Race Pace

Boy have I learned alot this year, umm.. well I've read alot, how much of that actually sinks is another story! As we start to near the end of the season (only 2 races left!), I've already got an eye on next year and what sort of training protocols I'm going to adapt. I'm on the right track, but there will be some serious tweaking.

One of my major weaknesses (and/or strength, depending how you look at it), is that I have a tendency to focus to a little too hard. This can definitely yield results, but I'd rather open my eyes and mind to the possibility that are even better ways to maximize my training time. One of the strategies I'll be implementing next year is more time at 'race pace'. Training faster to race faster, pretty simple. I'll be coming back to the 'plan' at a future date, but I'm really jazzed about next year and this year isn't even done yet!

To give credit where credit is due. I've been picking one of my new training partners brains on exercise physiology, periodization etc.. Gary, recently came back to the sport of triathlon after a 2 year layoff, is very knowledgeable and freely shares his knowledge (it's no wonder I like hanging with him). He's not a coach (yet), but if I were to ever get one, he'd be on the short list.

Random swimming tips for the week:
- flexibility! Yes, I'm a big fan of proper stretching, as I truly believe it's one of things that helps keep me injury free. Swimmers are a flexible bunch and one of the main benefits is that it gives you range of motion to do proper technique. I'm not saying being flexible will give you proper technique, but if you have the range of motion, it's certainly a good starting point. This link has some good shoulder stretches:
http://www.nismat.org/traintip/swimmershld
- masters swimming. Ok that's half the battle, you signed up and are going to practice, the other half of the battle: use the coach. Everyday, ask the coach, "what's the ONE thing I need to concentrate on today?" Use the coach to master the technique, then and only then are you allowed to train fast.
- lastly. Always, always and I mean always... be concentrating on form. Once your form breaks down - you need a rest, otherwise you're only reinforcing bad form. It's easy to swim 'well' fast (although your form will break down very quick), it's much harder to swim 'well' slow. Once you can swim well at a slow pace (a pace you can continually maintain with no rest and no form breakdown) - you'll have the hardest part nailed. Going fast will be easy because now you'll have good form.
Points to ponder..

The week in review:
Mon: swim 2k easy
Tues: bike 75k. 5X10min at Olympic pace. Run 8k easy.
Wed: run 10k, spin 1 hour. (zone 2)
Thu: run 17k. 4X8min @ Oly pace. Swim 2.8k (400's)
Fri: easy 10k run. Spin 30min.
Sat: 3.6k OW swim. Bike 5 min easy, 10 min hard, quick transition run 2k hard (Oly pace) repeat 5 times. (good workout!)
Sun: run long. 22k.

This race pace stuff is fun. Must be the endorphins. :)
Cheers!