Do you do drills?

[csh_01]

I've been focusing on increasing my endurance this last month or so. I picked up a couple of triathlon books and it looks like drills are an important part of training.

I'm wondering, do you do drills? Have you found it to be effective?

[eclectic]

I was a swimmer first and I do swimming drills everytime I go out.

I am just learning to run and I haven't started drills yet but I will get to them eventually

I am bad - i don't do cycling drills but I know i should but I have to learn some first

Drills are good and really help in the long run

(the swimming drills are especially good for helping keep an efficient stroke)

[Tri'inMomma]

I was a swimmer growing up too, so I also do swimming drills when I go out - freestyle catchups, kicking drills, etc.

I started going to a triathlon training group 4 weeks ago and we do run and bike drills as well. We do a lot of Fartlek training with our weekly runs (usu 30 sec all out and 30 sec recovery or 1 min hard and 1 min recovery, sometimes they pyramid them - 1 min hard, 1 recover, 2 hard .... etc), running catch up lines for longer distances, in addition to about 5 drills on the grass: high knees, soldier, backwards running, grapevine and side to sides.

Bike is new to me so I am still learning all the bike drills. Today we are supposed to bike for 45 minutes as follows:
-15 minute warm up
-15 minute workout (openers or pick-ups) - hard for a full minute then actively recover for 4 minutes. Do this three (3) times
-15 minute recovery

I can already tell a difference in my running. I think without the run drills we would be lulled into training at our usual pace and wouldn't push ourselves to pass the uncomfortable threshold needed to train our hearts and legs to go faster.

[rocknrollgirl]

I do drills in the pool and also running. I am an off road triathlete so they are tough to do on a mt bike. The terrain will determine what type of bike workout it will be.

You HAVE to do them if you want to get faster. I did running drills once a week all winter and one pool workout was devoted to hard drills. They will make a world of difference.
The nice thing about those workouts is although they are very hard, they can be a bit shorter. For instance, my running workouts were on 30-35 mins doing drills. Hard and fast. Good stuff.

Good Luck.

[csh_01]

That would be so awesome to have a triathlon training group!

My fear has been that I wouldn't be able to do the distance of my first sprint. I can now do each of the components individually and I have a few bricks under my belt which gives me a little more confidence. Now, if I can train myself to do it more efficiently and faster....


Where do you find drills? Do you have a triathlon book? Wesbite? Or a book for each activity? What are your favorites?

[roadie gal]

I took a few swim lessons early in the season. My instructor was very into doing drills. I got so bored with them that I can't make myself do them at all now.

I would like someone to show me how they help rather than just have my do them (like showing me what I'm doing wrong and then have me do it correctly and THEN point out a drill to help me).