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Howtobefit.com CEO Rich Dafter realizes that at 75 if he
wants to have quality of life in the remaining years of his life, he needs to
focus on longevity strategies for peak performance.
Learn more here… |
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Triathletes - What to do Without Access to a Pool
by Tom Manzi -
UltraFit.com Lately, many of the athletes
I coach, who are in the midst training for a triathlon, must travel for
vacation or business to an area that has open-water swimming available, but no
pool access. Open water is a great place to do long endurance-type swims, but
there are also other skills to work on. Below is a list of some of the workouts
Ive suggested for my athletes:
- Sighting: During a long swim,
sight on a stationary object that is on land. If available, it is also good to
sight on a buoy that is out in the water.
Practice counting strokes. Count 10
right-hand entries, then sight on an object, and repeat this a few times. (If
you breathe only to one side, count the hand entries on your breathing
side.)
Next, sight on every fifth hand (sixth
for single-side breathers) entry. Repeat this a few times, then try for every
third (fourth for single-side breathers) hand entry.
- Fartlek: After an easy warm-up, do
5 to10 x 60 seconds hard with an easy two- to three-minute steady swim in
between each pick-up. Try to swim the hard part at sprint triathlon pace.
For those that use T-time, your average
100 pace for 1,000 yards or meters, complete the pick-ups at faster than T-time
pace. When doing these hard fartlek repeats, focus on good form and sighting by
counting strokes.
- Beach starts and beach entry:
Practice getting into the water with a running start from a flat beach. If
there is surf, practice getting through the surf and swimming a straight line
for about two minutes away from beach.
Turn back to shore; swim in hard, as if
ending your swim in a triathlon. Swim until it is too shallow for you to use a
normal catch on your stroke, then get up and run out of the water.
Run with your feet going out to the
sides a bit to clear the waves. Repeat this two to three times.
- Run - swim - run - swim: A fun
workout on a flat sandy beach is to start out running aerobically for about
three minutes along the beach. Enter the water easy, try to drop your heart
rate a bit and then swim for three minutes. Repeat this sequence a few times.
You can carry your goggles along with
you; but I wouldn’t recommend a wetsuit for this workout.
It is important to do any of the
open-water workouts or drills I’ve mentioned at a guarded beach. Be sure
to be familiar with the depth, currents and condition of bottom. It’s a
good idea, and more fun, to do these workouts with a partner.
Tom Manzi is a competitive age-group
triathlete and USA Triathlon certified Elite-level coach. His clients include
professional and amateur triathletes, duathletes, and runners. Tom may be
reached by e-mail at tmanzi@ultrafit.com.
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