Many Tower 26 members attended our meet, performed extraordinarily well receiving another jolt of motivation and validation.

Here’s why it’s important to attend a meet: Almost every triathlete runs either a 5k, 10k, 1/2 or full marathon for a PR in addition to their tri racing schedule. It helps measure improvement, bolstering confidence, and is a reinforcement to their training regime. Improvement validates the training process, BUT more importantly it elevates confidence ultimately leading to improved performances in ones tri races.

The same should occurs for swimming, EXCEPT, few triathletes enter swim meets. Perhaps it’s too intimidating, even though that elevated confidence level post event would lead to enhanced tri swim performances. Making the meet experience a gentle introduction, we created a swim meet at our home facility bringing in a meet referee, programmer, and necessary equipment….. our members just had to do was show up. Many did.

Let’s take a look into some results from last week with a particular athlete in mind, FRANCISCO CORTEZ.

Francisco started swimming with Tower 26 in November 2010, he was one of our initial members. His swim confidence was low, his skills rudimentary, and his specific swim fitness fairly non-existent. He swam 100s on a 2:15 – 2:30 interval or slower; his repeat times ranged from 2:00 – 2:15; he struggled as many do at the beginning.

Francisco believed in and executed upon the process we provide. His 100 time last week was 1:16.5. A massive improvement. For sure, he no longer views himself as he did last month, last quarter, or last year. Look for big things from Francisco this season. Congrats Farncisco!

Other significant improvements were seen in the results of:
BARD AUSTIN, who took one of our Swim Improvement clinics in February, and then joined our training program. I would estimate Brad’s swim performance in February at around 1:20 for an all out 100; pretty good. Last week he swam 1:01.4. His 1000 was a smashing 13:18. He had no swimming background, rather an 800 m track runner.

CHRIS KAVEH, could barely complete a 50 without utter exhaustion when he joined us last November. His eventual improvement in swim specific fitness would assist him swimming 100s on a 2:30 interval. Chris swam his 100 last week in an astounding 1:21.09.

JEN TETRICK is a professional triathlete. We met at Matt Dixon’s purplepatch pro camp in March 2011. Her biking and running were good, but her swimming needed lots of work for a PRO, an important distinction. Jen moved to LA last December, making Tower 26 her destination swim improvement program. She has powered-up her 1.2 mile swim from 34 minutes to 28 minutes, AND, she stopped the clock in her 100 free last weekend in 1:03.75. At camp last year, her 75 free was 1:03. Her journey began then.

NANCY McDONALD is one of Tower 26′s remote clients for a couple years. Her voyage began with around a 1:30 personal best 100 free and 17 minute 1000 free. Last weekend she stopped the clock at 14:21.9 in her 1000, and 1:13.7 in her 100.

There were many, many other notable performances that stood out, above are just a few, but the success derived is the same because the journey is similar:
1) decide to do it;
2) understand it’s a 2-year plan, there are no short-cuts;
3) commit to your part of execution;
4) be CONSISTENT; and
5) set-up a mechanism for measuring performance.

Improved results WILL come.

Recognizing a few other performances:

SEAN JEFFERSON is a 3:56 mile runner and indoor NCAA mile champion. Recently turned triathlete needing to improve his swim, he moved to LA in February joining Tower 26. His test 1000 and 100 then were 12 minutes and 1:02. Last week Sean swam 11:13.56 and 56.88. He’s motivated even more now.

SARAH PIAMPIANO is another purplepatch pro traithlete who moved to LA in January for swim improvement. Her initial 1000 and 100 free time trials in January were 15:52 and 1:21. Last weekend she smashed those with a 13:17 1k and 1:11.01 for the 100 free. Sarah recently won the New Orleans 70.3. Her story worth reading is here: http://www.purplepatchfitness.com/news/one-win-doesnt-make-season

BRYAN PAUL could swim? Who would think the former Washington State quarterback would improve his 1000 and 100 free by over two minutes, and, 10 seconds respectively in just a few short months. His 13:29.8 1k and 60.66 100 free were inspiring performances, BUT he put in lots of effort and time into his training these last several months.

