Coconut Oil for Runners!

From Runners World

4 benefits of coconut oil for runners:

Quick energy

Our body metabolizes medium-chain fatty acids differently than long chain. Medium-chain fatty acids get metabolized in the liver and then quickly converted to energy from our cells allowing us to use the fat immediately for fuel rather than depositing it into fat tissues, as we do with long-chain fatty acids. That fact alone should be enough reason to add coconut oil into your prerun eats.

Antioxidant booster

Coconut oil also has a high polyphenol content—antioxidants that protect the body from stress and disease. And running just happens to put a tremendous amount of stress on your body, weakening your immune system. Having this extra boost of antioxidants offers great protective benefits.

Satiety

Fats digest more slowly than carbohydrates, helping you feel fuller for longer. For weight loss and weight maintenance this is quite beneficial, helping you feel both satisfied and full for a longer time after a meal and helping to prevent overeating.

For running, it will also help push your endurance thanks to its ability to boost energy metabolism during both high and medium intensity runs. Consider including a tablespoon into your pre long-run meal.

Skincare solution    

Coconut oil is as good for your skin as it is for your diet. Feel free to use it as a remedy for dry, chapped lips and skin and for chafed skin from long runs. Plus, you can use it as a hair conditioner to nourish your scalp and get rid of dandruff and even rub it on your belly to prevent stretch marks during pregnancy.

Like other healthy fats and oils, coconut oil is a “good fat” but should still be eaten in moderation. Include it into your diet in small proportionate amounts, such as around 1 tablespoon in a meal, not exceeding more than 2-3 tablespoons per day (depending on your personal dietary and caloric needs).

Try substituting it for other oils in cooking and baking, in place of butter on your toast, or stirred into your pre-run oatmeal. You can also get coconut “mana” or butter, which offers the same benefits and is very tasty spread on toast or on a date before a run!

20 min Tri Workout!

20 min, for a tri workout I am a little skeptical, but all should at least give this a tri.
From Triathlon

To most non-athletes, 20 minutes of exercise seems like an eternity. But to endurance athletes in marathon training or triathlon training, a 20-minute workout may seem like it’s hardly worth the bother. After all, if your average workout lasts an hour, what can a 20-minute session possibly do to increase your fitness? Quite a lot, actually—even for the fittest endurance athlete. Consider these four benefits:

1. 20-minute workouts burn a meaningful amount of calories and, thereby, help you reach and maintain your optimal racing weight. For example, a 150-lb. runner burns approximately 280 calories in a moderate-intensity 20-minute run. If you normally miss a scheduled longer run roughly once every 10 days due to lack of time, you could burn an extra 10,000 calories over the course of a year by squeezing in 20-minute runs instead.

2. 20-minute workouts provide extra repetitions of the running stride, swim stroke, or pedal stroke that stimulate improvements in efficiency. A big part of what makes you a better, more efficient swimmer, runner, or cyclist is simply time spent practicing the movement. So, even short workouts count as additional movement practice.

3. 20-minute workouts can increase endurance by adding to total weekly glycogen turnover. An interesting Scottish study found that weekly training volume was a better predictor of marathon performance than the distance of the longest training run. In other words, the study suggested that marathon runners are better off running 50 miles a week with a maximum long run of 16 miles than running 40 miles a week with a maximum long run of 22 miles. The reason is that endurance improves through the repeated depletion of muscle glycogen stores in training. And a heavy week of training will result in more total muscle glycogen depletion, and thus build more endurance, than a lighter week. 20-minute workouts can add a meaningful amount of glycogen-depleting volume to your training week.

4. 20-minute workouts can produce an excellent high-intensity training stimulus. A little swimming, cycling, or running at anaerobic threshold intensity and above goes a long way. Twenty minutes is plenty of time to get all the high-intensity work you need to take your fitness up a notch.

There are basically two ways to incorporate 20-minute workouts into your marathon training, triathlon training, or any other endurance sport training. One is to do a 20-minute workout instead of taking a day off whenever you are too pressed for time to complete a longer workout. The other way is to add one or more 20-minute workouts to your weekly training schedule to increase your overall training volume without creating a significant risk of overtraining.

20-Minute Workouts

The Filler – Simply swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 20 minutes. This is a great workout to do when you want to avoid the guilt of doing nothing but you’re not mentally or physically ready for anything challenging.

