TI Lesson Two

As taking my Triathlon Swimming Made Easy (TSME) book to the poolside would be a bit daft I have tried to memorise the drills I'd be doing in advance. So once I returned from the pool last night and checked up on my book it turns out I've spent an hour doing lesson 2 drills after warming up on lesson one. Luckily that was listed in the book as a good drill session. So I'm quite pleased with that.

Lesson 2 introduced "switching" via the underswitch. This involves using rotation of your whole body as you switch arms under water. Starting with one switch at a time and then progressing to double, and triple underswitches. It was quite an amazing feeling, up there with the feeling of balance from the first lesson's drills. I ended up doing an hour of drills and found doing 25 yard reps of triple underswitch was becoming quite easy.

I'll spend a few more pool hours practising these drills before I move onto lesson 3. That brings the switch out of the water and looks much more like a swimming stroke. From there it should be a quick step to full stroke swimming.

Today's training

• 13 mile cycle (did it at 5am this morning!!)
• Pose drills

Slow Monday

After a tiring day at work yesterday I didn't really feel like doing much training. My planned cycle went out the window and I concentrated on some running drills instead. I think my pose stance is fairly good, so I'll get a decent video together and get it off to the pose forums for analysis by the coaches. I'm getting there with the change of stance, which is basically about removing your support foot when you're standing on one leg. I'll do my own video analysis of that soon just to check. I still don't get the "pony". It seems very easy, but I don't know what it's meant to achieve. I think I'll send a video of that very early to make sure I don't imprint the wrong movement into my muscle memory. So that was my Monday night's training.

Today I have my swimming gear in my work bag so I can stop in at the pool straight after work. I think this'll be my last session on lesson one drills. I'll do 45 to 60 minutes just to get it completely nailed and then I can move onto lesson two this weekend.

After I've been to the pool I'll do a few more practices at the pose drills.

First Lessons in Total Immersion

This past weekend saw my first attempts at learning to swim a nice efficient stroke that I can use for a triathlon and I must say I'm VERY impressed. I've read the book through and there are 4 basic lessons with a few drills relevant to each one. The drills progress and each one leads on to the next so that you develop the correct perception and movement.



The first drill involved simply lying on your back but it all about balance. It turns out I have never had balance in the water, but now I do. The way to tell is to lie floating on your back and if your feet and legs drop into the water you ARE NOT balanced. The solution is simple, you need to lie nice and straight and lean on your head and shoulders. Your legs and hips come up naturally and before you know it you are floating with ease to the point where the front of your thighs are actually out of the water. It's an amazing sensation, and a small kick propels you through the water as you are in a perfect streamlined position. With that out of the way I worked my way through the drills to get to the end of the first lesson.



The session filled me with confidence, so on Saturday I returned to the pool to practice the drills some more. I plan to continue practising these drills until they feel completely natural, and then I'll move onto the next lesson. With enough pool time I should be ready for full stroke sessions in a month or so. Even at that point I'll keep with the drills to hone the technique and hopefully I'll develop a good efficient stroke. I have high hopes for my swimming now.



Also over the weekend I continued with my stretching, flexibility and drills for pose running. I'm finding it quite frustrating, as I have to fight the urge to just go through the drills and then get out for a run. I've stuck with it so far though. I'm hoping I'll reap the rewards. It hasn't had the instant hit that I got from the swimming drills though.



Luckily I still have my bike to allow me to get some long active sessions done. Saturday morning I popped out for 10 miles and tried to keep my speed slightly faster than I usually would. I wore my garmin and for the first time in ages the heart rate montior that goes with it. It rarely went above 150 so I could maybe have worked a bit harder, but it will have been a good aerobic session. I completed the 10 miles in 38 minutes so I'm happy enough with that for now. In the coming week I'm going to introduce some interval sessions and hills to my bike training just to work myself a bit harder. I'm still clinging to the hope that I can compete in the Loch Ness Marathon later this year and I'm hoping that all the cycling will substitute the early running sessions I'm missing out on just now. This should be week 2 of a 16 week training program for the marathon.



Today's training:

• 10 mile cycle


• Running drills - including some barefoot on grass.

Early Drills

So it turns out the drills were a bit harder than I expected last night. Balancing on the ball of one foot for a minute at a time was quite difficult. I gave a it a few tries and was happy enough with the results, but I think I'll keep at it for a week before I make any videos for public viewing. Also I did it topless and was quite embarrased at the wee pot belly I spotted. Evidence that my complete lack of aerobic exercise is kicking in already, but it's given me impetus to learn the drills and get on to runing asap, and I'll also be watching what I eat more carefully.

I also tried changing feet in the pose stance, again it's very difficult but this time it's more of a mental barrier. You're standing on one foot and have to lift that foot away from the ground BEFORE you let the other foot drop naturally to stop you falling into a heap. I think I can do it, but I won't know until I video myself and watch in slow motion for the lift happening first. If it isn't then I've got a big mental perception to overcome.

Lastly was a "Pony" drill. It's much like the change of support, but you don't lift your non-support foot clear of the ground. I found this one very difficult. I'm not sure what it should feel like, or what it's purpose is. I'll read back through the section of the book covering it.

This morning I was up early and decided to do a few more pose stance drills, before moving onto flexibility. I'm worried that the hip injury I'm carrying will affect my ability to drill properly, so I want to do as much as possible to avoid that. Especially given that a full chapter of the book focuses on the hips. I began with some general flexibility exercises that are also covered in the book. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sure that Dr Romanov hasn't just put this section in to show off!! Haha!! But after a few of these it is clear that I have some work to do on flexibility. Worryingly though, my right shoulder lacks a serious amount of range of movement, especially compared to my left. I've had trouble with this shoulder in the past and there is a constant niggling pain in it at all times. This became apparent as I tried several of the flexibility exercise. By the time it got to my legs and back I was sure that I'll need to do a lot of work in this area, and hopefully it'll pay off. I'll be doing these exercises as often as possible from now.

