Swim Class 1, its totally different training

For the last 6 months, i would swim a mile (64 laps) and then get out of the pool. Now, the coach has changed the way i train to make my swimming a little more efficient.

Warm up 8 laps. Breathe every 4 strokes. Trust me this is not easy in the beginning. You feel oxygen depleted very fast.

Kicking: 4 laps kicking with hands completely outstretched and clasped together. You need to stretch the arms as far out as possible. This makes you aero dynamic. Kick hard 20 times and then come up and breathe. When you put your head underwater, breathe slowly out. Don't make the mistake of doing heavy blowing out underwater. This exercise teaches you on using your legs more efficiently and swimming with less oxygen. Coach says that this helps in running also as you use your oxygen more efficiently.

Kicking hard and exaggerated slow hand stroke: 4 to 8 laps. Kick very hard and move your arms very slowly forward and stretch to the max to make the stroke efficient.

Paddle : Use your paddle for 4 laps by 2 sets with a break.. Start first lap slow and end fast. This will teach you how to swim faster and be more aero dynamic.

Pull Buoy: 8 laps. Gets to focus on upper body movement.

Paddle + Pull Buoy: 8 laps.

Zoomers: 6 to 8 laps. Breathe every 6 to 8 strokes as your speed is very fast.

8 by 25 meters sprint intervals: Go all out. Take a break of 20 seconds between sets. It takes me about 20 to 22 seconds on average to do a lap. Start kicking underwater as you kick off to get speed. Breathe every 6 to 8 strokes and kick and pull all out.

16 laps cool down.

Overal swim was about 2.2 k.

Bringing in swimming efficiency

Pull Buoy
Swim Paddles
Zoomers
Just started with coach Shailesh at Willingdon.

How to Use a Swimming Pull Buoy

A pull buoy is a foam flotation device that is placed between a swimmer's legs to provide support while practicing different strokes.

It is used to elevate the legs and properly position the body in the water.

Pull buoys allow swimmers to focus on their arm movements and build upper body strength.

The pull buoy should be positioned between the upper thighs, near the crotch, for proper body alignment.

Instructions

1. 1 Get in the water. Keep the pull buoy on the side of the pool or in your hand until you are already in the water and ready to swim.
2. 2 Push the pull buoy under the water.
3. 3 Place the pull buoy between your thighs. A solid foam pull buoy just slides between your thighs.
4. 4 Cross your ankles and allow the pull buoy to raise your legs up to the top of the water.
5. 5 Begin pulling with your arms.

Hand Paddles: Helps increase your speed.

Through the use of hand paddles we are able to isolate and work more on the back, chest and arm muscles. These include the latissimus dorsi, pectoral muscles, biceps and triceps to name a few. By increasing the strength in these muscles, we in turn improve our speed, and gain greater distance per stroke.

1. It is important when swimming to keep your fingers closed. By doing this you push the water more effectively, and no water escapes through open fingers, which in turn slows you down and makes your stroke less efficient. By wearing hand paddles we can work on this powerful pointer. The hand paddle is a flat attachment to the hand which ensures that you must push the water efficiently. There is no open finger option. You must use the power you have to push the paddle through the water, and if you understand this feeling as you swim it will enable you to achieve better technique.

2. Maintain high elbows if swimming front crawl. This creates a more efficient stroke. If you are dragging your hands through the water you are creating more drag and are much less efficient!

3. Ensure you have correct hand position. If this is a point you are struggling with then by using hand paddles you will feel where your stoke is going wrong. The paddles will emphasis where you falter and enable you to feel and correct more easily.

Many drills with paddles involve the use of not just the paddles, but also a pull-buoy. For those of you unsure what I am talking about, a pull-buoy is a foam flotation device that you place between your legs to enable them to float whilst you don't use them. Hence, this is a drill without the use of legs and purely concentrates on the arms. Pulling your body through the water with arms alone is difficult enough, but with arm paddles also is definitely increased difficulty.

If you choose to use hand paddles when training, then you will reap the benefits. Not only will you increase your muscle strength, endurance and speed, but also your upper body tone. By isolating the upper body muscles, building strength and using correct technique you can only improve your speed.

Overall Benefits of Hand Paddles include;

- Better technique.

