THE NECESSITY OF TRIATHLON TECHNIQUES (Chapter 1)
"Necessity is the theme and the inventress, the eternal
curb and law of nature."
Leonardo da Vinci
Endurance. Conditioning. Fortitude. Perseverance. Willpower.
When the word 'triathlon' is mentioned in polite conversation,
the above qualities are most likely to be associated with
the sport. With images of epic struggles on the lava fields
of Hawaii seared into the collective subconscious, the popular
view of the sport is that it is one prolonged exercise in
prevailing against the odds and enduring massive suffering
until the finish line is reached.
This is understandable since, with the exception of the avowed
non–swimmers among us, almost everyone in the general
population can run, ride a bicycle and swim — at some
level. Most people see nothing particularly difficult in the
disciplines involved; they see the challenge to be getting
in good enough 'shape' to complete a triathlon, no matter
the distance involved.
And, to be fair, that view is correct if your only objective
is to enter one race and finish it, say as the result of an
ill considered bar bet. If your mouth has written a check
that your body must now cash, it is a relatively simple matter
to round up an old bike, invest six weeks or so in a 'training'
program and struggle to the finish of a sprint distance triathlon.
To be sure, many are the committed triathletes who have come
to the sport through just such a route. A funny thing can
happen once you've got that first 'tri' under your belt. You
suddenly start thinking about the next one — and how
you can do it better. Probably the first thing that comes
to mind is getting a better bike. After that, normal thoughts
include new running shoes, perhaps joining a masters swim
program and, of course, training harder.
Here's something else to add to the list: learn to
run, ride and swim!
If that sounds a little counter intuitive — it's meant
to be. As mentioned above, just about everyone can run, ride
and swim, but relatively few do all three well. However, most
people think of these as endurance sports, not skill sports,
so the natural inclination is to just go out and start training
without regard for improving one's technical abilities in
the three sports.
Unless you happen to be unnaturally gifted in all three,
this approach is a one–way ticket to a dead–end.
Certainly, your times will improve and you will get stronger,
but by not investing the time and effort to learn proper technique
for each discipline, you'll put a rather low ceiling on exactly
how good you can get.
Consider for a moment the fact that newcomers are drawn to
triathlon from a variety of backgrounds. Some may already
excel in one or two of the sports and have been told by friends
that they should give triathlon a try. Others may be looking
for a transition from team sports to an individual sport so
that they can participate on their own schedule instead of
having practices and games dictated to them. And still others
may have no real sports background at all and are looking
for a mid–life challenge and change of direction.
Whatever the motivation, it's obvious that virtually no one
comes to the sport of triathlon with a high degree of technical
skill in each sport. Now if triathlon were comprised of tennis,
golf and archery, the obvious first step would be to seek
out lessons to master the techniques of each one. But since
most people think they already know how to run, ride and swim
and since they don't regard running, cycling and swimming
as skill sports, they skip that crucial first stage, even
though they obviously aren't technically proficient in all
three sports.
The results of jumping right into a triathlon training regimen
without first developing the necessary sport–specific
skills can range from frustration and stagnation to overuse
injuries and complete abandonment of the sport. From a coaching
or teaching standpoint, this creates a two–fold challenge.
The first is to communicate to new triathletes that there
is a distinct need to achieve technical skills in running,
swimming and cycling. The second is to present a program for
achieving these proficiencies in a way that is accessible,
digestible and time–efficient.
While triathlon is regarded as a lifetime sport, it is also
true that most new triathletes are in a hurry. They're excited
about their new undertaking and probably have already selected
their first 'target' event even before lacing up their shoes
for their first training run. While it can take years to achieve
true mastery in any one of these three sports, these 'newbies'
are more concerned about crossing their first finish line
than in engaging in any systematic approach to truly mastering
the sports.
So, in order to get them to learn first, compete later, the
system of instruction has to reduce the normal learning curve
from 'years' to 'months' or even 'weeks.' That's a tall order,
particularly when you're dealing with three distinctly different
sets of movements that must be mastered. We're dealing with
true technique here, which, as you might imagine comes from
the Greek translation of the word 'techno' — the skill
of doing.
The first step in embarking on a triathlon–learning
program is to accept that running, cycling and swimming technique
requires the same approach as any other highly technical sport.
To get the right mental framework you have understand the
theory, concepts and rules of the related movements and to
develop the proper images, perception, mental, psychological
and biomechanical structure of those movements in their most
efficient execution...
From a forthcoming book by Dr.Romanov "Pose Method®
of Triathlon Techniques"
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