THE 27.2 MILE MARATHON
Ron Saetermoe
Efficiency in sport is critical for those wishing to do their best. I see inefficiency everyday with the athletes here at Triathica – especially with their swim. Many people fight the water rather than work with it. Good thing; helps keep us busy.
And while being efficient in the swim is probably the most critical event to the triathlete, it is also important on the bike and run. If you’ve ever ridden a bike that was poorly fit and another that was expertly fit, you know the difference. In fact, you can see it even if you’re not an advanced triathlete. The well-fit cyclist rides with a lot of power and stays out of the wind. Their leg extension is perfect and the back is nice and flat.
Triathletes don’t seem to have a problem spending money on swim coaching or bike fit, but they often don’t think about how efficiently they run. There has been a lot of research and much written about running form, but much of it goes ignored.
The latest thinking in running comes from a number of angles. Pose and Chi running methods have gained some popularity. The OC expert in Pose is Michael Collins of Multisports OC. He’s a Level 3 Pose instructor and can teach you all about it.
There’s also a good book out on Chi running by Danny Dreyer called “Chi Running, A revolutionary approach to effortless, injury-free running.”
So okay, how much can you really improve? It depends on how you currently run. You may have been born with perfect running form. If so, thank your ancestors. However, if you’re like the rest of us, you’re probably working too hard and not going fast enough.
In fact, did you know, that if you have a vertical bounce in your step of 3” and you run a 4-hour marathon with a leg turnover of 90 that you’re running a vertical mile over the course of your marathon? As if 26.2 weren’t hard enough!
A great way to review your form is to have yourself video taped. The best way to do this is to film yourself on a treadmill from a number of angles and distances. For example, to review your vertical bounce, tape yourself from a distance with something in the background to measure your bounce (a simple piece of masking tape on the wall in the back will do the trick). You’ll be able to approximate how much bounce you have and begin to work on this.
You should also tape foot-strike. If your heal hits the treadmill first you do what is referred to as “heal striking.” Heal striking is generally thought to be less efficient than a mid-foot strike. And if you’re racing any distance you want to be as efficient as possible.
Here at Triathica, we can help. We’ve got the video equipment (including an underwater camera) and the video capture software to fully analyze your swim, bike or run.
Cheers!
FREE GROUP WORKOUTS (Week of August 31st)
All of our group workouts are free to members and non-members, so come on out!
We want everyone to enjoy our group workouts but we should clarify the intent. The intent of the group workouts is to “workout.” Yes, it includes a social element. Yes, your Triathica host is happy to give you tips. But please be aware that everyone there is attempting to get a workout in at his or her own pace. If we all go at the slowest person’s pace many people won’t be getting in a proper workout. We will attempt to pair you up with another athlete so you’re not left alone.
Week of August 31st
Event: Group Swim
Place: Triathica flag at Big Corona near the lifeguard station next to the jetty
Day: Wednesday, September 2nd
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Planned Workout: 1 – 3 loops around the buoys
Event: Group Ride
Place: Triathica HQ
Day: Saturday, September 5th
Time: 7:30 a.m.
Planned Workout: 1 – 2 loops around Santiago Canyon
Event: Group Run
Place: Triathica HQ
Day: Sunday, September 6th
Time: 7:00 a.m.
Planned Workout: 9 miles through Whiting Ranch
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Big Corona – Corona Del Mar From the 405 N take the Jamboree Road Exit Make a left at Jamboree Turn left at Macarthur Boulevard Turn left on to CA-1 Pacific Coast Highway Turn Right on Marguerite Turn right on Ocean Boulevard Park at the beach ($8.00) or on the street (free) |
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Triathica – Triathlon Training Center From the I-5 Freeway: Exit Bake Parkway and head east for about 4 miles Make a left on Rancho Parkway South Turn right at the 3rd driveway 2nd building on your right Triathica is in Suite B on the right side of the building (Automotive Associates’ building) |
PETE & CORRINNE UPDATE #9
Jarrett Pflieger
Another week gone by and another week of training logged for Pete and Corrinne.
Corrinne is almost 100% recovered from her hard spill a few weeks back on the bike where she broke her wrist. She recently took a trip to Catalina for a nice couple days of relaxation, and of course training. Corrinne is a triathlete now, no opportunities for training will be missed. “I had some great runs through the trails there and the swimming was fabulous. The water is so clear there and the fish are gorgeous,” she said.
Other than her trip to Catalina, her training has been pretty consistent. There was nothing too out of the ordinary. Pretty much the same goes for Pete this past week. Being sponsored by Hammer Nutrition products, he has enjoyed the benefit of training with some of the best products out there.
This past week he has really focused on proper fueling during workouts and proper diet when not exercising. He has been trying to increase his protein intake to help his body and muscles recover from workouts. “I love the chocolate Hammer Whey. I found it helped reduce a lot of the soreness from my intense workouts.” Proper post workout nutrition is crucial for fast recovery and increased intensity for the next training session.
Overall, nothing too crazy this week from Pete and Corrinne. It’s actually good that everything is falling into place and getting more consistent since the OC Tri is only a month away. In the next few weeks they will hit their maximum training week and then begin to taper down for their race soon after that. Lets hope everything stays on the right track and they can just dominate the race on September, 27th
Check back in next week to see how Pete and Corrinne are doing.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE REPORT
Sara Davis
Everyone has that disappointing race, mine just happened to be at National Championships, not exactly the race you’d pick for everything to go wrong. Everything did seem to go wrong, even flying to Alabama was difficult; I actually think it’s quite funny now that I think about it, but we’ll get to that later. When I thought about going to Alabama, I always thought it would be in the middle of nowhere. I thought, “what a horrible spot for a venue.” I was proven entirely wrong and the venue in Alabama was amazing. The people were great, the nicest and most welcoming people I have ever met, and every one had a country accent, definitely amazing. USAT did a wonderful job with this event.
