Swim-Swim-Swim

After some down time training wise, I am about to ramp up training again. I sat down with my coach Mike McMahon and discussed what my main priorities will be. Or better so, what my single main priority will be: THE SWIM.

Tying together what I have learned from Mike, my own experience and newly gained insights on Motor Control and Learning (University of Queensland), this article will supplement my endeavor to convince my athletes that even swimming for 10’ to just “get in and feel the water” is important for swim technique (and therefore performance) improvement.
Yep! I am serious. It has to do with re-shaping Internal Models in your brain. I will break up the topic in a few Chapters.

1. Improving Swim Technique – Better Hydrodynamics
2. The Brain Part 1. Bringing Swimming Technique to a “lower level”
3. The Brain Part 2. Internal Models
4. Scheduling Practice Session to get the most out of it
5. Some other thoughts I might have. Functional training for swimming maybe. Or so.

1.Improving Swim Technique – Better Hydrodynamics

Decreasing your swim time involves two factors: Increasing your fitness level and increasing your efficiency in the water.
Better strength and endurance will increase your fitness and therefore the propulsive forces that can be applied to the water. Increasing efficiency in the water means becoming more hydrodynamic, which can be achieved by improving stroke biomechanics. Improving your technique will allow you to reduce drag by streamlining, hence safe energy and gain speed.
In fact, to swim 10% faster one would have to increase power by 33%. At the same time, to swim 11% faster, one would have to increase efficiency (reduce drag) by only 10%.

That is why I highly recommend a Personal Swim Analysis. Here is what you will get:
While observing your stroke above and below the water surface I will recognize the components of swimming and make notes about your stroke pattern. After discussing the Basics of Swimming with you and explaining the components of the stroke I will work with you on several drills, individually designed for you. You will receive a technique workout emailed to you, which allows you to make further progress. There will be a follow up session, where I make sure that you learned the drills correctly.

For more information, please contact Marion at sumarion@web.de or 808-227 5549.

My sister and Me - Reborn

May I introduce: my nieces. Sarah-Mia (left) and Elisa (right). The strange thing is that Elisa totally looks alike my sister Michaela and Sarah-Mia so looks like me when I we were that age. I will visit them in mid January and I look very forward to it. They are just simply cool. Schnuggibuggi-Schlawiner!!

Training on Oahu - A blessing

..because it is just soo nice to ride in Hawaii...

Long rides and ocean swims on the east side of Oahu are fantastic. Being able to train “at Home”, in Hawaii is a blessing. I craved the ocean and mountain views back in Brisbane. Long easy rides and swims are brainfood. Time to think about myself, my coaching, my studying, applying some of the stuff I just read in Biomechanics and apply some principles of motor control and anatomy. Time to feel my body moving like a switched on machine. Time to listen to my breathing and have some self conversation. My most favorite ride is Kailua towards Laie, early mornings. Heaven must be like that; feeling the light breeze of the wind, like flying; the smell of Hawaiian flowers and the salty air, seeing the powerful Mountains and how the sun reflects in the ocean. It is stunning and fantastic. Pure Unreal. And although I don’t like Peanut Butter; on long rides even peanut butter powerbar taste good for some reason. Magic! On this last ride, I thought about my values. If I am ever going to get engaged, I don’t want a diamond ring. I want a different kind of “Gem”. A down payment on a house on the beach in Hawaii; specifically the one on Kailuana Place; you can hear the waves rolling in, watch the most incredible sunrises, jump into the ocean for a swim or kayaking while having the view to the Moke’s and the Mountains, watch the surfing turtles, stargaze the meteor showers and Phospholumineszenz at night. I am so endlessly thankful to be here. The photo shows "my" ocean spot where I do my long weekend swims.

Joint Health

Many triathletes and runners supplement with Chondroitin “for better joint health”. I put on this article because I found it very interesting how exactly Chondroitin Sulfate can aid to the proper mechanical function of articular cartilage.

The articulating surfaces of joints are highly specialized. They are lined with porous hyaline cartilage to protect the underlying bone. Hyaline cartilage is designed to absorb shock, reduce friction, minimize wear and to distribute loads across the joint surfaces. Hyaline cartilage is a slippery, watery-“GU”-ee material consisting of Cells (named Chondrocytes) and extracellular Matrix. The matrix itself contains collagen fibers, water and Proteoglycans, which is the combination of proteins and glycoaminoglycans (GAG’s). The GAG in articulating cartilage is what I am interested in: CHONDROITIN SULFATE.

The CHONDROITIN SULFATE’s osmotic pressure attracts water into the hyaline cartilage so that it swells up; it pre-loads. When pressure is applied onto the hyaline cartilage, the water is pressed back out into the joint space. This mechanism not only acts like a cushioning pillow but in addition to that, the displacement of the water uses energy, thus less energy is available to directly deform and damage the joint cartilage.

Interesting!

Picture courtesy of Mark Brown, UQ Brisbane

"The essential thing in life is not to conquer, but to struggle well".

(Coubertin, 1994)

Encounter with the Law of Attraction

Yesterday I then went to "WATCH" the Noosa Triathlon Festival. On my way there, I passed an old VW bus and printed on it was the following:

"If You Aim At Nothing You Will Hit It Every Time."

I have not committed to a lot of races this year, giving myself flexibility due to some major changes. The last 2 days though, I have spent some time to think about my goals for 2010; mainly triggered by me not participating at Xterra World's on Maui, which left me with a feeling of regret.
So I wrote down and compared several race schedules (on-road & off-road) and school schedules and how it all could work next year. I will meet my professor tomorrow to find out about the Uni's support system of me racing Pro.

The International Family Chiropractic

I would like to highly recommend The International Family Chiropractic (check out the spine simulator; very cool!) Mike Noghrey is located at Kapiolani Blv, across Blaisdell Center. His expertise goes beyond the one of a Chiropracter as he is also providing Nutritional Counseling and approaches the healing process with the addition of Muscular Strength & Conditioning where needed. You can subscribe to his AWARD winning newsletter, which will keep you up to date with the latest news in health!