Welcome to the Kramer blog winter triathlon special! (yay).  Today we will be covering the elements of training in the winter – How to run in the snow, bike in the living room and swim in the … pool (boring I know).  Now that I have a workout plan until May, I can relax and quietly prepare for my debut at the half ironman in Florida.  They won’t even see me coming…

Run in the snow

We’ve all done it.  Your running in the snow and you think that nobody is looking.  Slowly you lift your head , panic and quickly make sure that nobody is around one more time.  You lift you head a second time, flex your tongue out as far as it can go and wait for that faithful snow flake to hit your taste buds.  This process isn’t complete without closing your eyes because, what if a snow flake falls in one?? Where would you be then??  Obviously the strange looks are soon to follow but, hey, I’m a tourist here and I can do whatever I want.

The bottom line is that running in the snow is slow but fun.  It has the feeling of running in sand but not quite as messy.  Your either a patter or a sinker.  If you step right on the top of certain snow, you pack it down; whereas if you run on deep snow, you sink.   It’s important to follow peoples foot steps and beware the slush if you want your toes to stay dry.  At some point, if I keep this up, I will have to start looking at GORTEX running shoes but for now, a little bit of dampness wont kill me.

Bike in the living room

Winter means snow.  Snow means ice.  Ice means slipping, and slipping with your bike into the road and getting run over by a car and getting taken to the hospital and being revived and going through physical therapy and being in a wheelchair… isn’t a good idea.  This is why we have invented the Livingroom Biking Event.  The concept is simple – Everyone shows up at my house with their cycling trainers and we all cycle for several hours while watching previous Ironmans on DVD.
Sharone and Sunny showed up and we had a great workout in the comfort of my home. I guess this is the solution to the slipping problem and I can live with that.

Swim in the pool

It’s time to take my swimming to a whole other level.  Now that I have myself filmed on tape, I can fix all of the issues with my stroke.  I must become a water ninja by the time winter is over so check out my video :

Here is what I need to work on:

• Rotation – Need to turn those hips more
• Entry – Hand needs to come in deeper into the water and the tips shouldn’t go up.
• Head – I look down too much and I need to look a bit forward
• Right side breathing – My left hand comes back too quickly so my timing is off.
• Kick – My kicks don’t turn along with me

Try watching the video again and finding these mistakes… I’m trying to work on all of them but I can only really concentrate on one or two at a time.  It’s a process….

Future Plus Update
When I have a detailed plan, I will post it and also I will try to post my actual workouts and comments as much as possible.  To view my complete workout log : WORKOUT LOG

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נתחיל בשאלה המתבקשרת. מי צריך כזה דבר? היופי הוא שברגע שרואים את האופניים המתקפלות האלה, אפשר לחשוב על לפחות עשרה מקמות בהם היה מאד נח להסתובב עם כזה דבר – בקמפוס , בעבודה, למכולת, בטיולים בחו”ל , וכמובן, מהחניה הרחוקה אל תוך תל-אביב.

הנה תמונה מאליפות העולם של אופניים מתקפלות:

אבל המהפכה לא נגמרת כאן. יש מספר לא קטן של אופציות לגבי הקניה. יש את החברה הבריטית Brompton. החברה הזאת אפילו מארגנת תחרות של אופניים כאלה -

אבל זה לא הכל, יש עוד המון פטנטים חדשים בתחום. למשל יש מישהו שהחליט שבמקום לקפל, אפשר גם למחוץ! זה פשוט גאוני ובטח יש עוד מלא דברים שאפילו לא הצלחתי למצוא. אם אתם מכירים עוד אז תשאירו תגובות. דמיינו איזה טריאתלון מגניב היה יכול להיות אם היה צריך לרוץ עם האופניים על הגב ולהחליף מריצה לאופניים בכמה מקומות במהלך התחרות!