Wednesday, March 31, 2010

STORM THE WALL - Athlete Profiles

With the finals in both the Ironman and Ironwomen division only a dozen hours away, an athlete profile seems appropriate, as such the daily recaps will be a little delayed. With the largest UBCTC showing in Storm the Wall history, a few podiums are guaranteed along with a strong potential for the top spot in both the male and female division. As mentioned previously, the girls have out-performed the guys with 5 advancing to the finals where as in the mens division only three made it forward.

As such, I shall profile the girls first!

Yup, everyone here looks female

In no particular order, I will begin by profiling the SWIMMERS:

RACHEL SCHOELER: Strength clearly in the swim. Expected to be the first to exit the water. Rachel will need to put together a strong bike run combo in order to maintain her lead. Demonstrating that she has the legs two semesters in a row in the UBCTC Aquathon, Rachel is a strong favourite for the win.

MELANIE THOMPSON: A swimmer turned triathlete could almost be characterized as an all rounder if it weren't for her dominant swim. Although she may be a few strokes back from Rachel out of the pool, her triathlon experience on the bike and run will show to be a fearsome adversary to all challengers.

Next we move into the second category of competitor: THE ALL ROUNDER

At the elite level potentially the largest threat. Will this be the case in STORM THE WALL?

BRITTANY BUCHANAN: Sneaking up on her competitors, Brittany is strong in all three events slowly stalking the leaders until reaching the wall she is upon them. It has been mentioned that Brittany is the silent hunter as her shoes create no sound as she runs surprising many as she come up behind them. Not a Storm the Wall freshman, Brittany will put together a strong race.

MELANIE VAN SOEREN: After a few quick lessons on cornering from Sherwood, Melanie demonstrated that her bike does in fact follow her line of sight two weeks ago on the crit course. Working on the technical aspects of the bike has made her a real threat on the bike. Put together with a solid swim-run and a most spectacular wall execution could put Mel ahead of the rest.

And finally the RUNNER:

CLAIRE: Running people down is her specialty. Coming out of the water in the tail end of a race would typically worry most triathletes, however, Claire has such a dominant run that she easily catches up much of her deficit on the first uphill sprint. Coming in with the fastest UBCTC female time to the wall, Claire will be running with each other girl in her sights, hoping to pick them off one by one.

The woman's champion could be any one of them. With only 23 seconds separating these five in their semifinal, its sure to be an exciting race!

Nice Legs Ladies

The mens field is more simple, there are only two types of competitor in the mens field. The Swimmers and the all rounders.

THE SWIMMER:

NATHANIEL JANZEN: Main hopes ride in his ability to demolish the field in the swim. Match to that a huge improvement in his biking and running over the past year and he is a sure threat. Having reached the wall the fastest all week, Nathaniel will just have to make sure he makes his way over the wall. With his 4th place finish last year, he definitely will be looking to move up.

THE ALL ROUNDER
MATT REEVE: Matt is a workhorse plain and simple. Although his fitness may not be at its prime, you can pretty much guarantee that he will bring the hurt when the time comes. This mental toughness is what won him second place in the Aquathon as he broke Vincent's spirits on the run. Will the same be done in the final by putting together a strong swim/bike/run combo?


VINCENT LAVALLEE: NUFF SAID!


After tomorrow, will these three men still be friends?

364 days of smack talk, finally realized!
Also, is Nathaniel smacking Matt's ass?

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Storm: Day Two - Ladies Night

*Note: I apologize for the terrible grammar, this post was long and has not been edited.


With the weather being the focus of most peoples attention, it was hard to get psyched up for a good race when hypothermia threatened the athletes. A few teams were fortunately enough to race early in the morning before the downpour really came.

After a disappointing Sunday of no racing, Melanie van Soeren, on her female team raced early in the first heat of the day to avoid the terrible weather. Although there was more wind in the morning, the sideways slanting rain was not yet a factor. With this, Melanie put together a strong bike portion of the relay, helping her team reach the wall in first. Demonstrating that she had learned a few tricks from her cheerleading Ironwoman partner, Mel's team Victorious Secret put together a nice pyramid and managed to get over the wall in first place advancing to the semi final on Wednesday at 1:45pm.