Onto the specific hip exercises. I managed to get through quite a few of these, and again I think working on these will be a huge benefit. I wish I'd had more time to work on these, but I could feel an immediate benefit especially on the side that has been injured.

After work today I'll be going back to do some more of these exercises and work up a bit of a sweat. Then it's off to the pool this evening to begin my adventure with TI swimming. The first lesson is learning balance in the water. From what I've read I'll either get it straight away or I'll struggle to get the perception. The lack of underwater video facilities at my local pool means I'll have to rely on being honest with myself as I work through the early drills.

Today's training:

• More flexibility and hips
• More drills (Pose stance, COS, Pony)
• First attempt at TI swim drills.

1st Day of Training

OK, so not technically my very first day as I've made a few half hearted attempts at the first few drills from the Pose book. Today I'll make a concerted effort to do 30-45 minutes of training and video the results for the Pose coaches on their forums to dissect. I've got a spanking new Sony DSC-W35 to video myself with as well (",)

Genesis...

OK, here's the deal. After starting running a few years back to get myself a bit fitter I found I have a competitive nature. Actually it's always been there but as a youngster I wasn't particularly endowed with any athletic ability. Now as a more mature specimen I set myself a target of running a full marathon before I was 30.

In 2005, aged 28, I reached my target running 3:30 in the Edinburgh Marathon. So what next? Well for the past few years I simply tried to get faster and managed some decent times at half and full marathon distance, reducing my PB to 3:20 at Loch Ness last year.

During that period though I've found myself with several injuries impeding my progress, and at the same time I keep looking for the next challenge. With both those things in mind and after discounting the option of ultra distance marathons (for now), I've found my next aim... Ironman triathlon.

Ironman Triathlon

• 2.4 mile swim
• 112 mile cycle
• 26.2 mile run

All one after the other. Having done a marathon I know the drained feeling at the end. I can't imagine starting a marathon having already swam 2 and a half miles and then cycled 112!! But that's what it's all about. Pushing yourself to see what you've got.

As with all my long term targets I've set out a plan to get from where I am to where I'm going to. First I need to deal with injury prone training. It won't do. In 2006 I tried to run Edinburgh marathon with a back injury that had nearly crippled me during my training. That was a big mistake. I've often toyed with the idea that there must be a proper technique to running, although normally I'd be thinking of it with a view to increasing my speed and stamina. Training plans can be very vague. They usually specify speeds and distances to run, but never "how" to run.

After some research I came across the pose technique of running. Step-by-step training through drills to develop the skills to run properly, resulting in a faster run and removing the risk of injury when done properly. JACKPOT! The only downside is that to leanr properly you have to stop running completely, until you are ready to run with proper pose technique. This could have been a problem for me as I'm impatient. However, in what could be described as devine intervention if I actually believed in that crap, I picked up a hip injury recently. This provides the perfect opportunity to stop, learn the skills and then come back stronger, faster and better than before. So I've bought the book, the DVD, the flat trainers, and the stretch cordz and I'm ready to start drilling.

In the meantime, if I'm going to put all this effort into learning something most people consider a natural ability, it would be daft to ignore the fact that my swimming could be described as poor. I can swim far enough, and can thrash my way down a 25m pool fast enough, but there's no way I'm equipped to swim nice and smoothly for any great distance. Swimming, unlike running, is considered a skill that can be learnt though and I had no difficulty finding various resources for learning to swim. However I don't want to learn to swim as such. I want to learn to get through the swim stage of an endurance triathlon in a decent time, and still have the energy to move on to the bike and run stages without feeling like death warmed up.

Step up "Triathlon Swimming Made Easy" by Terry Laughlin, inventor of the Total Immersion Technique. After reading through his book I'm happy with the theory and again I'm ready to learn to do something I thought I already knew.

So with running and swimming not available to me as forms of exercise I'll need to rely on my bike for keeping up my fitness. Luckily the bike seems to be the most simple of the 3 techniques. Once you have your bike set up correctly your form is essentially held by the mechanics of cycling. Obviously there are still theories and techniques, but they can wait until a later date. As a starter for 10 I went on a mammoth cycle to see how I got on. 83 miles in 6 hours I managed, and felt reasonable afterwards. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to run and swim again my biking will have improved simply through the amount of time I'll have spent on it.

So that covers the 3 disciplines. What next? Well with no way to tell how long it'll take me to learn to run and swim properly I can only set myself a vague target. I think it would be foolish to make my first triathlon a full ironman distance, but you never know. My plan at present is to get the running and swimming sorted. Hopefully I'll be able to take part in this year's Loch Ness marathon in October, but I can't rely on that. What I can rely on is that 20 week training schedule would get me ready for an Ironman 70.3 and there's one in the UK in early June each year (Ironman 70.3 is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile cycle, and 13.1 mile run). I make that a year to learn to run, swim, and then train up to the level to do the UK 70.3 event. That sounds achievable. Once I've done that I'll be able to make a guess at the time needed to train up to the full ironman distance.

So that's the background, now I'm going to blog it. So success or failure will be documented here. I'd like to think that I have the determination so make it even if I suffer set-backs. What I have here is my "ideal". It may turn out that I can't be bothered learning new techniques and just go on to risk injury by going straight into a big training plan. I'm already finding it hard to ignore that I should be in the first week of my training for Loch Ness, but I'll stick with the plan for now.

Links:
http://www.posetech.com/ POSE running website
http://www.totalimmersion.net/ TI Swimming