12/4/10 Tri Training: Coached Swim/Bike at Burgess

Had a great training session today! Swam with Coach Chris watching on and giving us pointers. He really empasized making our bodies longer in the water so that we are using less strokes during the race. So, he did a variety of drills to help us work on the technique. He also introduced swimming alongside other people so our group of 5, had to start swimming at the same time. Really interesting since I do tend to have issues when I can see or feel someone next to me. We probably swam around 700yds.

For the last part of the swim training, the coaches had all the participants go into one lane and we made two lines. Everyone in the pool had to start splashing and causing waves while the participants swam across. I tried my best to keep my same form and swim calmly. All the splashing made it hard to see the bottom so it was hard to know when the wall was coming so it forced me to actually look up to see where I was going. I guess that is the beginning of "sighting" since in an open body of water that is what you need to do to make sure you are going in the right direction. It was a really interesting drill to help train us to stay focused.

Then we were told to transition into our biking gear... Normally this would be easy but considering the weather, there was no way any of us was going out on a bike in wet clothes! So, we all had to change and head out on the bike. The coaches told us that we had 6 minutes for transition. That's a laugh since trying to peel off a wet bathing suit and then putting on spandex cycling clothes while damp is not that easy. I think I took 11-12minutes. Then it was out onto the bike for a 90minute ride. In that time I rode almost 18 miles. It was dry when we started and then started to rain. Luckily, the rain stopped but we were very wet & dirty once we got back!

The kids were with Delia and Lupe (Nana and Papa) today. They loved spending time with them and the older kids, really miss them. Delia made them their favorites, pancakes for breakfast and sopita for lunch. She even took them to the park. They had a great time! Thank you Delia and Lupe for helping us as we train. Without our weekend sitters, we couldn't do what we do!!

Aloha,
L