As we are getting ready for June, and the start of the local outdoor triathlons, our group training sessions are going to start to become more frequent. You do not have to be a current coaching client to join these group sessions, anyone is welcome to come join us for these events, providing you have a signed liability waiver on file with me (contact me for a copy). Note, there are requirements/restrictions on the open water swimming. If you want to join the open water swimming group, please contact me ahead of time to make arrangements – even if we have spoken in the past (the last 3 weeks have been crazy for me – sorry if I owe you a phone call). You can find more information on these group workouts, coaching services, articles and more at http://www.coachtj.com
Please RSVP for any of the events by sending me an email so I can plan for who will be attending.
Tuesday 5/18 5:30pm – Spring Endurance Series Group Pool Swim @ Monon
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/28l4pf5
This will be week 10 for the Spring Endurance Series pool swims. If you need to be evaluated for swimming with the open water group, this does count. Swim is approximately 1 hour/2000 yards, and will be geared to improving your swimming endurance and overall fitness. You will need to be a member of The Monon Center, or otherwise pay for their daily pass to join.
Wednesday 5/19 5:30pm – Spring Endurance Series Group Open Water Swim @ Morse Lake
We have had a great turnout for this group for the last two weeks – everyone has had some great swims, and is acclimating to the open water again. We have been swimming for about an hour, anywhere between 1500M & 1.2 miles. For the last few weeks this has tended to be an easier swim, just easing back into the open water, and trying to relax and enjoy the swim – but keep in mind, open water swimming in inherently tougher than pool swimming, so the group has been working hard too! Note: This is an invite only event – I have to have evaluated or otherwise cleared you to join the group swim – this is due to safety requirements. Other restrictions do apply. Contact me for details.
Wednesday 5/19 6:45pm – Hill running workout after swim – this will be just down the street from the lake, we will drive there after the swim. This is not a regularly schedule workout, though it could be if enough people are interested.
Think of a hill workout as a running-specific weight workout. The exaggerated knee lift, driving arms, and pronounced toe-off necessary to run up hills strengthens you every bit as much as hitting the weight room. Hill running also works the cardiovascular system as your heart tries to keep pace with the increased energy required to fight gravity. This workout will last approximately 30-45 minutes (it will end promptly at 7:30pm).
Saturday 5/22 7:30am – Group bike ride @ Bean Blossom
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/2d7cnpu
Plan on arriving between 7:30am-8:00am at the parking area on Forest Road right by Bean Blossom. We will meet at the shelter right by the road/parking area. The plan is 2 loops of the 14 mile course, which has 2 nasty climbs on it. Though the mileage is short, plan on about 2 hours, due to the hills. There are no facilities, and this will be self supported, though I will bring a cooler of water. Bring spare tube/repair.
Saturday 5/22 3:30pm – Spring Endurance Series Group Open Water Swim @ Morse Lake
Note: This is an invite only event – I have to have evaluated or otherwise cleared you to join the group swim – this is due to safety requirements. Other restrictions do apply. Contact me for details.
Sunday 5/23 7:00am – Breakaway Bicycle Club 40k TT in Kokomo, IN – this is not a regularly schedule workout, but a part of a race series put on by Kokomo Breakaway Bicycle Club (not affiliated with Coach TJ)
Here’s a great opportunity to test your cycling skills in a standardized 40k TT race.
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/292cqsy
Note: This is not a Coach TJ event, and Coach TJ has NO affiliation with the Breakaway Bicycle Club – this is a race, and the start time is promptly at 7:00am. You should plan to arrive and register around 6:30am. The race costs $10, payable cash or check to Breakaway Bicycle Club. Event flyer: http://www.breakawaybicycleclub.org/pdf/2010KBBCTTSeriesFlyer.pdf
Sunday 5/23 11:00am – Group Brick Workout @ Creekside Middle School in Carmel
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/2emum4z (we will be parked in the lot off 126th Street, behind the tennis courts or running track)
11:00am-1:00pm – group bike ride approximately 40k, kept at a conversational pace. This can be a good recovery ride, or a slower training ride.
1:00pm-2:00pm – short/slow group run (~5k) – this group run will likely be around a 10:00/mi pace, just to ease into brick running. You are welcome to go out on your own pack, if you are faster.
Tonight was the start of our third week of open water swims, and six showed up to rainwater enhanced frigid lake temps – we were all glad to have our wetsuits on! In 63* water, the group ended up swimming 1.2 miles, which, by the end, was warm enough for just about everyone to ditch their wetsuits. I think the group is progressing well, and will be turning some seriously fast times at races this year!
