Clinics - Triathlon Week

themenace · 12-27-2005, 07:43 PM

I'm taking a clinic for the first time at the end of January and I'm wondering if anybody had some advice as to what to ask or look for from the leaders. We're spending an hour and a half in the water, they will have video equipment and will spend individual time with everyone. Same with the bike (on trainer) for 2 hours and I think the run willl be short changed,that will be a half hour talk.

duggar1 · 12-28-2005, 04:00 PM

Of all the things a clinic might cover, I would expect a considerable amount of the time to be spent on techniques for improving your form. I've been doing some serious work on my swimming technique over the past 6 weeks according to the Total Immersion methods developed by Terry Laughlin. As much as I was a proponent of continuous technique improvement before, it's now my religion. Ask the leaders what techniques they can teach you to help you improve the efficiency of your stroke and what drills you can do to make the new movements a natural part of your stroke. I would also recommend getting Terry's book, " Total Immersion, The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier", plus the companion DVD, " Freestyle Made Easy". Get started on the drills and get a head start on your clinic, then they can focus on refining your improved stroke. It should be beneficial to get a professional opinion and feedback on how well you are applying the concepts and techniques. (In the Swimming Forum I made a post to the thread titled TI Swimming by AudreyJ back on December 1st. In it I describe some of my early success with the Total Immersion methods.)

Same basic idea for the bike portion of the clinic. Find out what drills you can take away to ingrain the improvements they have given you into your cycling.

Too bad the running portion is only a half hour talk. Most people have no idea how poor and counter productive their running technique is. My advice is to get Ken Mierke's book, "The Triathlete's Guide to Run Training". This is probably the best technique improvement book ever written for any sport. (Ken has made several posts to this forum if you want to look them up.)

Over all, if I were going to a clinic I would want to make sure I wasn't just focused on the technique improvements themselves, but also on the methods by which I will be able to incorporate them into my swimming/biking/running form over the next few weeks and months.

By the way, what clinic are you going to attend? You'll have to make a post telling us all about the experience when you get back.

Good luck,
Doug

themenace · 12-28-2005, 05:08 PM

I'm taking one here in Toronto. I was disappointed about the run as well because I know I could use the help there. Swimming in an interesting one. I have scratched the surface of TI myself. Only what I've overheard etc. My stroke count has gone from 18-21 strokes for 25m to 12 - 15 strokes. But I need some reenforcement. I'm very inexperienced on the bike so that will be helpful. Thanks for the advice about what to take away from the day and I will keep you posted. The clinic is in late January.