Boston Performance Coaching Spring Preseason Swim Class for Triathletes

Are you confident in your beach starts?  Do you round the buoys efficiently in open water swims?  In competition are you struggling to keep pace?

Join BPC Coaches for weekly swim workouts/classes at the Case Center Pool.  Each class will have a warmup, drill set, fitness main set and triathlon specific skills.
Classes will cover: sighting, alignment, rounding buoys, pacing for distance, deep water and shallow water starts, transition practice and race set up.

Parking is free (on street) and participants will have access to locker rooms to change and shower. Pool is easily accessible via Green Line T.

Spring Class Sessions:

Class Series 1 Spring 2010
April 9th-May 28th
Fridays
6:30-7:30am

Case Center Pool at Boston University
285 Babcock st
Boston, MA 02215

The class requires:
min of 10 and max of 25 people

Cost:
$145 for series of 8 weeks

Well last night everyone's new years resolutions were firing on all pistons!  30+ people in our first winter cycling class.  They were packed in tight, trainer to trainer, heart rate monitors on, cycling computers working, heads in the game.  The BPC cycling class last night-and this morning were filled with determined athletes and great energy.

The Boston Performance Coaching December Newsletter covers a review of our base period fall classes and online coaching program, information about wetsuit deals by our newest sponsor Xterra Wetsuits, information about our winter build season of classes and group training, and 1 coaching article: "Capacity for Tenacity" by Assistant Coach Vic Brown.  Also included in this fall-winter newsletter, full race reports from Ron Ulich (Duxbury Beach Triathlon) and Brad Ewald (Austin 70.3), October-November BPC Athlete race results and a listing of Winter Races, events and training opportunities in the area.

Pace was the name of the game this morning at our swim workout.  So far the base period swim classes have been focused mainly on technique, about 95% drill work and 5% pace/effort work.  This has been good for the BPC athletes, as no one likes to do drills for an hour, no one likes to focus on their weakness, ESPECIALLY in the pool.  However, as we are nearing the end of our base period, today I wanted to give the athletes a little taste of the type of workouts we will be doing in the winter, as well as get them to really work with the pace clock.  So the basic premise of the main set was a bunch of different 50yd efforts on 20sec rest.  This was after about 1500yds of technique work, so they had to focus on incorporating technique along with their speed.  What is really interesting is that athletes will work on technique and then usually it all falls apart when you ask them to do speedwork.  However, I was really pleased and surprised with the result of todays workout- most, if not all, the athletes were able to do their flip turns as well as maintain consistent form with their intervals.

I laugh when I think about class on Wednesday morning this week.  It's 5:55am, there are a few quiet athletes roaming around Landry's and I am running around frantically getting everything set up so that we can start promptly at 6am.

I laugh when I think about class on Wednesday morning this week.  It's 5:55am, there are a few quiet athletes roaming around Landry's and I am running around frantically getting everything set up so that we can start promptly at 6am.

At this time of year athletes begin to think about anything other than their training.  It's a nebulous time for us in New England, as the fall racing season is ending, and most people have not put together their next racing season.  It's a great time to focus on your weaker sports as well as spending time doing other sports or activities of interest.  If you read my article on limiters from the October newsletter, you are aware that every athlete needs to work on one sport at a time, that's it's very difficult to be good or to improve at all 3 sports at the same time.

Days are getting shorter. The sun is rising later and setting earlier.  For many of us with full time jobs, this time of year begins to get challenging during the weekdays to get outdoors during the daylight to ride.  Our base training cycling period just finished up it's 5th week of training today. Each Wednesday morning, we begin each session on our trainers looking out onto Comm Ave into the Boston darkness ((...we get to see the sunrise as well!))  But as I was leading this morning spin, I was looking around the room and began to think about what motivates each athlete to get up in the morning and carry on when the conditions are not ideal this time of year ((and they will only get worse...)).  One of the reasons why BPC developed group training is because we feel athletes thrive in group settings.  Think about the reasons why joined a sports team growing up or a triathlon club now.  Chances are some part of the reasons are for commradarie and finding other people to train with.  Upcoming races are always a motivating factor - because we all want to be fit to race.  But we use each other to lean on - friends, a significant other, other athletes there training in general.  We are all going through something together and having similar experiences.  We all get up to the crackle of the alarm, start before the sun rises, do the workout together - there is something to be said for this.  I think it builds a bond of sorts.  And this puts people in position to succeed.  The first time I took an indoor cycling class a couple years ago, it was to keep me honest.  It was a self check to make sure that I did the intensity that I needed on the bike.  I knew that if I signed up for a class, I would: (1) always show up, and (2) always put out a high effort.  At that point in my training, I was OK with one class per week because the training plan I put together for myself called for one intense bike session per week.  Three weeks of base work left.  Keep getting it done BPCers! You keep me motivated!
- Coach Vic Brown

We are now right in the middle of our base period and I really see some major improvements from the athletes in all our classes.  I know the base period is a difficult time to commit to classes and many athletes think they don't need to do it right now.  However, it's been my experience both as an athlete and a coach that year round training is necessary not only to stay motivated and focused, but also to give your body a true period of time to experience "base", "build" and "preseason" and "inseason."  Athletes love to train in their comfort zone, which is usually not too hard and not too easy.  Well, you will never improve if you always train the same way.  This is why we have "practice."  The best athletes in the world will tell you that the most important time is the off season.  Your body gets a chance to recover from the hard intensity and volume, but most importantly your mind gets to recover as well.

Week #3 of the BPC Base Period Skills and Technique Focus