Saturday 31 May 2014

Getting your wetsuit on right makes a big difference

As open water coaches we are asked “what’s the most important thing regarding open water swimming” and the answer is simple. Firstly get a suit which fits you correctly, generally a right fitting suit feel too tight to most people and as a consequence they get one which is too big.. The second most important thing is putting it on correctly, if the suit isn’t worn correctly, you are massively increasing the resistance upon your shoulders which very quickly leads to fatigue. Follow these simple steps before each swim:
  1. Start at your ankles, step into the suit and pull the lower legs of your suit until the lower border of the legs are approximately 6 inches above your ankle bones (your knees should still be visible).
  2. Once you have the lower legs in then correct position pull the remainder of the legs up over your knees and then you thighs until the suit is up to your waist. At this point there should be no ‘saggy crotch’ and the neoprene should fit tightly against your nether regions.
  3. If you have a ‘saggy crotch’ then start again, if you don’t then you can continue
  4. Place your arms into the wetsuit so you are covering your lower arms only, do not allow the wetsuit to cover your upper arms and shoulders. The border of the wetsuit arms found at your wrist should be pulled up until they are 2 inches above your actual wrist or watch position.
  5. Once the wetsuit wrists are correct, pull the wetsuit sleeve to cover the remainder of your arms and shoulders, smooth out any wrinkles by moving them upwards towards your shoulders, DO NOT smooth out wrinkles by pushing them downwards towards your wrist, maintain the 2 inch gap between the wetsuit border and your actual wrist or watch.
  6. Ask you partner to zip up your suit (note that if you can zip it up yourself its probably too big). Be sure that the excess material at the neck is folded into the correct position so it does not rub your neck. Pull up the zip, there will be a piece of neoprene which fastens across the zip, ensure that the zip tether is above this before fastening to ensure that the zip will not come down if someone grabs it during the swim.
  7. Secure the end of the tether so it does not get in the way when swimming. the easiest thing is to tuck the end of the tether under your swim cap at the rear, this ensures that you always know where it is as you enter transition and can easily grab it to unzip your suit.
Regards
The Endurance Store

Monday 26 May 2014

Shropshire Tri Race Report




Shropshire Triathlon, Ellesmere 25/05/2014 – ITU World Championship Qualifying event
Olympic distance race: 1500m lake swim / 40k Bike / 10k run
Weather was inclement to say the least. Arrived at transition 08:30, located my bike position 379 and set about preparing for the race. As usual at these races my fellow competitors were full of chat and wit which helps to calm the pre-race nerves.  The race was going off in age group waves with my age group 50/54 going of last at 10:50 mixed in with the other older age groups. Swim went well with exit into T1 at 21 mins 42 sec. Raced through transition and onto the bike leg. Route was well marked and marshalled. There were showers throughout and a strong headwind making the last 10k tough on already tired legs. Into T2, 1hr 10 mins 49 sec. Into the final leg a 10k run on paths and back roads. The run was advertised as undulating, the climbs were challenging on tired legs. Finished the run 43 mins 53 sec, Total finishing time 2hr 20m mins 12 secs. 10th In age category 50/54 with overall position 122nd.
Overall a great well organised event. Highly recommended. 

Don Whiley

Saturday 24 May 2014

Open water swimming sessions

Coached sessions will begin on Tue 27th May Elton Sailing Club in Bury (BL8 2BR). Each session will begin with a compulsory briefing at 7.00pm so please arrive in enough time to get into your wetsuit beforehand. There are changing rooms and showers. You must wear a bright coloured swim hat and a wetsuit. Swimmers must be club members and have attended a club pool session first and be able to swim 800m continuously. A consent form is required and can be downloaded here. Please read the safety leaflet also.

This year train2swim are also using the reservoir for open water swimming from 5pm to 8pm every Tuesday and our members are free to join in with them and pay the usual club price £3 adults, £2 juniors. See their information at http://www.train2swim.com/venues-open-water/elton-reservoir/#

Our coach Stuart Carter is not available every Tuesday and not available from 5pm so his coached sessions will be held at 7pm on the following dates. Tuesday 27th May, 10tH June, 24th June, 8th July, 29th July. These sessions will include open water skills such as sighting, drafting, turns, mass starts, bilateral breathing.

Directions. If travelling down Bolton Road towards Bury turn right at Wellington Pub into Kitchener Street, signposted Elton Reservoir and Alpha Hospital. At end of Kitchener St turn right into Buller Street. Turn left over a smalll bridge signposted Alpha Hospital. Once over bridge bear right and down lane to Sailing Club.  Use a sat nav and you will end up in the wrong place. It will take you towards the reservoir from the wrong side along a lane which  has a locked barrier

Saturday 10 May 2014

Bolton Tri Club Allstars hit relay target

Our team Bolton Tri Club Allstars came 27th out of 46 teams at the Radcliffe Terry Nortley Relays on the May Day bank holiday. Coach Carter gave the team a target of 1 hour for the 4 X 2 mile relay. Each team member had to run through the finish banner while passing over the rubber band to the next runner. Other club members were there with their athletic clubs. Mark Russell's Burnden Road Runners team came 3rd in 45:39. Lisa Ottiwell's Swinton Whippets came 35th in 1:04:14 but not as fast as our whippets who were Neil Raby who got  us off to a flying start in 13:36, Terri Aldred who kept us in the race in 18:07, Nina Carter who did a solid 16:09 and Steve Buck who finished in style in 13:02. Their total time was right on  target 1 hour and 54 seconds. Never mind the seconds, what a team!



Thursday 8 May 2014

Turbo set - 1hr 45 mins

Another turbo set to try out, did this last night and found quite hard, is abit different but aimed at fast speed endurance with short recovery and over gearing muscular strength.

Turbo - 1hr 45 mins

Warm up - in small chain ring (only if there is enough resistance on your turbo to achieve the heart rates below)

7mins- upto 60% max heart rate
6 mins- upto 65
5 mins - upto 68 %
4 mins- upto 70%
3 mins - upto 75%
2 mins- upto 80%

use gears to achieve required increases in heart rate- keep cadence 90-95

immediately into 2 x 20 second sprints at 120 rpm- 40 easy-

should now be 29 mins- take 1 min easy- you should now be in the big chainring

Main set-

30 x 40 second sprints (110-120 rpm) 20 seconds easy repeat 30 times!

these should be done in a reasonable gear, depending on the turbo I usually do this is the big chainring on the 3rd gear down and this is achievable. This set should get very hard, heart rate is not important as long as its not really low, it should get pretty high after around 10 or so, keep going they do pass quite fast.

after this time should be 60 mins

5 mins easy spinning-

then ,

4 x 5 mins overgearing @60-65 rpm followed by 1 min undergearing @120 rpm then 2 mins easy recovery repeat 4 times.
all this set is at 80-85% heart rate. (each full rep through is 8 mins)

make sure you have enough resistance on to get legs slowed to 60rpm to take it a realistic hill climb whilst getting heart rate up.

after this it will be 1hr 37 mins-

easy spin recovery down to 50-60% for at least 8 mins to take the set to 1hr 45 mins.

It would be good to make this a brick out of this session as legs should be sore following this!

cheers nick