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USAT Adopts New Wetsuit Regulation

Vic Brown - Friday, June 25, 2010

USA Triathlon June 21, 2010

Beginning in 2013, wetsuits may not exceed five millimeters in thickness.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Following extensive research and consideration, USA Triathlon announced today that beginning in 2013 use of wetsuits exceeding five millimeters in thickness will not be permitted at USAT-sanctioned events.
 
The new regulation, which falls under Article 4.4 Wetsuits of the USA Triathlon Competitive Rules, states: “Effective January 1, 2013, any swimmer wearing a wetsuit with a thickness measured in any part greater than five millimeters shall be disqualified.”
 
“Our board has been considering this issue and the impact it might have with our athletes for some time,” said USA Triathlon CEO Skip Gilbert. “The overall feeling is that it makes perfect sense to align with the guidelines set by our international federation and multisport enthusiasts around the world. This is a standard that is good for the athlete community and our sport overall.”
 
By implementing this rule change, USA Triathlon falls in line with the international standard of five millimeters recognized by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and other National Governing Bodies.
 
The adoption of this rule is designed to eliminate any competitive advantage gained by enhancements in wetsuit technology in recent years. Studies have shown there is a marked and measurable performance benefit to the use of certain wetsuits, specifically added buoyancy effectively reducing passive drag. These performance benefits have led to an increased, and artificially induced, reduction in physical demand required during the swim leg of a triathlon and an increase in speed.
 
USAT recognizes that there may be wetsuits currently available on the market that are greater than five millimeters in thickness. Consequently, the organization has implemented a phase-in period of the rule to allow the use of wetsuits that currently do not meet the thickness requirement. This announcement of the new regulation serves as notice that the rule change will come into effect in 2013.
 
USAT recently solicited feedback on the wetsuit thickness issue from its certified race directors via a comprehensive survey. The majority of those surveyed supported USA Triathlon’s adoption of this rule.

www.usatriathlon.org



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In Season Swim Classes Begin

Christina Taddei - Friday, June 11, 2010
In Season Swim Classes Begin!

Great swim session this morning at the Case Center pool at BU.  The group started out with a nice easy warm-up to loosen the body and then continued with 8 x 50 focusing on breathing and sighting.  The main set focused on being able to pick up the pace as the workout progressed by doing 4 sets of 100 fast, 2 x 25 easy, 100 faster (5 seconds faster then the first), 2 x 25 easy.  We ended with class with “mass starts” to continue to get everyone comfortable with swimming in a pack.

There were many questions about breathing and stroke this morning.  After the workout a few people stayed to learn the techniques they need to correct their form and were given “homework” before next swim class.  These small changes will help these BPC athletes swim faster and more efficiently. 

Looking forward to next week as the intensity will continue to build as the tri season moves forward. 
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To Protect Public Safety, Historic Landmark, DCR Will Restrict Access To Walden Pond This Season

Vic Brown - Saturday, May 29, 2010
For immediate release Contact: Catherine Williams
May 26, 2010 (617) 626-1809

Beaches and trails are flooded due to heavy spring rains
To protect public safety and a historic landmark, the Department of Conservation and
Recreation (DCR) will reduce visitor capacity to Walden Pond State Reservation this season as
heavy spring rains have caused water levels in the pond to rise several feet above normal,
covering beach areas and trails.
DCR had divers remove hazardous materials and structures such as benches, fences and
wooden platforms that as a result of the high water level were submerged in the beach areas.
Flooded trails, including sections of the popular Pond Path that circles the pond, will be closed
to protect natural resources and public safety, and signage will alert park visitors to the
restrictions and alternative paths. To control the number of people visiting the Reservation,
parking will be limited to 169 spaces, about half the usual number, and, to protect public
safety, swimming will be prohibited outside lifeguarded areas.
"In the interest of protecting public safety and safeguarding the historic and natural features of
the Reservation, DCR believes restricting public access is the best approach," said DCR
Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr. "Walden Pond is an extremely popular destination, both
for local residents and indeed for visitors from around the world, and DCR is committed to
keeping it open as much as possible."
Park staff members will direct walkers and hikers to marked trails in the Reservation other
than the Pond Path, and will suggest other nearby outdoor recreation areas, including
Cochituate State Park in Wayland, Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle, Hopkinton State
Park in Hopkinton, and Lowell Heritage State Park in Lowell. To enforce the restrictions on
access and swimming, DCR plans to provide additional support from Rangers and
Environmental Police Officers to the Reservation.
Walden Pond is a glacial, kettle-hole pond, with no surface water flowing in or out. Water
levels in the pond are determined by precipitation and surrounding groundwater levels. The
pond is the deepest lake in the Commonwealth, measuring nearly 90 feet at its deepest
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State to Limit Walden Pond access due to spring deluges

Vic Brown - Friday, May 28, 2010
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Citing heavy rains this spring that caused the pond's waters to rise, state officials announced today that they would limit access to Walden Pond State Reservation, the picturesque body of water and woods made famous after the 19th century author Henry David Thoreau lived there and wrote about the simple life.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation said it would limit parking to 169 spaces, or about half the usual number and would also prohibit swimming beyond lifeguarded areas. Flooded trails, including sections of the popular trail that goes around the pond, will be closed and signs will alert visitors to restrictions and alternative paths.

