It was a 4-hour camp for anyone that is new to triathlons (complete beginners are welcome). Be prepared to workout — they will have you swim, bike, and run using the facilities at Chelsea Piers (state of the art…I was impressed).

The focus of the day was to go over drills in each discipline that will teach good form and technique to prevent injury. They also covered transitions, gear selection, and learning your training zones.

Four training zones were classed as:

Easy – warm up / cool down

Steady – aerobic capacity – if you can’t carry a conversation, you’re not in your steady zone

Solid – your race pace

Hard – above race pace. aka when you want to drop someone in the peleton. This is where you build up your “pain bank” — your toleration for pain.

Meet the Coaches

Scott Berlinger and Andrew Kalley

Read more on their bio here: http://www.fullthrottleendurance.com/athletesintroduction.html

Just found out that Scott was Viper in American Gladiators — wish he would’ve told us at the class, would’ve upped his street cred!

Both are highly competitive, active, and accomplished athletes. Their passion for the sport didn’t go unnoticed.

Meeting at Cafe

Felt like the first day of school. No one knew each other. About 20 people (50/50 male/female) were escorted on the other end of the sports facility for a 30 minute review of what to expect for the day.

30 minute overview

• Folder (misc info sheet to sign up to the level 1 Tri Training Program), chelsea pier bag, and drinks were provided
• Everyone calls their name and if they have any race experience. Majority of participants had zero race experience in any of the disciplines.
• Watch a short video of “Full Throttle Endurance” triathlon team (scott is the founder) – basically saying how awesome they are (one of the best national teams), how they have access to state of the art equipment with complete data to support training, and their dedication (training starts at 5:45 am for 4-5 days a week)
• Going over various triathlon distances (sprint, olympic, half ironman, ironman) — not everyone is built for ironman. And recommend at least 5 years of training before attempting. Scott said he specializes in the shorter distances and his opinion is that sprint is the most difficult as you’re heart rate is at race pace for nearly 2 hours or more.
• You have to set your race calendar to A, B, and C races. We can only peak about twice a year
• When you finish any race, do it with a smile and raise your arms as every race is a victory.

SWIM (lead by scott & andrew) – about 45 mins

This wasn’t a class on “how to” swim. This was also focused on form and technique. I would say most people in the class were amateur uncoordinated swimmers, including myself.

• Everyone split into three lanes. First drill was to swim on your back and keep your body horizontal. Focus on kicking straight and not bending knees too much.
• Don’t gasp for too much air as your lungs can’t handle it. Short gasps of air. There’s nothing wrong with taking a gasp of air after every stroke.
• Drill – one arm stroke. Right arm stroke is fine. Left arm stroke is weak. Not weak, but uncoordinated and have to practice.
• Use your hips to “thrust” forward. Try to keep your body straight. Free style stroke, breathe after every stroke.
• Don’t cross your arms when swimming otherwise your body gets imbalanced.
• Don’t over kick – you’ll tire yourself out.
• For the guys that are wearing board shorts (like me, hahah) — they weigh you down, Get speedos as they keep you more buoyont and have less friction. Get over it, this is the sport. (just bought speedos online now, can’t wait to show my package)

BIKE (spinning session lead by scott, andrew tweaking everyone’s bike setup)

We all started at a gear that was meant to be in a steady / aerobic zone. He had us test if we were in our aerobic zone by having conversations with our neighbor. I didn’t have a neighbor, so I did what I do best — talk to myself. If you couldn’t carry a conversation, you were in too high of a gear and had to adjust. My aerobic trainer gear was 12. What this equates to on a real bike, have no idea.

We went through an aerobic session then he had us increase the gear by 2 (12 + 2 = 14), and get out of the saddle to ride for two minutes. The focus was not so much on cadence when we were out of the saddle (although he said it should be around 70-75), the focus was to make sure our pedaling stroke was smooth and controlled. Don’t bounce on your pedals.

He then had us sit back on the saddle and increase the gears by another two (12 + 2 + 2 = 16) — this was my solid/race pace zone. He said the cadence should be around 80. My wattage was around 350w (have no idea of this is good or bad) but definitely had my quads burning.

We then went back to aerobic for two minutes to recover, and he said to increase by another two gears to get back to race pace, except to spin at 90 cadence which should now be in your “hard” effort. Aka working on your “pain bank”. This only lasted for 30 seconds but we repeated once more. Wattage was around 385.

Good session!

You’re allowed to bring cleats as the pedals can attach to most cleats.

• The most efficient cadence is 90. Same as running — this is not by coincidence.
• If you stiffen your arm, you will feel it on your elbows and neck. Keep it relaxed. You hold yourself with your core.
• You should have a slight bend on your knee.
• Knees should be slightly inward.
• When you are close to finishing up the bike leg of the race, make sure your cadence is high 90-100 so that when you get off – it doesn’t feel like bricks. If you are in too high of a gear and your cadence is at 40-50, then your legs will “memorize” the cadence and it will carry over to your run. Keep it at 90-100. Stand up on your pedals to stretch your calves towards the end of the bike leg.

