Consistency and Routines

I tried the new wetsuit this morning with the first open water swim of the season. I took a thermometer along and was surprised to find the lake water already at 70 degrees. The wetsuit felt good and performed well. I still had trouble catching my breath with the water being about 13 degrees cooler than the pool and with me again getting use to the wetsuit confinement. All was well after about 10 minutes of swimming, which leads me into consistency and routines.

I talked to Julia last week and she was all excited about meeting and listening to Olympic triathlete, Jarrod Shoemaker, in Cohasset a couple of weeks ago. One of th things she came away with was the importance of keeping to routines on race day and NEVER trying anything new during the race, or the final days leading up to it, for that matter. The time to try your race drinks and gels is during training. Likewise, your eating habits before training should be developed during training weeks, and then go with tried and true meals the night before and morning of the race. Or, it may be that you are best to start out skipping a morning meal and having a gel pack and water 5 or 10 minutes before the race.

You should also lock in your equipment and go with the familiar on race day. For example, don't try adding aero bars to your bike a day or two before the race. If you think you may want to go aero, be doing it now, so you become accustomed to the bars and safely confident going aero.

Be consistent in training. Practice good techniques. Keep to your plan and schedule as well as you can. Start practicing some transitions. Do exactly what you plan to do on race day when practicing. It may help to write it out. Get familiar with your routines so they become second nature. You will have a lot of things to think about. Having routines down pat will leave you in a better position to deal with those unexpected events that always seem to "complicate" your race. Be ready for calm problem solving as the race unfolds. Take problems in stride and just deal with them. Your consistency and routines will make problems less likely and your ability to resolve them easier.

So, this mornings swim was good for me. I learned that I need to find a colder lake to practice in and that I should plan one of my three swims each week needs to be in the open water to get ever more comfortable with the wetsuit, cool open water, and BREATHING.

By the way, I took a bottle of hot tap water along and poured it down my wetsuit as I waded into the lake. That was a first, and may have taken away a little of the initial cold water shock as lake water entered the wet suit. I think I liked it!

Have you been training yet today?

Tom