Both a replica of Thoreau's cabin and the actual site where he lived were not submerged and are still accessible, said Catherine Williams, a DCR spokeswoman.

The park is a popular destination during warmer weather, both for area residents and for those drawn from far and wide to see the scenes that inspired Thoreau's book, "Walden." Adventurous swimmers sometimes cross the pond.

The department said water levels had risen several feet above normal after the recordbreaking rains that resulted in seven Massachusetts counties being declared disaster areas. The glacial kettle-hole pond, designated a national historic landmark, has no water flowing in or out and measures nearly 90 feet at its deepest spot.

"In the interest of protecting public safety and safeguarding the historic and natural features of the Reservation, DCR believes restricting public access is the best approach," DCR Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr. said in a statement. "Walden Pond is an extremely popular destination, both for local residents and indeed for visitors from around the world, and DCR is committed to keeping it open as much as possible."

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Boston Performance Coaching Announces Spring Preseason Swim Class for Triathletes

Vic Brown - Friday, March 26, 2010
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

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Following Recovery Weeks with Intensity

Ali Winslow - Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Well if you were at the Hyannis Marathon, Half Marathon or 10K this past weekend you saw several thousand runners hitting the pavement.  I started in the front of the pack, as I always do for these races to get out of the clutter and get my own pacing started so that I don't need to dodge around people, hop on curbs or risk falling over chatting runners.

But I have to saw, racing back to back weekends is pretty tough.  We had the indoor time trial last weekend and there was quite a bit of intensity work leading up to that event.  Even though the TT itself was only a 10K on the bike, it still requires a ton of concentration and super high HR's.  It's pretty tough in a practice setting to work as hard as you do in a race, and so the indoor TT and this past weekend's 10K and Half Marathon were great opportunities to test your limits.  I don't know about you, but I saw a pretty high HR at the indoor TT, and even though I recovered, it was still lingering in my legs over the following week as I "tapered" my runs and intensity leading up to the half.  And then again, during the half, I saw a fairly higher HR than expected during my run, and I know that at the end I was pretty cooked.

Now this week we are jumping back into intensity.  I watched the faces on our athletes last night as we did 4x 2+min efforts at 103% of vVO2.  That was a tough workout and many of those athletes who raced over the weekend most likely were not hitting their target HR's.  Or, they may have hit their target HR's early on, and then were unable to sustain their power or speed.  However, even though the intensity is tough right now, these athletes are teaching their bodies to deal with the stress and then with adequate recovery periods, come back from the stress and improve their speeds/power.

It's hard to get back on the horse after a race- but when you do and follow your program the rewards are great.  We have one more week left in our build program and then it will be time for our athletes to hit the roads and begin preseason.  

Racing begins in only a few weeks, can't wait to see our results.

Train Hard, Train Smart- 

Ali
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Build Period Week #2 Swim, Bike, Run and dealing with cold winter training

Ali Winslow - Monday, January 11, 2010
Arctic and Canadian chill in the air.  Crescent moon in the sky.  A few cars out and a few brave souls in reflective gear running along the Charles this morning.  It's week #2 in the BPC build phase and we were in full swing at 6:30am in the Case Center Pool.  The theme this week is fitness.  It's that time of year to build upon the technique work that you did in the fall, and rely upon your acquired skills from technique to increase and boost your fitness.  The swims in this 10 week period of time have a technique and drill focus for about 40% of the workout and then 50% of the workout is focused on increasing fitness in the water.  This presents a challenge to the athletes, because they have to work hard not only for the drill set, but especially for the main set.  I told them this morning and this goes for athletes training everywhere- at this point they should have 3 swims per week: 1 swim is short intervals with fast paced efforts, 1 swim is mid distance intervals at tempo pace, 1 swim is long intervals with endurance focus.  This is so that each swim is different, they are reminding their brains and muscles to swim efficiently as well as working on strength, fitness and endurance.  Last week was 200's, this week 100's and next week will be shorter.  What does this mean to our athletes?  Get out of your comfort zones and pushing to work hard and get to the next level.

Swim on...

