Thursday 31 January 2013

Triathlon Swim Session (Week 1)

Swim set from my training with Activ Multisport on Monday in the N.A.C.  It can be easily scaled down for newer swimmers. Focus on doing the easy intervals easy and the fast ones fast. I know it sounds obvious but  many swimmers (like me) push too much on the easy parts and then can't do the fast parts properly. I will post up a new one every week.

Warm up
400 m front crawl, 4 x  75 m easy 25 fast
400 m with flippers with kick board

Main set
500 m easy 20 sec rest
4 x 25 m fast with 5 sec after each 25 m
400 m easy 20 sec rest
4 x 25 m fast with 5 sec rest
300 m easy 20 sec rest
4 x 25m fast 5 sec rest
200 m easy 20 sec rest
4 x 25 m with 5 sec rest
10 0m easy 20 sec rest
4 x  with 5 sec rest

Warm down
Back crawl / breaststroke mix

Irish Age Group Selection 2014 Open

The 2014 European and World Championship selections are open, so now is the time to start thinking if you'd like to join the Irish team. Let us know if you decide to go for it.  Full Story here: Triathlon Ireland


The dream for most of us!

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Monday 28 January 2013

Importance of Proper Swim Training

Many triathlete's ask for tips on swimming. Well, the first thing to do is sign up for some proper structured lessons. Once a week is fine, you can always do your own sessions during the week as well. Stick with the lessons though, it will benefit you in the long run, this is why.


For new swimmers:
  • You will develop more quickly than training by yourself or with "youtube coaching"
  • Technique is really important. It is important that a swim coach looks at your stroke and gives you feedback on how to improve it.
  • It's really hard to know what your doing right or wrong when your swimming as you cant see yourself.
  • Coaches will give you drills to practice by yourself that will help you improve.


For swimmers with a good stroke:
  • Swimming laps once a week with a group or club is a great way of having varied sessions that you might not plan by yourself, anyway, it's nice not to have to think about it.
  • Here you will get varied sets to do that will develop aerobic fitness and swim strength.
  • You will also do drills that will help you become a better swimmer technically. Some common drills use pull buoys, flippers, snorkels as well as rotation and breathing drills.
  • Swimming with other swimmers is social and competitive, this makes for really enjoyable training.



Sunday 27 January 2013

This weeks Triathlon Training 27/01/13

After a week with the flu it's time to get back training. Here is what this week's training looks like, feel free to follow it or let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks.

Monday: Swimming with Activ Multisport in N.A.C. Sets and drills 2000 m+

Tuesday: Run 45 mins easy, like light recovery. 30 mins Stretching/Conditioning.

Wednesday: Swim 1500 m easy. Bike 1 hour. WU 10 mins, Main Set 40 mins, include 1 min pick up every 10 mins. WD 10 mins spinning easy gear.

Thursday: Run 1 hour. WU 10 mins, Slow pace, small fast strides, Main Set 50 mins easy pace, include 1 minute pickups every 10 mins. 15 mins stretching.

Friday:Swim 1500 m. WU 150 m easy, main set 8 x 150 m, tempo pace, 1 min rest between sets, WD 150 m backcrawl / breaststroke.

Sat: Bike 90 mins, WU 20 mins easy, Main Set, 1 hour, moderate pace, WD 10 mins small easy gear. 15-20 mins stretching/conditioning.

Sun: Rest day :-)






Rain is Good!

Friday 25 January 2013

Rusty Chainset



Today I take the bike from the shed. Going to have nice a cycle I think. Nope, I'm greeted by a rusty chain and cassette. Ah nuts, how did this happen? The bike has only been in there a few days. It seems that the last day I was out, it was so wet the lube washed from the chain, I was also wet at the time so the I put the bike in the shed and went for a shower forgetting all about the bike. What to do? All I have is some dry weather wax lube (not sure what I was thinking living in Ireland) and some 3 in 1, which I hear people give out about, but sure its oil, and it's old school, which is cool.


So here's what I did.


1. Oiled up the chain and cassette





2. Ran the chain through a cloth a few times. I used a bit of an old t shirt.












3  Found an old nail brush and ran the cassette through it with some oil..












Finished job.


That's about it, the chain and cassette are clean and free from rust as far as I can see. Certainly a good enough job until I bring the bike in for it's next service. Now all I have to do is go for my spin!


















Thursday 24 January 2013

The Smoothest Swimming Technique In The World? Jono Van Hazel

Triathlon Training Watch



I'm thinking about buying a watch for using while I train. Are there watches out there that can track swim distance in open water? Not by the looks of it, not unless you want a laptop on your wrist in the form of the Garmin 910xt, It just seems huge. Somebody tell me if I'm wrong. I looked at the polar rc3GPS but it is not water resistant enough for swimming. The only thing I can think of is to buy the Polar rcx3 (as it is waterproof) and use it with the GPS device under my swim cap. I'll let you know if it works when the water warms up.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Hard Work!

The websites say it is so easy, not for me, setting up this triathlon blog is not quick or easy, I am however learning lots of stuff along the way so it's cool enough, I guess it's just like triathlon, practice, practice, practice, and then, more practice.

The Beginning

Hello,

Thank you for stopping by my new triathlon blog. It's under construction at the moment so hopefully we can look forward to super page soon. Come back in a couple of days when I begin to post about my training.I'll be blogging about what it's like to swim, bike and run in Ireland. I will also post images of the beautiful Irish triathlon scene.

Eoghan