. Warm up well with some easy swimming, some drill work that helps you swim your best (perhaps some sculling or unco?), and then a set or two of 3 x 50y descending (1st one easy, 2nd one moderate, 3rd one hard, 15 sec rest between each) to get your engine revved and ready to go hard.

The first part of the test is a 400y all-out swim. You will need to pace yourself! Go out at a "cruise" pace for the first 100, and then give a little more effort each 100 until the last 100 is taking more than you think you can give! Make sure to write down exactly how long it takes you to finish. Then fully recover with some rest and some very easy swimming for 5-10 minutes.

The second part of the test is a 200y all-out swim. Pace yourself like you did on the 400, but this time each 50 will feel tougher and tougher. Make sure you give it everything you have! Then take the two times from your two swims, and go to Swim Smooth's CSS calculator at http://www.swimsmooth.com/training.html to find your CSS pace. The same page will tell you more about how to use it in your future swim sets.

4. Bonus challenge! Complete a CSS set of 5-8 x 200y at your CSS pace with 20-25 sec rest between them. Make sure that you don't go too fast on the first one! It's always better to get quicker as you go through a set than to get slower and slower. Learning to even-pace or negative split a set (or long continuous swim like in a race) is a terrific skill for an endurance athlete to have at their disposal!

I hope this challenge has been an encouragement to you to get a solid start on your swimming fitness for the 2015. Now keep up the good work and encourage your triathlete friends to do the same! Happy swimming!

I Got CUBED at Austin R3: Whole Body Cryotherapy and NormaTec Compression Boots

Massage therapist Shae Connor recently opened Austin R³ in the Lake Creek Office Park near 183 and Lake Line. R³ (pronounced “R Cubed” for you English majors out there) stands for Recover, Relax, Reboot. I made the trek out there to try out two recovery modalities that were new to me and might be of interest to long-course triathletes during peak training months. She called it the “Freeze and Squeeze”.

  

FREEZE - WHOLE BODY CRYOTHERAPY

The centerpiece of the facility is the whole body cryochamber, direct from Poland, which envelops the athlete/patient in swirling vapors of nitrogen gas at just-above liquid nitrogen temperatures (around -200F) for 1.5-3 minutes. After reading and signing a waiver, I removed all metal jewelry from the chin down (Shae says she has no issues with her lip ring and earrings in the chamber), and all my clothes (bras almost always have some metal in them) except for my skivvies. Beefy mittens and fuzzy slippers are provided. After hopping in the chamber, Shae boosted my head up above the rim so I could continue breathing oxygen (instead of pure nitrogen), and turned on the gas. First timers get 1.5 minutes of skin-chilling cold, while the more experienced get 2-3 minutes, which is correlated with greater benefits. But safety first in my case.

Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) was first developed 30-40 years ago to treat rheumatoid diseases (like arthritis), but has also found use by movie stars for improving their skin (boosts collagen production) and by athletes to speed muscle recovery by decreasing inflammation. Frequent sessions may be required to see results, and the jury is still out on whether WBC is more effective at decreasing muscle damage and soreness post-workout/injury than less expensive cold treatments like ice packs and ice baths (like science? View free review article here). A few facilities around Austin have chambers. If you go, make sure to choose a facility that has certified staff like Austin R3 and a good safety record: in healthy subjects, the treatment is not intrinsically dangerous, but getting into the chamber with metal or wet skin/clothes on can cause major frostbite problems.

Cryotherapy uses -240F air to chill the skin to 30 degrees, but it is not a deeply penetrating cold -- it only goes 0.5 mm deep. However, this effect still drives blood from the extremities and skin to the major internal organs because the brain perceives the extreme cold as a life-threatening condition. The blood is highly filtered and oxygenated while bathing the organs. When the body re-warms after the treatment, blood vessels redilate, and the cleaned and oxygenated blood returns to the arms, legs and joints, refreshing them and allowing the athlete to recover faster from a workout. Check out this clip from the Discovery Channel:

Austin R³ claims the following for cryotherapy: reduces inflammation; relieves chronic pain, arthritis and migraines; decreases stress, anxiety, depression; improves circulation and detoxes the body; improves skin conditions like psoriasis and boosts collagen production; athletes can train harder and recover faster. The treatment may also increase metabolic rate in the short term, burning 500-800 calories, and helping you sleep hard the night after receiving it. See their site for more.

