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Why Track Sessions Make You Run Faster
Track Sessions Make You Faster! If done correctly! As most experienced runners will tell you, the best way to learn how to run faster times is to get used to running fast. A one-paced strategy just won't nibble away at that PB, whatever distance you like to run; so...
Practice Your Swimming Round Buoys
Swimming Round Buoys Making swimming round buoys a smooth and efficient practice is an easy way to gain valuable seconds on your competition — alternatively, it’s an easy way to slow down your swim if done sloppily. Here are three turning methods used by the pros that...
Improving Your Running Cadence Range
Frequently when working with athletes to improve running efficiency, one of the main considerations is to reduce impact and braking forces on foot strike, by reducing the tendency to overstride (land the foot ahead of the centre of mass). One of the most simple and...
Swimming Straight
Swimming Straight Swimming straight while in a swimming pool is easy. You've got a line to follow on the bottom of the lane. Swimming straight in open water is a little harder. Not only is there no line to follow, the likelihood is that the water is so murky you can't...
Open Water Sighting
As the weather warms up and races are starting to spread across the country, more and more athletes are turning to their local lakes to get some open water practice. One of the biggest problems people have is swimming in a straight line, which means open water...
Swim Faster, Less Effort
Swimming faster for less effort... that's the dream isn't it?! Actually it's not as difficult or as far fetched as you might think. Try this as an experiment: do 2-3 100m reps with 30 seconds rest - aim to swim at around race pace. Now follow that up with another 2-3...
Freestyle Recovery – Lift From The Elbows
Watching top swimmers, they predominantly have one of two types of freestyle recovery. Either high elbow - the classical style mostly taught, or with a straight arm recovery. As mentioned last week, your recovery doesn't do a lot for making you quicker - all that...
Heel Pick Up
One of the technique cues that runners sometimes struggle to master at first when changing their technique is the “Heel Pull”. Jeff Grant of Hillseeker Fitness has shared a great drill for mastering the “Heel Pull” in the short video below....
The Elbow Nudge – High elbows
Swimming with high elbows is a common technical refrain - but what part of the stroke are people talking about? The bit over the water (recovery)? Or the bit under the water? The bit that the majority of people focus on is what is going on over the water, the bit that...
Running Hydration
People are not well designed to deal with heat or limited water. While we can survive for as long as a month in a moderate climate without food, we would struggle to stay alive for longer than two days in desert conditions without water. After oxygen, water is a close...
Bilateral Breathing
Bilateral Breathing If you are able to breath to one side WHILE maintaining good form, then more power to you. However, very few people can do this. Bilateral breathing is seen as a must have skill, a must do with regards to technique. The problem with only breathing...
Breathing While Running
Just before you crest a hill or reach the end of a speed interval, your lungs go into overdrive. Your breath becomes shallow and rapid. You think if only you could pull in more air, you could surge up that hill or maintain your pace. But the more your chest heaves,...