Chris Wright, Chris Doss, Reilly Smith, Susan Moon, Greg Wootton, Baker Smith, Greg Kearns, David Lee, Leslie Steiner, Eric Carysfort, Rebecca Nevitt, Stacey Stern, Chris Plourde, Julia Kolyadenko, Mark Vermeersch, Amy Aukstikalnis, Mattie Reyes, Carolyn Nohejl, Mike Tatum, James Duffy, Eric Reid, Monica Morant, Mike Schiepke, Ben Patterson, Susan Kallal, and Chase Watts all made their commitment with similar stories.

These “Big Guns” all put in sub 60 second 100s: Mike Tatum, Eric Craysfort, Sean Jefferson, Todd Larlee, Mark Vermeersch, David Lee and Chase Watts. Both Todd and Mike posted 57+ 100 swims. Congrats! Knocking at the sub minute barrier are: Bryan Paul, Brad Austin, and James Duffy.

Meet results can be found here:

http://www.SwimPhone.com/mobile/meets/event_order.cfm?smid=4004

Club member, Carolyn Nohejl posted some event photos here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/94rimsd7s983bcc/jGO31HKy82

Up next is our 1-hour swim for distance coming up on May 20 at the Cost to Coast event in Culver City, and, our May 26 Swim Improvement Clinic. Details in a couple days.

Gerry Rodrigues
gerry@tower26.com
310.432.3683
www.tower26.com
“Be Race Ready”

An interview with Flo Cycling’s Chris Thornham

1. Tell us about your background in swimming and Tower 26?

My background can be broken into three categories:

1) Athlete
2) Coach
3) Publisher

1) The athlete portion began at age 7 in Trinidad, and I’ve been at it for 42 years. I was an okay competitive swimmer who flourished more at open water than conventional pool racing. Although a few Masters national and world pool records were established along the way, my emphasis was in open water, competing in several hundred open water races and finishing overall winner at many. Presently, I swim 1-3 times a week depending on work schedules, about 90 minutes to 4 hours in a good week.

By triathlete standards my swimming was better than okay. I swam one minute for the 100 meter free; 4:37 for a 400 meter free; and won my first overall open water 4k race—all by the time I turned 12. Translated to yards, that’s around 53 sec for the 100 and a bit over 4 minutes for the 400. That same year I swam 9,600 meters in a 2-hour swim-a-thon; that’s a 1:15/100 meter average pacing. Those were pretty fast times almost 40 years ago for a young kid from the third world. Having great mentors, coaches and terrific parents contributed significantly. I competed in one marathon swim, 28.5 miles around Manhattan Island, finishing around 8 hours. My fastest open water 3 mile swim was a little over 51 minutes.

2) My coaching spans 30 years, starting officially in college. A like-minded group of us launched one of the first triathlon clubs in Los Angeles, Team Malibu, in the early 80s. Coaching triathletes swimming, we traveled to many races all around, including Kona in the early years. Fast forward to summary highlights: I made the first open water swimming DVD with Mike Collins in the mid-90s; coached and spearheaded several large Masters clubs over the years; received regional and national coach-of-the-year awards; coached a few hundred All-American performances, scores of national Masters and world champions with national and world records; and advised and/or coached several Olympic gold medalists and World open water champions.

Presently, my main coaching focus is triathletes and open water swimmers. Tower 26 was started in 2010 because of the need for triathlon-specific swim coaching. There is a gaping hole for this service at the quality and educational level. We run a carefully targeted training program with seasonal progression and education, then offer open water sessions six months of the year. Demonstrating that open water demand, last season our pre-work beach workout was attended by 100-300 triathletes each session. It became massive. Athlete swim improvements ranged from 2 minutes in shorter ½ mile and Olympic distance 1.5k swims, to 20+ minutes in Ironman distance swims.