Another UBCTC member, Jesse Chao raced on a mens team, Bio Gangsters. Having not witnessed this races, I don't have too much to report, however, they successfully advanced to the semi finals on Tuesday.


Once these morning races were out of the way, we moved onto everyones favourite part of Storm the Wall; Vincent in an ill fitting speedo... the Ironperson races. The UBCTC had a very large contention of athletes in the preliminary rounds of the Ironperson races with 18 athletes taking part.

I will begin by explaining the woman's heats. And why might you ask? Because they KICKED ASS! I will give away the punchline. EVERY GIRL moved on to semi finals!

Showing some UBCTC teamwork, Celeste was privileged enough to have a Majestic wall guy in Scott Chris! In doing so, Celeste along with Karin and Rachel showed the first heat of woman what it means to be a triathlete! Rachel finishing with an impressive 2nd place finish.


The Majestic and Celeste

Rachel running down the finish

Lauren Sagadore was without UBCTC members in her heat, yet this didn't prevent our domination of the field as she finished comfortably in first place despite spraining her ankle little over a week ago. How did she sprain her ankle? You'll have to ask her yourself.

In the third woman's heat there was a most exciting duel among the woman as Melanie Thompson and Claire traded off first place. Melanie winning easily on the swim, was caught up on the run up to the bike, however, manage to overtake Claire once again on the 9 laps of the bike. Finally with 400 meters left in the run Mel was still out in the lead, being caught only as she cornered out towards the wall. As a result of an unfortunate tumble on her head, Mel lost some precious time at the wall, ensuring Claire with the victory.

Mel with the girls team
I have no details of this race...

The final female race of the day had two more UBCTC members. With Melanie van Soeren and Brittany Buchanan racing. These two along with a surprising unknown made for an exciting race. Brittany put together a strong swim/bike combo in order to hold off the chasers, as Mel managed to pull back the gap arriving at the wall shortly after. With a shaky attack at the wall, precious seconds were lost, however, a UBCTC sweep was possible here as well.

Conclusion of the girls race, They rocked it! And are all competing Wednesday at 11 and 11:05. Come see if the 8 girls can take over qualifying for the final in awesome UBCTC fashion.

On to the men's race:

Unfortunately due to the poor weather, nearly no photos of these heroic attempts were documented. First time ironmen Winston Guo and Andrew Wight were in the first heat along with Vincent Lavallee. Along with these three, Ironman finisher #6 from 2009 and one time UBCTC beer mile participant Drew Senay was also in that first heat. Rain was falling strong and this made for some precarious corners on the bike. As these four left the bike, they were placed 1-4 in the field. Winston managing to hold his own, despite being on crutches on Friday, only 3 days earlier.


Vincent and Drew heading into one of the last laps

Andrew Wight Dismount

Unfortunately, due to the poor weather, only Drew and Vincent (who many claimed cheated by using Kory as his wall guy) managed to get over the wall. A sign of things to come.


Andrew Wight JUMP!

Kory's reach

In the second heat, the UBCTC Men had hopes in a single athlete, Nathaniel Janzen. Nathaniel planned on "killing the swim" and then cruising from there. He was pleased when he exited the water. This amphibious triathlete has no problem with being wet, as such was excited to get into the rain. Just look at the speed in which he ran out!

Lightning Fast!

Nathaniel managed to lap every athlete in the pool, and carried that lead to victory, being the second UBCTC member to lap the field by the end of the bike!

Next up was Matt Reeve. Matt was attempting a new race strategy. After losing to Vincent last year, he claimed it was simply because Vincent "bought his speed", something we have clearly never seem him do before. As such Matt did a full triathlon transition, changing into his newl y acquired triathlon biking shoes. Did this make a difference? Well, he became the third UBCTC man to lap the field in his heat. I would say it didn't hurt. Matt managed to reach the wall in the fastest time of the day in 15:34 beating out all other men and most relay teams.

There was a short intermission when the women and more teams went and allowed everyone to get rained on a little more. Finally the last of the UBCTC men raced. This included Scott Chris who demolished the field (lapping most if not all?) and reaching the wall well ahead of second. Standing in the crowd, this spectator overheard two girls talking about his massive lead, to which they said: "These triathletes have been killing it all day!" Well done UBCTC.

