Stuff that works: Good coaching, hard work
Evidence: Back in April, we had a 750m TT in the pool. I knocked it out in 15:46 (15:26 according to the coach's notes, but that's neither here nor there). Today was the repeat, and I was shooting for some serious improvement. I've had about 7 weeks of consistent work, so I should be in good stead. After a lengthy warm-up, we got after it. Fifteen lengths of the pool, I was shooting for sub-15 minutes. For some odd reason, my lanemates wanted me to lead, although I admitted they were faster over longer distances. I tried to keep my pace just behind the person in the faster lane next to me, which worked for about 25m, until I noticed he had a pull buoy. Knowing I would kill myself trying to keep within shouting distance, I tried to ease off. I still need to work on my pacing, although I'd imagine how it went will be similar to how the race will work on Sunday. I went through the first 250m in about 4:45-4:50, then just tried to hang on. My pace was slowly inching up to giving away that little bit of cushion. I tried to relax and keep good form, but I was definitely working hard. Once I got to the last 150m, I started to open it up a bit. When I hit the wall with 100m to go, the clock was just about 13:00, so I dug as deep as I could over the last stretch. I kept my nose to the grindstone, turned my arms over as quick as I could while continuing to use full strokes. I touched the wall and as I lifted my head out of the water heard my time called out, "14:56". The other four people in my lane were: 14:22, 14:52, 14:55, 15:11. So I belong. Give me a wetsuit and let me draft, I'll be 14:00-14:30 in Milton with energy left for the bike/run. It's starting to come together.
Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
300 as 12.5 head-up/87.5 ez free
300 as 25 quick/75 ez free
2x50 sprint, 30"
100 ez non-free
100 ez pull
(50 ez free to other end of pool)
750m TT - 14:56
300 ez as 100 non-free/100 pull/100 free
4x25 sprint, 30"
300 ez pull
Total: 3000m
Stuff that doesn't work: Bad running form, neglect
Evidence: After the swim, I was talking briefly with the coach. First, I got the congratulations for a 30 second improvement (50 by my records). We got to talking about the duathlon, which he attended to cheer some of his athletes, and he asked if I'd mind some feedback on my running form. Obviously, I'm willing to take any advice, but with running I do my own coaching and no one who knows what they're looking for has really watched me. He told me I was a heel-striker, which caught me off-guard, because that IS my natural form, but during my initial running craze (15 years ago) I worked really hard to fix that. I thought my form was still good since I've started the comeback, so I never bothered with running drills or strides, preferring instead to focus on fitness improvements. All that has caught up with me. I checked the soles of my shoes, from my original marathon training shoes to my current ones, and they confirmed the story. I'm a heel-striker. A bad one. For those that don't know, heel-striking is like applying a brake every time your foot fits the ground, 180 steps per minute. It wastes a lot of energy, and can lead to injury (part of why I thought I was OK, I never get hurt running). Midfoot should be where you land, rolling the leg through the contact point. I know this form, I've taught this form, so I can fix this. I'd prefer to have a few months to just do form work and fix the stride, but that's not an option right now. I need to keep building fitness for September. So I'll try to slowly modify things, starting this afternoon. First, all runs will be with the best form I can muster. I may write out a sheet of cues and post them by the treadmill, of all the things I need to doing. Second, instead of my usual cooldown, I'll head outside (or stay outside for my "outside runs") and do strides up and down the block for a few minutes. I need to re-ingrain the proper firing pattern. Once the form is corrected, it will be like free speed, which I need. Combine that with the fitness improvements I've made, and will continue to make, and I'll have a new weapon. And it'll be a big gun.
Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph + 4 strides
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1 comment:
Congrats on the awesome improvement in you time trial, especially given that you've got a bit of an injury. That's also great that your swim coach took the time to notice you in a race that had quite a few competitors and to be so free with his feedback. That's some good stuff.
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