SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 85)

I'm the opposite, going to talk to Shane about backing off swimming and concentrating on the run.  Seems no matter how much I swim, I swim the same Oly/HIM/IM time.  My 2013 IM swim time was within a minute of my 2008 IM swim time.   Well, I guess I should say with the 3 swims I am willing to swim a week, those times are the same.  I suppose if I swam another 6K a week I could squeeze another minute or two out of an IM or a minute out of a HIM.

But if I can improve my run, I can gain 10s of minutes (or, in the case of an IM... an hour) on teh run

I don't think it's entirely either/or even for the same person. It's more what each can give and how that matches up with someone's development at a point in time. Going into Masters, I needed more instruction and asked questions a lot. This helped me figure out better what I should do. A coach should be able to do this even more so. Swimming with others has the motivation to push hard, but for me it also adds motivation for technical proficiency so that I push myself to take the learned parts and implement them more thoroughly. I can see when others are pulling on me right away, so can (and will) make adjustments on the spot. Or the reverse and I'll know I'm doing something rather well at the time and try to keep it going. This is in addition to using the pace clock, but assuming both will use that here.

So guess I'm saying the coach should be able to provide more detailed instruction/feedback due to the more one on one nature (or at least smaller numbers) and the masters pushes the training sessions more effectively with the groups, though either situation can provide some level of both.

I'd say masters - if you've got a good team nearby. Even in the 1:20 lane, I'm a MOP swimmer at my team. It's 1 hour of solid, well-planned swimming. And I can go up to 15x a week if I really wanted... Really, it ensures that I put in 3000 yds without slacking off. 

You might want to just do a consult with a coach. I'd look for a local place that does a video analysis. You're likely to get some good feedback. But I will say that we had a guy come do that at our tri camp last summer... and told me my form looked good and had no input on potential improvements. Glad I didn't pay for that. I know my stroke isn't perfect. Maybe ask around locally?

Not quite a fish yet, but that came to mind for me as well. Good masters much of the time and maybe the occasional consult with a specific coach for more in depth analysis a masters might not have.

I've been scouring the interwebs for a good camp.  Do you have any suggested sites?  Thx

When I started tris in 2005 I had zero....I mean zero...technique.  I waited until 2007 to finally get with a local coach (he pulled off a 48 min swim at IM WI the year he KQ'ed) and he helped me tremendously.  Then I went many years on my own and my swim training (not necessarily technique) got very very complacent.  I recently touched bases with the coach again and we had a session last week where he was in the pool with me for 60 minutes - he rents a lane from the YMCA that we meet at.  Time will tell if it will pay off but I also have to up the ante as far as the intensity of my swim workouts. 

Anyone done Couer d Alene?

Still mulling a '14 IM, but need it to be a quick in n out long weekend deal.   Flights to Vancouver/Spokane and drive time to Whistler/CdA are about a wash time and money wise. 

Anyone have recs for CdA lodging, and how easy it is to get around?  Seems like the closer places at CdA are equivalent to Whistler prices, where you do not need a car at all.

This is all good stuff IMO.

Your ideal situation is a masters group with a really good coach that can give you good technique advice.  My local masters group isn't that at all - it's basically a group of people getting together twice a week and taking turns making up a workout.

So like everything else in training - it depends.  

I don't seem to have the info any more but I once came across an open water swim camp on a Caribbean island that looked really good.  It was a resort type of location so spouses could hang out at the beach while you swam.  

(This next part is a test to see if she is lurking or not)

You could also go swim with Yanti and Sheila Taormina (Swim Speed Secrets) in Bali.  

Mine is the same, except there is a 'coach' that makes up the workouts.  he's a triathlete, and he tailors it around various races, but it's by no means a traditional "masters" with a coach on deck giving pointers.  I'd love to find that, but this class is included in my gym fees, and masters can be spendy, another $50 a month at least around here.

Tom Demerly used to have one of those.  Used to post pics of his wife on ST.

x whatever on the quality of the masters coach.

A friend of mine took a few clips of me using his go pro from underwater last week but I've yet to see it.  He also took some video from the deck with his phone and I was shocked at some of the stuff I was doing.  So needless to say I think some one on one coaching with video analysis would benefit me.  Not something I would do long term...but maybe 2-3 sessions (like a swim camp) to point out my biggest flaws and areas I need to work on.  Then I think I could have an idea of how to have a friend video me later to see if I'm actually correcting those flaws.

Live in NW Wisconsin but my office is located in the Minneapolis metro so there are a few coaches down there but no swim camps that I've found yet...some half day workshops but that isn't what I'm looking for.

Hey gang.  I've been out for a week with family insanity (sick kids and spouse, mostly), work insanity (stupidity of adults is sometimes astounding), but back at it now, I hope.  (Chris, sorry to jump in to the conversation about nutrition then have to dodge out.  I'll read the intervening pages, and if I've got something to add, I'll do that.)

Jason, I can tell you that the most progress I ever made swimming (it's all relative, of course) came when I was having sessions with a coach about twice a month for a few months.  I've done that with her a few times, in fact, and each time I learn a lot (and more important, get a bit faster).

Where are you located?  I'm near Seattle; the drive to either one is roughly the same.

I've done CdA twice, but before they changed the bike course.  I'm not super interested in the new course because it's mostly highway riding.  Pretty boring compared to the roads out in the woods near Hayden Lake.

Lodging, most stuff is average including home rentals.  You probably need a car to get your bike and gear to/from the race site unless you're staying at the host hotel which is an easy walk.  Most parking near transition is paid too, although when I was there, if you went farther down Sherman Ave, there was a large free lot.

Crowds / support are excellent but the community itself tends to jack up prices just because it's Ironman week.  Most hotels are 5 night minimum.

Oh and a last note: that lake can be effing cold.  In the 2011 race we had something like 53F at the starting line and another measurement out at the turn-around point was 47F.  Lots of people were in the medical tent after the swim that year.  Bring a neoprene hat for sure... the expo was sold out quickly after people had their practice swims

I signed up for Whistler next year.  There's a little more hassle just going out of the country / cell phone international usage / etc, but even so it was a pretty easy choice.

A couple I know did CdA in 2011.  Both of them have KQ'd in the past and they said the swim was way too cold.  The wife who was just doing the race for fun said she spent 20 minutes in T1 near some type of heater just to warm back up.

One should also remember the new swim safety rules that the WTC has put into place this year.  I think water temps below X degrees (I think it was 53, but I could be wrong) and they will cancel the swim.

I haven't read it myself so I really can't say.

For many it would probably be good to read if it can be picked up cheaply. Like used or from the Library. Much of it goes into the importance of the catch and power development from there, and elaborates on her belief as to why.