A few pictures taken by my official photographer (Dad) at the 2011 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
A few weeks ago I was approached by Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point (via Erin D from Twitter) who was looking for a triathlon coach for her very first half Ironman. Gotta love social media for connecting passionate athletes who share similar lifestyles. I'm excited that another coach-athlete relationship was born!
Since I am filled with one-on-one coaching athletes for the year due to the time it takes to review training files, modify workouts on Training Peaks and get my athletes race ready with race/nutrition plans, Caitlin is using one of my pre-built 12-week Half Ironman plans (a new service that I have not yet promoted via my website) where I can help her with determining training zones and providing feedback on a monthly basis, along with tips along the way.
In exchange, Caitlin is using her social media outlets to provide information to other newbie athletes in all areas of her prep as she gears up for Ironman 70.3 Miami. I absolutely love helping newbie athletes learn the proper skills, nutrition and tips training for a triathlon or running event so I am so excited for the next few months to share several of my tips from nutrition to training (and everything in between).
Caitlin had several athletes recently ask her about open water swimming so she sent along some questions to me for me to answer and viola! She put together a fabulous blog post with my responses and a few great pictures to inspire us all.
OWS (Open Water Swimming) can be a combination of mental fears as well as physically being unable to swim efficiently in open water. It’s important to recognize that the only way to be a better OWS swimmer is to practice and to address both strengths and weaknesses.
To read more, check out the entire blog post and feel free to email me or leave a comment on Caitlin's blog for future blog posts.
Ask the tri coach: overcoming open water fears
How to race a triathlon....swim efficiently, pace yourself on the bike and run smart to your finish line!