Here is a list of tips to minimize the negative affects and the uncomfortable feelings that can result from cold water swimming.
Wear two caps. You lose most of your heat through your head, and doubling up your “capage” helps you to keep your heat in.
Wear a neoprene cap. Neoprene is better suited for cold water than standard latex.
Wear a wetsuit—but more specifically, a full suit. The sleeveless suits allow heat to escape through your armpits.
Put in earplugs. When the water drops below 60 degrees, I think earplugs become necessary—and they do work well in keeping your core temperature up. Additionally, this will help you from developing nystagmus from cold water getting into your ears.
Blow bubbles before taking off on your swim. When the cold water hits your face, the shock causes your lungs to contract, causing breathing problems. Go waist deep into the water and submerge your face to blow bubbles. This helps alleviate the shock of the cold water.
Use these tips not only to help your body tolerate cold water swimming, but to use it to your advantage and gain a leg up on your competition.
The swimmer at the top of the picture has a ‘high elbow’ (or early vertical forearm as some call it). If you look at the superimposed line, you can see that the forearm and the hand are acting as one and leading the sweeping motion of the pull. Looking at the swimmer at the bottom of the picture, you can see that the elbow is dropped slightly and is leading the hand and forearm through the water. This doesn’t allow the hand and forearm to ‘grab’ the water, or get an effective pull.
Usually, this salad creates it’s own fame – I think it’s the bacon. I’ve had a bunch of people ask me for my “recipe” for my alfredo pasta salad. There are two ways to make this salad, 1 with stock grocery store items, and the second with “fresh” items. I like it best with fresh items, and will note it in the recipe, but feel free to mix and match to your interests and abilities.
Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pasta Salad
2 large cans of artichoke hearts, drained (Cut/Clean/Steam about 10 artichoke hearts. After steaming, soak in vinegar while preparing the rest of the items)
2 boxes of wheat penne noodles (I make my own noodles sometimes)
2 large jars of your favorite alfredo sauce (I make my own)
1 package of bacon
3oz package pepperoni
2 lbs. chicken breast
Cook pasta, drain, cool. Add cool alfredo sauce. Chop artichoke hearts 1/2 inch wide, chop cooked bacon 1/2 inch wide, dice chicken, chop pepperoni into “slivers”. Add to pasta and mix. Serve cold.
Bob, Courtney and Greg came out to Creekside Middle School track for a great (track) running workout tonight. Hopefully they learned some great drills to use to work on their run form. I can tell you they definetly ran their 800 repeats with lots of heart! Great job tonight guys!
It’s more fun to share training misery with a group. I have the following group workouts scheduled through May.
Group Workouts:
4/21 5:15-6:15 Running Training (Group Track Workout)
4/25 11:00-1:00 Group Bike Ride 50k
4/25 1:00-2:00 Group Run 5k-8k
4/27 5:30-6:30 Swim evaluation prior to open water swims
4/28 5:30-6:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
5/5 5:30-6:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
5/8 10:00-11:00 Running Training (Group Track Workout)
5/8 3:30-5:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
5/9 11:00-1:00 Group Bike Ride 50k
5/9 1:00-2:00 Group Run 5k-8k
5/12 5:30-6:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
5/19 5:30-6:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
5/22 10:00-11:00 Running Training (Group Track Workout)
5/22 3:30-5:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
5/23 11:00-1:00 Group Bike Ride 50k
5/23 1:00-2:00 Group Run 5k-8k
5/26 5:30-6:30 Group Open Water Swim Workout
Contact me for more information at tj@coachtj.com or by phone at 317-774-8762.
Open water swimming is in Morse, runs/bike from the West Clay area. I need a waiver from anyone joining (I can email to you), and there is a fee for the open water swims to cover insurance/access/etc. ($40/month – unlimited swims in the group). I do want to evaluate your swimming (from a safety standpoint) prior to you joining the open water swim groups. Contact me to schedule an evaluation. There will be more dates for swims added to the list.
So, you are currently signed up for Steelhead, Muncie or Louisville, and don’t know how to train for it? You are in luck, I have created a great half and full iron distance plans with these races in mind – though it can apply to just about any 70.3 or 140.6 distance race. Just let me know which race you are training for, and I will provide you with a great training plan for your race that includes not only how long to structure each workout, but sample workouts, information on heart rate training zones, and everything you need to be successful for your race. For just $50, you will be provided with a plan that will help you properly build, taper and race fast!
