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Long ago, a friend of mine told me I should increase my pedaling cadence on the bike. From the get-go, I had mixed feelings. I mean he is a great cyclist, but is that still a good idea for a triathlete? On one hand, I had back pain issues and as I mentioned in a past blog article, it may be related to high resistance. On the other: I had tried keeping up with the high cadence and ended up feeling winded rather quickly. So what’s the deal?

Definition

Let’s start with this: pedaling cadence is how fast you crank the pedals. So how fast your spinning – not much to it, but it can make a world of difference.

How do I figure it out? Well, there are two approaches: high tech and low tech. In the high tech version, you do it on an indoor bike trainer with a gauge and it tells you. Low tech: just count how many times one of your knees (say right) comes up in a minute.

Why does pedaling cadence matter?

When you are riding a bike, your speed can be influenced by two factors: how fast you are spinning and how hard you are pushing on the pedals. For pretty much everybody, you can spin faster at an easier gear or slower while using a harder one. Personally, I can’t make up with the pace of spinning for drops in gears (but I’m working on it…).

Scientific research says that high gears (the ones that make pedaling harder) are more taxing on your muscle and burn through your glycogen stores. Tons of articles, such as this one, tell you to spin faster instead of harder.

Here is something to consider when spinning faster: you reach your ventilatory threshold (how much oxygen you take in) sooner, so you are tiring yourself out way too fast. The trick is to find how much oxygenated blood can your body send to the muscle.

On the other hand: this fast spinning is awesome for a sprint or a time trial, but what about longer distances? At some point, you are losing energy on moving your legs up and down. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you think about 100 RPMs for, say, 6 hours, that’s a lot of leg lifting! I found this fascinating article where the author points out that even pros lower their cadence with length of the planned race. Something to consider.

What is the optimal pedaling cadence?

I started my research by looking into pedaling cadence for cyclists. It basically said ‘learn to spin as fast as you can’ and talked frequently about Chris Froome (apparently you are required to mention him when writing about cadence. So here, I did it). Based on their advice, you should spin at 95-100 RPMs (revolutions per minute). Have you ever tried? I have. It’s not easy to move legs at that pace, especially while staying perfectly balanced. I kept wobbling around and started to question wisdom of this advice.

So maybe 100 RPMs won’t happen for me on a consistent basis. I always suspected that it’s just not in the stars for me. And guess what? After browsing through tons of articles written by triathlon coaches about their philosophies, I learned that it’s ok. And not just because for the longer distances efficiency is not there (like I mentioned above). You have to take your own body build into account. It was pointed out that fast spinning is for small, wiry cyclists. I may be short, but I have a… let’s call it ‘more substantial build’. And no, I am not saying I’m fat, far from it. I have thick bones and tend to have bulky muscle. I can only envy people with those small muscles. Science says: due to nature of your muscle, stick to using more power than cadence. Who am I to argue with science 😉

Bottom line

Cadence does matter and you should try to move it. However, you shouldn’t disregard force. Race distance and your body type play a role in determining how fast to spin those pedals.

BONUS: How to improve your pedaling cadence?

Whether you are going for super fast cadence or not, you may want to pick it up a bit. Fortunately, there is a way to do it.

Here, it all basically narrows down to drills, which can be done either on an indoor trainer, rollers or on the road. Personally, I prefer not to do them outside for a totally prosaic reason: terrain. You don’t want to hit that serious hill when you’re supposed to spin as fast as you can with minimum resistance…

So in various configurations, you basically drop resistance to the minimum and spin as fast as you can. Personally, I can tell you that it can get your blood pumping, too. If you want to sweat, it’s the way to go 😉. In all seriousness though: it will get your body to adjust to moving your legs faster.

Sport is a vehicle to motivate others to set goals and a vehicle to break down boundaries.

Nicole Valentine

You can keep going and your legs might hurt for a week or you can quit and your mind will hurt for a lifetime.

Mark Allen

The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.

Pierre de Coubertin

If you want to be the best, you have to be willing to do things that others aren’t willing to do.

Michael Phelps

People who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Bernard Shaw

When you get to the starting line of an open water swim race, you get greeted by crowds of eager competitors. You are well aware of the fact that you will get pushed, slapped and kicked. Your fellow swimmers will make it so much harder to get to the finish line! I still laugh whenever I recall this Cliff Bar commercial – mostly because it’s so true! But what if they could help? When you bike, it’s possible to draft (not allowed in ironman races), but what about swimming? Can you draft while swimming?

What is drafting?

Drafting is basically taking advantage of low pressure left behind another athlete when swimming, biking or running. I don’t think I’ve ever heard much about drafting when running (although you can see it done by the elites) and we will talk about biking in a couple of weeks.