Additionally, there are some training and educational projects in the works with Matt Dixon, of purplepatch fitness. Another coaching project was advising Eva Fabian and her coach/father, Jack Fabian, in their formative years: Eva on swim strategy and workouts for her open water swim career and her dad on the new paradigm for coaching open water athletes. The result was a world championship 5k title last year and multiple other open water victories. She’s only 18, presently training to make the 2012 Olympic team.

3) For about 10 years I was Publisher of three swimming magazines: Swimming World, Swimming Technique, and SWIM Magazine. I owned SWIM Magazine. We had a terrific editor-in-chief who delivered masterful but filtered, qualitative swimming content for that audience. Although I ran the business operations, my background was swimming, and quality content is paramount to successful publishing. One of the jobs of a publisher is to know their audience’s needs.

2. What advice would you give to a new triathlete swimmer?

Let’s frame this with historical perspective, followed by a paradigm shift, and then a look out toward the horizon.

Unfortunately, both new and established triathletes encounter a minefield of obstacles to swimming improvement. These include: 1) general, non-specific swim instruction; 2) a deluge of misinformation that is either simply wrong or again, not specific enough to their needs; and 3) the increasing infusion of online or remote “programming”. None of these examples are helpful to them.

Expanding upon these three examples, and then advising:

1) Non-specific swim instruction: Triathlon is still a sport in infancy with an Olympic debut in 2000, as is open water racing with its Olympic intro in 2008 with a 10k race. Duly, the evolution of swim instruction has yet to catch-up with the needs of the sport, ie. Specificity of the training, the type of swim mechanics needed, and racing skills. Mainly available to triathletes is traditional pool based training, with improper emphasis, taught by many untrained and/or misinformed coaches (see item 3). Masterful and imaginative coaches are far and few between.

2) Misinformation: Considering the abundance of non-specific swim instruction, coupled with unreliable publishing resources, triathletes struggle filtering information.

Preparing athletes for open water racing requires a lens-shift from swim coaches, publishers and educators; it’s a new paradigm. Publishers must be more diligent in providing substantive highly specialized, appropriate content for their subscribers and members.

The current approach of many publishers, providing “alternative or different perspectives” hits and misses the educational mark for their readers with the volatility of a 90s internet stock. These publishers need to recognize the paradigm shift. Present content is “unfiltered” and often lumps pool-specific traditional information together with open water advice, as if they were one subject. Readers need distilled, qualitative, specifically purposeful content. Triathlon participants lack the appropriate filter or knowledge in sorting through the various opinions emanating from traditional pool coaching, and from an abundance of inexperienced coach authors (see item 3). Unfortunately, many editors lack expertise for such filtering.

Although Triathlete Magazine has improved their content and material presentation in the last year, advancements are still needed from the likes of: Inside Triathlon; Ironman’s LAVA Magazine; Competitor magazine; 3/GO Triathlon; Slowtwitch; Beginning Triathlete; Ironman on-line; Active Corp; USA Triathlon’s national publication; SWIMMER, the national magazine of US Masters swimming; SPLASH, the national magazine for USA swimming; and ASCA, the American Swim Coaches Association.

3) On-line or remote coaching is not coaching; it’s programming and generally low quality. Although I do some remote coaching, it is nowhere near as good as seeing someone in person. Why is quality generally low?

a) Lack of club coaching infrastructure for educating coaches;
b) Lack of proper editorial content and coach mentor programs; and
c) A very low entry barrier to triathlon coaching.

Many triathlon clubs do not have a head coach. There are approximately 900 triathlon clubs only, servicing about 1/3 million partial or yearly association members. Conversely, at USA swimming, there are a few thousand clubs servicing the same volume of members, with every club having multiple coaches providing daily instruction.

In triathlon, anyone can purchase a triathlon coaching credential for a few hundred dollars, by attending a two-day seminar, taking a test, then receiving a certificate. This new “coach” has a tacit stamp of approval from the sport’s national governing body, USA Triathlon. Think about the message this basically sends: No experience needed at anything. Approximately 4,000 credentials have been issued. This presents a puzzle to the consumer for proper coach selection while bringing new meaning to “let the buyer beware”. Compare this with USA swimming’s model where coaches are usually former swimmers, who spend countless years being educated and mentored by veteran coaches, while coaching juniors, all prior to becoming a head coach. And that’s if they can get hired for a head coaching position. In triathlon, a “coach” just arrives by calling himself a coach.