These plans are the result of 5 years study of my athletes, their training and analysis of what works to help you train smart and race fast.
Not racing Muncie, Steelhead or Louisville? These plans can be structured around YOUR race at no extra cost. These plans can even be structured around your lifestyle – just let us know what you need in a training plan. Want to train with power? Need more specific information on Heart Rate training? No problem!
Don’t just “train”, train smart!
Contact Coach TJ for more information: http://www.coachtj.com/?page_id=4
From one of the people in a mentor group I am in, this is great:
Homemade Snack/Energy Bar Recipe
1/4 cup butter, melted, or oil
4 large eggs; beaten
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup nonfat milk powder
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup sugar or brown sugar
2 cups chopped raisins or dried fruit
2 1/2 cups walnuts; chopped
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan. Beat together eggs and oil, sift together dry ingredients except fruit. Add flour to eggs, combine, then stir in fruit, nuts, and chips. Spread evenly in pan, bake 30 minutes, they are still soft when done. Cool, cut into 24 pieces, wrap in foil and freeze.
Modifications: In this recipe you can try olive oil, raw sugar or honey, free roaming chicken eggs, organic flour, organic nuts, they’re all available.
I recommend using oil instead of butter. Almonds are a great substitute for the walnuts and dried cranberries for raisins. You can use 100% whole wheat flour and can up the eggs to six eggs instead of four. Used 1 cup of chocolate chips instead of ¾ cup. The nonfat milk powder is only in there is to boost the protein – it is not 100% necessary.
You can mess around with this recipe quite a bit and it’s hard to wreck it.
Repost from a ST article. The article references some great running info from BarryP:
Every time I see a thread about running I am going to post this…
In all honestly, 10 min in 6 weeks is a lot. But the programs below have helped me get a LOT faster. Instead of going out and running 9min/mile for my runs, I am down to 8…and not even feeling it.
I’ve been talking about swim posture quite a bit lately. It tends to become the topic (or do I make it the topic?) with my swimmers, in online forums I participate in, and with others in the industry. I feel it is the most important aspect of a good solid freestyle stroke, and probably one of the most neglected portions of stroke development for coaches. We live in a computer society. We are slaves to computers, and computers have given us terrible posture. As a people, we are constantly hunched over a keyboard, and have shortened our chest muscles, while elongating our back muscles. So, how does this apply to swimming? Through the modern miracle of monkeys… Yep, blame it on the monkeys.
If you think about it, the closest thing in nature to humans swimming is a chimpanzee swinging from a vine. Visualize the picture: Shoulders back, chest out front, and the monkey managing his weight and motion above and behind, NOT out on front. As a swimmer, we have nearly the same movement, just in reverse direction, but it still comes from managing our weight and effort from behind and above. We can not do so with poor posture, we must get back to the posture, we as people had when we were kids swinging from the rope in the backyard tree. That was before we learned poor posture.
Do you remember in grade school the teacher or your parents telling you to improve your posture. “Sit up STRAIGHT, young man! Stop SLOUCHING in your seat!” I remember that distinctly from both parents and teachers. To grow up with all our body parts working properly it was necessary to treat our body well by maintaining proper posture and body strength.
Well guess what, posture in the water is just as critical to swimming well. Most swimmers have some GLARING posture defects which cause them to either swim MUCH slower than they are capable or work MUCH harder to swim at the same speed. The main two goals in swimming faster are to minimize or reduce drag and to maximize propulsion. Instead we are using most of our energy overcoming poor posture in the water and we are not achieving either!
What are the characteristics of proper swim posture? Swim posture is probably the issue most overlooked by the majority of “coaches”, but is probably one of the most important aspects of a good freestyle stroke. That is a pretty broad statement, but I’ll actually explain why below. First, what is good posture? Relating to swimming, it is having your spine in a fairly straight axis, shoulders back (scapula retraction), chest forward (swimming proud), and utilizing your core muscles (lats, abs, glutes) instead of your shoulder/arm muscles.
