Beacon Hill Triathlon #11 @ Capo Beach

Another great race is in the books.  

Thank you to all of the race volunteers.  Big thanks to Jesse the Lifeguard for giving everybody peace of mind.  And thanks, as always, to our sponsors, Cytomax, Clif, and Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel. 

The overall storyline in today’s results is consistency in training in all three disciplines.   It was obvious who was weak in certain areas as we had the most inter-discipline position changes of any Beacon Hill Triathlon. 

A finely-tuned Steve Austin took home first-place honors by clipping a sub-hour finishing time.  A few of the back-of-the-pack guys are making quick ascents to the top and beginning to consistently finish in higher positions.  As always, we had a good percentage of first-time triathletes who all thoroughly enjoyed their experience.      

I think we all agreed that this was the best venue of the eleven official Beacon Hill Tri races.  The new course was fast and flat with no street lights.  Every leg was out and back so it was easy to judge the distance of the athlete in front of, or behind, you.  For the first time, we had bike racks in the transition, five full splits, and an open-water swim.  We will definitely be racing at Capo Beach again. 

5 quick lessons from today’s race:

1. Always pre-ride the course.  At very least, thoroughly study the course map.  There is nothing more demoralizing than riding your hardest only to find out that you’ve been going the wrong way for fifteen minutes.
2. Practice your transitions.  You can shave 2-3 minutes with 10 minutes of practice.  There are NO other areas of this sport that give such great returns relative to practice time.   
3. When the water’s cold, bring a wetsuit.  The obvious benefit of a wetsuit is insulation from the cold water.  This allows you to retain body heat and thereby expend less energy.  The buoyancy of the wetsuit also helps to align your body in the proper swimming posture, and can act as a life preserving device.  Lastly, a wetsuit helps reduce body drag in the water.
4. Pack your transition bag the night before (and use a checklist–I will post one on the website before our next race).  You don’t need goggles to swim or shoes to run, but it makes the race a whole lot better.  More importantly, if you show up to a race without your bike or helmet, you won’t be able to compete.
5. Wear proper clothing.  This includes compression shorts and an aerodynamic shirt.  Most people will learn  this lesson quickly because not heeding the advice can leave a lasting “impression”.  Blisters and bruises are some of the less-painful injuries that can be caused by improper attire. 

Now I’d like to pay homage to our new course, and this amazing sport.    

…We descended upon Capo Beach on Saturday, well before sunrise.  Our newly designed PVC bike racks were assembled, and the aid stations were stocked with food and drinks.  Anticipation of our first open-water swim was high, and the ominous sights and sounds of the 58-degree Pacific Ocean inspired feelings of awe for some; dread, fear, or even terror for others.  For all, there was a serene calm of respect for the pain we were about to subject ourselves to. 

Triathlon is a special sport.  As you stare across the starting line at all of the competitors, you begin to feel like you have already accomplished something just by showing up.  It’s one of the greatest moments in life, when the frantic shuffle of the pre-race transition setup slows for a brief second just before the starting gun sounds and dozens of able-bodied athletes in slick, black wetsuits plunge into the icy waters for an all-out test of physical and mental endurance.  This is why We All Tri…  

Total Immersion Swimming–The Book

When I first got interested in triathlon, my biggest apprehension was the swim.  Overall, there was plenty to be apprehensive about.  For starters, I’d never completed a 5k and I didn’t own a bike.  Endurance sports were never my strong point.  But what scared me more than anything was the thought of the swim.   

I grew up at the beach, so I wasn’t afraid of the waves or the riptides.  I will admit to a semi-controllable phobia of sharks and other less-real sea monsters, not to mention a complete disdain for cold water, but the real fear for me was that I didn’t know how to swim.  That’s an exaggeration.  I knew how to move around just fine in the water, I just always kept my head up.  I’d been using an advanced dog paddle my entire life. 

I’m the kind of guy who needs a goal to learn anything new, so I went online to sign up for a race.  I looked all over the web with two criteria: 1) the race had to be in Southern California, and 2) the swim had to be short.  I eventually found the Solana Beach Tri.  The swim is the shortest of all Southern California triathlons–1/4 mile.   This would be followed by a 12 mile bike and a 5k run.   

