FASTER RACE SWIMS

Maintaining a pristine, carefully executed stroke is usually not possible in the churning maelstrom of a triathlon swim!  Beautiful high elbows and a long glide – refined from hours in a calm pool – aren’t much good if you lack the power to get through the froth and chop of a race.

In fact a longer glide-oriented stroke is more susceptible to interruptions and repeated reaccelerations that quickly sap your strength.

Gaining proficiency in your open water swimming might require some stroke re-engineering.  Modifications to consider include a higher turnover and eliminating dead spots that can stall your speed and forward progress.

Check out this article on how to improve your open water technique and consider reframing your approach to triathlon swimming.  Be warned: much of the advice presented here is contrary to what you probably learned in the pool.

INDOORS WITH LIONEL

Superstar Lionel Sanders is a huge proponent of training indoors and has literally built his career on Wahoo bike trainers and Woodway treadmills.

In this video Lionel explains the advantages of training predominantly (but not exclusively) indoors.  Convenience, control and efficiency are critical when executing his workouts, and Sanders is convinced that he gets higher quality training indoors.

Lionel shares one of his favorite bike trainer sessions to prepare for a flat 70.3 race: 10 x 8 min at 350 watts with 3 min recovery (Ouch!)  We love learning from the pros, and we know that you’ll pick up a handful of tips and insights from this interview.

RECOVER AS FAST AS YOU TRAIN

We’ve just discovered a new post-workout recovery shake that’s been quietly building momentum within our athlete community. It’s called Total Recovery and it’s produced by the sports nutrition experts at Swiss Rx who are obsessed with meeting the nutritional demands of athletes.

You’ve never tried anything like it.

What makes Total Recovery different is that it’s like a laser beam that targets post-workout inflammation, and actually helps you recover faster.

Thanks to our friends at TheFeed.com, you’ll receive a whopping 40% discount off your purchase of Swiss Rx Total Recovery (that’s a massive $31.99 savings) when you use the coupon code TriWire.

Lock in this deal now to ensure you’re maximizing the gains from every workout!

SWIM STRENGTH

Did you know that pull-up mechanics directly correlate to swim speed?  Now, we’re not saying that you need to do dozens of pull-ups (who can do that?), but we are drawing attention to the importance of strength for faster swimming.

We also know that strength training corrects muscle imbalances, prevents injury and improves stability in the water… but where do we start?

Start here, with Olivier Poirier-Leroy’s 5 best strength exercises for swimmers. By building a stronger athlete, the speed will follow. That’s solid advice for all triathletes.

QUICK HIITS:

• Very Smart
  Triathletes now have a new option for informed training thanks to the FINIS Smart Goggle. Displaying only the personalized data you need most in the periphery of your field-of-view, you can now spend more time focused on your workout.  Its innovative electronics module is removable and can be transferred to other goggles, as needed.  We look forward to putting it through its paces!
• For Serious Runners Only
  Considered by many to be one of the best distance running books of all time, Daniels’ Running Formula by coach and exercise physiologist Jack Daniels will help you with all aspects of your running.  We especially like his method of demystifying how to find the appropriate training pace for your targeted race times.
• Ticket to Tokyo
  With less than 3 months remaining to the Tokyo Games, athletes around the world are scrambling to earn one of the 110 bibs available for the Olympic triathlons.  Here’s how the process works (and why the introduction of the mixed relay event complicates the selection strategy).