British Columbia Modern Pentathlon Association

The Ultimate Sport - The Ultimate Athlete

Training Tips: Hydration

How do you know how much to consume? The Position of Dieticians of Canada, the American Dietetic Association and the American College of Sport Medicine "Nutrition and Athletic Performance" was published in 2000. The Sport Nutrition Advisory Committee (SNAC) of the Coaching Association of Canada has produced a nutrition tip sheet "Fluids for Athletes". It summarizes the recommendations from the three professional organizations, providing a quick reference for coaches, athletes and active Canadians. This nutrition tip sheet is available on www.coach.ca/e/nutrition/resources.htm.

Are you looking for a professional who can help you? The Coaching Association of Canada's Sport Nutrition Advisory Committee (SNAC) is made up of registered dieticians and exercise scientists specialized in nutrition for physical activity and affiliated with the Canadian Sport Centres. Visit www.coach.ca/e/partners/nsc.htm to find out how to contact the Canadian Sport Centres and how to access dedicated service providers - registered dieticians, sport scientists, physicians, therapists, etc.

The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) is the professional organization of exercise scientists and health and fitness consultants. Members are actively involved in researching and delivering the latest developments in fitness advice. Further information can be found at the Web site www.csep.ca/index.asp.

The Dieticians of Canada Web site www.dietitians.ca allows you to search for a registered dietician in your area.

Are you looking for information? The Position of Dieticians of Canada, the American Dietetic Association and the American College of Sport Medicine "Nutrition and Athletic Performance" is available at www.coach.ca/e/nutrition/resources.htm and at http://www.dietitians.ca/news/highlights_positions.html. Other nutrition related position papers, including "Vegetarian Diets" are available on the latter site.

Training Tips: Freestyle Turns

By Gary Vandermeulen Hydro Dynamics Consulting gmeulen@seaside.net

Freestyle turns can become your greatest strength.  However you must decide to dedicate yourself to making them better. With everything that you have done thousands of times it becomes harder and harder to change because the number of poor turns compared to good turns is against you.  So the first thing you have to do is be prepared to dedicate yourself to making every single turn as good as you can.  Once you have made the decision to do that, this is what you do:

Divide your turn into phases,

1.Swim up.     2.Arm action.     3.Leg action.     4.The plant.     5.Push off.     6.Swim out.

Your turn is all of these things. It is not just a flip over. 

In the Swim up (1) you have to look for the wall and your brain will automatically give you a feel for how many strokes it is until the wall.  This needs to be done just outside the flags.  It is very important not to lift your head to do this, so you must use your peripheral vision and the 'T' on the bottom of the pool.  For some turns, where the wall meets the bottom is an even better indictor.  In this swim up phase you need to take your last breathe two or three strokes before the wall.  You need to do this so you can keep your concentration on how far you are away.  If you breathe just before the wall or at the wall you have given your turn no chance of being fast.  You might as well do a hand touch turn if you breathe on your last stroke.

In the Arm action  (2) part of your turn you will need to be able to turn on either arm.  That means you will have an extra option compared to a one armed turner.  Most swimmers are.  In the arm action into the wall your second last stroke stays at your side with the hand remaining palm up.  Your last stroke will follow a normal stroke pattern but your head follows your arm down into a tuck.  Your last stroke will then meet up with your second last stroke which is still at your side.  Your two arms now STAY in the same position at your sides, while your body flips over them.  Your two arms help your flip over while remaining in basically the same position.  Once your legs get onto the wall your hands will still be together but waiting for your push off, over your head. 

In the Leg action (3) phase, your legs will be doing their flip part of the turn.  The quicker this is, the faster your turn.  Immediately once your two arms are at your sides, you do a very quick dolphin kick to initiate your flip.  Tuck your forehead towards your knees after the dolphin kick.  Your arms will push against the water in an upward scull and you will drive your feet towards the wall.  You should continue to be looking at your knees until your feet are on the wall.  If you were to swim in freestyle and out backstroke your feet would be best planted upside-down.  For freestyle, your feet should be about 45 degrees but not sideways.  Keep your tuck position moving until your feet are directly opposite the best streamlining tangent. 

The Plant on the wall (4) portion is now the beginning of the changed direction of your turn.  The first half with practice will be done without slowing down for the wall at all.  Your arm tempo coming into the wall and your stroke length should be slightly adjusted to make the turn, but this should be done without changing your velocity. You should plant your feet on the wall at exactly the same depth as where your outstretched arms are.  You should then have a straight line from hands to shoulders to hips to feet.  If you drew a circle made by your feet flipping over, the arc should touch the wall without making your feet extend out or crunch in to touch the wall.  The point where you touch the wall should be exactly the spot that you will push off.  The reason you want to plant on the wall is so you can get a strong push, so ideally your legs should have a bend at the knees that will give you the greatest power.  The spot on the wall is about half meter deep which should be exactly the same depth as your hips shoulders and hands but the depth depends on your size. If you have planted high or low or to one side your push off will have to compensate to make you go straight and this will slow you down.   If your feet are away from the wall your turn will be 'strike' and not a push.

