Running Alien

Want to improve? Join a club!

As I’ve mentioned on one of my previous post, the Running Alien decided to take a head first dive into the world of triathlon.

While some of us are naturals at swimming, cycling and even running (although your name shoud be Frodeno), I can’t say I’m a natural at any of the 3 disciplines.

While 7+ years of running help getting me to the finish line (if I make it to the second transition), cycling is ok-ish, the swimming is definitely the weakest link for me.

So how do you improve, especially when it comes to fixing years of bad practice? Yeah… I was swimming before, but always with my head above the water. After more than 1 month of searching for a swimming pool with a schedule that could fit my working hours and may offer some sort of guidance/training, I’ve decided to become more sociable and search for a club in my area. I guess all the articles I keep reading in the Triathlon Plus magazine about guys joing clubs and then improving their performance aren’t all just lies? šŸ™‚ So one simple online search led me to De Zijl Triathlon Club which is located in my new home-town… horrayyy!!!

A couple of emails exchanges with the club and I’m joining for a trial training session at the swimming pool. The feedback is obvious: IĀ need to improve!Ā But there are club trainersĀ ready to help so I’m sold.

It’s almost 2 months since I joined the club and my training week is busy – 5 sessions with the club plus whatever I can squeeze on my own without getting my girlfriend mad at me.

I started swimming about 3 times a week and I feel more confident although there’s still plenty of work ahead… I can feel I’m doing better, I was told I’m doing betterĀ and also I can see it as well thanks to my Garmin (although technique at the moment is more important to me than numbers):

Besides swimming more often than I always did, there are other advantages that come with joining a club:

  • the guidance you get from trainers and people who have more experience than you
  • adding more structure to training
  • there’s the obvious social part – you get to meet like minded people

So yeah… I can relate to all those stories you may read in various magazines advertising various clubs. Don’t expect miracles! Joining a club will does not guarantee improvement, but if you’ll put the hard work, you’ll see a change.

It’s about 2.5 months left until my Olympic distance triathlon in Amsterdam and despite having plenty of work in front of me I feelĀ a bit more confident that I’m on the right track at the moment.

Until next time, happy swimming, cycling or running everyone!