Ultra Endurance athlete Sarah Robertson @ T.O.D Coaching

GB athlete jenny Douglas @ T.O.D Coaching

Strength and conditioning for triathlon part two

Strength and conditioning for triathlon part two

in the last issue we looked at two forms of squats, this issue we will look at two more types of leg exercise, namely the step up and bulgarian split squats. Both exercises re great single leg exercises for developing strentgh.

The Step Up
Ensure that the box used for this exercise is

> 12-18" minimum off the floor
> or at least high enough to create a right angle on the knee bend non
> slip surface on the top wide enough for the lifters foot to be placed
> fully on top

> Ensure that the bar is approximately armpit height, move towards the bar and place the bar in the low or high position across the back, hips and feet should be directly below the bar.

> a pronated grip approximately more than shoulder width should be adopted.
> elbows should be raised to form a shelf to be created across the back
> so the bar does not slip

> step up onto the box from a standing position with the lead leg, ensure the trail leg is in contact with the floor.

> do not push off the trail leg, ensure that your torso is square and erect throughout the exercise.

> pause at the top of the exercise and

> then shift your weight back to the trail leg before returning the lead leg back to the start position.




*ensure that a spotter is used throughout the exercise

Bulgarian split squats

> grasp the bar in a pronated grip and the bar is in the low or high position across the back, grip should be just outside shoulder width apart.

> stand in front of a bench or box and place the rear foot on the bench

> Ensure that your weight is placed evenly throughout the lead foot with
> the knee in line with your toes

>lower to a point ensuring the the thigh of the lead leg is parallel or
>almost parallel to the floor

> Ensure that the torso remains erect and square to avoid bending over

> the knee should not lock out at the top of the movement.





both of these exercises are great for single leg strength and should be practiced regularly throughout your strength and conditioning programme.

A summary of January’s training:

One month down:

Now it is the end of January, I can look back on the first month of training for the half ironman. When I first got my training plan from Brian my first tought was – I haven’t run ten miles for ages!! The plan consisted of 2 x 10 mile runs (1 fartlek), 2 x 20 mile bikes (1 fartlek), 2 x 2km swims and 2 strength and conditioning (S&C) session, each week. So I saw it as a challenge and knuckled down. The runs started at a very steady pace as I really wanted to be sure that I could do the ten miles. Most of the bike sets have been done either in the gym or in the garage on the turbo trainer due to weather / darkness.


The swim sets were within my capability for distance, and included some good race speed sets, and the S&C work was good to do as it had been a bit neglected over the winter.



So how has it gone? Well, with a lot of travelling requirements from work this has made the time pressures interesting. I do as much training as I can in the week, but still need to get in a run, a bike and an S&C at the weekends. But to date I have done almost everything on the program. I missed a swim set when there was no available pool anywhere close to the hotel I was in one week. I also cut a run short last week when the ‘gym area’ in the hotel (otherwise known as a store room in the basement) was hotter than the sauna area, and I only managed a third of the distance I should have done. Having the ton up sessions to do for my S&C is great as this can be done anywhere, even if the hotel has no gym.

Also the land training sessions on a Sunday morning at the gym are great to keep the S&C interesting and fun. I have managed to get outside on my bike for one ride this week and am really hoping I can do this more often in the next few weeks. It is so much better that the turbo trainer. Overall, I have seen completing the sessions each week as a challenge and have managed it most of the time. By the end of the month though I am starting to feel a bit tired – not sure if it is the travelling or the training, or both!!

So, bring on the February program – let’s see how I go with that

From Drowning to Swimming!!

Eighteen months ago I decided to undertake my first triathlon to raise money for 500 miles, a charity which raises money for the supply of prosthetics and orthotics for people in Kenya and Mali who have missing or deformed limbs. I wanted a challenge to encourage lots of sponsorship and thought this would be one, especially since at the time I couldn’t make it through 750m of swimming with any stroke!! My first triathlon was Stirling Try-a-Tri Sprint distance in June 2009.

I worked hard for several months making sure I could make 750m breaststroke to at least complete the swim. However, I knew this was not really the best way to complete the swim for my overall tri performance. At the same time I have been trying to learn to swim front crawl. My first attempts were interesting, to say the least. Having had the usual school tuition for training – get in the water and get to the other side of the pool without swallowing all of it – I didn’t really have much idea of what I was supposed to be doing. As a consequence I tended to avoid swimming crawl as it involved an awful lot of splashing, not much forward movement and an ever present danger of a lifeguard jumping in to rescue me!!

In fact I was so bad that when a friend tried to teach me to swim her first suggestion was that I use a float and kick for a pool length. The result was that I went backwards, then couldn’t swim for laughing. So, I obviously needed help. This came first from Andrea, a colleague and friend who as an open water swimmer who has swum the English Channel knows lots about swimming technique.

She very patiently watched my efforts, gave me great advice and spent time helping me get a reasonable technique. Then I joined the TOD team, and one of the huge benefits has been regular training sessions in the pool.

For the first session I almost turned up with a rubber ring and arm bands, but wasn’t sure that wouldn’t get me into more trouble than I was already in. When Brian asked me to swim a length of crawl it was the last thing I wanted to do as I knew my technique was still very iffy, but I knew it had to be done. He was very kind (well, he didn’t laugh) and from that first session has given me great advice and tips. In addition, he gave me a couple of tough swim sessions to do regularly.

When I first saw them and realised the sessions were 80 and 100 lengths I nearly died. The warm up session of 30 lengths was about my total swim distance at the time, but swimming the longer distance regularly has really helped my swim fitness.

My main goal has been to swim the full sprint race distance front crawl without stopping. It has taken me some time to get my breathing together and relax enough in the pool to string a number of lengths together, but a couple of weeks back I managed two sets of 10 lengths in my local 20m pool.
Then it all seemed to come together, I did twenty lengths in one go last week, then yesterday for the first time I completed forty lengths without stopping.

That last length was amazing, it was a bit tricky to swim with a broad grin on my face and the guy in the Jacuzzi did wonder why the lone swimmer was whooping at the end of the length, but the feeling of finally getting the rhythm and having the strength to get the distance is amazing. At 800m this is slightly over the sprint race distance, and at over 23mins it is 4mins slower than my breaststroke time, but I know it will get quicker.

I can now call myself a swimmer at last!!

Denise