Bike Handling and Transition Practice

This is one of my favorite practices because it greatly increases my athletes' skills on the bike.

Here these athletes are practicing full-speed transitions.  For something that can save a few minutes of time in your race, most triathletes wait until race day to ever execute an actual full-speed transition.  I am standing in the road because I direct cyclists and motorists.  I facilitate so you can concentrate on one thing---your training.

This athlete is learning flying mount/dismount transitions with his shoes on the bike.  I am showing how to prepare the shoes so he can "nail it."

Here's Lauryn.  She is a strong swimmer and running, but she is new to cycling.  I am having her do some handling skills on grass.  When you are new to skinny-tires road bikes and bike shoe-clips, a few falls are inevitable.  Build your confidence on a soft surface where the falls are less painful.  I have have already nicknamed her Lau-RUN because she is going to be so fast at triathlons.

Love Circle Hill Repeats Monday Nights

Music City Runners will be doing one of my trademark workouts for the next few weeks.  It is called Love Circle Hill Repeats.  What is a Love Circle?

Love Circle is a location in Nashville.  In the Vanderbilt/West End area it is the tallest hill around for miles.  The view from the top is quite stunning:

I have designed a route that snakes around and climbs to the top of the hill in about .8 mile.  A short-cut has you back to the bottom of the hill in less than a quarter mile, meaning you get about 3-4 x as much uphill as downhill running.

Why would you want to suffer in this way?  For one thing, steady uphill running is a great way to improve speed and endurance.  Your cardio system gets a great workout with less pounding on the legs than fast running.  It also builds mental toughness.

This is a workout that I have had all my runners and triathletes do for the last few years.  Not only does it reward you with a picturesque view, but everyone who has done it has felt that it made them a much stronger runner. 

The entrance to John Rich's humble abode, near the top of Love Circle. 

Departing from Centennial Park by the Parthenon, 6pm Monday nights in May-June. 

Music City Runners link here

Swim and Bike Clinics Today

Today I put on some awesome clinics.  The first was an OPEN WATER SKILLS clinic.  We did this one in the pool because of recent flooding, and because these skills are best mastered in the pool before transferring to open water.

One valuable skill is the ability to find, hold, and be comfortable drafting on another swimmer.  If you have spent any time circle-swimming in a pool you know how much easier it gets when you are close to the next swimmer ahead of you.  Here we had 3, 4, 5, or more swimmers drafting in line.

Taking turns drafting and leading.

Once you get into open water, there are no longer lane lines to guide you.  Another drill we did was set up some "buoys" in the pool and practice cornering around them.

Everyone was getting pretty good at drafting and cornering in the pool.

Next we headed out onto the road for some CYCLING HANDLING SKILLS.  After a review of basic handling skills, we moved onto cornering and hills.  It is unbelievable how much time you can gain if you are aggressive on hills and corners.

After doing lots of hills and corners.

Many in the group still wanted to do more cycling, so we headed out onto a road ride around Nashville.  It wasn't easy to find a route, but we finally figured out where to go.

Cycling through Belle Meade Blvd.  I was very impressed with this group today.  Everyone stayed together well and we even were holding a nice paceline.  It is key that stronger riders and slower riders even their pace out so that everyone can work efficiently.

We were riding through some traffic on West End and, again, everyone was handling it smoothly.  I have been so impressed by my athletes lately! Rides like this make me love my business.  

A Kinder, Gentler Cumberland River

One of my favorite places to open water swim is in the Cumberland River.  It seems counter-intuitive a big river next to downtown Nashville, but my sources tell me the water quality is comparable to any surrounding body of water (Percy Priest Lake, Old Hickory.)

Pictures from an open water swim a few weeks ago:

And now our beautiful town is trashed by this same river.  

Hang in there Nashville...this too shall pass. 

When an Ironman is No Longer Hard Enough

Written by Andi Ramer of San Diego

April 30 – May 2
1000k (620 miles) bike brevet
65 hours 53 minutes

“if you can dream it, you can do it.” - Walt Disney

How do you summarize 3 days of ultra cycling? The adventures, the experiences, the people, the places, the highs, the lows…..it was an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it.

Word Up!

Wetsuits Q and A

It is about that time of year where you need a wetsuit for those first few cold races.  I live in the southeast where it gets warm fast.  In fact, I swim in an 84-degree pool and it is just fine because many of the open water swims I do are much warmer than that. But if you spend any time in the sport you will need a wetsuit for multiple races per year.  It is a good investment.

So here are a couple articles about wetsuit fit and selection by Steve Fleck, owner of Nineteen wetsuits. 

Wetsuits....It's all about the fit.

Wetsuits....Sleeve or sleeveless?

A correctly fitting wetsuit should be very snug.  It will take some practice to get it on in a timely manner.  There are some tricks to get a wetsuit on (bodyglide, plastic bag on foot.)

 With a correctly fitting wetsuit you can stand at this swim start with complete confidence. 

Local Multisport shop ACME Multisports carries a full selection of wetsuits.  The advantage here is you can try the suit on before you buy it to make sure it fits you well. 

Blue 70 reaction full 330.00

Blue 70 reaction farmer john 240.00
19 Full pipe line 280.00
19 framer john 225.00
Profile design Wahoo 215.00

I will add that these prices are very reasonable for a wetsuit.  I would not buy a wetsuit for less than $450 retail, but I am a bit of a gear snob and I am a sponsored athlete. You would not be able to tell the difference with most of these options above.  So go shop and try-on these wetsuits.  Don't fall for marketing hype or the "cheapest option" mindset.  You will be able to use the wetsuit for many years--in racing AND training--so make sure you get one that fits well.