If you look at some of the respected coaches, most have gone through a LONG journey of competition, mentoring, education, and then coaching. For illustration, let’s take Matt Dixon, of purplepatch fitness whose resume I am most acquainted since I coached him for a brief period. His resume would be similar with other respected coaches:

• Competitive swimmer for 15 years.
• Olympic Trial finalist in 1992 and 1996.
• Triathlete for eight years; professional for five years.
• Evolved from Olympic distance, to ½ IM, and then to IM.
• 2004 overall Vineman winner.
• Age-group swim coach for 5 years.
• Year round swim coaching to National standard.
• Developed and fostered by a team of supporting senior coaches.
• Coached swimming two years at NCAA div 1 with a team of 5 coaches.
• Developed under guidance of multiple triathlon coaches and advisors.
• Backbone of Masters in Clinic Physiology.

….and only after all this did he take on his first individual client. Respected and successful coaches don’t just arrive.

Advice to the new triathlete: Choose and hire a swim coach as carefully as you would a doctor for surgery on your child, using the same prudence. Seek someone with history in the sport who works full-time at the job. It’s helpful if they have both a swimming and coaching background, with successful experience coaching open water. If they were not a swimmer or swimming coach before, then be cautious. Find out if they had long-term mentoring from a bona fide swim coach or triathlon coach, and whether they have continued their education.

The horizon: Fortunately, with triathlon becoming an Olympic sport in 2000, more substantive coaches are entering the space, raising the present mark of swim coaching and triathlon coaching in general. There are many good swim coaches for triathletes; unfortunately, many do not publish. Here are some examples worth following when they do publish: Swim Smooth; Jim Vance; Mike Collins; Joel Filliol; Brett Sutton; Matt Dixon. These coaches together, along with a few others, are the future for triathlon swimming.

3. What the most common swimming mistake people make?

There are several, but probably at the top of the list is the athlete who swims straight for 20-40 minutes, a couple of times a week. Next would be those who subscribe to all those conventional “pool” drills such as side kicking, switch drills, sculling, and consistent bilateral third stroke breathing. These are possibly appropriate drills, but generally administered to an inappropriate audience or prescribed at inopportune times in an athlete’s development.

4. What drills/training tools give athletes the most bang for their buck AND is it true that people can do too many drills?

Given the limited time budget for triathletes, many spend way too much time doing the traditional “pool” drills mentioned. It’s almost a waste of time. I’ve observed beginners kicking on their sides, almost drowning; complete torture, too advanced, and a real waste of learning time. Just swim! Build some specific muscular endurance for a month (10-12 one hour sessions), and then you’re better able to receive technical feedback.

Get yourself a swim snorkel, a pull buoy, a pair of fins and an ankle strap. Here’s the package: http://www.theswimmall.com/package.php?package_id=TheSwimMall
Some will need a tempo trainer, to rid themselves of the catch-up like swimming called “front quadrant swimming” they were taught or read. It slows their stroke rate down and is the absolute slowest form of swimming for a non-competitive, inexperienced participant. It’s also “old school” not meeting the needs for the modern day open water swimmer.

5. You are known as an open water swimming expert. Are there differences between pool swimming and open water swimming technique? For example, breathing technique, stroke rate etc.

Think of open water swimming as the peloton in a bike race, utilizing different skills and tactics than the time trial athlete. Think of pool swimming as a bike time trial or a 400 track run race. They are different animals, thus requiring different training specificity and familiarity.

For open water, one needs familiarity and a massive amount of skills for mass starts, pack swimming, frequent sighting, drafting, navigational, varying speeds, varying stroke rates, athletic IQ helps, and some tactical techniques. These all need practice prior to racing.

Regarding technique, do less of the conventional drills; swim more with enforcement of body tautness and alignment using your snorkel. Kick less; learn to lift your head while keeping proper body positioning. Have very specific training workouts. Do at least some fast swimming in every workout!