- Better 'feel for the water'.

- Increased body awareness.

- More powerful arm stroke.

Zoomers :

Among the benefits of using Zoomers is to improve ankle flexibility. As the use of fins may require you to exert extra force to kick, you will gradually improve the flutter kick when you have better angles of kicking attack on the water. Besides, you can hold a better body position by using the Zoomers. When you have a good position in the water, you can focus on other techniques such as the timing and body roll. No doubt, fins are one amazing workout kit to improve on your swimming.

Zoomers are a unique swim fin that utilize patented short-fin technology to promote a shorter, faster kick. They are designed to provide the ideal amount of propulsion for perfecting the swimming kick and stroke, allowing for better form over longer periods of time. Because they have a smaller blade than traditional fins, Zoomers make the legs work harder without overloading the muscles. They help you avoid burnout and sustain an optimum workout level over a longer period.

Zoomers fins allow you to practice swimming at or above race-level speeds without being rested or shaved. For each speed in the water, there is a size of the kick that works best. The kick creates propulsion that moves you forward, but each time the legs separate in the flutter kick, they create drag which slows you down. At higher speeds, the drag created can potentially cancel out the extra effort put in. A smaller kick creates less drag, but also less propulsion. Zoomers are designed to help practice and perfect this smaller kick by providing just enough extra propulsion while avoiding additional drag.

Breaking the 40 minute barrier, 1 mile swim

Been swimming the mile on a regular basis (6 months, once a week) at about 75% effort level. 64 laps normally takes me about 42 to 43 minutes non stop.

On Sep 14th, 2010 i finally swam the 64 laps in 39:48 which felt awesome. However, in reality i'm still a below average swimmer and have a long way to go. Followed instructions from Shailesh ( swim coach) and Lisa( pro swimmer and tri partner). The key was to start breathing every 4 strokes which leads to better aero dynamics of the body. I started swimming at 4,2,2,4,4 strokes and that started making the difference.

I have slowly moved my swim effort from being 45 minutes in the pool to 60 minutes. Thats a huge jump and i swim about 2.3 km each time, about 92 laps. This is the basic benchmark required to get into training for an ironman.

Bike 101, baby learning steps, long way to go

Went for about 1 hour 45 minutes bike ride today. Slow and easy and Prashant was there to teach me on how to ride more efficiently.

1. On the racer bike keep your elbows relaxed and slight bent. I was riding with the elbows tight and straight. Every bump in the road use to send a shock through my shoulder. Over a long distance this can hurt.

2. Your hand should be on top of the bar for tri riding on a racer bike. Thats a more relaxed position. While racing, get to the bottom bar of your bike and in that position your more aero dynamic. This is possible for short durations and trying to over take a rider. By moving your hands to the bottom handle, you automatically lower yourself by 6 inches.

3. Left hand brakes and gears are for the front of the bike. The scott bike has Shimano gears and two front gears. One is the easy gear for climbing and the second is the hard one. What i didn't realize is that within each gears there are subtle shifts which move the bike from the lowest position in 1st gear for tough climbs to probably two other positions in the first gear. During my normal riding on flat surfaces, i should be riding on probably gear 1 in the second or third position. Not to ride on the 2nd gear as that is for racing and going downhill. In the second gear, the chain moves to the upper front ring. Clearly visible to the naked eye and you can feel the power. Probably at 30 km/h speed you need this gear.

3. Position of the thighs and knees while riding. Need to have them close to the bar and straight. I was riding incorrectly with my thighs opening up during the ride. I was riding v shaped, which is wrong.

4. Moved by riding seat up by half an inch. More aero dynamic. Also i have to buy the quick release for seat adjustment.

5. Hitting speed breakers. Don't slow down. Just raise your butt off the seat and stop pedaling when you just about hit the speed breaker. The following benefits happen. Your speed does not drop radically and your butt is safe. Makes a big difference over 50k rides.

6. Right gear for back wheel works with two finger push for a easier gear and single push for a harder gear. As i ride, i should be adjusting basically the back gears on flat surfaces and leave the front gear in a semi easy position as explained above. The Scott bike has 9 back gears with number 9 being the easiest (one close to the wheel) and then each gear becomes harder with the toughest gear being one which is the gear furtherest from the wheel.

