Investing in your technique
Why do some people make going fast look so easy, and others make going slow look so hard?
Is it just luck that some people happen to be great swimmers, great cyclists, great runners?
Why is it that some triathletes are good (or great) at one or two disciplines and, frankly, not so great at the other(s)?
After all, if you are fit enough to sustain a high speed at one you are surely fit enough to sustain a high speed at the others. Your heart and lungs, after all, don’t know or care whether you are swimming, cycling or running.
And what’s the point in spending more time and energy trying to be fitter if it’s not fitness that’s your limiting factor?
Good technique
Good techniques for swimming, cycling and running are good for a reason. For a number of reasons, in fact.
- Some muscles are bigger and stronger than others
- Muscles fatigue less when they’re doing what they’re good at
- Relaxed muscles reprocess lactic acid, tense muscles don’t
- Joints work best over certain ranges of movement
- Energy is limited, so best not to waste it working against yourself
- Poor techniques increase the risk of injury, which is the biggest time waster of all
- Doing something really well is incredibly rewarding, both intrinsically and for impressing others!
I could go on…
Developing good technique
Unlike many triathlon coaches, who provide training schedules, I specialise in helping you understand and improve your swimming, cycling and running techniques. I can help you understand and improve your fitness too, but ‘competition’ fitness is temporary: It comes quickly (relatively), drops away even more quickly and takes a lot of time, energy and motivation to maintain. Technique – well learned and well practised over time – is much more long lasting. Not only does it last for your lifetime, it’s something that you can pass on. Good technique is rarely natural, it must be understood, learned and deliberately practised. The old adage that practise makes perfect is only half true: practise doesn’t make perfect if you practise the wrong things. Practising the wrong things just develops bad habits that can get in the way of developing good ones.
As adults we’re not always good at practising skills – we don’t have the time. Yet as triathletes we tell ourselves that we’re ready to do the hard work. Surely it makes sense to invest at least some of our time and energy on long term gains.
The end of one season is a good time to plan ahead for the next. The first thing to plan is a rest, but maybe the next is an investment in improving your technique. There’s plenty of time to get competition fit before the racing starts again.
Please have a look around my site and read some more of my articles. Better still, drop me a line and find out how working with me can transform your training and racing.