At the time, I was living in Los Angeles, so I paid $3 a session to swim at the Santa Monica City College pool.  In retrospect, it was an incredible facility with lots of great swimmers in the water.  I watched some of them swim, then jumped in and started stroking. 

The first distinct milestone I reached was learning to breate out while my head was under water.  That made it so much easier to breate in when my head came up.  My tone there is somewhat tounge-in-cheek, but this really did happen.  It turns out that this is a common problem with first-time swimmers. 

Next, I realized that I needed to breate on more consistent strokes.  Initially, I was swimming until I was completely out of air, then coming up for a big breath.  Sometimes I would go ten strokes without a breath.  Since I could only breath on my right side, I began breathing every 4th stroke (I’m not entirely sure how to count strokes in this context, but I mean that I took a breath every other time my right hand came forward). 

For three months I swam in this manner.  Eventually, I was able to swim 32 laps without stopping and I felt ok about my upcoming race.  In the meantime, I had been running up and down the San Vicente median, and riding my borrowed bike the requisite 12 miles. 

On race day I made swimming breakthrough number three.  About fifty yards into the swim I noticed that everybody was breathing every two strokes.  For me, this would mean taking a breath every time my right arm came forward.  I tried it until I hit the first bouy.  Then I had my first taste of feet and arms and wetsuits, and I think even the ocean floor.  And once I resurfaced I went back to my refined doggy paddle for the rest of the swim. 

I finished the race in pedestrian fashion.  My transition times totaled over ten minutes, and my bike and run were just barely passable, but I was hooked. 

My swimming didn’t reach many breakthroughs for quite some time afterwards.  I had terrible technique, and just kept getting stronger and better at swimming with poor technique.  Sometime later, I happened to be swimming next to a guy who was getting a personal coaching session.  His $200, and my good timing, meant free lessons for me. 

I have to admit, I didn’t learn much directly, but I kept hearing the coach talk about “pressing the bouy”.  I looked this phrase up on the internet afterwards, and came across Total Immersion.

This was back when I thought working harder was the only was to get better.  It’s almost laughable to think of how I would sprint up and down the road on my bike as fast as I could go.  My runs and swims were the same way.  When I got tired, I’d stop until I could go again. 

I would never have “wasted” the $20 on a book about swimming, but I found a copy at the library and took it on my next vacation.  After just a few weeks of trying the drills and learning how to “press my bouy”, I could feel a difference in the water.  I wasn’t blazing fast, but I could swim for much longer without tiring.  In fact, the guy who had been taking the lessons could now swim almost effortlessly for what seemed like an eternity. 

My swim times the following season were much faster, and I was fresh almost immediately coming out of the water.  This was good enough for me until just recently.  This season I’ve been swimming with a masters swim team, and the coaches have corrected at least half-a-dozen errors in my swimming.   It turns out that the book explained the theory well, but what felt correct to me was visibly incorrect. 

Here’s my final verdict on the Total Immersion book.  I read the original version which is pictured above.  I ended up buying a newer version recently, and it seems to be roughly the same.  The reading is not engrossing by any means (and I’m a person who actually happens to prefer non-fiction) but it was well worth my time.  It gave me a solid understanding of the fundamentals of TI swimming, and I actually improved quite a bit.  The biggest benefit of reading the book came when I started swimming in coached practices.  I feel like I’m able to catch on more quickly when the coach is describing a drill or helping me with my form because I already have an understanding of the concepts that are being taught.  As I said, you may feel like you doing something exactly as it’s being described in the book, but ten degrees of angle here or there makes all the difference in the world, and it’s difficult to catch without a trained eye. 

I will review the Freestyle: Made Easy DVD soon.

Total Immersion Swimming

Total Immersion is to swimming as the Pose Method is to running.  Again, efficiency is the key to triathlon, and Total Immersion guarantees the physiologically most efficient swim strokes.  Actually, as it says on their website: ”Total Immersion is GUARANTEED to transform you into the swimmer you always wished you could be.”

Well, I’m not sure how they make good on that guarantee, but I can make some comments on what TI has done for me.  Like always, I’ll just begin with the basics of Total Immersion here; future posts will include my experiences with the book, DVD, and a TI coach. 