7. Helmet has 2 straps for either side of the face. Always ensure that one strap should be behind the each ear for the correct fit. The bottom of the strap should have one or two finger gap to prevent the strap from being very tight.

8. Gear changing should happen before the change in gradient happens. This way if a climb happens, you have already moved to an easier gear and your cadence continues to remain the same with almost the same effort.

9. While climbing, move to the lowest gear within the 1st gear as the climb gets very steep.

10. Buy the cadence meter, Shimano shoes and the clip on pedals.

11. Remove the heavy lock chain while doing 50k plus. Don't add weight. Also keep cell phone in zip lock.

100 k Bike, its real tough.

27th june, 2010

Time: 4:30 am, Mumbai

My aim was to try and bike 100k and hope no rain would come. So far, i have biked only 42k in slightly over 2 hours. This is a real jump to even attempt 100k and im probably the worst biker there is.

My bike experience started in Jan 2010 when i bought a scott racer bike with the intention of doing an ironman some day. Every week, i normally bike 20k and have fun. Really thats a no go.

At 4:30 am i started biking with my Garmin strapped to my bike and 3 gels in the back seat. I estimated that the bike would take about a little over 4 hours. I must be a little mad to attempt 100k as there is no real base to do this and also my experience with bike gears is very low. Im basically a runner trying to do a tria.

The first 2 hours were okay. I went out at 24 km/h for the first hour, then 22 km/h for the second. Then my butt started hurting and slowly the pain started moving towards the quads. Fatigue was setting in fast. Beyond 3.5 hours, i was just biking on will power. It was also boring going up and down Marine Drive and Worli Sea Face in Mumbai. What set out to be a 4 hour plus bike ride landed up to be 5 hours and 9 minutes at a pace of 19.6 km/h. Not good enough. That too i was on the bike almost all the time!!! Maybe 2 to 3 minutes off it for food and when by body hurt real bad.

I have to learn how to increase my pace on the bike, stave off fatigue and hydrate better. Did not carry enough food for the ride. The primary reason is that i thought biking was easy and i would be easily be able to handle this.

Lesson learnt:

Biking is very tough and like any sport, a lot of research i have to do on how to get my speed up.

Use a gel seat cover. I can yet feel the contours of my bike seat on my butt.

How on earth can anyone bike 180k and then run 42k? Going by my first 100k bike ride, it would take me between 9 and 10 hours to do the 180k. If that is the case, then i will not make the ironman cut off of 17 hours.

Time:	05:09:27
Distance:	100.00 km
Elevation Gain:	205 m
Calories:	3,560 C

Timing

Time:	05:09:27
Moving Time:	05:05:51
Elapsed Time:	05:09:27

Avg Speed:	19.4 km/h
Avg Moving Speed:	19.6 km/h
Max Speed:	39.6 km/h

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	205 m
Elevation Loss:	213 m
Min Elevation:	-3 m
Max Elevation:	45 m

1 km Swim Trial

Swam this morning 40 laps (1km) as fast as i could. Took me 24 minutes 15 seconds. This is a bench mark to start improving your timing with more effective modes of training. Lets see how this goes.

Swimming 3.9 k, the ironman distance

Tuesday, 22nd June 2010 :

I have been swimming a mile every week which is 64 laps in a pool. On 20th April 2010 i swam 2km quite easily and did 80 laps in 61 minutes. On 18th June 2010, swam 2.5 km which is 100 laps. Did that in 69 minutes.

My next jump was to swim 3.9 km, which is the ironman distance. To do this, there is a cut off off 2 hours 20 minutes. Was i cable of making this cut off and did i have the endurance. 22 days after comrades, i attempted the swim at Willingdon club at 6 am. Not sure how my body would respond as my legs were shot out due to Comrades run on 31st May 2010. Swam easy and followed the basic nutrition of having my pre race meal at 4am and a banana just before the swim. Swam easy and every 5th lap, i went hard. The other 4 laps were easy pace. That creates a variation and helps me stay focused. The key to swimming is also use an underwater mp3 player which i swear by. Called Finnis, its awesome.

I am probably an average or below average swimmer with no formal training. I swam the 3.9k in 1 hour 49 minutes. This is 31 minutes faster than the cut off for ironman. Not bad, at least i got this part solved.