My experience: I visited Austin R³ on a day with a high in the 30s so I was already pretty used to being cold. I found the cold air to be really refreshing, but yes, quite cold. I’ve had my share of skin-numbing cold experiences after spending several winters in Chicago without a car, but this was not like that -- it was a "surrounding" but not a penetrating cold like an ice bath. I don’t recall shivering, but I was still pretty relieved when the 1.5 minutes were up! Because I immediately had a NormaTec session, I can’t say if my legs were less heavy when I left because of the NormaTec or the cryotherapy. I didn’t notice an excessive appetite or particularly sound sleep afterwards. Since data show that maximum benefits are achieved with 2-2.5 minutes of treatment, maybe I just wasn’t in there long enough. If I go again, I’ll update this post.

SQUEEZE - NORMATEC COMPRESSION

The other thing that I most wanted to try at Austin R³ was the NormaTec compression boots. Anyone who flipped open a triathlon magazine in 2014 saw an ad for these things since it is the "official recovery system of USA Triathlon", and I have also seen them demo’d at a couple expos for big races like Austin 70.3. The boots are a five-zone air-driven compression system from the feet all the way up the legs. Compression begins at the feet, and gradually works up the leg, driving fluid from the feet upwards. Shae set me up on setting 5 of 7, which was pretty intense, but as soon as I pushed the easy chair back and the boots started to compress my legs, I started to relax and feel good. The hot Yerba Mate tea in my hand that Shae brought me after my “Freeze” experience might have also helped! The boots stay inflated throughout the session, but the zone that is pulsing or holding varies over time. Because I was done with my workouts for the day, I had a 30 minute “recovery” session. Pre-workout treatments are 10-15 minutes.

So how does it work, and why is it a good thing? While the heart pushes blood out into the extremities via your arteries, there is no “heart” in your feet or hands that pushes that blood back to your heart – instead the action of your limb muscles pushes the blood back through your veins through a series of one-way valves. A proper cool-down after a workout or race can help a lot in making sure this fluid return happens. But as anyone who has had puffy ankles or swollen calves knows, sometimes this system is not up to the job. Providing gravity or additional muscle compression (massage, compression socks) can help with fluid return. The "Sequential Pulse Technology" of the NormaTec boots provides a much more effective way of doing the same thing, and therefore speed recovery of the legs after a tough workout. I walked into the NormaTec room with tired and sore legs – 2 lifting sessions and a hill run in the past three days had me beat. After the treatment, my legs (but not my glutes – that’s a separate NormaTec contraption!) felt totally back to normal.  Thumbs up!

Based on this limited experience and testimonials from dozens of pro triathletes such as Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington, as well as pro basketball, soccer and hockey players, I can certainly recommend the NormaTec system to rejuvenate tired legs. If you'd like to invest in your own system, it'll set you back about $1800. Or you can visit Shae for $30/30 minute instead. Well worth considering after your longest workouts if you're preparing for Ironman or a marathon!

Endurance sport fueling -- Know your options

When you begin to take on races longer than 5k’s and train hard for 1.5+ hrs at a stretch, you will find that your performance is greatly boosted by taking in calories during your race/workout vs. water alone. This is true because when you work your muscles hard enough to require a fairly high proportion of glucose as fuel (vs. fat, which is a “slower” fuel), your stores run low – there is only so much glucose stored within each of your muscle cells, and after that they rely on glucose from your liver (which is also needed to power your brain) or protein breakdown to supply the quick energy they need. A little shot of sugar can bring back your motivation, energy level and even your ability to think better!

