"Reboot Triathlon" Club Membership Sale (expires March 31, 2021)

For a limited time, save money on your membership:

Please visit our membership page and sign up to take advantage of all the Club Training Events down at Lake Mead and Lake Las Vegas.

Registration is now open for members. Limited to the first 100 club members. You must have a current membership with LV Tri Club to participate in training events.

Where to begin for swim form- An opinion beneath the standard splash from a wacky coach. There are endless tips in multisport for making you more successful in each discipline. Run form and bike form are great. They help.

Combined with effort and fitness, the resulting dance in how they move over the earth deserves our human athletic respect. 

They are also feats not dependent upon the most specific physics and counterintuitive human biomechanics. They do not require good form in order not to die. 

In other words, they don’t require the same work that, you guessed it...swimming requires. That dang swim. Why is it such a b****? 

Let’s get waaaay basic. Beneath the youtube video suggestions or coaching techniques. Swim form and its forward progress in general is a different animal. The ‘effort’ or ‘hard work’ which carried a new or progressing athlete through bike or run gain period is not going to be the same kind of headspace that will improve a swimmer.

Mainly because ‘effort’ or ‘hard work’ connotates something difficult in nature. 

Difficult is synonymous with ‘stress’ most often. Stress is synonymous with ‘tight’ most often. Tight is synonymous with ‘dense’ most often. Dense is synonymous with, well...sinking. And once you’re ‘sunk’, no hard work or effort will get you out of there.

Matter of fact, none of the other classic swim instructions perhaps stating a ‘high elbow’ anywhere or ‘bilateral’ anything will apply as a benefit unless there is first an understanding of the idea of your body’s intuitive response. 

Knowing if you’re tense from anxiety. Or in a mindful state ideal for movement. Knowing the ‘form needed before the form’. This takes shape of a concept called- RELAXATION. 

And while I’d love to tell YOU in particular, within your unique world, how to relax while swimming, I sooo can’t. But, I can offer a small drill to do during swim workouts for honing in on this unique practice unique to triathletes: Surrendering. Push off wall with chin tucked and arms extended out front, relaxed straight legs extended behind. See how far you can move forward or just float without the urge to move arms or legs for stability. Stand up and repeat. See how long you can feel water support you. See how well you can trust the water. 

Aren’t all great relationships based on trust anyhow? And did you not walk before you ran? How about trusting and gliding before you swim?

 

One benefit of the LVTC club races is the ability to practice and learn in a semi-controlled environment. Even with the precautions taken, it is still your responsibility to avoid dangerous situations. Here are a few tips to help for the bike portion of your next race:

 

When other vehicles have access to the racecourse, it’s important to be predictable to others. Signal when you are making a turn, stopping, or approaching a hazard. Try to stay aware of your surroundings at all times.

 

Music impairs your ability to hear car horns, sirens, other cyclists, equipment failure, and more while biking (and running). Also, headphones are never USAT race legal, and it’s best to train in conditions as close to race day as possible.

 

While aero position promises a more efficient bike leg, it should be practiced well in advance of any race. Your center of gravity is different while in aero position than riding in a traditional manner and your bike feel will be quite different, which is why it’s a good idea to try in a closed area where there are no other vehicles.

Also, you have to leave aero to gain access to brakes, which makes the stopping response slower than a traditional position. For this reason, it is best not to draft other cyclists or cars while in aero.

 

If at any time during your training or race you experience shortness of breath, chest pains or discomfort, light-headedness or blacking out, stop exercise and immediately consult with your doctor.

 

Hope this week’s Safety Corner is helpful and STAY SAFE tri friends!

I have really enjoyed our regular Las Vegas Triathlon Club Member Spotlights – it has been great to get to know members a bit more. We’ve had the spotlight on the full-range of athletes … from the elite to the first timer. Thinking back on these spotlights, it is amazing to see the common thread being the enjoyment of training and racing as well as the importance of being able to overcome some roadblock. I reached back to some earlier newsletter pieces and thought the one here speaks to the importance of having the mind-set of being able to overcome adversity.

As we hopefully reboot triathlons on April 3rd, it is good to remember that an important characteristic of a triathlete is the ability to overcome adversity!

We all want to have that ‘perfect race’. That race where everything just comes together … the swim is perfect conditions, the bike is paced perfectly, and the run feels like it is downhill all the way. But that happens so infrequently – there are so many things that can go wrong during a race (or right before the race). Goggle strap snaps, wetsuit zipper gets jammed, swimming into the sun and can’t navigate, flat tire, broken spoke, chain drop, lost running shoe, wrong turn, lost nutrition, nausea, cramping, … the list goes on and on of things that can go wrong during a race!

How do you deal with adversity? Whether it is a mechanical issue, logistic issue, nutrition, or something else – you have to prepare yourself to bring your focus back to the race when you are faced with adversity. The feeling of accomplishment can be so much greater when you recognize that you overcame so much adversity during a race.

Maybe the adversity is an injury leading up to the start of a race. Without sounding too much ‘doom and gloom’ … we’ll all end up with some type of injury at some point during our training. Can you shift your focus away from the injury to work on something else that will still move your training forward? For example, if you can’t run, maybe you focus on organizing gear, or logistics for the next race, or reviewing your training program leading up to the injury. Focusing on something positive will help keep your training program moving forward.

Finally, there are times when it is best to step out of a race or not even toe the start line because of adversity. These are tough decisions – but they happen. When you have a DNS (did not start) or DNF (did not finish), you can use these situations in a way to mature as a triathlete. It can help highlight that when you start, when you finish – regardless of time or place – that is a great achievement.

Every race should be celebrated – sometimes you celebrate the ‘perfect race’. Sometimes you celebrate the adversity that you overcame. But celebrate. Enjoy.

Triathlon is a fantastic sport that you can be part of for a long time when you take the time to recognize and celebrate your accomplishments.

We are awaiting our order of new 2021 trucker hats and Las Vegas Tri Club Visors. They should be available in the store in April 2021.