Crooked Necks » base

Training For the Swim Portion of a Triathlon

abahzaqi — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:42:47 +0000

Training for the swim portion of a triathlon can be the same as training for a pool meet but again its not. You can swim lap after lap with some fast intervals included and do well. You also need to build a good aerobic base, because most triathlon swims are one mile or so. If you’re like me, this aerobic base will also help your running.

What can you do to improve your aerobic base if you only have a few days a week to get to a pool? You need to maximize your time the best you can. Maybe you can use one day as a long and slow day. Just plan on swimming a longer distance than the distance of your next triathlon. Swimming past the distance will not only prepare you physically but mentally as well.

If you don’t have the time to spend for a lot of swimming, try some tricks to help improve your strength while you’re in the pool. After swimming some laps using normal freestyle method, do some laps with you hand clinched into a fist. This will make you use the surface of your arms to propel you through the water and you will exert more energy. When you open your hand again to swim you will defiantly feel how much the open hand helps.

Get yourself a set of paddles to swim with. The benefit of using paddles is that they increase the surface area that your hands must pull through thus increasing resistance on your arms. This is a good way to strengthen your arms as you swim. You will have to get used to the different feel you get from the paddles and they take a little to get used to, but they do help.

Make the most of what little time you have in the pool each week so you can gain the most benefit. If you feel tired when you get to the pool because you have not recovered from a run or bike ride take it easy. If the swim is your weak event maybe you should back off on the others till you can improve your swim.

Training For the Swim Portion of a Triathlon

abahzaqi — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:34:03 +0000

2010 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Third Base

abahzaqi — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:25:15 +0000

This is the fifth report in the series of our 2010 fantasy baseball rankings looking at the position of third base. Third base appears to have the shallowest depth of all the positions this season with a solid top tier of players and few players with any upside later in the draft.

The following players offer additional flexibility by qualifying at two or more positions. Guys like Pablo Sandoval, Jorge Cantu, Mark DeRosa, Chase Headley, Jhonny Peralta, Mark Teahen, Garrett Atkins and Jake Fox are worth considering if you have them ranked closely with another player on your draft board. If I have two players that are rated close together, I will usually give the nod to the player that qualifies at two positions to make it easier to manage my lineup during the season.

The one player who is the biggest question mark heading into the 2010 season is David Wright of the New York Mets. Some owners are still drafting him ahead of Evan Longoria in fantasy baseball mock drafts this year which I think is a mistake. He had a huge drop in power in 2009 falling from 33 home runs to a paltry 10. He was fortunate to bat over.300 with a huge 40% hit rate which was four percentage points higher than his career best. Was never able to find his swing, recording a seven percentage point increase in his strikeout rate. Perhaps it was due to the New York Mets new ballpark and he changed his batting approach to accommodate. It could also have been all of the injuries the Mets faced coupled with the disappointing season that affected him as well. In either case, I think it is wise not to assume an automatic return to his 2008 numbers.

Let’s take a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings to see where the value is.

1) Alex Rodriguez
2) Evan Longoria
3) David Wright
4) Mark Reynolds
5) Ryan Zimmerman
6) Pablo Sandoval – qualifies at first base or third base.
7) Aramis Ramirez Chone Figgins
9) Michael Young
10) Gordon Beckham – will provide extra flexibility the second or fourth week in the season with his move to second base this year.
11) Ian Stewart
12) Adrian Beltre
13) Alex Gordon
14) Jorge Cantu – qualifies at first base or third base.
15) Chipper Jones
16) Kevin Kouzmanoff
17) Casey McGehee – qualifies at second base or third base.
18) Casey Blake
19) Jhonny Peralta – qualifies at shortstop or third base.
20) Chase Headley – qualifies at outfield or third base.

Next up in the series for the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings will be the top 20 outfielders.