Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Amendments to Bunbury Results & Thursday Open Water Swim

Dear Athletes

A quick apology...I hadn't scrolled down past the blank page of the Bunbury triathlon results to see the details of the Open category athletes who took line honours and also the Sprint distance race as well. Blind as a bat! Sorry. Congratulations therefore to:

  • Craig Scott - 2nd overall in the sprint event
  • Katrina Mercer - 1st overall in the female open event
  • Sandy Crowe - 3rd overall in the female open event

Also, details of the Anaconda event results can be found here: http://www.rapidascent.com.au/Results/WA2009Overall.aspx?e=6

..unfortunately I'm having some difficulty deciphering who was in which team given the various team names and also the fact that I've seen at least 3 errors with different people recorded as doing different legs of the event!! Anyway, well done to everyone who competed and especially to Kathryn Granheim and Carl Andrews who I know for sure raced solo...anyone else, please let me know!

THURSDAY SWIM:

As usual, 6am start on the grass bank in front of the pylon at Cottesloe Beach - best session of the week, pop along and see why!!!

Cheers

Paul

Amendments to Bunbury Results & Thursday Open Water Session

Dear Athletes

A quick apology...I hadn't scrolled down past the blank page of the Bunbury triathlon results to see the details of the Open category athletes who took line honours and also the Sprint distance race as well. Blind as a bat! Sorry. Congratulations therefore to:

  • Craig Scott - 2nd overall in the sprint event
  • Katrina Mercer - 1st overall in the female open event
  • Sandy Crowe - 3rd overall in the female open event

Also, details of the Anaconda event results can be found here: http://www.rapidascent.com.au/Results/WA2009Overall.aspx?e=6

..unfortunately I'm having some difficulty deciphering who was in which team given the various team names and also the fact that I've seen at least 3 errors with different people recorded as doing different legs of the event!! Anyway, well done to everyone who competed and especially to Kathryn Granheim and Carl Andrews who I know for sure raced solo...anyone else, please let me know!

THURSDAY SWIM:

As usual, 6am start on the grass bank in front of the pylon at Cottesloe Beach - best session of the week, pop along and see why!!!

Cheers

Paul





Monday, November 9, 2009

Results from the Bunbury TRI and Anaconda Event

Dear TEAM

It was quite a quiet this last weekend in Perth...people were either racing in Bunbury at the Olympic Distance Triathlon or were down in Augusta at the Anaconda Adventure Race. 

Anaconda:

We are still awaiting the results of this event, but we already have some photos posted up by "Adam the Speedy" at: 


...all I can say is after falling off my bike at least 20 times in the soft sand of the mountain bike leg and dropping back massively in the field, that this is one tough and very skilful event. It has however inspired me to look at us running a program for solo competitors next year where we'll bring in experts in the individual disciplines to help advise (goodness knows I'll personally need the help on the bike!).

There were a good few members of the squad out there racing as SOLOs, DUOs and TEAMs, so it'll be interesting to see the full results when they are published.

Bunbury:

Looking at the results ( http://www.bunburytriclub.asn.au/results/0910/Bunbury%20Classic%202009%20Results%20Overall.pdf ) it seems there were quite a few of the squad racing. As usual at this event, the swim seemed long and slow, the bike ride windy and the run hot and sweaty!!! Here are the results:

  • Glenn O'Connell - 1st place overall male
  • Alan Nicholls - 14th place overall male
  • Nathalie Laurendeau - 26th place overall and 1st place female overall*
  • Daniel Taborsky - 30th place overall male
  • Matthew Howes - 32nd place overall male
  • Suzanne Laidlaw - 66th place overall*
  • Lyndal Tudehope - 69th place overall*
  • Tracey Edwards - 76th place overall*
  • Mark Rayner - 93rd place overall
  • Nicole Klemm - 102nd place overall*
  • David Laidlaw - 110th place overall
  • Louise Jones - 129th place overall*
  • Sandy Tindale - 144th place overall*

*unfortunately there is no age-group data or female-specific results as yet, so its a little hard to see where everyone finished in their respective categories.

