Triathlete Magazine Swimsuit Shoot!

National Triathlon Training Camp

What to be part of a team, get the swag and get discounts off merchandise, well then NTTC might be a good place to start.

About the NTTC

Founded in November of 1982 by triathletes Mark Wendley and Tom Peters, the National Triathlon Training Camp (NTTC) held the world’s first triathlon camp in Malibu, California in May of 1983. From 1986 to 1994, the NTTC also ran the sport’s most successful racing team, recording over 190 wins and 650 top-10 finishes in triathlons worldwide.

In 2006, after an 11-year hiatus, NTTC returned with a new business plan, a new Title Sponsor, and a hunger to regain our spot at the pinnacle of triathlon. Team Sport Beans/NTTC is being led by a new group of world-class and up-and-coming pros, who have already won 28 triathlons and notched 72 top-10 finishes since 2006. Our pros also work on staff at our triathlon camps and clinics. The team is open to everyone! When you join, you’ll get lots of freebies plus member discounts on NTTC camps, clinics, tours, team apparel and equipment, and much more! We’ve also added the most affordable, fully-customized online triathlon coaching available. Please check out all our programs and enjoy your stay at the NTTC web site. WELCOME!

Mark Wendley
Director, NTTC

For $45 you can be a member of the team and get all this:

• An official Team Sport Beans/NTTC T-shirt. For 2008, the shirts are made of Coolmax® Extreme, high-performance fabric with fresh FX. Coolmax® fabric, through its superior moisture management properties, is proven to reduce skin temperature and lower heart rate during exercise, while maintaining better hydration. It dries 4x faster than cotton, and the “fresh FX” keeps the shirt smelling fresh, even after workouts. These custom, Jersey-knit team T-shirts have big colorful logos and have a retail value over $37 each.
• Free samples of Sport Beans® from the Jelly Belly Candy Company. You'll get 12 1-oz. bags with your initial registration packet - 2 bags each of Lemon Lime, Orange, Berry Blue, and Fruit Punch, as well as 2 bags each of the new Sport Beans® Extreme Watermelon and Cherry.
• An official Team Sport Beans/NTTC Run Singlet (see Men's or Women's) from Champion System, with a retail value of $32.
• An official Team Sport Beans/NTTC Cycling Cap from Champion System.
• A Jelly Belly® baseball hat and Sport Beans® Water Bottle.
• · A pair of Coolmax® XtraLife athletic socks.
• A subscription to both the electronic and printed Team Sport Beans/NTTC newsletters, which are full of team information, workout and racing tips from our pros, member athlete profiles, team results, and other exciting features.
• An official Team Sport Beans/NTTC swim cap from TYR.
• Your name and hometown included on the Club Team Roster on the NTTC web site.
• Your race results posted on the Club Team Results page of the NTTC web site.
• Discounts on attending NTTC camps, clinics, and tours.
• You’ll be eligible to register for NTTC Online Training, which is only available for team members.
• 15% discount on all purchases from the NTTC Sportshop. Our online sportshop features a full line of Team Sport Beans/NTTC apparel and equipment, as well as Jelly Belly’s Sport Beans® .
• Best of all, you will be part of one the sport’s top teams! NTTC returned in 2006 after an 11-year hiatus. Building on the over 190 wins and 650 top-10 finishes our pros recorded in the late 80s and early 90s, our 2006 team won 10 triathlons and our 2007 team won 18 tris! Over the next two years, Team Sport Beans/NTTC will become one of the top teams in the world. And, we want you to be part of all the fun and excitement of our rise to the top!

Always Competing

Competing in triathlons is fun, but what or how do you keep that competitive spirit when you are training. One way is on the day that you are to go hard do just that, and to make it special, find others out on the road and catch them. If you see someone 100, 200, 1/2 mile ahead of you, go for it. Can you catch them, can you pass them, can you sustain that level for you full ride or run. If you are ridding with a group then play rabbit, each one leaves at 2-3 min intervals, the leader of course tries to hold of the group and the rest (tri's) to catch, pass the rest.
These types of workouts help that competitive spirit and also help improve/surpass level periods in training.
Chee

Fun Times, Simulated Triathlon Training

Clif Bar Triathlon Training, is a great spoof on what a triathlon start is like. You get punched, kicked, scratched, pushed, grabbed and basically drowned, but if you make it through the first hundred yards or so things tend to settle down. Now this is a spoof but in all reality if you have the access to a couple friends an open pool or body of water, practice starts. Have your friends hold you, grab, punch, kick, hit and push you, I am sure that you friends will have no problem helping out on this request. In the end you will be better faster and prepared at the start.
Cheers, hey its summer get outside!

Changing it up: Learn how to swim butterfly

The hardest thing to do over a 16 week training schedule is to break it up! Swimming free the whole time can cause stress on the joints and even wear you out. Learning to swim different strokes can make training fun again! Swimming the Butterfly or "fly" is tough, but once mastered you are stronger and more flexible then when you started.
"Butterfly is a difficult stroke to swim as it needs both stamina and style.
The movements you need to make, however, are not difficult because you will have done many of them before in other strokes.

