Michael Lokner Technical Director

Someone once told me that ”all the greatest triathletes were swimmers from the start” and I guess that might be true. To stand out as one of the best triathletes you obviously need to be very talented in all three sports (swimming, cycling and running), but it’s without a question the first triathlon distance that makes all the difference. We all know how to run (yes you do know how to run, even if you’ve never owned any running shoes) and riding your bike is also something that most of learns in an early age. But swimming is sadly enough not as high ranked, even though most of us learns how to keep the head above the water. So if you’re the new Ian Thorpe or Michael Phelps you’ll have a huge advantage against your rivals.

Stockholm City Triathlon (SCT), the club that Marcus trains with, has one 50 meter pool booked 4 times every week. Compare that with running (usually 2 times/week) and cycling (1-2 times/week) and you understand that swimming is really important for every triathlete.

The whole year is very well planned (more about this will come in a later blog post) and this week is all about testing your capacity. The distance is 800 m or 1 500 m all depending on where in the pool you are. The lines to the right (named 3b and 3a) are for beginners and as you get better and faster you progress to the left and perhaps one day you’re along the Phelp-wannabes in 1a.

To be able to use a thought out training plan as a model for your training is really good, of course, but it’s not 100 % sure that it will fit into your own calender. The training is obviously planned to give the maximum out of you during the triathlon competition season, so another ”unplanned” event (such as a running competition) might take too much of your stored energy that was supposed for the test weeks.

Marcus ran a half marathon competition last weekend and still had some loss of energy, together with a lowered morale (because of not reaching his time goal). In situations like these it’s really important to stay focused and keep on looking ahead. It might sound simple, but it’s all in your head. Except for the muscles of course…

I had my camera with me, trying to capture the energy and focus in the pool. It’s a very silent sport, but still not at all.