Unfortunately, with the relentless rain, our beloved Majestic Eagle was unable to connect and get over the wall. A disappointment for all. Andrew Wight was Scott's wall guy giving his best efforts, but with the rain, it was just too much to overcome.

The Majestic gazing at the wall

In an impressive show of fitness, Derrick Lee, once again reached the wall first in his heat. Using a different technique than many, he showed up with a chalk bag and dusted up the wall along with his hand. After a few very close connections, he managed to connect with his wall guy and knowing Derrick's rock climbing background you knew he wasn't letting go, becoming the 4th UBCTC member to advance to the semi final.

Unfortunately, Dan Clouston raced later in the day when this blogger had to return to work, and as such knows very little about his race. I can say however though that among the field, he continued the streak held by UBCTC and reached the wall first, however, due to the worsening weather was unable to make it over the wall. This is no discredit to him however, for in the last two heats of the day only a single guy made it over the wall and his time was NOT impressive.

All in all, the wall claimed 69 victims allowing only 21/90 men to get over. A historically the worst advancement in Storm the Wall preliminary round (Statistic unverified and most likely fabricated by Vince).

In the final event of the day, a UBCTC mens team, the Trisexuals composed of Nathaniel, Matt, Barry, Sherwood and finally Vincent took on the men's relay.

With a strong showing in each event, the Trisexuals managed to finish in first in their heat, posting the 2nd fastest time on this new course. We will see how they fend off the rest in the men on Wednesday!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A Storm is Brewing!

Today marked the first day of Storm the Wall 2010! And with that, the first of the UBCTC domination.

First to compete today was Lauren Sagadore (Spazzy) in her girls team made up of her roomies. After a solid swim by Lauren, they managed to hold off the chasing packs for the win in their heat!


Oh Spazzy


Next up, was the much anticipated Majestic Eagles. A team of very good looking triathletes, dressed in colours ready to take on the opposition.

Karin, nailing down a heat winning swim tagged off to Claire, who camera in hand sprinted up to Celeste on the bike. Here Celeste put together a strong ride keeping her team in the lead, ready for the handoff to the Majestic himself on the 1k. Derick, being the final member of the team put his rock climbing skills to use as they flew over the wall winning their heat by over 2 minutes.


The Majestic Eagles, with the Majestic Himself!

After a quick rest, the guys had their second heat racing on behalf of the Killer Pace Bunnies. A team made up of Scott, Andrew, Derick, Eddie and Winston. Unfortunately due to injury, Winston has had to sit out todays races, and Grant subbed in for him as the alternate.


Killer Pace Bunnies in Action

Scott in a once again UBCTC Heat winning swim donned a horrifically pink speedo leaving very little to the imagination and passed off the torch to Eddy who carried the team up to the bike in the lead. After a few rough negotiations on the corners Derick passed the line for Andrew to start running in strong contention for the lead. Starting a little fast, Andrew pulled into the lead, but slips back a position finishing the 1km sprint just behind the lead runner. The Killer Pace bunnies hit the wall and quickly climb over finishing second in their heat but comfortably moving on.


Good Lord

Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts with other UBC REC activities, Melanie VS was not able to compete this afternoon resulting in either an automatic advancement, or a surprise placement in a heat tomorrow, requiring her to show off her skills in up to 3 races in one day.

Barry Claman raced with his fraternity brothers, and unfortunately was too quick on the bike that photo documentation was not possible, could this be a sign of things to come? Also, they won their heat easily.

Finally, unofficial UBCTC swim coach Liam raced in a co-rec team, catching up many spots on the bike along with battling a few minutes of hail. My only complaint, why wasn't he wearing bike shoes?


Tomorrow marks the beginning of the individual races, along with many more team efforts.

With this weather warning, anything could happen!

Stay tuned!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Aquathon

A true test of wits, technology and cunning, this Sunday's race promised to be a litmus for the storm yet to come.


While many of the events thus far have been focused on only a single aspect of our sport the real success of a triathlete can be measured by their transition. Whether you're stuck wresting your wet feet into a pair of malicious runners or convinced the race gate is on the other end of the transition zone this small seemingly minor component of a race has the ability to crack even the most seasoned athlete.
As the participants huddled nervously inside the aquatic center frayed nerves resulted in several heated debates; would the Tri tech T provide an aerodynamic advantage in the run? How many kicks could you give to the person in your lane before it was classified as foul play? Would the addition of the tent lead to faster swim times?