Under and over with the arms
1) Both of your arms work at the same time and keep moving throughout the stroke.
2) Put your hands in the water in front of your shoulders and push towards your feet.
3)When your hands reach your thighs, lift them out of the water and throw them back to the start.

Sounds easy doesn't it?

Well, it can be if you make sure that you are pushing hard as your hands reach your thighs.
This will help them to fly out of the water.

Look forward to breathe
1) You need to keep your head in the water all of the time, except when you need to breathe in.
2) If you lift your head up at other times it will be almost impossible to get your arms over the water.
3) The easiest way to breathe in is to push your chin forwards so that your mouth comes out of the water. It is best to do this when your arms are almost at your thighs.

Getting the order right.
If you do not do everything in the right order your stroke will have no style. Try this:
• Kick your legs down as your hands go in
• Kick your legs down as your hands come out
• Head down when arms go over the water
• Keep head down until arms are near thighs
• Breathe in quickly
• Remember to try to improve one bit at a time.

Once you think you have done all of these things spend a few sessions practicing them and then have a look at intermediate butterfly."
Check it out! BBC Sports

Freestyle Drills to Improve Swimming Technique

image from www.ironmanbaja.com
Here is a list of Drills that one can do, thanks to: Mat Luedders, from About.com
Swimming drills are specific movements, done repetitively, to get your technique "in the groove." They can help you get more efficient and they can help you become a faster swimmer. Generally included in all workouts, most coaches feel that you can never do enough technique work. You should include some in your workouts, too.
• Catch-up: to isolate one arm, to practice a long stroke and a long body position.
Swum like regular freestyle, except one arm is stationary, always extended forward (front arm), pointing towards the destination, while the other arm performs the stroke (working arm).
When the working arm moves forward and "catches-up" with the stationary arm, they change places.
• 3/4 Catch-up: Just like full catch-up, except the stationary (front) arm begins to work or move before the other arm fully "catches-up" - it begins to move after the working arm is about 3/4 of the way through a full arm motion.
• Catch-up with a board: Just like regular catch-up, only your front hand is holding a kick board.
As the arms trade places, they hand off the board to each other.
You can substitute a pencil - or anything else that won't make you sink.
• Fingertip Drag: to promote a high elbow recovery and to make you aware of your hand position during recovery.
Swum like regular freestyle, except your fingertips never leave the water as your arm moves forward during the stroke recovery.
You drag your fingers forward through the water, slightly off to the side of your body, focusing on good body roll and keeping your elbows pointed up.
Change how much of your hand stays in the water: fingertips, hand, wrist, even your whole forearm.
• 10/10 (simple): to promote good body roll and head alignment (when you add breathing - see the next drill). This looks like regular freestyle in very slow-motion.
• One arm is extended forward, pointing towards your destination (front hand).
The other is backwards, pointing towards where you just left (back hand), with the arm resting against the edge of your body.
• You should be on your side, with the back hand side of your body up, the front hand side of your body down (towards the bottom of the pool).
• Your ear should be against your front hand shoulder, chin in line with your chest, eyes sideways (or even up a bit), mouth out of the water (so you can breath).
• Take 10 kicks, then stroke, so that your body rolls and your hands switch places.
• The front hand takes a stroke underwater and finishes against your side, becoming the back hand.
• The back hand recovers over the surface of the water, becoming the front hand.
• Your head switches, rotating with your body (rolling down into the water and then up on the other side), and you continue, taking 10 more kicks, then everything switching again.
• When you have this drill figured out, move onto the next step, adding breathing (see the next drill).
• Fist: to promote "feel" for the water. Swum like regular freestyle, except you hold either one or both of your hands in a fist.
• Vary the pattern and the number of strokes that you are "fisted."
• When you unclench your hand, you should notice a difference in pressure on your hand - use this feeling to keep your hand holding water as you move through your pull pattern.
• When you are clenched, you should also try to press on the water with the inside (palm side) of your forearm - think of the lower arm, from elbow to wrist, as an extension of your hand. And don't forget body roll!
One-arm: to focus on one arm at a time.
• Swum like regular freestyle, except only one arm is moving.
• The other arm is stationary, either forward (front hand) or backwards, against your side (back hand).
• The moving hand takes a series of strokes, each arm performing a set number of pulls before they switch roles.
• Practice this drill with the stationary arm in both positions.
• When your stationary arm is on your side, breath towards that side (away from the moving arm).
• When your stationary arm is forward, breath away from it (towards the arm doing the work).
• Again, time the breathing so that as your body rolls, your head rolls with it for a breath, then your head should return to its forward alignment.

That's it, Think Tri!

Triathlon, Swim Coaching - Catch up drill

Well we all want to improve our technique wether in the water, bike or run. I have found that YouTube has some very good short videos of various types of triathlon training videos. This one is swim - Catch up drill:
Catch-up: to isolate one arm, to practice a long stroke and a long body position.
Swum like regular freestyle, except one arm is stationary, always extended forward (front arm), pointing towards the destination, while the other arm performs the stroke (working arm).
When the working arm moves forward and "catches-up" with the stationary arm, they change places.

Train Smarter!