Tabata Intervals – Swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 16 minutes, then complete 8 x 20-second all-out sprints with 10-second passive recoveries between sprints.

Fartlek Intervals – Sprinkle 5 to 10 fast 30-second efforts throughout an otherwise moderate, steady-pace workout.

Threshold Session – Warm up for five minutes at a comfortable tempo, then go for 15 minutes at anaerobic threshold intensity (the fastest pace you could hold for one hour in a race).

Progression Workout – Swim, ride, or run for 15 minutes at a steady, moderate pace, then blast the last five minutes.

Time Trial – Swimming: Warm up, then swim 800 meters (875 yards) as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes. Cycling: Warm up, then ride 5 km as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes. Running: Warm up, then run 1 mile as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes.

Read more at http://triathlon.competitor.com/2015/03/training/20-minute-workouts_24024#tZUpl6TUFMVmy5G7.99

Long Winter Season, Treadmill Speed Work!

From Triathlete.com

Coach Brett Sutton, is amazing, spending many months on the treadmill will make you crazy, batty or just board. You need to shack it up, but what to do, Crossfit Endurance, yea that works, for shoter distances and give you a heck of a speed workout. The book Unbreakable Runner has a great 8 week, 5k plan. Coach Sutton has this workout that well is amazing, try it to change things up.

The Staple Treadmill Session

Jan and I spent a season and a half getting it right, which has become a staple for my squad ever since. Jan was from the old school of non-drafting triathletes—a good swimmer, super biker and a runner who would just get home with whatever he could. However, he wanted to go to the Olympics (a drafting event which heavily bias the faster runners), so we had to try something radical. Cue the treadmill.

We tried all sorts of distances, gradients and workouts trying to find a combination that would develop not just his aerobic function, but stimulate his turnover and build muscle strength to give him the drive forward that as a “natural” runner he just didn’t have.

The session we found that activated all three in a way that the body could adapt to without injury was this:

2x[30 seconds at 2%, then 30 seconds rest]
2x[30 seconds at 4%, then 30 seconds rest]
2x[30 seconds at 0%, then 30 seconds rest]
Run six times with an extra 30 seconds rest between each set of six intervals.
Speed was at race pace for the entire workout.
This short rest model helped with keeping condition and the aerobic function was maintained through the six repetitions.

Any less than six sets and the aerobic component would be compromised, any more and you lose the neuromuscular advantage as the body gets too tired to hold the required speed. Similarly, any more than 4 percent and we lost the advantage of being able to hold the gradient at race pace losing the strength or muscle adaptation we were looking for.

That set is the diet of every run-challenged athlete that walks into my door and wants to improve—pro or age group. As mentioned, it was completed two days ago by the current Olympic champion, just as it was done yesterday by two of my age group athletes. The only difference was a 5K an hour drop in speed.

Read more at:

The Perfect Running Interval - Triathlete.com

High-intensity interval sessions are key for boosting fitness. Here’s how to work them into your training.

While endurance buffs often revel in long, slow runs, any good training regimen will also include some high-intensity sessions. This often comes in the form of interval training, which can create significant jumps in fitness. “Ultimately, as endurance athletes, we want to be able to sustain as fast a speed as possible over the duration of our events,” says Krista A. Schultz, an exercise physiologist and triathlon coach for Endurance Works in Boulder, Colo. “Proper training including workouts aimed at increasing speed will improve one’s lactate threshold (LT), the point at which lactate is produced at such a rapid rate it cannot be cleared. The benefit of interval training is that it helps us increase our LT.”

New research offers insight into the ideal length of the intervals themselves, as well as how to best recover. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic pulled together 37 separate studies on interval training and VO2max to get a clearer picture of what scientists collectively know about interval training. They identified 3–5-minute intervals as being the most effective.

Another recent study out of Great Britain examined the recovery piece. While some coaches favor complete rest between intervals, this research revealed that active recovery was more effective in clearing metabolites from the muscles. This, in turn, allows athletes to recover faster between high-intensity bouts when they keep moving, which also likely leads to better performance during those subsequent intervals. “Running easy or jogging between intervals will help clear lactic acid quicker because it is being reused as fuel at a faster rate when you’re moving around,” Schultz says.