6. Can pool workouts be tailored towards open water swimming/skills? If so could you give us some examples?

There are some masterful and imaginative coaches who devise excellent POW (pool-open-water) sessions. Examples are: pace-line swimming, frequent sighting, fast 30 – 60 sec swims at the beginning of repeats, deck-ups, pack swimming without lane lines, buoys in the pool mimicking open water racing, mass start practices, and anything that a coach can create that helps their athlete gain familiarity with their new environment. It works! Here is a testimonial worth sharing from Leah Graham on her 2011 Vineman IM swim:

“I finished the swim in 1:06:40 and to be honest it was pretty easy peasy thanks in LARGE part to you and Tower 26!

I never would have thought the swim would be my best event because I consider myself a runner, but as it turns out the swim trumped both the bike and run! Honestly the training from you and the tower 26 team TOTALLY paid off. I got in the water calm and confident knowing exactly how to pace, sight, and create a clear spot to swim. I got bumped around at the start and it didn’t even phase me, in fact, I bumped right back. I swam through three waves of dudes holding my composure. This is a HUGE difference from this past April at Oceanside 70.3. At that start I got bumped, panicked, literally thought to myself “you can’t do this, what are you thinking being here?” Then I proceeded to swim to the WAY outside and then all over the place just trying to stay away from people. This time around I sighted every 10 strokes, hugged the buoys, knew exactly where I was and paced a perfect 33 minutes on each lap. I jogged outta the water a happy girl. Thank you!!!”

7. You’ve helped a lot of high level athletes like Chris Foster turn their swimming weakness into strength. What was the key ingredient(s) to Chris’s and others success?

Chris made significant improvements in the time we worked together; he’s a very hard worker and a remarkable young man. He has a new triathlon coach these last 18 months, and will improve further if he continues enhancing his mechanics.

Another good example would be Jesse Thomas, winner of Wildflower. Jesse is coached by Matt Dixon. Matt sent him to me in late summer 2010; I made some technical stroke changes and he was sent off with the correct prescription for him which was implemented by Matt, then set on a two year voyage. The former 1:25/100 or 29 minutes ½ IM athlete is now a 1:09/100 swimmer or 24:30 ½ IM. He’ll be swimming 1:05/100 soon enough, which will get him in contact with most lead packs. Matt did a terrific job with him.

Success comes from the correct combination of technical enhancements, appropriate training volume, a progressive training road map, intensity, and specific muscular strength and endurance. Every athlete needs a formula specific to them.

8. A lot of triathletes neglect the swim because it is the shortest portion of the race. Can becoming a better swimmer improve your bike or run split in a triathlon?

Interesting question without a clear answer, and one perhaps better answered by a triathlon coach. But, my 30 years of triathlon sport exposure and coaching background tell me that there should be carry-over benefits to both riding and running. The cost of improper swimming preparation in terms of wasted effort is high, which likely hurts the ride and run segments. I have also experienced athletes who were injured from running, focused on swim training as a result, and then went on to run their best marathons in an IM. Although there may be other contributing factors, it seems there are immeasurable benefits.

Triathlon is not Swim….Bike….Run. It is SwimBikeRun; one sport!

9. There have been a lot of running and cycling trends. For example, barefoot running… Are there any swimming trends that you are aware of and if so, are any worth paying attention to?

Trends are like stocks, they go in and out of favor. Think practical: what skills do I need; how do I acquire them; with what frequency do I practice them; what’s the right workout complexion for me at this particular time in my evolution. Keep it simple, but specifically be mindful that every triathlete is an open water swimmer.

10. Do you work with swimmers not in the LA area? If so, how can swimmers connect with you?

Many pros, accomplished, capable and developing athletes come visit us. All our information can be found on our web site at: http://tower26.com/ together with some of our training plans at www. http://www.purplepatchfitness.com/

I do some remote consultation via phone or Skype, reviewing a swim file and an athlete’s swim regime, commenting and giving a recipe for that individual.