Due to the recent closure of the indoor hot tub, the AC realized it needed to provide an outdoor alternative for its' patrons this unfortunately meant that the usually brisk swimming pool we were used to had been transformed into a veritable bath tub. The excessive heat made many reluctant to engage in Ivan's workout and general grumbling resulted in somewhat of a more relaxed warm up.


With the performance of the men all but decided but for a few dark horses speculation grew as to the outcome of the females division. A recent increase in spring training resulted in a number of DNS's for this event, notable contenders Lauren Spazzador and Victoria Gilbert and Alex Lush managed to eliminate themselves only a few days or even hours prior to the event. Thankfully this meant times could actually be recorded this season; an idea that left Lauren practically dripping with excitement.

In an attempt to eliminate several of the injuries of last years mass start the faster swimmers got strategically divided across the lanes (this failed...). However an unexpected benefit of this shuffling was clear water and a human target ahead of many after the first lap. As the race commenced the realities of the 93 degree water set in, and heat unable to be shed via convection started to slowly poach the contestants.
As expected Nathaniel 'flipper' Janzen emerged first from the soup glancing hastily behind him only to discover dark horse and olympic hopeful Elliot Holtham hot on his heels. As expected. Rachael Schoeler was unphased by the conditions and erupted out of the pool seconds after to defend her previous title. Arriving next Scott had in an apparently successful bid to secure victory in the pool pulled out all the racing stops donning what could only be described as pure glory...


Despite failing to 'draft that shit' rising star Celeste 'VI' Pakstas cruised in on Mel Thompson's heels next easily crushing Matt and Vince in her bid to not just own, but dominate the podium this year.

Difficulties in transition shuffled around many and the grueling reality of being stewed was quickly replaced by the familiar damp cold of Vancouver. Several contenders reveled in this new environment and the standings got shaken up still further as scantily clad triathletes careened around campus. Despite being left a little behind in the pool Claire powered forward to take second place overall narrowly edging out Mel but failing to topple the reigning champion Rachael. In the guys division Eliot put in a record setting performance to take top spot ahead of Nathaniel and previous golden cape holder Matt Reeve. Despite his recent concussion Vincent Lavallee retained his standing as a generally good looking guy proving that it doesn't take a brain to race triathlon!


With the conclusion of this event all thought turn to this years storm the wall, how will the standings in today's race affect the athlete's strategies... Will Kory Seder really be able to throw Vince and Claire over the wall? Will Celeste and Scott's recent one-upmanship style training pay off? Will Lauren and Victoria recover in time? All this and more next week!

Official Aquathon results:

Elliot Holtham 16:39:00
Nathaniel Janzen 17:32:00
Matt Reeve 17:52:00
Vincent Lavallee 18:03:00
Scott Chris 18:37:00
Winston Guo 19:28:00
Rachel Schoeler 19:40:00
Claire 20:03:00
Mel Thompson 20:14:00
Eddy Wu 20:39:00
Celeste Pakstas 21:01:00
Mel Van Soeren 22:10:00
Derrick Lee 22:39:00
Kelsey Foote 22:44:00
Megan Wolfe 28:31:00

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Legend


The Legend that is Vincent Lavallée continues to grow...

But will it be enough for Storm the Wall 2010?
Stay tuned!!

Tri-club training Ride

Saturday March 20 Tri-club training Ride

Good ride today, here's the GPS data from it.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring Fling 10k


Well, last Saturday saw the latest addition to our spring fling race series. Despite the ugly weather bringing out a limited number of riders, the competition was still hot!

Iona was dry when the group got there, with a few teams doing their usual Saturday workout. After a few minutes of letting everyone cool down and shiver at the start the race got underway. A tail cross from the South kept you feeling like you were strong all the way to the turnaround, and that's when you discovered that, after that turn around, the "tail" of the cross became a very evil head.

The rain held off, and we saw some very impressive times for the conditions. Derrick Lee posted an incredible time of 16:20, almost a minute faster than the next fastest rider, earning him top spot among the guys. Celeste posted the leading women's time with an awesome 19:02!

