the variables in triathlon

peter kern

SInce i had an conversation about swimming times with a bordie last week this shoews how many varibales we have in the sport.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Guess_Lionel's_New_CdA_P5901185-6/

I am not sure exactly but it gets intersting at page 6 i think. All simple things but always good to remember ( and even a smart engineer that really knows his stuff got something wrong.

-we have change of positon
-time to addapt to position (one guy asking why no real change in -time after massive change )
-real world vs testing in a wind tunnel or velodrom
- getting more aero vs not losing power (that might be before page 6)
-difference beteween indoor and outdoor
-inhertia of turbo trainer.
-various course profiles that suit differnt riders
-different powermeters ( with different smothing algorythem etc )


many people are getting so cought up in numbers compare their training times with other peoples times . testing is useful but at the end of the day what really counts is the race result.


for the pool
last week I had one guy doing a 5.43 tt in one 25 meter pool
and the next week in 5.17 in another 25 m pool.

yes swam with a very different protocol ( the other -slower time- protocol was more a profiling protocol, the 5.17 a standatd 400m tt) ,
a faster pool ,
colder water,
nobody swimming beside him,
much less chop.
he had a better idea of pacing.
pre hydration
could have been more motivated and had more confidence as a 5.43 was a time he would not have dreamed of last year. etc etc
of course the most obvious form of day.

it was expected that the 5.17 tt would be faster at the same time he was doing it on his own ( which in my case is an easy 10 sec slower already) so i did not realy expect a much less than sub 5.27
I am more interested in the 5.43 time as this is much better indicator what will happen in a race ie fighting with a swimmer at his abilty, chop in the water.
I have seen both tts and of course with my variable bias I belive the 5.43 was a better effort and more valuable
At the end of the day none of that testing means much and it should always been looked at in the whole picture

this is by all means not comprehensive it was just a quick brainstorm reading the thread which made me smile.
do add stuff as you wish.

the moral of the story is ;
to test is good just take things a bit lighter and dodnt look around too much or if you do look at it realistically and as positive motivation.

Kurt_Godel

Peter- just containing to your swim portion of that post: a 5:43 TT (that wasn't a real TT) in a different pool to a next-week 5:17 TT, and the 5:43 was a better effort? Do you mean better in that it got a better result (in that it led to a 5:17 which -26s is a result in a 400).

How did/will he do in the race, based on that? Or is your point that he will do better when not focussing on numbers? (and I agree that sometimes Triathletes get too caught up in numbers when all that really matters is 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

(Appreciate yours was a brainstorm post- sometimes they are the best of all to stimulate thought! )

peter kern

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Peter- just containing to your swim portion of that post: a 5:43 TT (that wasn't a real TT) in a different pool to a next-week 5:17 TT, and the 5:43 was a better effort? Do you mean better in that it got a better result (in that it led to a 5:17 which -26s is a result in a 400).

How did/will he do in the race, based on that? Or is your point that he will do better when not focussing on numbers? (and I agree that sometimes Triathletes get too caught up in numbers when all that really matters is 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

(Appreciate yours was a brainstorm post- sometimes they are the best of all to stimulate thought! )

should i have said with better i meant a better indication for tri swiming
5.43 was a tt in series of tts so thats one varialbe and a better predicor for fitness and not speed . it was done in a slower and CHOPIER pool another variable ( but better for tri) and he was swiming swiming side by side quite a bit beside somebody so that slowes down but also pushes you ( but also more tri real )
From my point of view athelte was working harder in the 5.43 tt and
what iam saying in the 5.43 tt I got a better indication how he will swim in a triathlon ie more chop figthing with somebody _ and if i may say both not swimmng very smartly - (something they need to train ) this is something you do not see in a 400m tt and of course 5.43 was done already fatiqued .

of course the 5.17 is a nice mental boost as it just sounds better than 5.43 ;-) and of top of it it was lovely paced so it is certainly not bad either . and what i like was the athelte wanted to do this tt
which was good for that athelte.

somebody commented on how slow tt times were of one guy in the series of tt s would they have said the same if the time would have been 20 -30 sec faster in a flat out tt ??? or knew that this guy would have been the guy with the least slowing down had we done more tts ?