TOWER 26 Technical Phase Training - Tautness

In the TOWER 26 season long progression, we have just entered the Technical Phase of training. As endurance sport athletes we spend a majority of our season beating up our bodies through countless hours of training and racing at high intensities and extreme amounts of volume. We do this week after week month after month. This is a recipe for disaster if the body is not given a break at some point allowing for rest and recovery. This does not mean that you have to completely “turn it off” and step away from the sport. Please do not do this for the sake of your loved ones. But you can focus on different elements of the specific disciplines that will lay the foundation for your next season. You will back down the effort and volume but still get quality. At TOWER 26, we call this our Technical Phase of Training. When you decide to turn up the volume and intensity going into your next season, this phase of training will allow you to do so with the greatest efficiency. You will get more bang for your buck because of the mindful technical work you put in, in the Technical Phase.

The Technical Phase is broken up into 3 buckets. Each bucket is a point of focus for approximately 3 weeks as we build through the Technical Phase.

The 3 buckets are: Tautness, Alignment, and Propulsion.

Throughout each of the 3 disciplines, these 3 points of focus will allow you to set yourself up for success going into your next triathlon season.

Here is how we apply the Tautness point of focus to your Swim, Bike and, Run. Every 3 weeks I will address the next bucket throughout our Technical Phase.

Swim:

Tautness is how you how your body in the water. This is your posture. On land, we stand upright and are accustomed to living amongst the forces of gravity. We have the mind/body connection as to how to hold ourselves upright. In the water, where 70% of our weight is displaced by the water, the feeling of posture is foreign to us. We must learn how to hold our body in a firm position. This will help us move through the water with greater efficiency. The forces of the water want to move our body for us. We must mindfully hold the body in a long, taut position in order to counteract those forces of the water. Think of an eel versus a torpedo. The limp body of the eel allows the water to move its body with the movement of the water. The torpedo slices through the water with its firm, slender body. You want to be the torpedo.

This starts with the intrinsic core. The intrinsic core is when all movement originates. In order to subconsciously engage that intrinsic core you must think of yourself as a Tall Swimmer. Stretch your head away from your centerline as you stretch your toes away in the opposite direction as if you are a Chinese Finger Trap. This puts you in the position to start with a long, lean posture as you lay the foundation for your swim stroke. Once you get the feel of being long you can start to focus on how you are holding the upper body. There should be no vibration/side to side movement in the upper body as you swim. You should be very firm in your torso. One way we stress this at TOWER 26 is through kicking both with and without fins. We extend our arms out in front of us either with a kick board or without (thumbs intertwined) and we kick while maintaining a firm body posture. We do not allow the vibration of the kick to effect the firm position of the upper body. Then we go into a freestyle swim right after the kick trying to maintain that same posture.

Bike:

Tautness on the bike originates at the saddle. This is why it is vital that you have a saddle that fits your body and a professional bike fit that gets you comfortable on your bike. Holding yourself firm on the saddle is not only going to make you more comfortable on the bike and limit the chances of a saddle sore, but the saddle is where all of your power originates. That contact between your sit bones and your saddle is the foundation from which you derive all of your power. When you are firmly planted on the saddle with no sway, bouncing, fore/aft movement you are, once again, engaging that intrinsic core. Those deep abdominal muscles are the powerhouse for the rest of your body. This engagement allows you to put greater power into your legs as they pump up and down throughout the pedal stroke. If you were bouncing or swaying, you are diverting energy that should be going into your pedals.

Relating this to another activity such as bench pressing in the gym, think about your back against the bench and how that firm foundation allows you to push the weight up and control it slowly down. Sure your arms are doing some of the work, but the back against the bench allows that deep core to drive the weight up and down. If that bench were 2 inches wide or if your body were rocking side to side as you completed the repetition of the bench press, think about how much harder it would be to lift the weight up and down. Your contact with the saddle is no different. A firm contact with the saddle allows those legs to push bigger power and control the legs with greater efficiency.

One way we work on this on our 2 x a week TOWER 26 Coached Zwift/Zoom Rides is by having our athletes let go of the handle bars and sit up on the saddle. Once they are sitting up we focus on first having an erect posture without leaning forward or back so that the center of gravity is directly on the saddle. We point out that if there is a lean in the body the shift in muscular engagement will divert from the core to the smaller compensating muscles(quads, IT Bands, Adductors, Hip Flexors). We stress that the athletes melt into the saddle with their sit bones. Once they get this feeling, they can return their hand to the handle bars, but the stability must stay in the exact spot on the saddle as when they were riding with no hands. Just a light grip on the bars as the saddle contact remains the same.

Run:

Tautness on the run is vital not only to efficient running but also to injury-free running. Running is very corrosive on the body. If the foundation is not set correctly through tautness, as Coach Gerry Rodrigues says, “Stuff Happens.” Stuff happening in the swim and bike might be given a free pass from time to time, but stuff happening in the run can lead to injury very quickly. The amount of load on the body every single stride of the run with the body weight, gravity, and the forces produced at increasing efforts puts a major amount of stress on the joints and muscles. If the foundation of the run is not set up correctly, things can go south quickly.

On the TOWER 26 Weekly Coached Runs every Wednesday we stress: Running Tall. You must think of a string pulling you from the top of the head as if you are a marionette puppet. This elongates the spine and should bring your head into a neutral position. When you run tall you engage that intrinsic to control your body through the running motion. Pilates instructors instruct their athletes to suck their belly button in to the spine to engage the intrinsic core.

Runners are no different. If you are running tall your belly button should naturally suck in to the spine but you can reinforce it by thinking “suck the belly button in.” Once you are running tall you must remind yourself to relax your shoulders. The tall running should not cause you to tense the shoulder/trapezius muscles. Relax your shoulders and roll the shoulders back so that your scapula is slightly pinched together. You cannot let the shoulder cave forward as you run. This posture will set the foundation for quick, powerful, injury-free running.

Core:

Core work outside of the 3 disciplines is vital to helping you maintain tautness. Variations of Planks, Variations of Bridges, and Stabilization Exercises for the core will help you feel and maintain that taught foundation, setting you up for success in your technical execution of the 3 disciplines.

Next up, Alignment!

Look forward to 2 weeks ahead when we will address the Alignment bucket in our TOWER 26 Technical Phase of Training.