Why is it important? The main reason it is important is that proper swim posture affects EVERY single part of your stroke and lends to proper body position in the water. If you have your scapula retracted, it will pull your shoulders back and down. To do this, think about tucking your shoulder blades in your back pocket. With your scapula retracted, you will “open up” your chest, loosen your shoulders. This will allow you to have better body roll/shoulder rotation. You need this rotation to get the long reach and long pull. Additionally, this better posture will help you to engage your core muscles, and start to use your lats, abs and glutes. Without this posture, you will not have a good body roll, and you will swim flat. Swimming flat causes people to not get a long reach or a full pull. People who swim flat tend to pull the water with their arm and shoulder muscles, which fatigue much quicker than your core muscles.
YTWL drill (scapula retraction) – You can do this one at home, sitting on the couch. Remember the old YMCA dance? This is similar, only different You want to make sure your body, shoulders, elbows and hands are on the same plane (think laying on the floor doing this drill). OK, back to the YMCA song – Put your arms up in “Y” – hold it for 5 seconds. Now move them to “T” – you should feel your shoulder blades come together some. Now, keeping your hands at the same level of your shoulder, drop your elbows and create a “W” – make sure your body/shoulders/elbows/hands are still on the same plane – you should feel your shoulderblades come together even more – hold for 5 seconds. Finally, bring your elbows toward your sides, hands straight out to the side – maintaining everything on the same plane again you should really feel the fact your shoulder blades are together more – hold for 5 more seconds. Do this 5 times. This works to lengthen the muscles in your chest and open up the joints in your chest. Practice this a few times a day.
Swimming drills:
Heads Up (Lifeguard Drill): Swim with your head/mouth out of the water, maintain looking directly forward as much as possible. This will only be possible if you have your scapula retracted – which will permit you to roll your body/shoulders. This drill helps you engage your lats while swimming, and work on an even body roll.
Coin in the Crack (glutes drill): Your butt is part of your core, and your glutes have everything to do with posture too. Swim like you have to keep a quarter in your crack. Tighten your glutes. It will help you narrow you kick, and help your body to roll better.
Stretch your core (abs drill): Tighten your abs to the hunky 6 pack they are (or in my case a pony keg), and swim with a night tight core. Swim 100 yards with a tight core, and you will know what the purpose was.
Well, this is a brief discussion, I can get into more detail later. Let me know if you have any questions…
Tonight was the start of our third week of open water swims, and six showed up to rainwater enhanced frigid lake temps – we were all glad to have our wetsuits on! In 63* water, the group ended up swimming 1.2 miles, which, by the end, was warm enough for just about everyone to ditch their wetsuits. I think the group is progressing well, and will be turning some seriously fast times at races this year!
The swimmer at the top of the picture has a ‘high elbow’ (or early vertical forearm as some call it). If you look at the superimposed line, you can see that the forearm and the hand are acting as one and leading the sweeping motion of the pull. Looking at the swimmer at the bottom of the picture, you can see that the elbow is dropped slightly and is leading the hand and forearm through the water. This doesn’t allow the hand and forearm to ‘grab’ the water, or get an effective pull.
Usually, this salad creates it’s own fame – I think it’s the bacon. I’ve had a bunch of people ask me for my “recipe” for my alfredo pasta salad. There are two ways to make this salad, 1 with stock grocery store items, and the second with “fresh” items. I like it best with fresh items, and will note it in the recipe, but feel free to mix and match to your interests and abilities.
From one of the people in a mentor group I am in, this is great:
I’ve been talking about swim posture quite a bit lately. It tends to become the topic (or do I make it the topic?) with my swimmers, in online forums I participate in, and with others in the industry. I feel it is the most important aspect of a good solid freestyle stroke, and probably one of the most neglected portions of stroke development for coaches. We live in a computer society. We are slaves to computers, and computers have given us terrible posture. As a people, we are constantly hunched over a keyboard, and have shortened our chest muscles, while elongating our back muscles. So, how does this apply to swimming? Through the modern miracle of monkeys… Yep, blame it on the monkeys. 
You want to make sure your body, shoulders, elbows and hands are on the same plane (think laying on the floor doing this drill). OK, back to the YMCA song – Put your arms up in “Y” – hold it for 5 seconds. Now move them to “T” – you should feel your shoulder blades come together some. Now, keeping your hands at the same level of your shoulder, drop your elbows and create a “W” – make sure your body/shoulders/elbows/hands are still on the same plane – you should feel your shoulderblades come together even more – hold for 5 seconds. Finally, bring your elbows toward your sides, hands straight out to the side – maintaining everything on the same plane again you should really feel the fact your shoulder blades are together more – hold for 5 more seconds. Do this 5 times. This works to lengthen the muscles in your chest and open up the joints in your chest. Practice this a few times a day.