Ragbrai to Paris

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In Today's Show

• Cycling News/Updates - Ragbrai Roundup, Cycling Time Trial in Paris
• Triathlon News/Updates - Womens and Mens Triathlon, Boulder TPS
• Ask A Coach - How best to improve swim stamina?

303Cycling News and Updates:

'Restores my faith in humanity': RAGBRAI 2024 riders reflect at end of hilliest route ever

Des Moines Register

303Triathlon News and Updates:

Taylor Spivey's 10th Place Leads U.S. Olympic Women at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

First-Time Olympian Seth Rider Leads U.S. Men at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Boulder TriDot Pool School

• Tim O'Donnell and Bobby McGee
• 16 athletes
• 11.4 second per 100 yard average improvement; range 0-30 seconds savings per 100
• 2-3 strokes per length efficiency gain

Ask A Coach: How best to improve swim stamina?

Natalia: For those like me building some stamina. Do we still get some gains if using pull buoys OR paddles while swimming longer than a hour? Not to avoid physical but mental fatigue. I like swimming but 2 hours in the pool gets tough/ boring. Or what’s the alternative? If any. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on that. Thanks, coach!

Do we still get some gains if using pull buoys OR paddles while swimming longer than a hour?

Key context "building some stamina" confirmed that this is the real goal

Key context "2 hours in the pool gets tough/boring"

Key context "Not to avoid physical but mental fatigue"

Let's work with the context statements first starting with 2 hour sessions leading to boredom and mental fatigue. I get it, at the end of an hour, I'm pretty spent mentally and swimming endless laps can get boring. I think the key is how do you make the time you have in the pool both productive and engaging/interesting. Let's face it, if you are training for an IM you are likely doing 4K+ y/m training sessions. These longer "endurance" sessions are geared toward building your "endurance". There is no shortcut, but there may be some things we can do to make limit those longer sessions and make them more engaging when you do.

Start with fast before you go far. You don't have to do 4K sessions all through your IM training plan. Save those longer distance efforts until you are withing the last 2 months before your IM. When the longer sessions come, know you get 80% of the benefit in the last 20% from and endurance perspective, so look forward to the pushing those extra yards at that stage. In the mean time, reduce the time in the pool by getting faster. If you save 10 seconds/100 that's a 400 seconds or 6.5 minutes time savings over 4K. Dedicate time in each session to work on form and drills that reduce drag, resistance and misdirection.

Second context statement around "building some stamina". I like to think of Stamina as a place between endurance and speed. If you have properly trained at the two extremes 1) endurance and 2) speed, "stamina" becomes the biproduct. The ability to go longer, faster. As you get closer to your race, you do more zone 3 "race specific" pacing.

So back to the "do I get gains if using pull buoys or paddles while swimming longer than an hour?"

Paddles are good for developing strength, which is also important for stamina. You can also use swim bands at home to work on high elbow catch and stroke finish with hand finishing at your thigh. That said, I recommend focusing on efficiency first. Work on drills that develop unconscious habits of good functional form. The best measure of efficiency is distance per stroke. The few strokes to cross a given distance the less drag and less power required to get through the water. You can develop more distance per stroke with efficiency and form than you can with a strong pull.

Pull buoys are good for drills where you just want to focus on arm and breathing coordination drills and taking the kick out of the equation. Used specifically for that purpose, it's a good tool to have in your pack. Beyond that, it doesn't help you focus on your balance because it acts as a compensator for a lack of ability to control your body balance with kick and for...