Now i need to research how to swim more efficiently and that will help bring my time down.

Comrades, did i finish it?

Map of Comrades (89.2k in the hills)

At 33k, my first cramp hit me in the hamstring. The horror is that it just suddenly comes. Your feeling good at one point and next second your hamstring starts hurting. I knew that was trouble straight away and did not mention this to Danny who i trained with. From 33k to 43k i struggled and ran with pain which is fine. I kept slowing the pace and made Danny walk more than he should have. It reached a stage where i just stopped and told Danny to go. I was honest and told him that its a tough road ahead for me. Even at this stage i could not run 50 mtrs at a stretch.

Danny left reluctantly and then i tried to figure out what went wrong. My body just had no energy. Never had i experienced such extreme fatigue and it felt as if i my legs had deserted me. My glycogen levels were gone. How is that possible when i had taken my gels, gatorade and carb booms. Even worse, i started feeling giddy in the head. There seem to be no oxygen coming through. I felt like going to sleep. For the next 30k, i just drifted in and out of the race. My strategy was to walk 10 steps and then run 10 steps. I found this almost impossible to do. I knew i was in trouble and realized that there was less than a 10% chance of finishing. You cannot finish comrades by walking and running a bit for several hours which i must have done. I had accepted the fact that i would not finish but still i would fight till they took me off the course. Runners were passing my in the hundreds and then in the thousands. For nearly 3 hours, i barely went pass anyone. It was bizarre. I had tanked and how. Never had this happened to me in training. The key was to give it my best shot to finish. If i didn't, thats fine. No shame lost here. For me its about staying ultra fit and having a very clean diet. If i didn't finish comrades, i would be back.

I was just in pain from 33k onwards. I had to run 56k more in really impossible conditions. My brain was blank. My mind gone. Glycogen gone. Cramps all over. I had run three ultras in training of 56k, 56k and 65k. Never had i even gone through 15% of the suffering which i faced now. All the ultra training was done in similar altitude and conditions. I guess it was just not my day.

I eventually finished in 11 hours and 51 minutes. No clue how. A lot of luck i guess and my will to do it. I had pictured a hundred times running into the stadium and finishing. I guess that helped me through. After going through trouble from 33k, it was remarkable that i finished. At some point in the race, i would take a 11:59:59 finish. :) It was great to see my family as i ran into the stadium. They were my fans.

Reflection :

This is a really tough race and i have the utmost respect for those who even attempt to run it. I met hundreds of veteran comrades runners from all parts of the world and they all concur that this is the toughest ultra under 100k in the world. I only now understand what they mean after running it.

Maybe some day i will return. I know i can do a sub 11 hour. But this is comrades. You may never ending up finishing. Each year about 20% don't finish. Thats what makes this race special.

A big thanks to Rujuta Diwekar whose nutrition guidance is spot on and helped me lean out and hence even dream of attempting to do comrades. Make no mistake that nutrition is key. Had i had my day, the results would be .....:) A big thanks to all my running buddies whose support pushed me on.

My Expectation :

Going into Comrades i expected to finish the race under 11 hours. This was based not on wishful thinking, but purely on my training times. Mumbai marathon Jan 2010 was done in 4 hours 10 minutes and then given below are my key runs.

42k ( 7th Feb, 4 hours 25 min, pace 6:19 per k),

56k (28th Feb, 6 hours 10 mins, pace 6:36 per k),

56k (21st March, 6 hours 16 min, pace 6:43 per k),

42 k April 11th, 2010 ( 4 hours 30 minutes, pace 6:26 per k)

May 2nd 2010, 65k in 7 hours 37 minutes, pace 7:03 per k.

Most of the above runs were done with hardly any cramping and i felt good after the last 65k run.

My finish results.

Year

Pos

Race No

First Name

Last Name

Gun Time

Category

Cat Pos

Gender

Gen Pos

Medal

Status

2010

13522

38875

Dalal

Sanjay

11:51:36

Ages 40 - 49

3688

Male

10558

Vic Clapham

Finished

My garmin had stopped working during the race but little did i know it captured the info. The screen was blank. The finish time was a 11:51 so i guess the watch was on for a while after the finish.