The next time you’re headed to the track or trail for some high-intensity training, consider the following workouts. Start with workout 1 before graduating to 2 and 3. Keep in mind that intervals should not be performed all-out. This means that it should feel difficult, but you shouldn’t be sprinting. The point of these workouts is to be able to do multiple intervals, not crash and burn after the first couple.

RELATED: Interval Workouts To Try On The Track

Interval Workout 1
– Warm up 10 min
– 5×3 min at 5K pace
– Jog easy for 3 min between each
– Cool down 10 min

Interval Workout 2
– Warm up 10 min
– 4×4 min at 5K pace
– Jog easy for 2 min between each
– Cool down 10 min

Interval Workout 3
– Warm up 10 min
– 4×5 min at 5K pace
– Jog easy 2:30 between each
– Cool down 10 min

Read more at 

50 Mile Mountain Bike Race, Bearscat 50

$65 this is a great deal for 5+ hours of racing, get the season started off right!
Black Bear Cycling
The Bearscat 50 presented by Black Bear Cycling is returning for its fifth year in 2015.
The race will have a Field Limit of 300 Riders. The Field limit is due to an agreement with the Park and not because we only want 300 riders. If it were up to us we would open it to anyone that is willing to take on the terrain of the park and suffer for the day.
No Annual USAC License Required.
The race will be held on Sunday, June 7, 2015 and will consist of 2 x 25 mile laps for a total of 50 miles of mixed singletrack, double track and fire roads covering some of the best riding in Northern New Jersey. Many have seen a small portion of the park in our annual Wawayanda Spring Cleaning race held every May. You can take in that race in May 2015 also to get a preview of some of the trails you will be seeing but for this race you will see a whole lot more of the park.
Camping available
For 2015 this will be free of charge at the Park's group campsite. This is primitive camping. Tents only, No RVs.
Course
The 2015 Course is similar to 2013. If other options become available and it would make the race better we will entertain those options. Course may be altered from original plan in the event of weather or other uncontrollable conditions. Map
Registration
Entry Fee includes race fee, event specific item, post event food. Registration opened January 19th 2015. BikeReg.com
Pre-registration only.
There will be NO RACE DAY REGISTRATION. NO REFUNDS. If you sign up in January and then decide in June you haven't done your off season training it will be up to you to sell your spot and notify us of the change. There will be a fee of $10 to transfer entries.
Black Bear Cycling

Racing Enduro, Are You In Shape

Great Article by TrainingPeaks.

In 2014, enduro racing established itself as the newest and most exciting form of mountain biking yet. The Enduro World Series attracted professional riders from the cross country, downhill and cyclocross worlds to compete alongside established enduro racers in seven races stretching across the globe. Here, we look at what the pro’s are doing in training, how it applies to racing, and what aspiring enduro racers can do it improve in 2015.

Enduro combines the skill and technique of downhill, powerful sprinting normally seen in the velodrome, and amazing endurance matching the top cross country racers. The athletes at the top of the sport in 2014 are some of the most dedicated and hardest working professionals in cycling, and their success isn’t an accident. It’s no surprise that Stages Cycling, a power meter manufacturer, is a sponsor of World Champion Jared Graves. Graves trains scientifically to ensure his training is appropriate to racing, and it can be measured and repeated. In a discipline where intervals are often short and fast, a power meter is much more useful than heart rate to measure your efforts.

Starting training in January is the only way to be in top form come May. Building your fitness gradually will prevent injury and give you plenty of time to enjoy riding trails in between training. In terms of fitness, there are three areas you need to focus on:

1. Endurance

Graves won the EWS in 2014 after a training period that involved winning Elite XC races in Australia against some fierce competition. To compete at the top, pros are training longer and harder than before. The Whistler round of the EWS took in over 7,500 feet (2300 metres) of climbing in between an hour of brutal timed descents. In order to have the fitness to compete over a full weekend of racing, base miles are a painful necessity. The easiest way to get that fitness is to jump on your XC bike: even 3-­4 hours a week of steady, uninterrupted riding each week will increase your aerobic fitness. For those not lucky enough to have dry trails in winter, don’t be afraid of the road bike. Motivate to ride now and you’ll be thankful in the middle of a transfer stage this summer. Getting fitter means you’re free to concentrate on racing during the race, rather than making the cut ­off time.

