 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.
Continue reading Swim Cords
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 [...]
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 [...]
 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
 We are taking a break from our daily tips for Christmas, but we will be back at it come January 1st. Have a great time visiting with family and squeezing in as much training as you can manage!
If you have some time off, and a good couple of hours to spend swimming, it can be a great time of year to challenge yourself with a big session in the pool. Often the lanes are quiet, but be sure to double check the holiday schedule so you don’t show up to the “free entry with food bank donation, play time- family swim” by accident! Here is a big swim that I did today as my last hurrah before we take off. Have fun with those kick sets…
Warm Up 1900/35 min
300 warm
2 x
4 x 50 k down, build back
4 x 100 25 catchup, 25 7/8’s, 25 3/4, 25 build
4 x 50 #1 ½ fast – ½ slow, #2 ½ slow- ½ fast
#3 long and lovely, #4 build to 95%
Main set – aerobic and muscular endurance
4800m/1h 30 min
2 x
3 x 200k descend (70/80/90) :20 ri
2 x 300s @ 4:30 try to hold 4:15 (1:25’s)
3 x 200p @ 3:00 w/paddles & buoy hold 2:50
2 x 300k neg split each :20 ri
Take 60 sec b/w round 1 and 2
Continue reading Happy Holidays! (and a long swim)
If you live somewhere that gets snow in the winter, avoid falling into hibernation mode. Consistency is key to successful triathlon training so throw on lots of layers and get out the door. You may think that you can’t benefit from trying to run in 2 ft of snow, [...]
 Not many triathlons, especially Ironman branded events, are going to be non-wetsuit. If they are, you can bet the water is usually warm enough for the no-wetsuit rule to not effect even cold water susceptible athletes. Every once in awhile, however, you may hit a race that is just barely over the wetsuit limit (or has a crazy race director) and you’ll want to be prepared.
From first hand experience we have been on the sharp end of this stick early this year. We were very unprepared for a cold water no-wetsuit race and paid for it dearly. Some things we’ll be bringing with us to any potential non-wetsuit race in the future are:
**Double cap it – A definite must. Try to get a silicone cap underneath the race cap. Or, if you can handle the neoprene-under the chin caps then those do a great job too.
**Heat pack in a plastic bag – You know those little hand warmers (see picture) that stay hot for a few hours or so? Put one in a plastic bag between the two caps, and another somewhere around your belly or lower back. Hopefully your swim skin is tight enough to hold everything in place. Simply drop it all in T1.
**Go for a light run with plenty of clothing on 10 minutes before your start. Break a sweat, but don’t tire yourself out.
**Warming oil on the skin – Slop this stuff on and don’t rub it in too much so as to leave a little water repellent layer on your skin. Careful if it’s a sunny day as you may open yourself up to sun burn. Belgian cyclists are famous for this little trick. The start line in a chilly Euro bike race smells oh so sweet.
Hopefully we will all be good to go the next time we find ourselves on a non-wetsuit start line in less than balmy conditions.
Continue reading Swimming in cold water
 We spend a lot of time worrying about run mileage, frequency, and intensity but your running form is equally important. A lot of us assume that the way we run is the way we run and that there is little we can do to improve our natural gaits. Wrong. Focusing on proprioceptive cues (being mindful of specific things that you are doing with your body) while you run can make a world of difference. Those that paid attention to Craig Alexander’srun form in this year’s Ironman World Championships were super impressed with how he “popped” forward off the ground with each stride – basically he minimized his time on the ground and maximized the effect of that time on the ground. In the book “Brain Training for Runners” Matt Fitzgerald gives great examples of run cues and drills to help us do just that. One is to imagine yourself running on water. To avoid breaking through the surface you have to be quick and light, yet forceful. By thinking about actively driving your feet to the ground instead of passively allowing them to drop while running, you can increase leg stiffness on impact and improve your ability to generate forward thrust quickly, with minimal ground contact time. Also, if, in the instant before your foot makes contact with the ground, you contract the muscles in the glutes on that side of your body and keep them engaged thru the ground contact phase of your stride, you will minimize wasteful side to side rotation, maintain greater stability in your hips and generate more forward thrust. Next time you are running pick a single cue “run on water” or “butt squeeze” and focus on it.
You may also want to take a quick look at our tip on mimicking the best.
Continue reading Run on water
 Have you ever watched a world class swimmer on video? It’s as if they have gumby feet, acting like flippers pushing them through the water. You may have heard, or believe, that your kick is not a huge part of your Ironman swim stroke. This is true relative to a flat-out pool race, but if you can give yourself a strong and efficient kick it will most definitely benefit your longer triathlon swims and leave you fresher coming out of the water. Obviously training your kick in the water is step #1, but working the foot and ankle flexibility while you’re at work or lying in bed will do wonders for the efficiency of each kick as you push down through the water.
Take a look at this video. Unfortunately it won’t allow us to embed it directly into this tip but it is certainly worth your time to grab a quick peak. At approximately 45 seconds in to the video, watch how his ankles wip around like fins on a flipper: Michael Phelps Swim Kick
Continue reading Stretch your feet for a better swim kick
 One of the best things you can do in the off season (if you haven’t been doing this all year) is to pay attention to your hip flexors and IT bands. Throughout the year we all tend to neglect the side to side motion as we busy ourselves running, riding, and flutter kicking our way through each training session. Doing so can easily bring on the dreaded IT band syndrom or unfortunate knee and back pain related to tight/weak lateral legs muscles and stuck muscle fibres and tendons. A secondary effect of week hip flexors is to have your run form fall apart in the later stages of your race. You may not notice during the race, but if you look at those race pictures from mile 10 and mile 20 where you seem to be about to fall sideways into a heap on the ground, you can bet your stabilizing muscles – hip flexors being one of them – are not helping you look good.
So, stretch em out and keep em strong. There are many different types of strengthening excercises: clamshells, lateral leg raises, side stepping on a crossed-over stretch cord…mix em up a bit to keep things interesting. And guys, suck it up and get on the hip machine or grab the bosu ball like all the ladies. Rolling out the IT band and hip flexors with a foam roller or firm ball is equally important. If you’d care to try the toilet plunger approach and leave a comment we’d love to hear about it. Apparently pulling the IT band outwards with the suction of a plunger is another great method to get things un-stuck. We have yet to try that one.
Continue reading Stretch and strengthen your lateral leg muscles
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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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