<\/p>
While most of our training is usually controlled and measured, racing is unpredictable and you can never know what to expect.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re unable to respond to the race strategy of other athletes, you might find yourself in the wrong pack when starting the race, dropped from the pack mid-swim, or out of position when trying to take the shortest line and navigating buoys<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Any of one of these events might mean a slow day in the water due to the inability to race effectively.<\/p>\n To be successful in managing the racing environment, you need to be able to make a move, either creating your own or when responding to a competitor. You must have to ability to switch gears to generate the speed to create separation or to stay in contact.<\/p>\n The more you practice this skill, the more speed you\u2019ll have and the better you\u2019ll be able to recover from these surges. It doesn\u2019t do you much good if you switch gears and are then exhausted for the remainder of the race!<\/p>\n You have to develop the fitness to be able to create the speed and recover from these efforts so that you can continue to race effectively. Below are some strategies to learn how to do so.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> To be able to change speeds, you need to have some speed. The first step in learning to switch gears is to practice swimming fast. Short sprints of 15-20 seconds fit the bill here.<\/p>\n Make sure you\u2019re getting enough rest between each sprint, something like 45-60 seconds. It doesn\u2019t take much volume here, as 3-4 efforts performed 1-2 times per week is sufficient. The key is to go fast!<\/p>\n In a racing environment, you generally want to build your speed rather than simply go full tilt right away to make or match a move. It\u2019s a lot more draining to make a sudden move as opposed to a more gradual one.<\/p>\n To learn how to do so, you can perform repetitions where you build your speed within each rep. You can either perform short builds of 25-50m, or you can perform longer builds of 100-200m.<\/p>\n In both cases, you\u2019ll start with a conservative effort and slowly increase your speed until you\u2019re really moving.<\/p>\n In the shorter repetitions, you\u2019ll increase your speed much quicker, and you\u2019ll do so more gradually over the longer repetitions. This way, you learn to increase your speed in a manner that saves you energy.<\/p>\n Like building efforts, you\u2019ll increase your speed during descending efforts. The difference is that the speed changes from repetition to repetition rather than within a repetition.<\/p>\n For instance, you can perform 4x50m with each repetition getting faster. With shorter distances, you\u2019ll increase the speed faster and with longer repetitions, you\u2019ll increase the speed more gradually.<\/p>\n You can really push the pace on the final repetition. Descending efforts can be good for those that like consistent feedback as getting your times will let you know how much you\u2019ve increased your speed by.<\/p>\n Image credit:<\/strong> Jacob Ammentorp Lund\/Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section><\/body><\/html>\n By Andrew Sheaff Published: Tuesday, 06 September 2022 at 12:00 am While most of our training is usually controlled and measured, racing is unpredictable and you can never know what to expect.\u00a0 If you\u2019re unable to respond to the race strategy of other athletes, you might find yourself in the wrong pack when starting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17424,"template":"","categories":[1,23],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/09\/how-to-teach-yourself-to-change-gear-in-the-water.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Andrew Sheaff Published: Tuesday, 06 September 2022 at 12:00 am While most of our training is usually controlled and measured, racing is unpredictable and you can never know what to expect.\u00a0 If you\u2019re unable to respond to the race strategy of other athletes, you might find yourself in the wrong pack when starting the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/17423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Blast<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Build it up<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Descend it down<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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