Waiting in the cold for the start

Without further adieu, here are the times and points (hopefully I got them right) for the race.


Derrick 16:20
Sherwood 17:02
Matt 17:52
Scott 17:59
Nathaniel 19:09
Andrew 19:40
Winston 20:10

Celeste 19:02
Kim 19:55
Victoria 20:49
Claire 21:06
Lauren 21:17
Mel T 21:48
Karin 24:43

Monday, March 15, 2010

OH MY!


After the 3rd event in the Spring Fling Series, we see a familiar face atop the female leaderboard in Victoria Gilbert. Will she be able to maintain this lead in the Aquathon next week? Rumours of an injured foot are spreading, however, no evidence of aforementioned injury can been seen in the results.

And in the mens division another famous duo in Matt Reeve and Nathaniel Janzen trying to take over the top spot. Currently in a dead heat for first.

What this semester lacks in numbers, it surely is making up for in drama as taunting has already begun for the upcoming events, Storm the Wall being the focus of most attention.

Stay Tuned, Race report to follow.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Mental Toughness


Pro Cyclist Jan Ullrich

This is probably the best article I’ve read yet on how to improve your mental game. The website also has great information on power, training and cycling. Check it out here.

Found the article posted onanother blog

If you don’t read this whole clip at least take this in:

I once asked a champion cyclist how they went so fast for so long. They didn’t mention anything about training, nutrition or recovery. Their reply centred around, “I go as hard as I possibly can, until the pain becomes unbearable, then I back off half-a-turn until it subsides, and that’s the pace I know I can sustain. Because I know I can hurt more if I have to and I now know the pain isn’t as bad as it was; and that makes me happy.” A pro looks at pain as something to be embraced not something to be avoided.


Could I live the life of a pro cyclist?
Let’s turn that question on its head. Could a cycling pro do your job? Whatever job you do today, with all its intricacies, nuances and traps that only you know about because you’ve learnt from years of experience that you won’t find documented in any procedures manual or handbook; could it possibly be done as well as you do it now, by someone practicing for a couple of hours, two nights a week and a bit of a longer session on a week-end morning? The answer is probably a resounding, emphatic, NO!

So, that nails that then. Re-align your expectations to match the efforts and sacrifices you can make. Please don’t think you can go out and buy the Lance Armstrong or Chris Boardman training manuals, follow them to the letter and make yourself a better cyclist. At best you’ll become overtrained; at worst you could make yourself seriously ill. Thinking you can do it and actually doing it are two completely different things. While you’re at work Lance was on his bike or sleeping, that’s the difference.

We’ll never be as fit, as fast, as strong, as durable, or as focussed as a professional cyclist because our next salary cheque doesn’t depend on it. But just as we can buy and ride the same equipment as the pro’s we can learn some mind techniques and tools to help address one of sports biggest factors that’s importance is often overlooked. The mindset.

Changing your mindset is free, it’s capacity to expand is unlimited, it’s something you can’t buy as it’s something you already have. The mindset is something only you can control. It’s the one thing that you can adopt from the pros that will make much, much more difference than duplicating their equipment, training regimens or nutrition strategies.

How a pro thinks

A pro never loses a race; they just ran out of time. “We’d have stayed away if the others had worked.” “We were catching them but we started the chase too late.” “I wasn’t going for the win, this is a preparation race.”

Someone else may win the race but a pro, never loses it. Although attributed to pros, these factors are highlighted in the main by team leaders. A team leader has that extra mental toughness. A pro thinks they’re super human; a team leader believes they are super human. That’s why they’re the team leader.

There may be riders as physically gifted in the team (the super domestiques for instance) but they don’t have that final killer instinct that sees them get stronger as the pressure mounts. I’m not the world’s greatest fan of Lance Armstrong but even the most hardened cynic has to admit his mental strength was beyond question.

Never mind cycling, what about other sports? Senna and Mansell, Schumacher and Hill in F1? Fergusson and Wenger in football? Australia and England at cricket? Sampras and anyone else at tennis? When all of these aforementioned people were on the top of their game the one thing that stood out was their mental strength and fortitude, despite any physical evidence to the contrary.