With delayed flights it took me 18 hours to get to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I arrived at my hotel at 12:30am. Not a great start to the trip. I woke up that morning around 8:30 and immediately got on my bike to ride the course and check out the run course. The ride started out beautiful, but also humid and hot. The course was a two laps so I only did one lap. It down poured on me the whole time. It was the kind of rain that hurt, but at least I wasn’t extremely hot. The run course had three really large hills, which fortunately I felt prepared for. After my short pre-race training session I went to lunch with, who turned out to be, all age group podium racers and an Ironman legend. We went to this small country breakfast place in which our waitress’ name was Dixie. The menu was hand written on a 3X5 flashcard, the kind of place you can only find deep in the country. I love the country. Then it was time for packet pick-up. I’ll tell you this much, there is nothing like a big triathlon event. It’s so funny to see how everyone is showing off their equipment, almost as if they are peacocking trying to intimidate their competition. I always enjoy people watching on days like this.
I subscribed to the saying, early to bed, early to rise. On race morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. bright and early, oh wait, I mean dark and early. My hotel was walking distance from the race so I walked down to where I had to rack my bike the night before the race. What’s nice about National events is they have everyone’s rack spot marked, so there’s no fighting for space, or getting there extra early for the perfect spot. It’s already picked out for you! I got all my race equipment situated and I had to be out of transition at 7:00 a.m. sharp. I had an hour to burn because my wave didn’t start until 7:54, so I spent the majority of it waiting in the port-a-potty line.
As I was getting ready for my wave I jumped into the water to take a couple strokes. There are so many girls in my wave that there wasn’t enough room on the starting block. I had to tread water and even this was difficult. The current was so strong that I had to work to stay behind the starting line, when I say work, I mean I was literally doing backstroke to stay in the same position. The start gun went off. The first 1/8th of the mile was with the current; the remainder was against this very strong current. We got to the first buoy very quickly and as I was going around the buoy I got this horrible smack to the face. My goggles were off around my neck and as I lifted my head I saw blood on my hand. Man, I got a bloody nose, are you serious? Since I am in a lake and not an ocean, I decided it was okay to go on. Swimming against this current was horrible. In Olympic Distance swims I usually swim in the low to mid 20’s. My swim was 41 minutes. This swim took me 7 minutes longer than my half Ironman swim. Real swimmers really had an advantage in this race.
After the swim, with blood dripping down my face, I rushed to transition, took a deep breath and was off on the bike. The bike was a good rolling hills course, it was catch up time for me. Right away I passed 5 or 6 girls, I kept passing and passing more girls. I felt great. Then, the unforgivable happened. I shifted my gears while I was going too fast and boom; my chain fell off of my front ring. I tried to shift it back right away and it didn’t happen. Really? I got off my bike and put my chain back on my chain ring as I watched racers re-pass me. It was one of those times where you just want to throw your hands up in the air and just quit, but I couldn’t. I could not live with myself if I quit. I got back on my bike mid-hill and started riding. This time I could feel the soreness in my legs from stopping suddenly. I had about a lap and a half to try to re-pass the girls that I had already passed before, so frustrating. Finally, I got back into transition, got my running shoes on and I was off.
It was hot, it was humid, it was pretty much miserable. The only hope I had to survive the heat was pouring water on myself at every aid station. The run course was one of the most difficult triathlon run courses that I have done. The hills were both long and steep, but the good thing was that in this race what goes up goes back down, so we had an equal amount of fast down hills. As the race went on, I went faster and as the finish line came closer I saw one of my breakfast buddies in front of me. I thought, “Oh I can catch up to him and we can finish together.” As I speed up through the grass through the finish shoot, which was 200 yards or so, I felt great. I was pretty much sprinting. Out of nowhere I felt my ankle roll and before I could do anything I was flat on my face, 20 yards to the finish line. Yes, I face planted in front of all of the spectators. As I was on the ground I heard the spectators gasp and even one yell, “You can do it!” As I got up I was already laughing.
I couldn’t believe that something happened at every leg of the triathlon. I came in 40th place in my age group, which is very disappointing for me. But, overall I still had a great experience. My bike split was amazing for having to stop in the middle of the race and my run split was good as well. The good thing is, I know I can do better and improve. Everyone will have a horrible race sometime in his or her career. The thing I learned was to keep going when things get rough and to always keep my head up. The day would have been more disappointing if I wasn’t able to laugh about it at the end.
SPIN CLASS SCHEDULE
Do you want to get faster on the bike? Do you like group training? Do you hate stoplights, flat tires, cars, and crashes?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you should check out Triathica’s spin classes every Tuesday morning and Thursday evening. The morning class will be at 6:00 a.m. and the evening class at 6:00 p.m.
Our spin classes are different from anything you have ever done. You will be riding top-of-the-line CycleOps 300PT indoor cycles with power measuring capability (watts). When you can see how much power you are producing, you know exactly how hard you are working from one workout to another. Spinning without watts and without structure can be a huge waste of time. Get a great workout in under an hour at a Triathica spin class. It will feel like you went for a three-hour ride on the road. Don’t get left behind; indoor training is the new standard for increasing performance on the bike, all done in less time.
We are starting small with only two classes per week, but expect to add more soon as demand grows. To reserve a spot in a class, call 949.273.6223 or email Jarrett@triathica.com.
