Message from Bill and Wendy: A Popular Race Made More Meaningful

For the past few years, the Five Star Triathlon in Douglas, MA has been a very popular race attracting a good size field of athletes ranging from beginners to elites. Starting this year, it has become a more meaningful race. Renamed the TDD Triathlon, it is a memorial race for Tyrus, Dante, and Daniel Vescio, triplet sons of Don and Elaine Vescio who are well known local athletes. Plus the TDD Triathlon is a fundraiser for the University of Massachusetts Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Worcester, MA. Don and Elaine view this race as a celebration of their sons’ brief lives and an opportunity to help other babies live long, healthy lives.

Tri This! : The Vasa Swim Ergometer- A Swimming Power Meter

The Vasa Swim Ergometer is simply the most powerful swim tool on the market both figuratively and literally. The “erg” can be used as a supplement to your pool training, or in place of a swim when you cannot get to the pool. This can lead to valuable time savings for training.

Many triathletes would like to improve their swimming, but extra time in the pool usually comes at the expense of cycling or run training time. I have found that as little as 2 to 3 fifteen minute sessions per week on the swim ergometer can yield incredible results.  

The Vasa erg displays time, distance, pace, wattage, and strokes per minute. In addition, it contains a metronome to allow work on tempo, and allow you to set up workouts with specific distance intervals, time based intervals, and recovery times. This allows you to fine tune your optimal stroke rate to yield the best power output.

Some of the key benefits of training on the Vasa erg include:

• Allow for power based swim training
• Develop an efficient and powerful stroke
• Develop fatigue resistance
• Find optimal stroke rate
• Reduce shoulder impingement injuries
• Fine tune stroke mechanics
• Increase swim frequency
• Add focused training
• Train with variable resistance levels

I have found the erg to be an essential tool in my training of beginners, time crunched age groupers, and elite professionals. People who are new to swimming need to develop specific muscle endurance and power to be able to safely and confidently complete the swim course, and to develop swim skills. The Vasa erg is a great teaching tool as immediate feedback is available from the coach and the display monitor. 

Busy age groupers can jump on the erg for a quality 10-15 min session following a strength session, of after a bike or run. This increased swim frequency leads to higher quality, and time effective training. 

For the elite swimmers, who already have good swim form and body position, the erg will build power and fatigue resistance to give them more distance per stroke.  

In conclusion, the Vasa Swim Ergometer is to swimming what the Computrainer has done for cycling. If the swim is your weak link, you need to check out the erg. You can learn more including reviewing demo videos at www.vasatrainer.com, or contact Tim Crowley at tc2coaching@ Comcast.net to set up a teaching demo. 

Tim Crowley is a USAT Elite Level Coach. He runs TC2 Coaching LLC, and is the Director of Fitness at Wayside Racquet and Swim in Marlboro.

Local Highlight—Meet Gayle Galletta: Mom, Wife, ER Doctor, Ironman

Ever since I was a child, I have enjoyed competition.  I started swimming when I was 10 years old, and specialized in butterfly sprints.  When I was in high school, the track/cross country coach recruited me for the team because it looked like I had runner’s legs.  However, I did not turn out to be the natural runner that he had anticipated, and I was instead entered in the shot put and discus, in order to gain points for the team since there were (and probably still are) a paucity of girls interested in doing those events.

I did one triathlon on a mountain bike when I was in high school in 1986.  In 2006-2007 I did a couple of sprint races in Worcester on a borrowed bike.  Finally, in 2008 I decided to take the plunge and buy a triathlon bike to see how I would do.  I entered approximately ten races last year and made steady improvement as I learned about race strategy, transitions, etc.  Last year, the day before the Danskin race, my husband asked me what my goal was.  I jokingly said "to win," and when I came in sixth place out of 2400 women, I thought "maybe I could be good at this."

My favorite triathlon segment is the swim.  I have started thinking of the start as if it were a water polo match, and expect to get bumped around.  It's a bonus if the start is smooth.  As a swimmer, I feel that this segment gets the short end of the stick.  I try not to do races where the swim is shorter that 1/2 mile, otherwise it is not worth the hassle of getting wet in my opinion.  Biking has quickly become equally as enjoyable for me.  I found out that I am suited for biking and should have started this earlier in life.  I have no cycling background and