Swim & Run Camp
Victoria, BC September 28-30, 2018
On September 28-30, MelRad Multisport Coaching is hosting a swim and run camp in Victoria, BC. This camp is not about mileage, fitness, or testing. Instead, the goal is to instill habits, knowledge, movement patterns, and understanding. Athletes need to know where their gaps in competency exist. A coach can tell you “you need to work on your swim” or you can say yourself “I wish I swam faster” but that isn’t identifying the gap.
There are a lot of reasons swimming can be challenging. Lack of shoulder mobility, lack of strength in your back, lats, or triceps, incorrect pull in the water, incorrect breath timing, or finally (there are a lot more but I’m trying to keep the word count down) it could be fitness that holds you back. Doing one-arm drills with shoulders that can’t reach an effective pull is not going to effect change on your swimming (meaning drills will be a waste of your time).
The Swimming
There are three swim workouts in the camp. Each session includes dryland strength and mobility. There will be three different workouts addressing three aspects of swim fitness: technique, turnover, and strength. I will teach you what the difference is between these different workouts and why you need all of them this time of year. Notice there is no testing and no threshold. We will discuss the foundation of swim fitness and how it is achieved in order to build toward race specific fitness in another phase of training later in the year.
Training for triathlon swimming is different than training for pool swimming. Most of the time you are going to be in a wetsuit. This camp addresses that key factor in determining WHAT TO WORK ON.
The Running
The second objective of this camp is addressing running form. The most impact of all three sports in triathlon on your body comes from running. Most triathletes have paid to have a bike fit but next to none have had any run form analysis. Most people think they know how to run, but don’t-full stop. Many people do not understand HOW to run.. they just go out and move their legs at a pace faster than walking. With little to no run form knowledge, there is exposure to significant injury through poor biomechanics.
Triathletes often think they get injured from doing too much speed work and in some cases this is true – but it may not be the speed session itself that is the problem. I would argue that more athletes get injured because their slow runs are not slow enough and/or when they are really slow, their form is bad and introduces the risk of injury. As we head into the first phase of base training, doesn’t it make sense to get some work on HOW we run?
This swim and run camp is going to address how to run EASY (a feeling – not a pace is the perfect definition from my friend Marilyn Arsenault) with an awareness of the things you should ALWAYS be thinking about when you are running easy. All running requires conscious thought and engagement.
Event Itinerary
