The final race of the ITU world champs was held in Budapest over the weekend and this also culminated in the age group races for the world champs.
After a good couple of months of racing Simon raced in his age group for GB, whilst I am yet to find out overall placing, Simon has managed another PB for the year with a 2:01. Well done on achieving such an amazing time.
The Race season in the Northern Hemisphere is in full swing and I have been a little lax in updating progress of the team (too busy prescribing the training). I have also re commenced training the South West pod in Sydney for Can Too for the Blackmores running festival, we will always welcome more people if you want to train, we meet on Wednesday nights in Liverpool and Saturday mornings in Georges Hall.
Due to my delay in updating results below is a summary of recent performances
Eleanor, had a good start to the season with Thames Turbo sprint 1 posting a pb by 3 minutes and has dabbled in a few cycling events, most notably a 50mile TT, where she was second female overall
Ellen, recently competed in the UK middle distance champs at Bala, however treating this as a training racing looking to her full distance tri. It was a good result also considering that for many of the competitors this was a major race on their calendar. What was most impressive was that Ellen posted the fastest run time of the day for females and the 22nd fastest run time overall.
Jackie, raced Liverpool standard distance, posting a 9th in her age and a swimming PB she is aiming for faster times over the coming months
John, after being plagued by injury for a few months, but with the help of some medical advancements in treating Achilles problems, was able to race Austria 70.3, achieving a PB and raced Royal Windsor standard distance achieving a pb of 13minutes. I think one of Johns goals for the remainder of this year is to stay injury free and be able to race fully fit.
Parys, raced her first middle distance tri in Switzerland 70.3, coming 9th in her age. A great result for the first attempt.
Richard, also raced Austria 70.3, carrying a slight strain to the hamstring was given the all clear to race conservatively and managed to achieve a PB, narrowly missing out on sub 5hrs.
Simon, raced the Dambuster standard distance tri. A pleasing performance almost attainging a PB, with a blistering run on what is not considered to be a fast course and is looking forward to the ETU champs in Athlone. Simon also competed in the Crystal Palace sprint Tri, improving on last years time by 1 minute and coming 2nd vet.
Tamsin, raced Switzerland 70.3, coming 11th in her age, but more importantly improved by a massive 30minutes on last year, well done.
It is always pleasing when people race to their potential, with most of the team improving at every race and showing signs of improvements for the remainder of the season.
I am slightly behind on the news! Full congratulations to Parys who took a Silver medal in her age-group & third overall at this year’s ETU Duathlon Chamionships, held in Budapest in May 2009.
Parys had been focussed on this event for some time and the result was a just reward for her consistent hard work ethic and commitment to her training.
Parys, then returned home raced the following weekend & won Crystal Palace Triathlon, great way to start a season.
Parys in action at Steyning duathlon, qualifying for Budapest. Photo courtesy of Sussex Sport photography
Have you ever contemplated how you should put on your wetsuit (apart from the obvious legs / arms / front / back)? A wetsuit that fits well & is put on correctly will be more effective by being efficient & comfortable.
Firstly before putting on the wetsuit it is recommended to apply a lubricant to your calves & arms to help the wetsuit slide off, a recommended product is body butter (from the body shop), has the added benefit of helping you smell nice you will get less strange looks than others do for their choice of lubricant☺& it will not harm your wetsuit material. In addition apply body glide to any areas that chafe, e.g. around the neck or under the arms.
Putting on the suit have a plastic bag handy to place over your foot & slide your foot through (do the same on the other leg), now gently pull the suit up, aiming to gradually pull it up (not yank in one go) & careful not to dig your finger nails in. A tight wetsuit is good as it will be a good fit, a small price to pay for taking an extra minute or two to put the suit on. Once you have the suit up to your hips, start again at your calves & gradually roll the suit up higher, the suit should be as snug as possible in your crutch area, any gaps will only lead to water pooling there, meaning more weight to drag through the water. Nb most wetsuits are designed to be shortened, by cutting the calves, this can help with putting the suit on or off. I recommend you check with your wetsuit supplier prior to making any changes.
Now to the arms & repeat per the legs with plastic bag over your arms. Like the legs gradually pull the suit up your arms & again pull it up further so that the suit fits snugly around your shoulder (including under arms). Pull the suit up your torso (again by grabbing a roll & rolling it up) so that the suit is snug around your neck. Ask a friend to zip you up gently, make sure you breathe in & pull the shoulders back to assist. Place your cord where you want it so that it can’t be pulled down during the swim & you can access it quickly in your transition. Your wet suit should be on & you are ready to swim.
This does not quite mean you are ready to race, you should acclimatise to the water first (especially if the water is cold), do this by placing the feet & ankles in the water & give them a minute to adjust, now walk in further, up to your waist & place your hands & wrists in the water again acclimatising for a minute or so. Now gradually go in deeper and place the head under the water. This should be less of a shock to the body & respiratory system than simple diving in. Swim 20 or so strokes & roll onto your back & slow your breathing down. If you are able try to pull your wetsuit up even higher. Now warm up by swimming say 50 – 70 metres 20 hard strokes, 20 easy strokes, have a small rest & return, exit the water & again check your suit to ensure it is as high as possible. You should now be warmed up & ready to race, spend a minute or two relaxing prior to the start.
To do this you need to be ready 10 minutes prior the race, also not all races allow for a warm up, so if this is the case, try & get wet to acclimatise to the water temperature & warm up using arm swings & other dynamic stretches around the chest, shoulders, lats & triceps.
Happy racing
Andrew Tong | Triathlon coaching 