We had the pleasure of doing a Q&A in the afternoon with Julie Dibbens.... first off she is a very cool cat. She swam at LSU 10+ years later than I and swam for one of my former teammates. She is laid back, humble and quite funny.
Gordo T'd up some great questions and history about her as an athlete- Many world titles at varied distances...From ITU to XTERRA and the only one missing is Ironman Kona, which I suspect, she will be going after in 2013.
When she is in IM training she swims 5-6 times/week - 25K. That is a lot! So many say to me "swimming is your strength, you don't need to swim much" But I am hearing the opposite both from EC Coaches, my coach and hearing what some of the top swimmers in IM lay down each week. The goal is not necessarily to get faster but to swim 54- 55 minutes and come out of the water 100% fresh- that is what theagonizing years of swimming gift of a swimming background can give you in Ironman. As Gordo said in his "talk" what really challenged him when he was elite was when Dave Scott have him sets he hated... that is what takes you to the next level. So I need to come to terms with the simple fact- swim more Julie. A pro can swim 5-6 x a week, I run out of time, but I can swim more.
Since we are on swimming I will move to today's swim session at Flatirons with Jane Scott, as in Dave Scott's sister. I have to digress as we did have some triathlon celerity spotting.... Crowie (3x Ironman World Champion) and then part way through the workout Dave Scott hopped in the open swimming lane. I was impressed.... holy cow! One of my lane mates told me to stop staring and get moving... I told him he was just jealous.
In any case... I don't seek out swim instruction, not because I don't need it, but I just don't. It was great to work on some drills and practice a new technique. I had Gordo really take a look at my stroke and he gave me 2 major nuggets of feedback. 1- apparently I lift my head as if I am sighting nearly every 3rd stroke- loss of speed. Once he pointed it out, I felt it and was able to correct- will need to focus on this in the future. 2- too much reach...whoa, is there such a thing? yes (according to Gordo) I am reaching so much forward that I am compromising the power phase of my stroke. He asked me to drive my forearm down (sounds nuts I know) and I did.... I know from coaching that what I felt and what I was really doing would not mesh up - so I felt like I was driving my hand to the bottom of the pool where as I was not. Anyway could feel the work in my arms... so I am really excited to have a few things to focus on - good thing since my swim volume is going up!
Gordo T'd up some great questions and history about her as an athlete- Many world titles at varied distances...From ITU to XTERRA and the only one missing is Ironman Kona, which I suspect, she will be going after in 2013.
When she is in IM training she swims 5-6 times/week - 25K. That is a lot! So many say to me "swimming is your strength, you don't need to swim much" But I am hearing the opposite both from EC Coaches, my coach and hearing what some of the top swimmers in IM lay down each week. The goal is not necessarily to get faster but to swim 54- 55 minutes and come out of the water 100% fresh- that is what the
Since we are on swimming I will move to today's swim session at Flatirons with Jane Scott, as in Dave Scott's sister. I have to digress as we did have some triathlon celerity spotting.... Crowie (3x Ironman World Champion) and then part way through the workout Dave Scott hopped in the open swimming lane. I was impressed.... holy cow! One of my lane mates told me to stop staring and get moving... I told him he was just jealous.
In any case... I don't seek out swim instruction, not because I don't need it, but I just don't. It was great to work on some drills and practice a new technique. I had Gordo really take a look at my stroke and he gave me 2 major nuggets of feedback. 1- apparently I lift my head as if I am sighting nearly every 3rd stroke- loss of speed. Once he pointed it out, I felt it and was able to correct- will need to focus on this in the future. 2- too much reach...whoa, is there such a thing? yes (according to Gordo) I am reaching so much forward that I am compromising the power phase of my stroke. He asked me to drive my forearm down (sounds nuts I know) and I did.... I know from coaching that what I felt and what I was really doing would not mesh up - so I felt like I was driving my hand to the bottom of the pool where as I was not. Anyway could feel the work in my arms... so I am really excited to have a few things to focus on - good thing since my swim volume is going up! 
This is so interesting! Not sure if you had time to read the blog I wrote yesterday but I've been incorporating some of Gordo's Ironman swims into my routine- and yes- holy crap he does not kid around when it comes to swim workouts! We've been pooping off 5K/workout lately though and I have to admit- I feel awesome and fairly invincible in the pool. O can see how busting my ass for an hour in an IM race now will not even put a dent in me leaving me fresher for bike/run.
ReplyDelete