Nice job everyone!! Big congrats to Glenn and Nathalie - really awesome efforts there!

Cheers

Paul








Friday, November 6, 2009

This Weekend and The Master Plan!

Weekend Training NEWSFLASH:

Friday 4.30pm squad swim = join Ceinwen for the session as detailed in The Master Plan.

Saturday 6am = ride from the Bell Tower as per The Master Plan. 68km ride into Kalamunda (not back in time for the swim).

Saturday 8am = 6.0km ocean swim, i.e. 6 laps at City Beach (NB. Paul will not be here this week!)

Saturday 12pm = the final session-shift (thank god!). 12pm squad swim at Claremont Pool with guest coaches Shelley Taylor-Smith and Nikki Rogers as per The Master Plan. Please note we will then be back to 1pm as normal going forward.

Dear TEAM

It gives me great pleasure to announce that after much hard work I have finally pieced together "The 2010 TEAM CORE Master Plan". 

This is a free guide for you to all access and download as you choose which will help you plan out your summer season of training and racing, be you keeping fit, doing triathlons or preparing for the Rottnest Channel Swim. The Master Plan contains the outline of every major session from now until May 2010. I have compiled all this information and training tips as well as creating detailed maps of training routes etc so as to take the thinking out of your planning and to help prompt your action into the "doing and enjoying".

The main source of inspiration for this was three-fold:

1. Provide those doing the Rottnest Channel Swim with a detailed plan of how to build-up and prepare for the event, including my "Top-10 Tips for Solo Swimmers" and "5 Long Pool Sets" for those taking on this massive challenge. With 16 weeks to go now until the event, I am hoping this will help you step it up a notch or two and give you real structure and purpose to what you are doing. We'll be with you every step of the way obviously, but this should help you get an idea about how you're going to develop your endurance to permit you to swim 20km continuously in the ocean.

2. Given that the squad has grown so much in the last 18 months there has been the need to add quite a few new training sessions to the weekly program (all here to view: http://www.theteamcore.com/weeklyprogram.html ). So far, I have personally been covering all the new swim sessions which has meant that I have been absent from all the biking and running sessions. Apparently things have tailed off here a tad, and so together with the "Good Shepherd" and athlete mentor (Glen Blackwell) we have compiled a full season's worth of all the sessions that I will suggest and also some new routes to try them out on. Hopefully this will be some good impetus to get you back into the swing of things if you are planning to do some triathlons this year. This will also form the basis of our 2010 Busselton Half Ironman Program which will commence on Monday 11th January 2010. The actual Master Plan kicks off in earnest this week though, so get along if you can!

3. As the squad expands it has been necessary to take on some additional coaching staff. Rather than just appoint anyone in this capacity though, we have conducted a rigorous training regime and mentorship program with 7 of WA's finest up and coming coaches and athlete mentors. You will be introduced to them all through The Master Plan and also over the December / January period (from December 8th to January 19th 2010) when Paul and Adam will be taking a much needed vacation in the UK (well, kind of vacation - they'll be running some Swim Smooth Clinics there as well!). I do hope you will make them all feel welcome and continue to support all the sessions with your attendance and see the benefits in their placement within the coaching ranks of the squad.

OK, enough waffle, here's the Master Plan: http://www.theteamcore.com/images/TeamCorePlan_2010.pdf (please note that this file size for the 16 page document is 20mb and as such will take a few minutes to download).

Enjoy!

Paul




Tuesday, November 3, 2009

3km Swim Results

NERD WARNING!! Non-number-bods turn away now!!

Dear Swimmers

Thanks to so many of you for turning up this morning especially given that a) it was likely to still be a bit cool in the water and b) because you knew you were doing a continuous 3000m swim!!! 