Even when the odds were stacked against them, they’d find a positive to cling to that they would use to lever open a tiny nick, from which they’d create a gaping hole in the confidence of the opposition. Once inside the head of their opponents it was as good as over.

Motivation

Is your motivation intrinsic or extrinsic? You may not realise the difference first off, but the answer has a massive influence on the success of your expected outcome.

Intrinsically motivated athletes, compete because they want to and because they enjoy the competitive element of pushing their body to its limits. Extrinsically motivated athletes compete because they have to and because they enjoy the external rewards of trophies and fame. Intrinsic athletes are capable of self-motivation, extrinsic athletes require external stimulus (the reward) to gain motivation.

For intrinsics, the prize was never the ultimate aim anyway; it was there as the icing on the cake. If it’s won, it’s won, if not at least they tried their best. Trying your best isn’t in a pro’s vocabulary. To reach your full potential it can’t be in yours.

Keep the persona and attributes of an intrinsic person, because invariably they are nicer people, but when training and preparing for an event flip your mindset to extrinsic. When you throw your leg over that bike youmust become extrinsically motivated. Learn the difference and learn to switch. You cannot begin to imagine how much difference it will make to your training, preparation and success. Extrinsics don’t “go for a ride” they train!

Effort & Intensity
Motivational drive is what gets you through the pain of sustaining race winning efforts and intensities during the non-reward phase of your competition preparations; or training as we call it!

Lance Armstrong always made a big deal out of the six-hour training rides he’d do in the rain, when everyone else was sitting indoors. Do you honestly think that the other pros don’t ride in the rain? It doesn’t matter whether it was true or not, Armstrong believed it. I’m out in the rain, Ullrich’s eating pies, here’s another success in the Tour. An equation that’s as simple as it was flawed. But it’s what kept Armstrong on the bike and it’s what kept him focussed on the prize.

It doesn’t matter what it is or how true or accurate it might be. Find something that you can latch on to that will get you through the effort and intensities you need to prepare for success.

We all have off days and sometimes think I’ll not go out because it’s raining, it’s going to rain, it’s cold, I’m tired etc, etc. Never decide if you’re going to go training until your in your kit and ready to go. Prepare your bike, get your bottles ready, get dressed, put your shoes on, then and only then decide if you really should go out.

Try to convince yourself to at least complete the warm up phase of your session before coming to a final decision. If you still don’t feel fully committed, then go home and use it as a recovery ride for preparation for your next big session! Turn the failed ride in to a positive ride!

Training and Competing

Make an absolute distinction between training and competing. Identify training races or events and use them as preparation for your big day. Don’t ride a series of races or sportives thinking you’re going to win them all. Because if you don’t you’ll enter the failure mindset.

Start your non-objective, preparation events with a preparation mindset. Ride them looking for weaknesses on which you can work to become a better, stronger, faster rider. Identifying a weakness, or under-developed strength(!), is a positive thing. Finding out your climbing could be better is a good thing because now you can develop a training plan to climb better.

Suffering Strategies

Pro’s don’t feel pain the way we do. That’s probably a lie, a better way to explain it is that pro’s don’t think about pain the way we do.

If a pro rider and a non-pro rider, without any external indicators like heart rate monitors or power meters, rode at 90% of their physical capacity, you’d get a different level of perceived effort from each one. The non-pro would indicate that they were flat out, 100%, and couldn’t possibly go any harder. The pro would tell you they were at 80% and could give more if they need to. Same effort, same suffering, different perception.

A pro rider trains very, very intensely or does a recovery ride. Non-pro’s often train in the “dead zone”. Where pro’s ride at 30 mph or 15 mph, non-pro’s almost always train around 20-22 mph. Non-pro’s don’t ride for sustained periods at the extreme levels of their pain threshold. Therefore when they do suffer, the suffering seems more intense.

Instead of going for a three hour, steady, flattish ride, go for a one hour ride screaming up short hills; do some high-intensity speed work, do some sprint intervals. As Dave Whitt says, “hurt in training, enjoy the race.”>

The same level of pain can have two completely different perceptions depending on how it’s being dished out. Consider you’re on the front of a 30-strong group, riding at 25 mph, with your heart coming through your chest, the sweat burning your eyes, the lactate screaming in your legs, a finishing sprint coming up, and the man behind you can’t hold your wheel and everyone is being strung out and getting dropped.