2. Speed

Timed stages in enduro vary from 5 to 20 minutes long. Unlike just riding your local trails, winning an enduro means sprinting out of every corner for 20 minutes straight. This requires the starting power of a BMX rider, and the ability to keep riding smoothly when your heart is beating at warp speed. Combining interval sessions into your week is the easiest way to gain that fitness. The dreaded 30/30s are the session of choice for the enduro racer. Find a gentle incline and get used to sprinting all out for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds of rest. Each timed descent in an enduro starts with a standing start ­so getting up to speed is critical. Practice standing starts in training is essential. Find a section of trail with lots of visibility, and practice your standing starts down the trail, just watch out for other users!

3. Strength

How many push ups can you do? Racing a 20 minute enduro stage is like doing push ups for 20 minutes, while trying to keep your bike on the trail and your legs turning too. Strength training during the spring will give huge returns in the summer. Put a core workout into your training plan: sprinting out of the saddle is only efficient if you can hold that position for the whole race. Planks, burpees and crunches can be done in front of the TV in 20 minutes. Time well spent. Try building up your number of push ups each week, and hit the gym for some weights too. High weight, low repetition lifts are the best way to build power. Be sure you get some instruction if you've never stepped beyond the treadmills before.

Succeeding at enduro is about so much more than bike handling skills. Following a training plan will allow you to enjoy each race without worrying about getting back to the top of the hill. Training starts now though. The race calendar is beginning to be published and you need to work backward to make sure you have enough time to get fit.

Stay Safe, You Saw Me, Reflective Running Vest!

I run when I can't see, morning or night, on the east coast you have no choice. this is great, I can be seen. You Saw Me, ROCKS. $60 for a piece of mind. Perfect.

Life Saving

360 degree visibility from over a mile away.  Our vest combines the passive visibility of reflective material with the active visibility of 60 LEDs.

Practical

Breathable athletic fabric. Pockets in front and back for storing your phone, keys, etc. Comfortable, one-size-fits-all elastic belt.

Customizable

Choose any color, flash mode, or automatically cycle between colors. Variable brightness and flash speed on every vest.

Fun

Change colors and flash signals to virtually any combination. A noticeability factor for all attention-seekers everywhere!

3FU3L, Best Protein Powder For Well EVERYTHING!

THE SCIENCE BEHIND 3FU3L

To perform your best in training or competition, and to recover afterwards, you need to be properly fueled. That means taking care of the ways and means in which your body produces the energy you need to compete at the highest level. As both athletes and coaches – and formulators of this product – we know this, and we created it for exactly this purpose.

Because we compete in all kinds of sports (remember, everyone who formulated 3FU3L isn’t just a coach, but a competitive athlete), we wanted a product that would fuel all kinds of events, over the most extensive range of duration and intensity. This is more difficult than it seems, because over different times and intensities, the body constantly shifts from the use of one fuel source to another.

For short bursts of power, your body depletes its phosphocreatine supply to generate Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), and contract your muscles as rapidly as possible. Your body can’t move without ATP being used – it’s the “product” your body purchases with metabolic “currency”. Four minutes after a maximal contraction, your body finally replenishes your phosphocreatine, and you’re ready for another maximal contraction.

But if you do multiple efforts at maximal intensity, and you’re not waiting four minutes, your body begins to migrate from the phosphagenic pathway towards the glycolytic pathway. At this point, glucose (blood sugar) is used to generate ATP. Soon afterwards, at about the 3-4 minute mark, your body begins to rely on protein, fat, and carbohydrates to continue paying for ATP. And while your muscles are busy converting your fuel into energy, they’re also producing waste products, like lactic acid, and causing you to sweat, losing methyl donors like Betaine, that are used to help create more ATP. It begins a vicious cycle, causing you to hit the dreaded “wall” – where your body goes into shutdown mode.

Carbohydrates are the most easily use macronutrient, in terms of generating enough ATP. But they only go so far. Even carb-loaded marathoners will hit the wall at about the 20 mile mark – which is less than two hours into their run. At that point, ATP depletion is so severe, that performance suffers dramatically. But consider a Strongman who competes all day, or a MMA fighter at a tournament, or a Crossfit Games athlete who has an entire weekend to get through…they’re getting themselves into a similar situation without even knowing it.

Running a Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, or Warrior’s Dash? You better have the right fuel in your body, because you can’t double fist energy drinks while you’re climbing a wall or jumping in a mud pit.

THE SOLUTION…

What’s the solution? After half an hour, triglycerides (fats) begin to contribute almost as much (~50%) as carbohydrates to the body’s energy production, and after another hour, protein begins to make a substantial contribution as well (up to 15%). So if you’re relying on the wrong ratios of macronutrients, or not using the right micronutrients, you’re not going to be producing enough energy to maintain optimal performance. Think about it – if your body is relying on nearly 50% fat to sustain its efforts, why are you only drinking carbs during your training or competition? And if you’re going to burn protein, why isn’t your preworkout (or intraworkout) drink supplying you with any?


Most dietary supplements that rely on all three macronutrients will try to use a blend of fast acting carbs for a quick boost in blood sugar (*which is why you crash) and a fat to slow it down (*adding fats to a food reduces the glycemic index). We took the opposite approach – our fat is from coconut milk, mainly composed of medium chain fatty acids – which unlike regular fat, is a readily available source of energy. Our protein is high-quality, grass-fed, whey protein hydrolysate – an insulogenic protein that elevates blood sugar as well as carbohydrates. Our carb on the other hand, is waxy maize hydroxypropyl distarch-phosphate, which provides literally hours and hours of energy; not only that, but helps the body use more triglycerides for energy, and helps reduce lactic acid. In other words, you’re getting three fuel sources with 3FU3L…because you need all
three to sustain your performance.

If we’d stopped there (and we did, for awhile, during our formulation process), we’d still have a great fuel that would get us through any training. We ultimately decided to add Betaine. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll remember that you lose Betaine when you sweat, and it ultimately causes your body to produce less ATP, and therefore less energy. Supplementing with Betaine (*technically called Trimethylglycine) has been shown in numerous clinical studies to increase power, increase work capacity, enhance recovery, and allow test subjects to come back the next day and do it again.

Trust us, we’ve been there: we’ve taken 3FU3L on the road, with us on the bike, on the mat and on the field. It works or we wouldn’t be using it.

For further reading, take a look at the ingredients we use in our product.

Safety Is Coming, 360fly!

Capturing all of life. 360Fly. from 360fly on Vimeo.

At 360fly, we create products and software for interactive, one-shot 360° panoramic video. Through a partnership with VOXX International the company will deliver a line of unique panoramic video cameras to market that virtually includes everyone...from the extreme sports enthusiast to parents shooting their children's birthday party. Our users will see and share video in a way that captivates and engages audiences like never before. Video is about to change.

Bikes of Kona!

From SlowTwitch, best for everything endurance. 

Many go to Kona hoping for a win, and they're not all athletes. Who came out of Kona smiling?

When I began the Kona Bike Count in 1992 there were over 200 bike brands represented in the race. There has been some consolidation at the top, because the barrier to entry is high. Used to be that an old mechanical Bridgeport mill, a gas torch and a headbadge was all you needed to be a bike maker. Not so now, when the great majority of new bikes pop out of molds, and a size run of molds costs tens of thousands. 

But there is still a shipload of bike brands on that pier. Who won?

Five or six companies stand out in my mind. First, of course, Cervelo, with 496 bikes in the race – almost 1 in 4 – and it wasn't that long ago that Cervelo was thought by many retail stores washed up, the brand of the past. Obviously rumors of its demise were greatly exaggerated. In my opinion, one stat that holds up fairly well is:

incremental gains = (this year's total) - .75(last year's total)

The idea is to guess at incremental gains year-over-year. If Cervelo, the company, was wiped off the map, you'd still see a lot of bikes the subsequent year. How many? Historically, 75% of the prior year's total is not a bad number.

Full Article Here...

Warning Stay In Aero Position

This is great, another device to tell me I am not ridding correctly. Actually the Lazer Wasp Air is extremely helpful, Lazer has one of the few that will help a triathlete stick to the aero position. The Wasp Air is a nice looking helmet that also ticks all the important marks for a good aero helmet. And tucked into the tail is a special device that vibrates when the rider dips his head downward. It’s a gentle, but obvious, reminder to stick to the aero position.
Read more at..

Tri's vs. Xterra

So I love Triathlons, I started doing Xterra events cause I was a XC mountain bike racer. Course of life changed and this was over 11 years ago, things changed again I got hooked and went into triathlons full force, sponsorship, podium finished, early mornings and epic swims, bikes and rides,  not to mention the friends and conversations we had along the way.
Another change has has happened and I am back to XC Mountain biking, with triathlons in my blood. One thing that I noticed is how cool the Mountain Bike industry makes riding look, from their films, Gopro captures, gear, and of course racing. This started me thinking why has triathlons not made this transition, make the riding look cool, swims shots epic and gear, well cool.
I went for a ride at a place I had not ridden in 8 years, what I noticed was the parking lot was full, families were riding, people were conversing and generally everyone looked to be having fun. The ride started fast and I was transformed back 8 years ago to why I LOVE mountain biking. The setting and not having to be worried about getting run over, it has happened. No horns, middle fingers, crazy jesters, or stress. Just time to focus on what I love to do ride. Same goes with trail running, that is a topic for another day.
The triathlon series has to embrace the good, show the videos, great spots to do events, the events, parties, tents and families that spend countless hours watching loved ones compete.

Embrace and take note from another side of this sport. Tri's are cool, epic and the best thing you can do, now they just have to be shown that way.

Timex Game Changer, Ironman One GPS+

Timex added the Ironman One GPS+ to it's line up. The big change is the separation from the smartphone. Now getting another contract can seem like a hassle, maybe they will let you add it to your existing plan, lets hope, ATT get the hint. Now I am not sure that the masses are going to flock to this watch but there a good amount 300,000+ triathletes that might see this as a welcome change. Who know check it out. TIMEX ONE GPS+

RECHARGABLE LI-ION BATTERY

8-hour life in Full GPS and cellular-connected mode.

BLUETOOTH®

Compatible with Bluetooth® heart-rate monitors, foot pods, and wireless headphones.

NOTIFICATIONS

Get notified when you've achieved a personal record.

INDIGLO® NIGHT-LIGHT

See your accomplishments in the dark.

CONNECTED BY AT&T

One year of AT&T mobile data service included. Features vary by market.

WATER-RESISTANT

Water-resistant up to 50 meters.

TIMERS

10 customizable interval timers.

HEART RATE READY

Compatible with Bluetooth heart rate monitors.

Changing it up- In The Zone - Fitz Interview

In the fitz zone, Whistler Mountain Park. Now we just need a couple more on the east coast.

How to Practice Open Water Swimming in the Pool

Another great one from Training Peaks

For the majority of all triathlons you will be swimming in open water. This is typically a source of anxiety and fear for many athletes as training for the open water is often limited. While not perfect, it is possible to prepare for race day in a pool? Here are some drills and games that you can do in the pool to be prepared.

Sighting

The first, and perhaps most obvious, thing you can do in the pool is to practice sighting. In a short course pool (25 yards or meters) pick your head up twice each lap and sight on something at the end of the pool. In a long course pool, sight at least five times per lap.

What’s most important here is that you don’t just go through the motions. Be sure you actually focus on what it is that you’re looking for. You can even have a lane mate at the end holding up fingers for you to read.

Swimming Straight

How often should you sight? Well, that depends on how straight you swim. When you’re in the pool, going fast is what gets you to the next wall more quickly. In open water, speed is not enough. It’s your velocity plus your trajectory that determine how quickly you get into T1. In a lane by yourself, push off the wall and swim with your eyes closed. Can you make it to the other end without hitting the laneline? (Make sure you know your stroke count so you can open your eyes before you get to the wall if you happen to make it all the way down the lane!) If not, how far can you go?

If you start in the middle of the lane and drift to one side by the other end, that’s not too bad, but you’re still off course about a meter over a length of 25 meters. If you’re consistent, that would work out to about 20 meters off course every 500 and then double that because you’ll have to swim back onto the course. So that might cost you 30 to 60 seconds every 500 meters. But what if you hit the lane line after only a few strokes? You might be costing yourself several minutes over 500 meters. The solution is sighting. If you can swim four strokes before veering off course, you should be sighting every four strokes. If you stay on course through 10 strokes, sight every 10.

Now put these two elements together. Swim with your eyes closed but open your eyes to sight every 4, 6, 10 strokes. Now can you make it down the lane in a straight line? You’re onto something important! Sighting may slow you down a bit, but it’ll keep you in a straight line—that makes for a faster swim split.

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