Gear Talk #1

New Zealanders (orginal and adopted ones) pride themselves in a rare qualigy called "kiwi ingenuity" (the ability to device a cheap and homey manner to resolve a mechanical/technological/hydraulic or any other kind of problem) Probably it's a little brother syndrome of the people from a tiny country at the bottom of the world with about 4million people living in it. But it's common to find on the papers on any other news that another piece of "kiwi ingeuity" or "#8 wire" has been a hit in the world stage, the latest one, I think, is a device that may help to save 40% fuel by monitoring pedal strokes on car drivers and it's incidence in oil consumption.

My coach is from old Zealand, but he's been here enough to be considered another kiwi. As I said before, he's been trying to help us get the best possible placing getting into T1, so the emphasis on swim technique over these couple of months. As a kiwi he is, he's introduced the world first MOTHER OF ALL SWIMMING PADDLES. A piece of kiwi ingenuity they are.

The arm paddles, or big paddles (i don't know the official name) are made of EVA foam and they are the size and thickness of a regular kickboard halved vertically. There is a very simple piece of cord at the bottom end where the board is attached to the arm. And a hole 1.5 inches from the top end that allows the thumb to slide and stay secured. (see picture).

Although they look pretty simple, these babies are lethal weapons when used wisely, and I'm told I'm gonna go sub 19min in my next race (yeah... right). But really, doing sets of 200's and then taking them off  is enough, do more and you'll be putting a lot of pressure in your shoulder and then injury is round the corner. So we do no more than 500m with these ones on a given day and after taking them off we feel we can tackle any swim. The only downside is that they slow your tumble turns... not a worry for me as we don't have many in our races.

Today was supossed to be a day off... but it was such a day!, I went to the squads brick session and did a very easy bike and a gentle swim in the sea... I'm trying to swim in the sea at least three times a month between now and October... just to keep in touch.

Date: 24 Apr.
Sport: Swim /// Bike
Time: 45min /// 1hr
Dist: 2.5k? /// 28km
Comment: what a nice day off!