The Push off (5) is set by lining up the hands-shoulders-hips-feet.  This line has to be parallel to the surface.  You must squeeze your ears before you push off.  Most people streamline ‘after’ they push off.  This is obvious when you see turns in slow motion underwater.  However, once your feet have left the wall you immediately begin to slow down.  If your head is squeezed then you will slow down less.  Just after you push off one foot needs to cross the other slightly.  This will make a slight spin onto your front from your upside-down position.  Do not try to set your self on your front during the plant.  This is a common mistake.  During the push off you need to be aware of your position in the water.  Begin to spin towards the side you are leaning by angling your feet over each other. You will want to be going in a straight line.  You may have to adjust using your arms and legs to get that straight line but eventually you can use this part of your turn as a very fast moving rest!  WHAT!?  A rest, yes indeed, squeeze your head take a half second to two second rest and when you feel your speed decrease begin to add your kick.  In the sprint events you will want to kick sooner.  Since you should be traveling faster than 2 meters per second you will be going faster that you can swim.  So enjoy the product of an excellent turn by not slowing yourself down with an immediate leg kick. 

You are not finished your turn until you have done your Swim out (6). While your kick is slowly accelerating to maintain your push off speed you will need to add your first arm stroke to also maintain this speed. When you begin to press down you need to make sure your remaining streamlining arm is still against your ear.  As this first arm stroke finishes its pull you will break the surface with your head.  This stroke should be very strong to try to swim as fast as your were when you pushed off or even faster.  Canadian 50m freestyle record holder (22.15) Ryan Lauren is extremely good at the break out, get your swimmers to observe his turn!  The second arm stroke should not have a breath unless your breathing stroke does not slow down your tempo.  You should then make a note of where you are in relation to something on the deck on your first breathing stroke so as time goes by this distance could become easier to reach and farther.

Good luck,

Gary VanderMeulen

Gary was on the 1988 Canadian Olympic team (4x200 free relay, 400 free), coached the 2000 British Olympic team, the 2002 Scottish Commonwealth Games team and is the current Canadian record holder in the 800 freestyle. At present, he is the coach of Alison Sheppard (2002 world #1 50m freestyle) and also does private teaching and consulting in Duncan, BC.

Running guidelines for Modern Pentathlon Edition I (Jan94)

Written by Phil McOrmand, Coach NCCP 2

Novices: Almost any regular aerobic activity kept up for more than 20 minutes will help build the ability to run the l km distance required for Modern Pentathlon. The critical component for athletes under 12 is that the activity should be fun. Game activity is preferred for this age group and training should have an element of fun to it to avoid dissatisfaction and possible early burnout. Plan: 1. -Regular physical activity of at least 20 minutes on a 2-3 times/ week basis (soccer, hockey, basketball, swimming or just hard playing). 2. -Once a week do a run of 1 km keeping track of time to do the run. (The run should be of good effort (hard) but not all-out). 3. -Once a month do a timed track run of the 1 km distance and keep track of the time. (The JAAP meets are excellent for keeping track of times)

Juniors: For ages 12-15 some regular training can he done during racing season but should be confined to the season when that sport takes place.  For example while JAAP is going on, running training should be done during that period.  Training should be fun and should consist of at least a 2 -3 km run done twice a week. The runs should be spread out so that two to three days of rest occurs between runs. One of the runs (the longer one) should be at an easy pace - easy enough that talking is possible while running.  Don't worry about time for the easy run JUST DO IT!  The second run should be done at a faster/harder pace and should be fast enough that talking would be difficult or not possible.  Once a month a timed run should be done at a track and a record kept of the effort. Juniors should keep a log of all their training efforts during the season in all their sports. Plan:     1. Easy run on Tuesday or Wednesday of 2-3 km in length. (Be able to talk- bring a friend) 2. Hard run on weekend of at least 2 km (This one should be tough to do and you should be tired after) 3. Timed run on a track (over the race distance) should be done once monthly. (This run can be with the JAAP event).

Seniors: For those athletes over 15 if you have reached your adult size and approximate weight then you can train at a substantially  higher level.  Training is limited only by your available time and energy.  As a guide, seniors should be running at least 3 times a week for 20-30 minutes at a time.  Once a week a long run of at least 5 - 8 km should be done - preferably on a weekend.  This run should be very easy and relaxed.  You should feel you could go much faster- but don't!  If you cannot talk then you are going much too quickly. The second run of the week should be about 4-5 km and should be at a hard pace.  Talking should be hard to do while you are running.  The pace should be no slower than about 20-30 sec/km off your race pace.  The third run of the week should consist of hill work during the early part of the season.  A hill that takes you about 1-2 minutes to climb is about right (with a walk down afterwards). Start out with 4 times up and down and build up to 10 times over about 6 weeks. (i.e.: increase by one repeat each week).  Hold the hill repeats at 10 for 2-3 weeks then switch into speed workouts.  The speed workout should be done on a track where a measure off distance can be kept. Plan:   1.  Easy run done on Monday or Tuesday of 5-8 km. 2. Harder run done on Thursday or Friday. 3. Hills or timed intervals done on Saturday or Sunday. a) Hills should take 1-2 minutes to run up and then walk down repeat 4 to IO times b) Speed workouts run 5 to 10 - 400 in repeats at 10-15 seconds faster than race pace­(Allow time for complete recovery between intervals). 4. Do a timed run at least once a month and keep track of performance.

General Guidelines:

Don’t run alone unless you are in familiar areas or not far from home. Always let your parents know where you are and when you will be done. Don’t run in the dark unless you are wearing a reflexive vest. Try to run with a friend, it’s more fun that way.

Air Pistol Shooting for Modern Pentathlon

By Art Tomsett, Shooting Coach, NCCP Level 2

Coming soon...

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Copyright © 2001 British Columbia Modern Pentathlon Association
Last modified: September 19, 2004