UBCTC Welcome Back BBQ

Text Copied from Winstons Blog

Last Saturday was UBC Tri-club’s welcome-back BBQ sponsored by the new Save-on-Foods on Campus!

Group Picture at Iona Beach

The nice, breezy morning started with a 9am ride to Iona Beach from UBC. A total of 23 amazing riders showed up to negotiate the gusty winds (50+km/h according to weather Canada), especially leading up to Iona Beach. This must had been one of the bigger group rides I’ve been in awhile, which was a load of fun - just imagine all of us crossing the entire mainspan of the Arthur Lang Bridge. The strong headwinds forced us to average about 20-25 km/hr heading west to Iona, and we averaged about 45-50 km/hr on the same stretch of pavement heading east with the tailwinds. I managed to record my maximum instantaneous speed at 50.3 km/hr.

Ride to Iona Beach

Next up was our Triathlon 101 clinic at 11am just outside the club’s office at the SUB. Vince, our club’s president, was demonstrating on how to change a flat tire. We must have had a lot of funny looks from ordinary people just walking by and seeing many spandex-clad athletes, oblivious to the bike clinic going on. It must have been another one of those publicity stunts on campus. Haha jeez.

Triathlon 101 Clinic

Before you know it, it was noon, which meant that the burgers and dogs were ready. The food suppliers crew, Andrew and Lauren, did a great job getting the food behind the scenes. Also, Iron chef Matt was our designated beef cooker, while Nathaniel mostly made sure that Matt was doing his job properly. It should also be noted that Brittany helped out with security, ensuring that only members of the UBCTC got to eat the food. All in all, the event was popularly attended and people had a good time. We would like to thank Save-On-Foods for sponsoring our Welcome Back BBQ!

BBQ at the SUB

The complete photo album can be found here.

Spin Time

We have two options for spin sessions. Tuesday Morning or Thursday Evening. Due to an increase in gym spin room rental, we need to have at least 13 people sign up for the day before we can commit to it. So if you want to participate in spinning this year, submit at vote! Spin would start next week and go until the end of November, working out to 5$ a week.

Which Day would you prefer?

• Tuesday 8:30-9:30am
• Thursdays 6:30-7:30pm

Created on Sep 25, 2009

View Results

poll by twiigs.com

Setting Goals

I find it very important to set goals during the off season in order to stay motivated. Sure many of us have goals of going bigger/better/faster next season, but the first race of the year is still 8 month away. Surely there is nothing that can push us consistently for that long without any little test along the way to keep our training honest.

This was the main principle behind the UBCTC Fall Classic Race Series, I wanted a way to motivate the athletes during the downtime of the season in a casual enough way to prevent burning out come Christmas time. I have seen and experienced first hand too many occasions where in September and October athletes are far too motivated for a race far off in the future that they lose all motivation without gratification of a reward from their training. What happens is training diminishes and eventually when March comes along athletes are caught off guard and they haven't maintained their base.

To fix this, creating mini training goals (which obviously still compliment the major racing goals) allow more interesting ways of incorporating micro terms in your training, with a healthy downtime after each 4-6 week build session.

For this reason I have decided that my main focus in the UBCTC Fall Classic will be the mile run. I find that I do a lot of long runs that don't help me build speed which is where I suffer in races. With that in mind, I want everyone to chose one or two events in the Fall Classic and really put their efforts forward to accomplishing that one goal. Either share in the comment section your goal, or simply keep it to yourself. But setting quantifiable, achievable (with effort) goals which can keep you in check is a fundamental rule to ensure improvement.

Good luck everyone.

With that, my quantifiable goal is to run the mile with an a time of 4:30. Is this possible? Maybe, maybe not, but either way it will take a lot of hard interval sessions that I normally wouldn't do and gives me a goal to train towards over the next few weeks before taking a short break and preparing for my next goal.

UBC Fall Classic Race Series

Introducing the UBC Triathlon Club Fall Classic Race Series, or for short, the UBCTC Fall Classic!

In an effort to introduce the sport of triathlon to new University of British Columbia club members, we have decided to hold a race series during practice times to encourage our athletes to come out and experience what racing is all about without the heavy burden of race fees.

