 Swim cords are a great tool to help work swim specific muscles out of the water, and they can help your mental game tremendously when you can’t get in the pool because your schedule doesn’t mesh with lane swim times. Just loop them around a pole, tree, stair banister, shut the middle part in a doorway… and have at it. Gordo has some nice pictures illustrating a few swim cord exercises here. I would also recommend lying face down on a bench or (using a ball for even more of a core stability challenge) because this lets you feel bit more like you do in the water and this can help with muscle memory. Remember, you want to have a strong, high elbow catch, without totally losing your roll.
Swim cords can be a great tool for arm position awareness – just be sure to check yourself out in a mirror, or have a friend critique you, the first few times you do them to make sure you are keeping your elbows nice and high, and not putting unnecessary strain on your low back. A great thing to do is to use them on deck before jumping into the water, then try to mimic that feeling once in the water. Use your lats to pull the cord back with your forearm vertical - learn to engage your major muscles groups. They can also be good to use after swimming as a substitute for weights. Get your back muscles, pecs etc. in order to help balance your swimming muscles and prevent injury.
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 As is the case with your Pre Race Dinner - practice in training to make sure you won’t run in to difficulties on race day. It’s extremely hard (impossible actually) to simulate the nervous stomach and anxiety of race day in training. But finding a simple breakfast that sits extremely well with you on a day to day basis will help ease those race morning nerves. Ultimately, it will come down to trying a few different things on race day before you dial it in perfectly.
Keep it simple. Your aim on race morning is not to pack back a ton of hard to digest calories. The less you have to digest, the better. But you’ve got to try and take in some food to top up your reserves.
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Today’s post comes to you from Chris Brown and Sara Gross. If you’ve thought about, but have yet to try a training camp, here’s some motivation to make it happen.
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Why Camp?
For many of us, it’s that time of year when we are putting in some miles on the three T’s; trainer, treadmill and track. I recently spent 3 ½ weeks in Calgary, Canada… burr…. I have to admit, I have become soft when it comes to cold weather. I forgot what its like to have your lungs burn on a long run when it’s -25! Enter the perfect solution: the warm weather training camp.
Taking part in a warm weather training camp is not only fun, but can help us get a competitive edge for the season. Here’s my list of top 5 reasons for attending a training camp:
5. Coaching: A good camp should have a variety of good coaches on hand to help you improve technically in all 3 sports… So much can be accomplished in a week dedicated solely to training.
Continue reading Benefits Of A Training Camp
Anytime of year, but especially winter, is a great time to jump on to the treadmill. Unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere with warm weather or an indoor track, many runs are happening on the treadmill. In our observational surveys of treadmill users it seems that very few people [...]
 Trying out a few meal options the night before a big training day will help decrease the surprises come race day. You’ll want to avoid taxing your digestive system with hard to digest meats and processed foods. However, finding something that you’ll enjoy is equally important.
The timing of your pre race dinner needs to be thought out as well. Try not to leave it too late at night - it can be hard to sleep on a full stomach. Eating late will also leave you feeling too full to have a decent breakfast on race morning. We like to give ourselves 9-10 hours between the pre race dinner and our pre race breakfast. That way you can still take in sufficient calories in the evening without worrying about having a full belly for the 3-4:00am wake up call.
Our favorite meal: Mashed potatoes, carrots, rutabega and yams - heavy on the yam. Small side of lightly steamed spinach and a tomato. Home made humus for flavour (cut that out if fiber affects you on race day)along with 2 or 3 hard boiled eggs for added protein. Top it off with 300 calories worth of dark chocolate (minimum 75% cocoa) soon after finishing. We’ve made some slight modifications over the past 3 years (2010 as we update this post). The meal itself is quite high glycemic, but having the eggs with the meal and the dark chocolate (high fat content) will slow down the absorption some. Root vegetables are a good source of easily digestible carbohydrates (much easier to digest than pasta), and they contain serotonin which can help relax you.
Continue reading Pre race dinner
Many of us don’t take the time to properly prepare our bodies for our run training sessions. We step out the door and start running, maybe with an easier jog at first but often not for long. Taking longer to warm up into your runs is an excellent tool [...]
 Depending on your bike strength, the race you’re training for, and the terrain you have to train in, it may be worth looking at changing the size of the chain rings and cogs on your bike. Most bikes will come fit with the standard 53 tooth big chain ring and a 39 tooth small chain ring. On the rear of the bike you’ll typically see a 12/23 cogset. If you live in a mountainous area, you’re probably best sticking with this standard set up. Even so, there are some pretty good alternatives that you may want to try.
Some may find that the 53 tooth chain ring is just too big, or too hard to ride most of the time. And rightly so. How often do you find yourself in the 53 tooth front ring and the 12 tooth cog a the back? I would wager not very often at all unless you have some long descents in your training grounds. Even then, you’ve got to be going over 60km per hour to spin that gear out. Then there’s always the situation where you hit a hill that’s not quite long enough to bother switching to your 39 tooth chain ring so you just grunt it over the top in your big ring. Or the dreaded, ‘oh crap I’m not going to make it in my 53, I need to switch half way up but can’t because I have to keep pedaling and I’m not going fast enough.’
Anyway, enough about the problems of a 53/39, here are some alternatives that you may want to think about.
Continue reading Choosing the right gear
 Ensuring a proper recovery from your training sessions is potentially the hardest thing to do when working full time. However, if you can find a way to incorporate recovery into your working day you’ll come out all the better for it. If you have to sit, definitely put your heels up on a little box or stool under your desk as much as you can. Have a tennis ball handy so you can roll out the muscles in between emails. Stand up and take mini walk breaks often. You can also do some fairly decent stretch routines while sitting in your desk chair. Getting the hip flexors is easy to do even while talking on the phone or hammering out that spreadsheet. Simply stick one leg out behind the chair and the other out in front, much like a lunge, but still use the chair as a bit of a prop so it’s not a struggle. It may look a little weird to people walking by your desk or office, but such is life.
If you have to stand, be aware of your posture. Engage your core muslces to keep your pelvis neutral. Don’t lean on one leg, have both feet planted properly on the ground. Stand tall, imagine a cord pulling your head towards the ceiling. Definitely keep stretching the muscles from time to time and give your legs a good shake to relieve any tension.
Continue reading Ironman Training Recovery At Work
Adding flax seeds to your daily nutrition plan is an easy way to improve your diet. Use them as an added recovery tool in your smoothies. Throw some on your cereal or in your oatmeal; top off your salads and pasta sauces. Use them when baking muffins. Even down [...]
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About this site:
These triathlon and endurance sport related tips have been compiled by Heather and Trevor Wurtele over the years of their progression from working age-groupers to full time professional triathletes. Heather is now a 4 time Ironman Champion and top 10 World Championship finisher. Trevor has an Ironman PR of 8:22 and a 2:51 Ironman marathon.
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