Time:	12:05:36
Distance:	90.82 km
Elevation Gain:	1,165 m
Calories:	6,053 C

Timing

Time:	12:05:36
Moving Time:	11:34:32
Elapsed Time:	12:05:38

Avg Pace:	07:59 min/km
Avg Moving Pace:	07:38 min/km
Best Pace:	04:09 min/km

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	1,165 m
Elevation Loss:	1,816 m
Min Elevation:	7 m
Max Elevation:	825 m

Laps 91

View Splits

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 12:05:36 90.82 07:59 1 00:11:55 1.00 11:55 2 00:07:42 1.00 07:42 3 00:07:11 1.00 07:11 4 00:07:25 1.00 07:25 5 00:08:17 1.00 08:17 6 00:07:29 1.00 07:29 7 00:07:22 1.00 07:22 8 00:07:01 1.00 07:01 9 00:07:28 1.00 07:28 10 00:07:14 1.00 07:14 11 00:06:53 1.00 06:53 12 00:08:00 1.00 08:00 13 00:06:49 1.00 06:49 14 00:07:02 1.00 07:02 15 00:07:46 1.00 07:46 16 00:07:27 1.00 07:27 17 00:07:11 1.00 07:11 18 00:08:11 1.00 08:11 19 00:07:02 1.00 07:02 20 00:07:05 1.00 07:05 21 00:06:48 1.00 06:48 22 00:06:42 1.00 06:42 23 00:06:43 1.00 06:43 24 00:07:00 1.00 07:00 25 00:06:45 1.00 06:45 26 00:06:45 1.00 06:45 27 00:07:00 1.00 07:00 28 00:07:16 1.00 07:16 29 00:06:55 1.00 06:55 30 00:06:58 1.00 06:58 31 00:07:22 1.00 07:22 32 00:07:35 1.00 07:35 33 00:07:19 1.00 07:19 34 00:07:34 1.00 07:34 35 00:07:20 1.00 07:20 36 00:07:47 1.00 07:47 37 00:07:15 1.00 07:15 38 00:07:16 1.00 07:16 39 00:07:49 1.00 07:49 40 00:07:02 1.00 07:02 41 00:08:34 1.00 08:34 42 00:08:05 1.00 08:05 43 00:08:35 1.00 08:35 44 00:07:22 1.00 07:22 45 00:06:59 1.00 06:59 46 00:08:33 1.00 08:33 47 00:09:30 1.00 09:30 48 00:08:56 1.00 08:56 49 00:09:59 1.00 09:59 50 00:08:16 1.00 08:16 51 00:08:59 1.00 08:59 52 00:07:56 1.00 07:56 53 00:09:00 1.00 09:00 54 00:07:57 1.00 07:57 55 00:07:26 1.00 07:26 56 00:10:21 1.00 10:21 57 00:09:13 1.00 09:13 58 00:08:24 1.00 08:24 59 00:08:21 1.00 08:21 60 00:08:21 1.00 08:21 61 00:08:26 1.00 08:26 62 00:08:40 1.00 08:40 63 00:07:39 1.00 07:39 64 00:08:39 1.00 08:39 65 00:07:24 1.00 07:24 66 00:07:07 1.00 07:07 67 00:06:54 1.00 06:54 68 00:07:05 1.00 07:05 69 00:07:21 1.00 07:21 70 00:08:26 1.00 08:26 71 00:07:49 1.00 07:49 72 00:07:30 1.00 07:30 73 00:10:03 1.00 10:03 74 00:07:55 1.00 07:55 75 00:06:54 1.00 06:54 76 00:08:20 1.00 08:20 77 00:08:25 1.00 08:25 78 00:07:01 1.00 07:01 79 00:07:48 1.00 07:48 80 00:07:07 1.00 07:07 81 00:07:27 1.00 07:27 82 00:08:25 1.00 08:25 83 00:08:38 1.00 08:38 84 00:07:40 1.00 07:40 85 00:08:43 1.00 08:43 86 00:09:05 1.00 09:05 87 00:08:20 1.00 08:20 88 00:08:06 1.00 08:06 89 00:07:43 1.00 07:43 90 00:08:32 1.00 08:32 91 00:19:12 0.82 20:00