11. You’ve been directing the swimming portion of the purplepatch triathlon camps hosted by Matt Dixon. What is on the horizon with regards to clinics and camps, and how can people get involved?

Matt Dixon is a true professional and someone I hold in high esteem. He is the perfect example of many things right in triathlon swimming as indicated earlier by his resume. Even with his extensive competitive swimming, and swim coaching background he still shepherds his athletes to seek outside swim counsel. Hopefully other coaches follow his path thus benefiting athlete, coach and sport.

Matt is hosting a Kona camp in February at which I’ll direct the swim instruction. We are running another camp this summer in Santa Monica, and I’ll be hosting monthly clinics in Los Angeles from February through summer. Matt runs two weekly swim classes in Northern Cal, while Tower 26 runs daily triathlon specific swim workouts in Santa Monica, CA. All information can be found on our respective websites.

12. What’s the most important thing every swimmer should make sure they do every time they swim?

I’m uncertain there is one key thing since different folks may require varying prescriptions at differing athletic progressions, but some of the nuggets were answered in question 5. Recognize that doing many small things consistently usually results in big gains.

13. Who are some of the pros you have coached?

Not many on a consistent basis, as we coach mainly age group and amateur triathletes, although Matt has sent many pros on his roster to me, or I coached them at a camp or in private sessions. http://www.purplepatchfitness.com/professional-athletes

Many of Siri Lindley’s athletes attend my weekly beach workouts during the summer: http://www.siri-lindley.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=118

Outstanding Boulder, CO running Coach Bobbie McGee sends athletes my way: http://www.bobbymcgee.com/home.html

A few other coaches such as Mac Brown, Mike Collins, Brian Stover, Lara Brown, Marilyn McDonald, Tim Crowley, and others have all sent athletes for review or consults on individual technique, knowing they’ll receive the right prescription for them.

14. Any last words?

It would be powerful for athletes and coaches if the National Governing Bodies of USA Swimming, US Masters Swimming and USA Triathlon could forge a cooperative effort toward sharing their information and coaching programs. Presently, but controversially and surprisingly to many, USA Triathlon’s athletes and coaches have more open water experience than USA Swimming and US Masters swimming. The latter won’t admit it, and the former has yet to seek the conventional pool knowledge from its predecessors.

There are too many inexperienced coaches teaching swimming in the sport. They have read a swim book, watched a dvd, or received a Triathlon coaching certificate thinking that qualifies them. Too many athletes drown in their misinformation. Then there are true professional coaches like Matt Dixon, Tim Crowley and others who recognize the value of exposing their athletes to specialist. Search these coaches for your triathlon needs.

What’s new?

1) Swim clinics.
2) Strength training.
3) A triathlon training program powered by Purplpatch.
4) Tower 26′s apparel and swim training kit.
5) Wednesday mid-day workouts extended by 30 minutes.

1) SWIM CLINICS BEGIN FEBRUARY 5th

Tower 26 swim clinics are starting up! A new clinic series starts each month at Palisades’s pool, beginning the first Saturday of that month and lasting FOUR successive weekends. Sessions will be 90 minutes and limited to only 10 participants. Each Saturday session will comprise of an approximate 30 minute educational lecture, and 60 minutes swimming instruction. The educational component explains the required skills for successful swimming, and how to achieve them. The 4-week clinic will discuss the two pillars for turning your swimming around, and teaches how to execute and achieve swim improvement.

Expect to receive comprehensive education, and hands-on instruction, for a widening of your swim filter. For guaranteed swim improvement, couple this clinic with a well formatted swim program, of:

1) Consistent and targeted pool training with an open water component.
2) Appropriate swim education.
3) An effective strength program.
All which are offered through Tower 26 programming. http://tower26.com/programs/

You can register here for clinics: https://www.clubassistant.com/club/clinics.cfm?c=1633

For continued education, current Tower 26 members can attend the lecture portion of these clinics for FREE, no registration required.

2) STRENGTH PROGRAM ADDED ON MONDAY’S

Another training benefit is being added to Tower 26 programming. Beginning February (Jan 31st to be exact) we’ll start-up our specific swim-strength training program.

