Days left till NYC Triathlon: 75
Activity: Swim Group Training Session
At our swim GTS we focused on kicking. Up until now we have focused on the upper body and stroke, today we learnt about the two beat kick. The first exercise was swimming using just one side of your body and focusing on coordinating your arms and legs in order to get the timing right. It felt very odd to swim this way but I eventually got the hang of it. I learnt a few other things, first if you stay absolutely vertical in the water and tilt your head a bit back you will float. Second, eighty percent of the effort while swimming comes from the upper body and your legs only contribute to twenty percent of the effort. That brings us to the two beat kick. Most people kick far too much and expend too much energy. You only need to kick once every stroke you take two strokes and you kick twice. These two kicks are the most powerful and it helps conserve your legs, remember one has to bike and run after the swim. Another way this was illustrated today was by swimming 50 yards kicking really hard with a board, this was very tiring, I was out of breath by the time I finished, in comparison when I did the two beat kick with a nice even stroke I went faster and was not at all exhausted. I learn the most during my swim GTS - my coaches are just fantastic! Looking forward to the next week. Below is a video demonstration of the two-beat kick.
Activity: Swim Group Training Session
At our swim GTS we focused on kicking. Up until now we have focused on the upper body and stroke, today we learnt about the two beat kick. The first exercise was swimming using just one side of your body and focusing on coordinating your arms and legs in order to get the timing right. It felt very odd to swim this way but I eventually got the hang of it. I learnt a few other things, first if you stay absolutely vertical in the water and tilt your head a bit back you will float. Second, eighty percent of the effort while swimming comes from the upper body and your legs only contribute to twenty percent of the effort. That brings us to the two beat kick. Most people kick far too much and expend too much energy. You only need to kick once every stroke you take two strokes and you kick twice. These two kicks are the most powerful and it helps conserve your legs, remember one has to bike and run after the swim. Another way this was illustrated today was by swimming 50 yards kicking really hard with a board, this was very tiring, I was out of breath by the time I finished, in comparison when I did the two beat kick with a nice even stroke I went faster and was not at all exhausted. I learn the most during my swim GTS - my coaches are just fantastic! Looking forward to the next week. Below is a video demonstration of the two-beat kick.
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