Courtesy of Gerry Rodrigues, Tower 26, Santa Monica.
Tower 26‘s Be Race Ready 30-minute podcast episode #13 on triathlon swimming is posted online for listening.
Coach Gerry Rodrigues discusses the essentials of open water swimming (Part 3), and the importance of specificity in the pool and open water.
“We are now listened to in 100 countries as of our most recent episode. Jim Lubinski and I discuss Open Water Essentials or the skills required to be race ready including warm-ups and racing tactics.
Triathletes need to incorporate the elements of open water swimming into their pool training sessions, every day.”
Coach Rodrigues always discusses high-value training sessions versus low-value training sessions, especially for the typical Type A personalities who make up a good portion of the triathlon community. “An example of a high-value training session versus a low-value training session is when you go down to the beach and swim for 30-minute swims with a few swim buddies. In the beginning of the season, this is high-value. But a point-to-point swim can become low-value session after 2-3 times. So get a few buddies and after doing 10-15 minutes warm-up, you can do a pace line. The first person can lead the others for 100 strokes and then fall back into the draft pack. If you are by yourself, then swim fast for 100 strokes; you need to incorporate a change of gears [to experience a high-value training session].”
Sighting requires a lot of head lifting. “We want to build that into your stroke and build it into every sixth stroke in pool training sessions. If you are comfortable sighting every sixth stroke, then you will be comfortable sighting every eighth or tenth stroke. You need to incorporate this into every single session. In the beginning, many triathletes are non-fluid or even clumsy, but now after ten sessions, sighting fluidly is second nature.”
Coach Rodrigues also talks about dolphining, take-out speed, and the importance of warm-up.
“Things have not changed since I went to my first triathlon in the early 1980’s regarding warm-up. 90% of the people still do not warm-up. But if you are fit, adding a warm-up will not negatively affect you. Elevate your core and they should be incorporated into your daily training periods.”
He also discusses do’s and don’ts on race day like getting boxed in. “Don’t ever get boxed-in in a race. I can’t imagine ever being in middle of the pack, the worse possible position. Yes, you are drafting, but you need to be in a non-boxed position. You want to have open spaces around you. At elite end, you want to create situations where you box people in.”
Listen to the Tower 26 podcast #13 here.
Additional Tower 26 articles here:
* TOWER 26 Be Race Ready Podcast Goes Live
* Be Race Ready – Framing Cycles And Swim Workout Design
* Be Race Ready Podcast On Tautness, Alignment, Propulsion
* Guardians Of The Sea, From Tower 26 And Beyond
* Tower 26 website
* The Open Water Grave By Gerry Rodrigues
* Alignment And Structural Presence In The Open Water
* Tri To Improve In The Pool And Open Water
* Tower 26’s Gerry Rodrigues On Gripping And Ripping
* DPS And EVF In OWS
* Kicking In The Open Water For Triathletes
* Breathing For Triathletes In The Open Water
* Fear Can Be Overcome With Frequency To Build Familiarity
* Sultan Of Swim Discusses Open Water Essentials
* What Can We Learn From Olympic Swimmers?
* Triathlete Airplanes, Gliders, Helicopters In The Open Water
* Art Of Tapering, The Final Frontier Before The Big Race
* Gerry Rodrigues Towers Over Open Water Coaching
* Fill 3 Buckets for Better Swimming By Gerry Rodrigues
* 3F: Move From Fear To Familiarity Through Frequency
* What Can We Learn From Olympic Swimmers?
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