Expect to spend an additional 20 minutes at the conclusion of all Monday workouts for this program. Please bring a warm jacket or your Tower 26 parka and a yoga-style mat if you have one; a towel will also work for any floor-type exercise.

http://www.theswimmall.com/product/tower-26-speedo-team-parka-unisex/

We’ll start with stretch cords; mimicking the precise and correct swim stroke needed building specific muscular endurance and strength with accurate mapping of muscle memory. These sessions are essential in ones quest for swim improvement. Vasa’s Erg machine and TRX training will be added soon.

3) TOWER 26 ADDS a TRIATHLON TRAINING PROGRAM

The Tower 26 triathlon training program will start up in a few weeks……..details coming soon, but here’s a window into what to expect:

Tower 26 has partnered with Matt Dixon of Purplepatch fitness to power its triathlon program:

http://www.purplepatchfitness.com/purplepatch_fitness/Home.html

Tower 26 members can expect to be provided with a special and professional coaching experience for your triathlon training. Matt is an expert, with an extensive coaching, athletic and exercise physiology background. Purplepatch fitness has established itself with proven training and methodology, and is home to numerous international, elite, and amateur level triathletes. This facility based program will provide a unique opportunity through hands-on, coached workouts in all three disciplines utilizing the same level of attention and service normally reserved for professional athletes.

Hiring a triathlon coach today is a definite challenge with a plethora of interesting options, but Tower 26 has sifted through the alternatives selecting Purplepatch to power our triathlon workout program based on their experience, professionalism, attention to detail, full-time commitment to coaching, and successful athletic development for all levels of participants.

Join us in our dedication to your training and fitness success.

4) TOWER 26′s APPAREL and TRAINING KIT

Tower 26 swim training kit; a must have for any athlete wanting to improve their swimming:

http://www.theswimmall.com/package.php?package_id=TheSwimMall

Latex swim cap with Tower 26 logo:

http://www.theswimmall.com/product/tower-26-latex-cap/

Silicon swim cap with Tower 26 logo – these last much longer:

http://www.theswimmall.com/product/tower-26-silicone-cap/

Stay warm with our Tower 26 parka:

http://www.theswimmall.com/product/tower-26-speedo-team-parka-unisex/

5) WEDNESDAY MID-DAY WORKOUTS EXTENDED 30 MINUTES

Beginning February 2, our 11:30 – 12:30 pm Wednesday workout will be extended an additional 30 minutes, concluding at 1 pm. This 90 minutes session now completes our programming for the mid-day group with every workout group, morning, lunch and evening now having at least one 90-minutes training session.

Gerry

Swim paddles are advertised and promoted as swim-aids building power and strength. They’re also alleged to lengthen the simmer’s stroke at the front end: the paddle’s large surface area causing a long glide, or feeling of glide, commonly quantified as Distance per Stroke (DPS).

Over the last 20 years, the reengineering and development of the modern-day paddle has resulted in an architecture with significantly larger surface areas and varying shapes, each design touting its own benefits. We’ve reached a stage now where paddles are either large, very large or super-sized. In assessing the benefits of such paddles, remember they’re created and developed by national level swim coaches, to train their national level athletes.

In my view, most of these large paddles do not benefit triathletes or non-elite swimmers.

Almost all triathletes and non-elite swimmers lack the strength, power, and specific muscular endurance to drive large paddles through the water. Most will compensate by dropping their elbows quickly or otherwise resorting to an improper stroke. These incorrect repeated movements only serve to imprint poor mechanics. The swimmer may feel he or she is training harder but there is almost never any real gain technically.

They also slow stroke rate, the number of swim strokes per minute, which is already a limiter for many triathletes. Low stroke rates equal slow swimming; lower stroke rates, even slower swimming. A separate post will address stroke rate as it deserves its own discussion.

For these athletes and swimmers, these larger paddle types are harmful.

