Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete Mentor Group (Page 13)

Hey David,

First question is what's your athletic background?  If you didn't speak swimming until recently, that by itself could be the underlying cause of the cramping.  You're using new muscles in new ways.  Next thought is a combination of intensity and duration.  That kinda goes back to my first thought although even elite athletes can get cramps if they push too hard for too long.

Another thought is an electrolyte imbalance.  If you're sweating (yes, you sweat even in a pool) you can lose sodium.  There are a couple of recent theories that suggest sodium imbalance can lead to muscle cramping.   A potassium imbalance can lead to altered neuromuscular activity because potassium helps conduct nerve impulses and is key in muscle contraction.  Fatigue can also cause cramping.  You mentioned the cramping occurs towards the end of a workout.

Dehydration can also create all kinds of problems including cramping.  If you are taking in Infinit it seems unlikely that electrolytes and dehydration are the cause but stranger things have happened.

I'd eat a banana before you swim and make sure you drink a good amount of water before you get started.  Doing some gentle stretching before may also help.

Just my humble two-cents.

I'm going to offer a couple observations based on decades of experience.  Please don't take this as questioning your current coach.  Different coaches have different approaches. I'm merely offering thoughts on how I approach these particular topics and offering some things for you to think about.

In my opinion, triathletes do entirely too many drills.  Unless a QUALIFIED coach/instructor can CLEARLY point to a specific stroke deficiency, CLEARLY define how a specific drill is going to improve that deficiency, and CLEARLY indicate how long before you should begin to see improvement, you are generally better off simply swimming more.  If a coach has an entire team or all of those at a workout do a drill, that drill is more than likely a waste of your time.  That isn't too say that drills can't be beneficial, however, they are often used as a replacement for just good old-fashioned swim volume.  In any case, when I do use/prescribe a drill, I NEVER do the drill or allow the athlete to do the drill for more than 6-weeks.  If an improvement hasn't been made by then, you are barking up the wrong tree and need to swim more.

As I start to talk about the kick, consider this, back when I was swimming, I was putting in 13-15000 meters/day, 7-days a week for roughly 100,000 meters/week.  I don't recall kicking more than 500 meters in ANY week EVER in over 10-years.  That's less than one-half of one-percent of total volume kicking.  That was for a swimmer swimming 100's and 200's where the kick is arguably only providing < 10% of the propulsion.  How much less important would kicking be when you aren't getting anywhere near the same amount of propulsion from your kick and you might be doing it in excess of an hour?

Make absolutely sure that you coach understands triathlon.  Yes, to a large extent, swimming is swimming.  However, the goal of a "swim-meet swimmer" is very different from the goal of a "triathlon swimmer."  The swim-meet swimmer, in all but the longest events, is purely interested in speed.  On the other hand, the triathlon swimmer is interested in staying aerobic and conserving energy.  I do see value in the kick to drive body rotation and help maintain balance in the water.  However, even the most elite swimmers, i.e. Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, etc. only get ~ 10% of their forward propulsion from their kick - at a tremendous metabolic cost.  You don't have the luxury of using up all the glycogen in your legs during the swim, nor do you want to flood your muscles/bloodstream with the metabolic by-products created by a hard kick.  Just something to think about as I would hate for you to find out the hard way that the strong kick you worked so hard to develop did nothing but sabotage your entire race.

I'm not saying don't learn a proper kick.  I am only saying, remember what you are training for and consider the value of the kick against the big picture of the entire day/race.

Good job David!!!  A podium finish is certainly something to be enthused about

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Chris, 

That is what we call a "pull set."  You should will use paddles and ankle bands to isolate your arms.  You don't need any of the fancy paddles that you can find online.  Here are the exact paddles I used when I was swimming - minus the writing (they're are the ones that were designed and patented by my swim coach before he sold the design to Speedo) - https://www.amazon.com/Speedo-Training-Paddle-Multicolor-Medium/dp/B017AMX2UK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1488161165&sr=8-4&keywords=speedo+swim+paddles.  The proper size will just cover your hand.

For an ankle band, go to an auto parts store and buy a small truck inner tube (~$5-10.00).  Cut the tube into ~ 2" bands.  You put the band around one ankle, do a half-twist in the band and put it around the other ankle.  You'll end up with a figure-8 around your ankles.  You will still be able to kick enough to drive rotation and maintain balance, but you won't be able to provide any propulsion.

Using the paddle/band combination you may have a problem with your hips/legs dropping.  Start by arching your back and attempting to keep your legs up that way.  If your legs continue to drop you can get a pull buoy to help - https://www.amazon.com/Speedo-Team-Pull-Buoy-Training/dp/B0172GZVAS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1488161480&sr=8-2&keywords=swim+pull+buoy.  There again, you don't need a fancy one.

Since I introduced you to the pull buoy, I feel compelled to say, there are many that will use the pull buoy to help overcome sinking legs while they are swimming.  The name of the tool is "PULL buoy" and it was designed for use with paddles and bands. Any other use is turning a tool into a crutch.  I'll leave it at that except to say there have been many rather spirited debates in the general forum over the proper use of the PULL buoy.

The point of the paddles is that they will "talk" to you and help you develop proper form.  If your hand is slightly out of position - say it's not perpendicular to your direction of travel - the paddles will augment that error and almost your hand to move sideways.  If you are out of position on entry, the paddles will enhance the error.  Just "listen" to the paddles.  You'll see what I mean as soon as you start using them.  The paddles are NOT for gaining strength, contrary to what some people will tell you.  They are a stroke technique tool to help you refine your stroke mechanics.

Hope that helps.