Endurance athletes are not all the same when it comes to fueling needs or their ability to use different types of fuels without suffering from GI upset. In general GI upset is more noticeable either for short, very intense efforts when digestion is very difficult or in very long events such as an Ironman where any number of things can go wrong with your fueling, hydration and electrolyte supplementation over the course of the day. Digestion and absorption rates are key. How quickly will the food leave your stomach? Is it absorbed effectively, or does it get fermented by your gut bacteria, resulting in gas? Macronutrient composition, the amount of water you drink along with the food (concentration), and how your gut works will all influence how well a particular fuel form or recipe will agree with you.

Ok, so what are the options, and what are they good for? We’ll start with products with the highest water content and move to lowest.

• Sports drinks. The ratio of carb grams to water milliliters for optimal absorption is thought to be 4:100 (4%) – Skratch Labs and Osmo Hydration products are made to be used in this way. This ratio comes out to 112.5 calories in a standard 24 oz bike bottle. In hot conditions it can be fairly easy to consume 24 or more ounces of fluid in an hour on a bike, allowing an athlete to fuel exclusively by this method if he/she requires only about 100 calories per hour. Otherwise a more concentrated solution (or the addition of solid food as Skratch recommends) will be required. Most bottled sports drinks, including Ironman Perform, are 6-8%, and of course powdered sports drink mix can be made to any concentration desired. Some sports drinks (Hammer Nutrition makes two of these) contain a small amount of protein – these are intended to be used for sessions lasting more than 2.5 hrs when your muscles may start to use amino acids as fuel in addition to glucose.
• Baby food in pouches. These little fruit puree pouches, which have a similar shape to gel packs, are pretty popular amongst endurance athletes! They contain only about 60 calories per pouch because of their water content, so plan on stuffing a fair number of them into your jersey pocket for a 2-3 hour event. You will want to wash them down with a bit of water. Be mindful of the macronutrient content of the one you choose – the more fat/protein/fiber in there, the longer it will sit in your stomach, so plan to minimize these. Also, baby food does not typically have sodium, so you will need to add this from another source (ie, salt tabs or sports drink) if it’s hot out and you’re sweating.
• Energy gels. Gels typically come 100 calories of easy-to-absorb carbs to a pack in a variety of flavors for fruit-lovers as well as fruit-haters. Peanut butter gels have popped up recently that taste just like PB from the jar. There are also gels made with chia seeds for a jammy texture (Huma), with a fig paste base (Reload), or just honey (Honey Stinger Classic). There’s pretty much something for everyone, and unlike sports drinks and baby food, it’s easy to find a gel with caffeine in it if you find that to be helpful while racing (I do!). Gels are concentrated, so they require water – not just to wash the stickiness out of your mouth or off your hand, but to help your gut absorb the carbs too. Don’t skimp! If you’re running, it’s best to finish consuming a gel just before you arrive at an aid station so you can toss the empty packet and grab some water to wash it down as you jog through. As an aid station volunteer I have seen folks wash a gel down with sports drink – I don’t recommend this! The gel is enough calories for one dose, and should be chased with plain water to avoid GI upset down the road.
• Energy chews. If you like gummy bears, energy chews are awesome. They are not sticky like gels, come in a variety of fruity flavors, and also can be found with and without caffeine for an extra boost. They can be a bit difficult to handle while riding (not all packaging is convenient to use), and when you’re working very hard, chewing can be difficult. But it’s also possible to stick one in your cheek like a chipmunk, and let it slowly dissolve. Just make sure you know how many chews you need to consume to reach 100 calories – it may be more than you think – and don’t forget to continue to drink water as you eat them.
• Regular food. If you’re riding your bike over long distances at low to moderate intensity, there’s no reason not to use real food as a fuel. Because you are staying aerobic and are not bouncing up and down like a runner, your gut can tolerate something besides liquids/gels, and chewing won’t interfere with your breathing. The gurus of what to eat on the bike are the Skratch Labs chefs, Biju Thomas and Allen Lim. I highly recommend their two cookbooks for great ideas for bike-friendly foods and how to wrap them for easy eating. These vary from rice balls to grits cakes to hand pies to waffles. If it’s got lotsa carbs and just a little fat, protein and fiber, it’s good on the bike! Remember to hydrate effectively when fueling with regular food. If you use a sports drink for this instead of plain water, remember to combine the calories from the drink and the food to find the total calories you can tolerate per hour at your desired level of intensity.

