I signed up for the Ironman 70.3 California triathlon in March 2012. I have not done a tri since my first and only in 2007. Since then I have been running marathons and it was time to do something new and to strengthen the rest of my body.
I found a wonderful coach to get me started. The day I met him I was set on learning how to go fast on my bike. It's my strength and I figured if I could progress far on the bike that would make up for my slow swim and run times. He immediately said, "No, we are going to train to your weaknesses and perform at your strength. Because if you don't get your swim down you won't make it to the bike." Duh! I have had two sessions and have leaned so much! The first was a swim session and he immediately saw why I have so much anxiety in the water. "You are survival swimming. No wonder why you are so anxious." So he showed me how to improve my stroke. I picked up some bad habits and swim really inefficiently thus my snail pace. Once the new stroke kicked in I got it! Now I just need to practice coordinating all of the new things he taught me in 45 min.
In the second session we worked on my running form and technique at the track. Again, inefficient, shuffle running and only using my quads, specifically my right side. My left just goes along for the ride while my right does the work. I learned to pick up my feet a little more and straighten up my body utilizing 7 muscle groups (R and L Quads, both calves, both hamstrings and core) which is the goal. I tried engaging my left side more and that was surprisingly hard! So the goal is to strengthen the left and make it do more work. Now I know why I get anxious when I get tired running. My right leg is overworked, gets floppy and it is just done. The right leg flops anywhere, I worry my patella will dislocate and enter the vicious anxiety cycle. Wow, how did I ever survive 3 marathons? I wish I had met this guy then, I bet I would have run faster.
I am eager to get to the pool today and practice the drills. And strangely I am eager to get back to the track to strengthen the left side and learn how to run properly despite the grueling hot drills I did yesterday. I feel like thee is a light at the end of the tunnel regarding my performance. I burnt out on running after the last marathon. I tried and tried to get faster. While I did PR and knock off 15 min from my first marathon time, I never liked how I finished. Always disappointed and will never reveal my time to anyone out of the notion that my times don't make me a REAL runner. I have always worked hard in my trainings but not efficiently. Now I am seeing that. No wonder why I struggled so much.
This should be very interesting.
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