I recall one swim workout with a well-known pro triathlete, a front-of-pack swimmer, who was using a then newly introduced paddle, a behemoth in mass and shaped like a stealth bomber. His stroke breakdown was immediately obvious to me, his elbows collapsing to his ribcage. I tried to point out that these giant paddles were not working for him and, in fact, were actively undermining his training. In retrospect, I should have minded my own business: he would have no part of my advice and fervently believed that the manufacturer’s claims worked for him. He knew he was swimming faster – which he was, with the paddles. Without them, he would be left with no extra benefits and a wrecked technique. Like most triathletes and non-elite swimmers, he would have been much better off – ultimately building more speed, strength and specific endurance – by abandoning these ‘trash can lid’ paddles and simply using pull buoys and an ankle strap.

Naturally, in an article this short, I’m generalizing. Some paddles do have their place in the training schedule. If you want to try paddles, find a design that works for your particular mechanics, and one that fits your hand. Generally, smaller is better.

Disclaimer: My notes are written for the general swim and triathlon audience. Some statements are quite broad while others are specific. Every athlete, every swimmer is different. Learn to recognize what applies particularly to you so that you can make the decisions that enable you to train and compete most effectively.

Gerry Rodrigues has been coaching triathletes since 1983, and presently coaches “Tower 26” www.tower26.com. He’s a US Masters coach of the year; a world and national masters champion; coach and advisor to world champion open water swimmers, triathletes, and Olympians; former owner of SWIM Magazine and publisher of Swimming World and Swimming Technique Magazines. He says: “I do not have a monopoly on information, rather continue to learn from athletes and other coaches, loving every day of it.”

Our first workout was on November 8 at the new Palisades High School pool. Participants reacted auspiciously by signing-up at an 80% rate of those who tried our workouts. A few who did not join-in stated they are coming January 1.

The cool summer along the cost in Santa Monica seems to have carried through into Fall as air temps hit sub 40 these last couple days, making for cold on-deck coaching. Fortunately, Pali has kept its pool at comfy temps.

We are in off-season, pre-season, after season or whatever name you wish to deem it. But what we are really into is technical training and specific preparation for the 2011 year. Yes, our workouts are demanding of your attention and commitment, but they yield results. Although we are packing a lot of swimming into our 60 or 90 minute sessions, these first couple months are all about teaching and preparing your body to hold the correct position in the water for when we lay on training load and race specific workouts. If a Newbie or a Pro, the same applies to even Mr. Michael Phelps, Mr. Javier Gomez or Mr. Chris McCormack, better body positioning in the water leads to faster swimming.

Only two things makes an athlete faster in water, although there may be multiple facets under each umbrella: 1) Overcoming drag or water resistance; and 2) Training. We’ll discuss each in the coming weeks.

Slowtwitch.com recognized our launch efforts and started a cool ”Tower 26″ swim challenge….check it out: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Swim_challenged_fixed_and_new_Rev3_Points_Challenge_P3099807/  

Tower 26 has also been in the news here: http://www.dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com/search?q=tower+26

Happy Holidays!
Gerry Rodrigues

We are in off-season, pre-season, after season or whatever name you wish to deem it. But what we are really into is technical training and specific preparation for the 2011 year. Yes, our workouts are demanding of your attention and commitment, but they yield results. Although we are packing a lot of swimming into our 60 or 90 minute sessions, these first couple months are all about teaching and preparing your body to hold the correct position in the water for when we lay on training load and race specific workouts. If a Newbie or a Pro, the same applies to even Mr. Michael Phelps, Mr. Javier Gomez or Mr. Chris McCormack, better body positioning in the water leads to faster swimming.

Only two things makes an athlete faster in water, although there may be multiple facets under each umbrella: 1) Overcoming drag or water resistance; and 2) Training. We’ll discuss each in the coming weeks.

Slowtwitch.com recognized our launch efforts and started a cool ”Tower 26″ swim challenge swim challenge:….check it out: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Swim_challenged_fixed_and_new_Rev3_Points_Challenge_P3099807/

Tower 26 has also been in the news here: http://www.dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com/search?q=tower+26

Happy Holidays!
Gerry Rodrigues