Now imagine all those sensations but you’re the last man of that 30 strong group. The same level of pain has a completely different feel depending on whether you’re dishing it out or having it dished out to you! And that, dear reader, is all to do with the brain.

The Message

Don’t just think differently, perceive differently.

As I said before this is a massive subject and one to which I can’t really do justice in one article. Start to believe in yourself and your abilities then adjust your objectives to the time, equipment and abilities you have available. Whether you’re trying to achieve an Island Games Medal or completing your first sportive, the effort may be different but the rewards and total satisfaction for an objective well met are exactly the same.

I know a lot of riders that have the physical attributes to be a winner in their category or discipline, they just don’t believe in themselves enough to close the gap between where they are and where they could be. To realize your potential, sometimes it really is as simple as changing your mindset.

Don’t let the Thought Police and your inner voice control your results. Thinking like a pro may not make you ride like a pro but it will make you a better, stronger, happier rider. And it’s a lot easier than an hour on a turbo!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Nathaniel Janzen

Up and coming superstar? Or Chump?



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Friday, March 5, 2010

New Team Kits!

We are proud to announce that we will be ordering Team Jerseys and Shorts!

The sketches have been made and are in the process of being sent off.

There has been a lot of interest lately in what they will look like so I will keep you waiting no longer!



Wow, SO NICE!


Obviously just a rough draft, however, rest assured the final version will look GREAT!

Ask a member of the exec for more ordering details


Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Swim Test Set Results





Alas, the muchly anticipated 500m swim test set results are in! Since it is so late, I, Nathaniel Flipper Janzen has decided to make up for it with awesome pictures and links.




This is how Scott Chris (aka. "The Majestic") felt after not beating Vince, despite MULTIPLE tries

But first, the excuses...
- I had to wait for the Friday before the Olympics to be over so that everyone could get in their times, since we agreed on letting the participation points count as long as people did the test set before then.
- I didn't get the results for a long time
- I had extensive rehearsals with the Olympics due to my participation in the opening ceremonies



Yup, I was one of the mounties!

- and my personal favourite... The Olympics had all the Omega Timing Systems so it was quite difficult to compile the results...

Although not present for the original date that the race was held, I could still feel the intense racing spirit and determined energy in the pool days later. There were a lot of PBs this time around, as well as some new faces taking their stab at the race series. The results are as follows:

Name Time Points

Yue-Ching Cheng

6:23

33

Nathaniel Janzen

6:46

30

Vincent Lavallee

7:12

27

Scott Chris

7:19

24

Matt Reeve

7:31

21

Eddie Wu

8:24

18

Andrew Wight

8:29

15

Winstorm Guo

9:05

12

Derick Lee

9:25

9

Jesse Chao

11:20

6

Alex Lush

6:55

30

Rachel Schoeler

6:56

28

Celeste Paskstas

7:22

26

Karin Olafspn

7:30

24

Melanie Thompson

7:33

22

Lauren Sagadore

8:16

20

Melanie van Soeren

8:52

18

Claire

8:59

16

Kyuwon Kim

9:09

14

Victoria Gilbert

9:10

12

Lara Russel

9:17

9

Kimberly Seder

9:18

6

Greta Raymant

9:18

3


Instead of boring you with miniscule details about the results, I shall cut right to the chase and describe all the close calls! (P.s. Bold means a PB!!)
Despite Andrew Wight's secret training in Azkaban Prison he could not overcome the sheer power that is Eddie Wu and was beat by a mere 5 seconds! There has also been talk that Matt Reeve was involved with some secret training of his own, since he posted a PB without even coming to many scheduled practices at all

Matt Reeve enjoying some private swim workouts at an undisclosed location

The ever-exciting rivalries in the women's battle for top spot has also already started. Fall series winner Lauren Spazzzadoré is well behind the competition, but can she make another comeback? More importantly, Alex Lush just out-touched Rachel Schoeler for the win on the day, making it the most exciting and controversial finishes in swimming history since this one.

Stay tuned for more epic races later on!! I have a feeling that this race series will go a little something like this...