Ali
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Pace Pace Pace

Ali Winslow - Monday, December 07, 2009
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.
However, the most interesting part of the workout was the concept of pacing.  Because we haven't spent any time on pacework, the athletes were able to put forth good hard efforts for the first few 50's and then their times crept up, even though their effort remained hard.  I discussed this with a few athletes during the workout and they expressed frustration that they had no idea how to pace themselves in the pool.
Which brings me to my next point- pacing in the water.  It's just like pacing on a track.  However, for some reason so many athletes have no idea how to pace themselves in the pool.  So their 50yd sprint effort is identical to their 100yd effort and so on.  What is pretty interesting is that from "Go" the athletes were able to sprint out hard for about  15-20 yds and then they got slower through each 50.  The key is to do intervals in the pool, just like you would for running (on a track) or riding.  You have to work on going hard when you are supposed to and easy when you aren't.  By breaking down your swimming intervals into 25's or 50's, you can really start to learn how to go fast, so that over time you will build speed for the longer swims.  It's all practice.  And most importantly?  You have to get in...

Till next time...

Ali
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Fitness in the Fall

Ali Winslow - Monday, November 30, 2009
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.

However, watching the athletes swim this morning at the BPC Swim Class, I am truly impressed by the improvement in speed, technique and confidence of these participants.  The biggest comment I have heard from participants is the change they feel by learning about breathing, using the wall and the fluidity of the flip turns.  So many times athletes will complain about the swim, but I feel that it's really a fear.  Why not learn how to flip turn and learn how to swim like a swimmer?  That's how we improve-breaking out of the comfort zone and continually challenging ourselves.  We have 2 more weeks of swim classes, and I look forward to seeing the weekly improvement and confidence from these athletes.

Cycling Classes have been great fun for us this fall.  Instead of really killing folks with high intensity intervals, Vic and I have really broken down the skills for cycling and the classes are really focused on drills.  Again, like the swim class, these athletes are truly learning how to improve their cycling technique.  In the winter classes we will move away from the technique work and focus on a curriculum of VO2 work, LT intervals and strength work.  I have taught indoor cycling classes for over 8 years now, and I feel really confident that this year the participants will reap the benefits of the fall classes and transition very well into the demands of the build phase.


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Review of Week #5

Ali Winslow - Friday, November 20, 2009
Review of Week #5
by Ali Winslow

Week 5 started with a bang on Monday morning at 6:30am.  BPC athletes started in the pool, began their workouts and one at a time moved to a separate lane to learn how to flip turn.  Remarkably, I didn't get any resistance from any athletes.  No one told me that they didn't have to learn a flip turn or didn't need to learn how to do a flip turn.  I couldn't believe it.  Last year when I instructed all my privately coached athletes to learn how to flip turn, I was met with so much resistance.  Hmm, are these athletes realizing the importance of learning this technique?  Perhaps it was because I did warn them the week before.  Flip turns are so important to learn.  For 1 thing, once an athlete masters this simple technique, their swim times will automatically decrease-isn't that nice?  The second point (and 3rd, 4th...) is that we are swimmers now, shouldn't we swim like swimmers?  That means learning lane etiquette, learning to flip turn, perfecting balance and increasing lung volume.  I don't think people realize how much extra breathe and wall time they get with open turns (regardless of how fast they are).  If you aren't convinced, come try our workouts, learn how to flip turn.  I am happy to say that after 1 hour of swim practice all 17 athletes were able to flip at each 50.  We will continue to focus on learning this technique.  4 more weeks to go!

The cycling class saw their first VO2 intervals in the workouts this week.  I am sure that came as a surprise, especially since we are in the base period of our sessions.  However, even during the base period it is a good idea to pepper in a small amount of intensity, with plenty of recovery.  Athletes like to think that this is the time to do only low intensity work, however, at the same time, you lose it if you don't use it.  Most of the participants came into class with a fairly solid base in cycling or fitness.  We are looking to maintain that fitness while focusing on technique and form at the same time.  

The strength class continues to improve each week.  The workouts are increasing in intensity and will continue to focus on building overall body conditioning.  The biggest weakness in a triathlete is their strength.  I hear from athletes that they are doing "strength" work while on the bike or out on a run or in the pool with paddles.  However, there's NO substitute for purely picking up heavy items, moving them and putting them back down.  Strength work increases not only your muscle strength, but also the integrity of your tendons and ligaments.  I don't think athletes are aware that with every foot fall in running they are placing 2x times their body weight on one leg, the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles all work together to support.  Coach Vic has written several articles (check them out on the website) about how strength work has improved his athletes speed and power.  Take a look and come try out a class!

Overall, our coached athletes are following their programs, and enjoying this base period.  3 more weeks to go in the base period, then a few short weeks off for a mental and physical break before the build period begins!

Ali
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