TRANSITION

• Practice transition like you would for swim, bike, run. It’s silly to lose time in transition, even more silly to lose the race against your competitor in transition and not because of swim, bike, run performance.
• Have a checklist of items
• Set up your gear in the order in which you put them on. The gear you first put on should be CLOSEST to you. For instance, shades, helmet is put on first therefore it should be closest to you.
• Transition bag isn’t necessary but nice to have as it organizes all your wet/dry gear in compartments.
• You will see all crazy **** going on in transition, you need to experiment yourself.
• Sunglasses are for eye protection but some pros don’t wear them. Personal preference.
• This is not the place to hydrate and load up on energy gels. Fuel up on the bike
• Race Number Belt – to easily clip onto your waist as opposed to putting pins on your jerseys that can cause damage.
• Speed laces (so you don’t have to tie your shoes, it’s faster)
• Rub vaseline in the insoles of your running shoe
• Rub bodyglide antichafing stick religiously on your neck (less friction with the wet suit), ankle/lower leg (so wet suit can easily come off)
• No socks. Unless you’re going half-ironman – ironman distance where comfort plays a role.
• Run with the bike by holding the seat, not the handlebars.
• Wear your tri-shorts underneath your wetsuit.
• Tri shoes have few velcro straps. Road shoes have the “clickety” strap often seen on ski boots. Tri shoes are easier and faster to take on and off but offer less foot support than road.

RUN

• Drill 1 – Find a buddy and have their one arm across your chest so you can lean forward against it. Run together, this will keep you from thinking that you will fall forward — you won’t. It just feels that way.
• Drill 2 – Push off with one leg only. It should look like you’re limping. The focus is to land and push-off on your mid-foot.
• Most efficient cadence (90-94). If you don’t have a computer just count how many times your right foot hits the ground in 30 seconds and times that by 2.
• Slightly forward position. If you’re too upright, there’s a lot of impact on your feet/ankles/knees.
• Keep your feet low, meaning don’t raise them high like a gazelle. Keep them as low as possible to minimize the impact but not so low that you’re dragging your feet.
• Don’t heel strike as it has the most “shocking” effects throughout the body
• Strike midfoot/forefoot — NOT on your toes.

Q & A

These are all the questions that were asked by others and I. This isn’t word-for-word, I’m recalling what I remember.

1. Should you carry a spare tube and co2 while racing?

Answer (andrew): Depends on the race. I flatted and now contemplate whether or not to carry one. It’s personal preference and depending on how important the race is for you. If it’s an Ironman, then definitely. If it’s a sprint or olympic distance — it’s your choice.

2. Do you recommend sleeves or sleeveless for wetsuits?

Answer (scott): Pros will tell you sleeves. We will tell you sleeveless. But you should rent a wetsuit to decide for yourself. We feel restricted on long sleeves and the water is never cold enough in our races to warrant sleeves.

3. Should you bring a bucket of water on swims that occur on beaches (to wash sand) ?

Answer (andrew): I don’t as it’s one less thing to worry about. By the time I’m running into the transition area which is usually grassy, the sand gets cleaned off on its own.

4. Do you hydrate more if you sweat a lot?

Answer (andrew): Yes, I know athletes that sweat so much they need to take additional electrolyte, potassium, and salt pills that “normal”. Fuel is an area that differs from person-to-person and one area that requires a lot of experimentation. Not everyone is the same.

5. Why do men shave?

Answer (andrew): When you crash, and we will all crash, it’s easier to put on bandages, remove bandages, and clean road rash.

6. What do I do if I have a minor case of shin splints ?

Answer (andrew): A few drills can help you. First is to walk on your heels with your toes pointed upwards a few times a day. The second is to sit down and raise your feet up towards the sky, while moving your feet like you’re writing the alphabet. (A, B, C, D’s, etc). The reason why you got shin splints is because you increased your mileage too fast. No more than 10% increase week after week is the general rule to go by.

7. Is there any other cross-training exercises you recommend?

Answer (andrew): Strength training should be incorporated at least 1-2 times a week for injury prevention. Any other activity that raises your heart is also good but swim, bike, run is enough.

8. What about yoga?

Answer (andrew): I don’t do it mainly because I can’t stand it. It’s too intense for me. I do stretch regularly and feel I don’t need to be any more flexible. But if that’s for you, then there’s nothing wrong with it. A lot of my athletes do yoga and pilates.

9. Do you have a site where we can follow a training plan?

Answer (andrew): That wouldn’t be fair as everyone is different and at different fitness levels. For sure if you were to sign up, we will give you the individualized attention to have you ready in time for the Mighty Montauk Triathlon later this year or any other A races you are thinking of.

10. Could you use any other stroke other than freestyle during the swim?

Answer (andrew): Freestyle is the fastest stroke. I have seen people do all types of strokes but generally you would want to get to the finish as soon as possible. People have also swam on their backs because they got tired. As long as you get to the finish line, it doesn’t matter.

11. What indoor trainer do you recommend?

Answer (andrew): If economics isn’t an issue, then computrainer is the best. Otherwise a cyclops will work just fine.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I have a damn good memory. Besides that, there are no strings attached. While they do mention countless times to join their other programs and to be part of the full throttle endurance training team — this can be decided at a later time.

We didn’t go over stretching at all. Nor did we go over nutrition (they said by law they can’t advise on nutrition since they are not certified to do so).

At the end of the day, you’ll have a sense of what gear to purchase and learn basic technique & form for all three disciplines. The crew over at Full Throttle Endurance seems like a competitive and classy bunch — no egos allowed, everyone is treated the same.

More info on the triathlon training camp can be found here:

http://www.chelseapiers.com/sc/triathlon.htm

Thanks again KT for the gift — was truly a memorable one. I’ll show my appreciation on valentines day. *wink*