I really don't "like" prescribing these types of sessions (seriously!) as I am well aware that many of you might find this type of swim very boring and perhaps "pointless" as a squad session. However, in an effort to help you guys improve, for you to gauge how much you are improving, and to recognise the fact that a swim such as this every now and then is a great way to boost your endurance, I don't think you can really beat it! So despite a couple of disgruntled looks at 5.30am, I think you all secretly enjoyed it!

OK, onto the results. If you recall, 10 weeks ago I set you all a 3-month training challenge: could the Tuesday Technique / Endurance work coupled with a better pace awareness from the Friday Fresh & Fruity sets help you improve upon my predictions for the following sessions: 1) 14 to 20 x 100m with ~20s rest; 2) 400m Time Trial; 3) 1000m Time Trial; 4) 3000m Time Trial? From last Friday and this morning the answer to Points 1 & 4 have been a resounding "yes!" This is great news. We still obviously have the 400m and 1000m timed swims to go, but like anything, don't fear these - just see what you can do and pace yourself well!

10 weeks ago I went through all 150 squad swimmers and predicted what time you could each hold for the 100m interval test set. My predictions were surprisingly accurate even for a swim-nerd like me! From this I said "can you all improve by ~2.5% in 6-8 weeks?" Using this improved pace per 100m I then extrapolated what you should be able to hold for 400m, 1000m and 3000m building in "fatigue factors" of 2%, 4% and 11.5% respectively. This is not a "cut-throat" method, though it is generally agreed that as the distance of any endurance event doubles the time should increase by 3-4%. I used my own "Fudge Factor" method to eye-ball the results of this equation 10 weeks ago to arrive at a point which I felt was both challenging and realistic. We can debate the accuracy of this method until the cows come home, but given that the first two results from this morning's first finishers with known experience over these distances were both within just 10 seconds of my prediction for 3000m, I'm happy that this is at least a very good approximation! 

You can access the results here: http://theteamcore.com/images/3km.pdf

From the chart, please check for your name, your actual time, your actual pace per 100m, your predicted time from 10 weeks ago, your "improvement" ABOVE my predicted improvement, and your percentage "improvement". Remember a couple of things: 1) even if your improvement was 0:00 or 0%, you have still improved as this takes into account the 2.5% goal from week # 1; 2) anything over 5% is exceptionally good - well done; 3) some of you were a little unsure if you had done more or less than the stipulated distance of 3000m - I have tried to address this below.

Colour Code:

Yellow = no original predicted time from 10 weeks ago (due to absence) - I predicted this as you swam this morning based on other swimmers of known similar ability.

Green = I have modified your finish time slightly to add or subtract the 100m or so that you felt you had done under / over the distance (please note that this is only an approximation)

Red = I couldn't get excel to spit out a negative time (I can't be that nerdy obviously!)...if you are highlighted in red it simply means that you were slightly slower than my predicted time.

Anyway, that's how to spend a morning scouring a whole bunch of numbers - hope you enjoy! ;-)

Paul




Monday, November 2, 2009

Anyone have a room to rent for Jan/Feb 2010?

Dear TEAM

Just a quick one - anyone have a room to rent or a space for a UK athlete to stay between the 25th January and the 13th February 2010?  Lauren is a physio who wishes to come out to Perth for a spot of training in our glorious sunshine but has been let down by her last accommodation "lead". If anyone can help out please liaise with her directly at Lauren lrnbrdshw@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks

Paul




Update on pool temperature!

Dear Swimmers

Just a quick update on the pool temperature at Claremont Pool.
Thankfully the engineers have arrived and are fixing the motor as we
speak. The pool temp today was 21.5 degrees and very chilly for most.
They haven't given me an update on how long it will take to get the
temperature back up to normal but I am hopeful that this will be in
the next few days. I will keep you posted on any developments but
would suggest that if you come to swim tomorrow that you bring a rash
vest or wetsuit if you like. We plan to do a longer continuous swim
tomorrow as per the original plan so this will at least keep you
moving. Why not come down and give it a try and if it really is too
cold for you you can hop out and we won't charge your card.

Hope to see some of you then!

Paul