I think I’m a good guinea pig for the TI test since I only recently started swimming.  I swam for a couple of  seasons before I read the book, then a full season after reading the book.  This year, I started swimming in coached practices and I will be watching the DVD sometime soon.  I’ve always sunk in the pool, and I just considered myself a poor swimmer.  However, I’ve slowly been changing that, and much like my Pose Method work, the Total Immersion work is absolutely paying off. 

Total Immersion is a swimming method based on the teachings of Terry Laughlin.  In essence, he teaches proper body positioning in the water for more efficient swim strokes.  I can’t comment on how revolutionary his teachings are, considering that his method is the only one I’ve ever studied.  However, I can say that the technique sounded plausible when I read the book, became more believable when I practiced the drills, and is working very well now that I have a coach helping me with my stroke.  I recently got a copy of the Freestyle: Made Easy DVD, so I’ll be able to comment on that soon.  

In a nutshell, TI teaches you to make your body as long as possible in the water.  You do this by imagining a straight line through your torso and out the top of your head.  Your lungs act as a bouy which you push into the water; this makes your feet rise to the surface.  As you roll, you extend your hand out in front of your body, anchor it in the water, and pull your body over the top.  This all makes sense once you’ve learned the process. 

You can learn quite a bit from the book if you have concurrent access to a pool where you can practice the drills.  Of course, a TI workshop or camp would be the best option.  I’m the type of guy who usually goes for something in between.  I joined the Novaquatics Masters swim team and bought the TI book and DVD. 

If you want a quick intro to TI from Terry Laughlin himself, go to the TI website and watch some of the new videos.  I watched these for the first time today, and I think I’m finally motivated to watch the DVD that’s been sitting on my desk for the past month.  The video clip on hand positioning really opened my eyes to some things I’ve been doing incorrectly.

Off to the pool.

Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel Sponsors Beacon Hill Triathlon

Store Hours:
M-F 10am – 7pm
Sat 10am – 6pm
Sun 11am – 4pm

Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel Website

32411 Golden Lantern Suite H (Next to Pier 1 Imports)
Laguna Niguel, CA. 92677
Phone: (949) 488-3356
Fax: (949) 488-3357 

The Beacon Hill Triathlon is excited about its most recent event sponsor!  Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel will now be providing nutrition and technical gear to event participants.  Also, tell them you participated in our race and they’ll give you an in-store discount.

A special thank you goes out to Craig Ames for telling Fleet Feet about the great time he had at the Beacon Hill Tri; and another big thank you to Scott White, the owner of Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel, who readily expressed his interest in supporting our community event. 

Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel is the premier hands-on running and triathlon shop in South Orange County.  You can sign up for their email newsletter from their homepage.  It comes about once a month and has information regarding local races, training programs, and current events. 

Fleet Feet is dedicated to serving the local fitness community; you will see their tent at many local events.  If you stop by the store, you’ll find that their employees are extremely knowledgable, as they are all dedicated athletes themselves. 

I’ve been shopping there since they opened and I’ve always had good experiences.  They turned me on to the racing flats (ASICS DS Racer) that I’ve been using for the past two seasons–I’ve competed injury free since the change!  They were recently able to get my malfunctioning Polar Foot Pod replaced after the warranty had expired.  And they’ll always order anything if it’s not in stock and call me when it arrives.    

In the store, you’ll find everything you need for the swim and run legs of the triathlon.  You’ll also be able to pick up any training tools or technical gear that you might need. 

You can get a personalized gait test which will help you select the right shoe.  Many running injuries can be alleviated or avoided by wearing proper shoes for your running style. 

You can also get properly fitted for a triathlon-specific wetsuit.  It is well worth your time to make sure you get the right wetsuit–if you don’t believe me, ask Kirk Lindahl or Chris Fetter about their near-death experiences. 

In addition, Fleet Feet offers many camps, clinics, and training programs.  Some are fee-based, many are free.  Oftentimes they are offered in conjunction with a local team event or training group.  Just sign up for their email newsletter for updates. 

We look forward to having Fleet Feet at our events.