The goals of the series are

• Have fun

• Create a quantifiable method of tracking fitness progress

• Give an outlet to practice "race day" preparations

• Spice up the weekly test sets we do during practice

• Create a healthy competitive atmosphere to encourage team strength

I think thats enough reasons.

There will be many events:

1. Uphill Bike Time Trial
2. Aquathon
3. Mile Run
4. Swimming Team Relay
5. Uphill Run Time Trial
6. Flat Bike Time Trial
7. 3/5k Run Time Trial
8. Brick Bike/Run Race
9. Swim Test Set
10. Run Team Relay
11. Tire Change Race
12. Underwater Distance Swim
13. Beer Mile

Don't be discouraged by the number of events, nor if you are a beginner that you will be left behind. There will be 4 categories, Rookie Male/Female and Overall Male/Female.

To even the playing field, there is a large attendance bonus.

Therefore the more events you go to, the greater your advantage is! And hopefully we will be able to get prizes donated by some local sponsors!

Obviously some people will have to miss an event from time to time, or won't be able to make a single Wednesday run. To make up for this, we will have a make up week where you can do all individual timed events other than the aquathon and brick.

We have never done anything like this before so it may be a little shaky at first, but hopefully we can build the foundation of a race series for years to come!

There may even be a trophy donated by a generous soon to be alumni!

For a schedule of the events, click to enlarge the photo below.

Clash of Titans

As the triathlon season comes to a close there is one final battle to decide the bragging rights of the 2009 season. The battle field will take place in Sooke BC on September 13th where current University of British Columbia Triathlon Club phenom and run coach Vincent Lavallee will take on UBCTC Alumn and reigning two time Storm The Wall SUPERSTAR Derek Westra-Luney.

Vincent Lavallee will try to hold his rule of the Subaru West Coast Triathlon series over Derek Westra-Luney and make it 3 for 3 of the season while Derek will try and crush his good looking competition as he has done two years running in Storm the Wall.

Finally competing on an even playing field, these two titans of the 20-24 age group will settle the score once and for all on the harsh fields of Sooke.

A third member of the UBCTC racing in Sooke on this fateful weekend is Claire Toffelmyer participating in the sprint triathlon in preparation for her season ender later this month in Miami Florida.

A small skip across the channel and you will find the UBCTC represented in other races as Nathaniel Janzen is testing himself in the Cultus Lake Olympic Triathlon.

All round should be a good race weekend filled with great racing and perfect weather.

Good Luck

CONGRATS TO AMY

(Photo from nationals 2009)

Amy Kirkham from the University of British Columbia Triathlon Club competed earlier today at the World Triathlon Championships in Gold Coast Australia.

In her second appearance representing Canada, Amy put together a strong performance finishing in 19th out of 84 in one of the hardest and largest age groups, 25-29 and being the 50th female overall and the top overall Canadian in the age group.

In slow swim conditions (whole group was 1-2 minutes slow) Amy has improved greatly over the past year to complete the 1500m swim in 27:08. After a quick 1:40 transition she was onto a blistering 1:06:36 for the 40km bike (36km/h)!

Amy finished strong in her best event rounding out a time of 2:15:48 with a 48 second T2 and a 39:38 run time!

Good Job Amy, all impressed back home and can't wait to hear about it.

Results

Welcome to the UBC Triathlon Club

Today kicked off the start of the fall semester, and with that, a new season for the UBCTC.

A small introduction. The UBC Triathlon Club is student run and coached which makes us very approachable and adjustable for athletes of all levels, beginner to elite.

We offer

- 3 swims a week (Tuesday/Thursday at 1:30-2:30 and Sunday 9:30AM) UBC outdoor pool

- 2 runs a week (Monday/Wednesday 5:30 PM) meet at club office SUB 107B

- 1 group ride (Saturday 9:30) meet outside aquatic center

- 2 spin sessions a week (stay tuned, time based on popular demand)

We have a lot planned for this semester along the lines of a fall race series, seminars and social events. I hope to see a lot of new faces out this year!