Consider the intensity of the event you are planning, and then pick a few options that might work for you. Try them out in training under conditions similar to your race (temperature, effort level, frequency of fueling/hydrating) and see how you feel both during and after the session. If you experience tiredness/sleepiness, you likely need more calories. If you feel full, you are either over-feeding or using a fuel with too much protein, fat or fiber, causing it to sit in your stomach for too long. If you get dehydrated or need to pee a lot, adjust your hydration plan. 

Please add a comment about your favorite fuel(s) or a time when your choice of fueling didn't work for you like you expected!

A call to dig deeper

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche

A call to dig deeper

Each workout comes with a choice – how much blood, sweat and tears am I willing to commit today? Some days we just don’t have it. Some times those days pile up into weeks of half-hearted workouts. But when we dig deep to really give it our all in a key interval workout or really go to failure and not just a little tiredness during a strength set or plank hold in the gym, there is a both a fitness and psychological gain to be had that we can call upon during a race that we really care about. Being willing to suffer through wind, rain, and more effort than we would normally want to give allows us to push through adverse conditions on race day.

As the 2013 triathlon season winds down and key races are happening, I am witnessing and hearing about athletes who exemplify what our sport (and really any sport) is about – digging deep to push through momentary pain and suffering to achieve a goal that lasts.

Sara dreamed about doing an Ironman, and did everything she could for 1.5 years to be ready. On race day, it was windy on the lake, and she finished the swim in 1 hr 43 min with a belly that was visibly distended from air and water taken in during the swim. She then rode a very hilly bike course for 112 miles, hillier and longer than she had ever ridden before for eight hours. She was more physically miserable during that ride than she had ever been before, but she didn’t stop because she wanted to finish that Ironman so badly. And she did.

John, a great local duathlete, traveled to Switzerland to compete in the Age-Group Long-Course Duathlon World Championships for Team USA. John wrote the following about his experience at that race: “Powerman, ‘World's Toughest Duathlon’ lived up to its name. I had a few adventures during the day....stung by a bee on my lip during the second loop on the bike; breaking a spoke with 32 miles left to ride (which made those 32 miles hairy since I didn't know if the wheel would hold up on the descents or during braking in the corners); missing a water hand up when I was out of fluids (the guy pulled the bottle back!).” Any one of these challenges might have ended a typical workout early. He had to dig deep to finish!

People in our midst are digging deep in other ways. Some are enduring the loss of a wife, a husband, a parent to sudden and unexpected death, and carry on for the sake of children day by day into a new and undesired reality. Others spend months in chemo treatments, surgeries and the physical impairments that result, struggling to return to some semblance of what they once were. And don’t forget the parents caring for kids with special needs who wonder who will care for these children when they no longer can.

Whether we endure by choice in sport or by necessity in life, we all look for a source of strength to help us continue when the going gets very tough, and the road feels especially long. We call upon the example of others to help us push through (Heb. 12:1-2). We hold onto the belief that how we handle the situation will somehow make us stronger as human beings, as spiritual beings, as parents, as pastors and teachers, as coaches, as athletes. We persevere in the face of adversity because we believe that continuing toward our goal is more important than what we feel in the moment. The desire to just give up and go home is defeated.

This is the call to true greatness in life, in sport. Perseverance in the face of adversity. Embrace it every day, every workout, and see where it takes you in 2014.