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CoachAJ replied to the topic Master Swim – Interested? in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
Jason with the home run! Now there is so excuse. Just give it a try one time and see how it goes.
Thank you Jason for the wonderful reminder and Jorge for rallying the masses. 🙂
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Running with Plantar Fasciitis? in the forum Run 4 years, 7 months ago
Plantar Fasciitis (PF) is typically a symptom of very tight calf muscles. Have you recently started running? Changed your running form (which can ask more of your calf muscles)? Taking on too much running too soon? Weak gluts muscles resulting in the calf muscles taking up the impact of running? Compensating for another nagging issue or i…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Hill Repeats – Short vs Medium in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
Great question! What I would like to do is take you back to (hopefully) one of my big takeaways from the Kick Off Meeting. What is the purpose of the workout? So what is the purpose of hill repeats?
The purpose of hill repeats is to ‘train’ your heart rate (getting it up on the uphills and full recovered to zone 1-2 before starting the next r…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Training Peaks Performance Metrics in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
Thank you, Jason, for doing a deeper dive into the training performance metrics. As you can see, there is a lot to learn here.
That said, as I was uploading training plans, most of you are new to Training Peaks. Thus you don’t have historical data to pull from for CTL (fitness) and TSB (form) so it’s really not productive to be trying to a…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Hello! in the forum Half Ironman Program (HIP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
Thank you for listening to the Kick Off Meeting recording. Hopefully you found it helpful.
As for Training Peaks, you will be able to move workouts around (no more than 2 longer or harder days without a recovery day) once you add the Training Peaks premium code. The Training Peaks code was emailed to you on January 22 and also posted on the H…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Training Peaks Performance Metrics in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
Good question. The Training Peaks performance metrics are completely based off your lactate threshold and heart rate zones. Thus you must ensure that you have perfected your LT, you are training within your correct HR zones and they are properly correlated. If not, the performance metrics are null and void. Since most of us are just getting fa…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Run Cadence in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
This discussion makes me so happy because this means you are focusing on good running mechanics!
Thus it is just a clarification situation. You want to target a cadence of 90 (or higher) steps per minute PER FOOT or 180 (or higher) steps per minute BOTH FEET. Why? You will see many thought leaders say that cadence shouldn’t matter that ev…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Zipper vs Fingertip Drag in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
You should be using the same swim technique in the open water as you do in the pool. So yes, high elbow for recovery (above water) and for a powerful stroke (underwater). The point of the drills are also to help achieve a better shoulder roll (and body rotation, in turn), as well as keep your recovery close to your body and not swing wide.
Some…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Bike Pedal Position/Angle in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
This is a great discussion however I also don’t want it to get too confusing.
Whether you want to use the scrapping gum off of the bottom of your foot or triangle drill, the whole point here is to practice. Practice them all and see what feels comfortable for you, where are your deadspots, etc. As Ryan mentioned from the article, there is no p…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Zipper vs Fingertip Drag in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
These are drills to help ingrain efficient and effective swim technique. The key for triathlon swimming is efficiency. Regular swimmers do target efficiency but they also desire speed. Speed and efficient form are not always the same.
Efficient swimming is swimming as fast as you can using as little energy as possible. Often regular swi…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Bike Baseline/Threshold Testing in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
That’s one ‘smart’ way to do it. Just remember to put it on when you get to transition.
You can also swim the race portion of the race with the monitor on. Once or twice likely won’t hurt it. That said, it does seem the water does break down the monitor faster so I wouldn’t train with it on. You will be buying a new one often!
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Zipper vs Fingertip Drag in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 7 months ago
Nice work focusing on your drills! This is the best way to find efficiency and speed with your stroke.
The zipper drill, like the finger trip drag drill, helps you with the recovery portion of your stroke. By “zipping” your hand up close to your body, you create a high elbow while keeping your hand close to your body (versus swinging your arm…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Bike Pedal Position/Angle in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Great question! And it’s an important one because it not correctly, foot pedaling position could lead to injury. That said, don’t overthink it either. You just want to keep your foot in a neutral position throughout the pedal stroke. If you are a toe pointer, this would be a great drill to start working on as toe pointing can lead to ove…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Bike Baseline/Threshold Testing in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Yes, because of the water medium, it interferes with your heart rate transmission. Because of this, it’s harder to gain purposeful heart rate data from swimming. Thus, swim pace is the preferred method of capturing swim pace.
In addition, some people swim in 25 yard, others 25 meter, others 50 meters. Thus it’s best to do the swim test in the…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Off-Season Spin Substitution in the forum Half Ironman Program (HIP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Great questions! First off, you are welcome to move your brick to whatever works best for your schedule. As we get closer to race day, it would be helpful to have some race specific bricks off of your longer bike effort. Otherwise, you can do them whenever you can fit them in.
As for substituting workouts, this is your choice. But I rea…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Hello! in the forum Half Ironman Program (HIP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Welcome Juene! Hopefully you can get out on the Saturday morning ride once it heats up (March/April timeframe) to meet some other participants. It’s always nice to have company on your longer ride efforts.
Since you missed the kick off meeting, here is a recording. It’s not perfect but hopefully it will bring you up to speed on what we ta…[Read more] -
CoachAJ replied to the topic Battling IT Band Issues in the forum Ironman Program (IMP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Here is a plug for the Run Performance Clinic on March 15th where we will be talking about efficient, ideal running form.
In the meantime, you can start working on the running drills documented in the Athlete’s Guide (daily)!
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Trainer advice in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Well, even after years (decades) of coaching, I just learned something new. Thank you for sharing Jason! Hopefully everyone that is reading is learning some great tips here. Proper tire maintenance is vital so knowing there are wear indicators is brilliant! Off to check my tires….
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Bike Baseline/Threshold Testing in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Very helpful to know that you are capturing your HR data from a chest HR strap. This is what matters (not so much what exact watch you are using).
Please remember that the forum is a place where we are all hoping to learn. Thus this is the reason why we are trying to change the conversation so it’s not too particularly specific or…[Read more]
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CoachAJ replied to the topic Bike Baseline/Threshold Testing in the forum Olympic Distance Program (ODP) for Paid Participants 4 years, 8 months ago
Your bike set up sounds productive. My only question is how does the iwatch capture your heart rate data? If it is by a wrist/optical heart rate monitor built into the watch, this is very unreliable and inaccurate. If it’s by a chest heart rate monitor, then this is much more accurate and reliable.
Depending on how much data you want to r…[Read more]
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