This discussion of paddles and ankle bands was good timing.  I've been considering getting myself some paddles and short fins for the rare times I would use them.  And, Your ankle band is a better idea than the ones I've seen made from bike tubes cut down and tied into a loop.

With regard to the short fins do you have a simple favourite you'd recommend?  I only rarely need them but it would be nice to have a pair that fits properly for those times I do need them.

Weights and a 2K Swim tomorrow.

David - congrats on the race, the PR and the AG placing!  

My race on Saturday (Castlewood Cup 15k) only had about 1/2 the elevation gain that yours did - about 850' total.  But we had similar weather - around 30* at race start but very windy.  The good part was you didn't notice the wind too much while on the trails, only when we were in some of the grassy areas and on the bluffs.  I ended up with a good race also.  My time was 2:11:03, 10th in my AG but a 4:30+ PR for me on this course so I'm very happy with that.  I had my first fall though.  It's wasn't a bad one, just a stumble on an uphill climb.  I seem to do fine with downhills, but I trip on the uphills .  

David  ... great job on the podium finish. 

Janet ... great job on the PR.

I think whatever has been going around the office has finally caught up with me .  Woke up during the night with a stuffy head, but seemed to be OK when I got up so I went ahead and went to the pool.  I probably should have just stayed in bed.  I started the workout but it just did not go well.  I felt like I was fighting the water and couldn't hit my times so after 1200 I just got out and went home - figured I'll try again later in the week.  I'm supposed to do a 4 mile run after work tonight but right now I'm not sure I could even run 4 feet.  It may be just an early night for me - really hoping I can fight this off.  

Janet

Hey George,

In 40 some years of swimming and coaching I have suggested ONE person use fins.  That was because she actually generated negative propulsion when she kicked because her ankles were so stiff - she went backwards in the water when she kicked.  Personally, in over 11 years of swimming I NEVER, not once, used a pair of fins in training.  I know, I know, that was then and things have changed.  Nobody has been able to make a convincing argument to me why you should use fins.  I hear, "It allows you to feel what swimming faster feels like."  Great!  So what does that do for you when you take the fins off and you're swimming your normal speed?  The biggest problem I have with fins is the artificial increase in speed impacts stroke technique.  Your catch is going to be different, your pull and release are going to be different.  So you are swimming with fins, learning "proper technique" - except you are learning the wrong technique because you don't swim that fast.

My personal opinion is - leave the fins in the store.

4:30 PR?

Excellent!

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Janet,

You probably know exactly what I'm going to say cause we've been "together" a couple years now.

You can't train if you're sick or injured.  Better to take a day off now and get rid of the bug then push it and be down several days because you get sick.  Those things that didn't really bother us when we were in college have a way of kicking our senior backsides all over the school-yard.

Adrian,

The key to freestyle kicking is ankle flexibility.  If your first athletic language wasn't swimming, then ankle flexibility may be a problem.  The best way to improve flexibility and thus improve kicking is with stretching exercises such as those found here.

A couple minutes a day will go a LONG way!

To each their own.  I am a weaker swimmer and I do my swim work outs in a drag suit. It took me about 8 weeks of body position and breathing drills to be able to go a full length of the swimming pool when I was learning front crawl in the pool two years ago. Things progress quickly after that.  :-)

The swimmer in me says, "Oh HE## no!"

The triathlete in me says, "Whatever will get you into the water."

The coach in me probably has the most measured response.  Let's take a look at WHY buoyancy shorts and/or pull buoys "help."  Buoyancy shorts raise the hips and legs which reduces drag, meaning it takes less effort to propel yourself forward.  Dropping hips and legs are a sign of imbalance in the water - which is a technique flaw.  Buoyancy shorts are helping you overcome a technique flaw.  The argument I hear is, "But my race is a wetsuit legal race and a wetsuit does the same thing, it raises me in the water and keeps my legs from dropping, so I'm just gonna use them (shorts/buoy) in the pool."  That logic works right up until the race is no longer wetsuit legal.

The biggest problem I have with using shorts/buoys is you are ignoring your technique.  As often as not, those most afflicted with imbalance in the water are adult-onset swimmers that, for whatever reason, never learned the fundamentals of swimming.  That oversight often lingers on throughout their triathlon career.

The very best thing you can do is learn proper technique so you don't need the shorts or buoy to maintain balance in the water.  There is no replacement for "Eyes-on-Deck" in the form of a qualified coach/instructor.  Just a few lessons and you will be swimming with proper technique - efficiently, powerfully, and relatively fast.

You'll hear people say, "I use the shorts/buoy so I know what proper technique feels like and that helps my stroke get better."  Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.  Indeed, relying on the shorts/buoy will not only NOT help improve your technique, it will likely introduce other flaws.

There is a thread over in the main triathlon forum in which this very topic is discussed (in the context of pull-buoys).  If you're interested you can read it at - http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=545938&posts=28&page=1.

So, what to do?  In the perfect world, you'd learn proper technique negating the need for "artificial flotation."  In the real world, if shorts/buoy is what will get you into the water working out, then getting in the water and working out is the goal.  Just know, if you choose the shorts/buoy route, you will be behind the "swimming 8-ball" until you learn proper technique and you may well introduce other flaws.

If I were your coach, I'd say I'd like you working out using proper technique - that is ultimately what will make you the fastest, most efficient triathlon swimmer.

I ended up taking Tuesday off - just went home, got into some comfy clothes and vegged out then went to bed early.  Felt a little better yesterday so I did an easy 2 mile run on the TM (included some walking) then hit the sack early again.  Today I actually feel almost like myself again - still a little tired but my mood is much better.  I'm planning an easy trainer ride tonight - probably just 30-35 minutes - and hopefully by the weekend I can get back to more normal training.  
Janet