Quick note on drafting: it’s illegal on the bike portion of many triathlons, but you are allowed to do it during the swim. In the course of my research, I read an article where the author complained how awful it is and that drafting during swimming should be banned, too. I have thoughts… Well, first of all: it’s a lot harder to notice for an outside observer. And how would you enforce it? Try pulling people out of the water? Are you sure you can tell who it was? So yeah, there are practical issues with enforcement. It’s not that obvious when you are a swimmer, either. I have done some open water races in my life and I can tell you: it’s hard to stay clear of all other swimmers. You may keep getting pushed into certain positions. You may not be clear where the other guys are. Some of the drafting looks a lot like trying to pass other swimmers. Would that be banned as well?

Benefits of drafting

Why would you want to swim in the low pressure behind another swimmer? That’s simple: because you don’t have to use as much energy and can swim faster. I read a few different estimates as to how much exactly, but general range is between 20% and 30%. That’s a lot, especially on longer distances! It translates to over a minute on Olympic distance and over 3 minutes in full iron distance. Maybe it doesn’t sound like much, but if you’re going after a Kona spot, it makes a difference. And if you’re not going after PR or something like that: you will have a good use for energy saved later in race.

Another possible benefit of drafting: somebody shows you which way to go. We all work hard on spotting (or at least I hope we do), but it’s not always stellar. Take a teenage me as an example: I am very near-sited and it took me until later teens to realize contacts are AWESOME. So yeah, I needed others to show me the way. And even now, it’s nice to know I’m still heading in the right direction.

One word of caution though if you’re using the guy/gal you’re drafting off of to show you the way: they may be as clueless as you or worse. They may be assuming they are ok because you’re still on their heels. Just take a look every now and again to make sure you’re still heading in the right direction.

When you draft while swimming, you get one benefit I haven’t seen mentioned around much, but I think it can be a biggy depending on the conditions. Person you are drafting off of can shield you from water conditions. You know, choppy waters, jellyfish…

How to draft while swimming?

As you have probably guessed, in order to draft, you swim in close proximity to another swimmer. Just try to stay sufficiently far away not to get slapped or hit their feet. Interfering with their stroke or kick is first of all plain rude. And more practically, it can disrupt their cadence, make them go slower or knock them off-course. None of it is helpful to the draftee.

Choose person you will draft off of. This can be hard for a couple of reasons unless you are swimming with friends/ training partners. How can you tell that somebody is just a bit faster than you? And once you are in the water, they are probably ahead of you. But if you spot the right person, go after them. If you need to, swim faster for a little to catch up to them. It will be well worth it!

As I mentioned before: make sure to spot for yourself every now and again, so you know you are still going in the right direction.

Big question when you draft while swimming: should I breathe on the side of the person I am drafting off of or on the other one? Actually, there are two philosophies on the issue. One says that you should breathe on the side of the person you are following, so you can make sure you are staying close. The other says to breathe away, so they don’t splash in your mouth. So which is it? Well, for one thing, if getting splashed in the face is an issue for you, decision is super easy! But if that’s not the case, then try breathing on their side. Your drafting position though may impact your decision.

What impacts drafting?

The speed at which you are going will make a difference in how big the wake is. So the faster your pace is, the more room for error you have.

Oh, and the bigger your ‘benefactor’ is, the better. Larger swimmers displace more water, creating larger space for drafting. Just keep in mind that larger people will most likely have larger wing span 😜.

Your position relative to the other swimmer will impact your drafting. The closer you can stay to them the bigger the benefit of drafting.

Drafting positions

In-line

This is when you swim behind another person’s feet. This is where you get most benefit, but… Well, when you are behind somebody’s feet, it’s easy to get kicked. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? You can also touch their feet, which will distract them and be annoying. I also know how much I hate my feet touched in general… So be careful! When you are doing in-line drafting, you have to definitely be ever vigilant to changes of pace and direction. It’s also really hard to spot route markers. It’s definitely a trade-off.

On the hip

Keep your face away from their feet… Sounds like a plan to me! Sadly, draft is way less effective in this zone. But it still exists, right? I prefer this position by a long shot. It requires a lot less focus. You can spot easily and don’t have to be ever vigilant about running into the other swimmer. One problem: it’s easy to drift away if you’re not paying attention to the other guy/gal. I’d also recommend getting out of formation when you approach a buoy you have to turn by. You may end up with extra distance if you are on the outside or get squished if you’re on the inside. Neither of these is ‘ideal’.

I hope you enjoyed this overview and you will have time to get ready in the pool before open water season rolls around!

Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee