AquaSTORM 500m swim, 2.5km run

The AquathonSTORM
Date/Time: Oct. 17, 2010, 10am.

The rules and stakes.

As is typical with these hotly contested challenges, the aquathon or better known as aquaSTORM is a test of swim, transition, and run without any breaks in between and surviving the winstorm. There will be one big winner from each gender who will take home his or her a feast of 30 coveted UBCTC Fall Classic Racing Series points as well the opportunity for cumulative bonus participation points. Participants are fully aware of the highly anticipated bright and breezy winstorm in effect.

The challenge is done with a mass start in the outdoor pool. Separation of the various speed of swimmers are encouraged to prevent over congestion in each lanes. After completing 5 laps in the pool, they will then toss on their runners and begin the 3 loops 2.5k run. The first person to arrive at the finish line from each gender will gorge individual maximum feasting points for the challenge.

The reason.

Why you ask?

The individuals are battling each other to become the leader of the overall points in the UBCTC Fall Classic Racing Series. The title is a big deal and comes with personal fame and glory no doubt, and their names will be forever engraved on the Vincent Lavallee Cup.**

Some notables.

Vincent Lavallee lays his cards on the table in an interview that Matt Reeve has never been part of his secret alliance (ehem allegations for TTT recently at Iona in a non-drafting sanctioned event), and that he would be difficult to beat at the end. Additionally Vince’s credible reputation of being the ‘generally good looking guy’ is threatened this season due a little marathon, so much so he graciously offered to sit out the aquastorm and help out with timing and cheerleading in lieu of participating.

Eddy Wu is only focused on beating the winstorm. He will be beyond overjoyed if this comes true.

For Brendan Neaf it’s simply about winning. Shortly after the 10K TT in Iona, he uttered a quiet confidence and said to winstorm that HE HAD WON THE RACE...against himself. He beat himself, therefore he is a champion. The aquathon will be no different, winstorm or no winstorm.

Returning aquathon winner Rachael Schoeler knows only two things. 1) She can school the competition with her eyes closed. And 2) She cannot get beat by a winstorm again like last year. That would be embarrassing.

Karin Olafson isn’t worried about the winstorm. She is out to defeat Rachael whether it’s in water or on land.

Jenn Moroz believes that her doing the dishes is currying favour with her new teammates. Blocking a winstorm from getting a good swim start is key.


Victoria Gilbert on the other hand, is trying not to rock the boat, as she knows she’s on the outs. A winstorm will be nearing.



The forecast.

Bright and breezy winstorm.



The results.

We actually had seen a great race. It may not have been the best challenge we’ve ever seen but at least it was original. The winstorm had time to put on socks, glasses, visor, shirt, and of course Garmin.

The Winstorm Run Route

The damage.

Matt Reeve 17:17
Kory Seder 18:09
Rachel Schoeler 18:23
Brendan Neaf 18:46
Karin Olafson 18:56
Eddy Wu 19:03
Winstorm 19:20
Victoria Gilbert 19:24
Jen Bhatla 19:37
Melanie van Soeren 19:42
Kim Seder 20:15
Jen Moroz 20:34
Kywon Kim 21:10
Jesse Chao 21:38
Johnson Jia 22:44
Rodrigo Samayoa 23:35
Sherry Gu 23:48

**However if your name happens to be 2X defending champion Matt Reeve and you also fail to sport the golden-blue cape for the full duration of at least one event in the series, then this personal fame and glory must be relinquished to the next leader in the overall standings.

Five Hundred Meters to Equality

Dear Men,

All too often you think you are so much better than your female counter parts. Thinking things like "I can lift heavier objects than women" or "look at me, I can ride my bike faster than my wife". Well friends, it's time for a realignment of our prejudice and our penis centric viewpoints. Our lovely lady friends prove to be strong adversaries, and there is no denying that fact.

Being raised in a family with its fair share of feminists (5: my Mum, Dad, two Sisters and myself), I was brought up to never discriminate against women for any reason. I unfalteringly hold this viewpoint in my day to day life, and so should you. However, despite the upbringing my family has given me, the school yard taught me different things. I can distinctly remember numerous times from elementary school through to high school where young men were made fun of for being beat by girls. Boys are supposed to be faster, stronger, and more skilled at all things athletic. This left me with conflicting viewpoints; to never discriminate, or to put on bravado and testosterone and assume that I would always be better than girls at athletics.

Generally speaking, I was stronger, faster, and sometimes more skilled than girls my age (although, that said, I was stronger, faster, and more skilled than many guys too!). But my first real taste of not being able to beat girls was when I joined my high school swim team. While I was one of the faster swimmers on the team, there was always at least one person faster than me, and more often than not, she was a girl. Looking back now, I can visualize the emotional progression that I went through on my high school swim team. I went from being a pubescent miner niner who thought that it was totally wrong for girls to beat me (because I would get made fun of by my friends on the basketball team), to a (slightly) more mature grade 12 who learned to love seeing the progression anyone made in the pool, male or female. As captain of the team I had to be proud and supportive of anyone who won a race, even if it meant accepting a loss to a girl. Fortunately, I think I've progressed past my high school insecurities and I now see losing to women no different than losing to men, the point is that I've lost and that there is room for me to improve.

What I love about swimming is that this situation hasn't changed since I've been in high school. When I get into the pool at triathlon club practice not only do I know that there will be people that are faster than me, but I know that they will be women, and I'm sure many of you men know that too. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I love seeing people progress and its awesome when everyone is able to progress together on an even playing field.

Men, if you have any doubt as to whether you should share my viewpoint, you need only look as far as the results from the UBC TC FC RS 500m Swim results. It will soon be evident that the majority of the men in the field got beaten by women. So, tuck your tail between your legs and give a big round of applause to the awesome women on the tri-club. There is no doubt that the women dominate the pool.

Sincerely,

Two Time UBC TC RS Winner

The results:

Kory Seder

6:58

Rachel Schoeler	7:00
Karin Olafson	7:21

Matt Reeve

7:34

Vincent Lavallee	7:44
Eddy Wu	7:45

Jen Bhatla

7:50

Matt Ridley	8:09
Branden Neaf	8:25

Kywon Kim

8:41

Jorg Winter

8:44

Melanie van Soeren	8:50
Victoria Gilbert	8:51
Kim Seder	8:59

Winston Guo

9:00

Jen Moroz

9:20

Kristry

9:29

John Heinz	9:49
Derrick Lee	9:57
Kellen Kjera	10:06
Drew Senay	10:26
Jesse Chao	10:50

Janice

14:20

Liam Harrap

15:00

Oh, and two UBC TC alumni swam with us as well.

Derek Westra-Luney	6:23
Patrick Waters	6:33

But they don't really count since they both swam on the UBC Varsity Swim Team, so its just expected that they would beat us.

Mental Game Planning

A post from Ivan on how to handle pre race nerves!

Ben Baker here from the American Coaching Academy.

http://www.americancoachingacademy.com/

Today's e-lesson is on Mental Game Planning.

Everyone should have a game plan for competition.

When a player consistently gets nervous in front
of a crowd or gets psyched out after making a mistake,
a contingency plan routed in sports psychology can help
them get back on track and forget the earlier problem.
Learn how to motivate your athletes by walking them
through this exercise.

Each athlete should have a contingency plan that
includes the following:

* Pregame preparation
* Plan for errors during the competition
* Avoiding competitive stress

Pregame preparation should be a routine that the
player chooses that helps them focus and calm
themselves before the game. For some players,
this includes listening to music or meditating.

For some, it involves warm-up drills or visualization.
Help your players identify what gets them prepared,
focused, and confident, and work with them to create
a routine that prepares them for the game.

Errors are going to occur during competition, but the
players that have a plan for getting back on track are
more likely to bounce back and succeed. Sit down with
players to find out what motivates them after they make
a mistake.

With that knowledge, help them devise a strategy for
dealing mentally with errors that happen during the game.

Perhaps they should take a few seconds to say silent
affirmations, such as "I am good, I am worthy, I can
do this," or maybe they should visualize making their
next play perfect. Whatever works for players is the
right contingency plan.

Finally, help players avoid competitive stress by
taking steps to eliminate the unknown. Explain what
players should expect during every game. Work with
them to channel their nerves into power.

Nerves are a natural part of competition, but those
players who learn to control those butterflies in the
stomach are the ones who come out as winners.

Teach players to take deep breaths, focus on one thing
at a time, and believe in themselves. With that plan,
competitive stress becomes an asset, not a liability.

The Fall Classic Returns!

The UBCTC Fall Classic was back in full force this week with the first event taking place this past Wednesday with the Uphill Run Time Trial.

Shy of our largest event by one 1 person. Wednesdays race had 31 competitors toe the line!

Although there were many returning veterans vying for the Vincent Lavallée Cup, the headline of the day goes out to the rookies of the event stealing the show and taking top honours in both the Male and Female division.

In the female division, people had been talking about the new girl Jen and her exceptional running ability, with one of the men having been quoted saying;

"I had to really push it on the downhill to drop her during the fartlek workout, and I only found out afterwards that she had stopped to stretch."

Coming in as the strong favourite, the pressure was definitely on. In the mens division defending champion Matt Reeve was far too over confident stating that we might as well give him the trophy now.

With the construction finished on the bottom of the route, the run was now the full length rather than the shorter version we were forced to race last year. This resulted in a significantly longer run including the much steeper bottom section which would require great pacing to prevent losing too much time on the climb or alternatively blowing up before the top. With the race series starting in typically fashion (disorganized and a little frantic) there were 3 competitors who needed to race early rather than doing a warmup lap.

John Heinz, a UBCTC rookie, but many time Storm the Wall finalist was one such individual to start early. Melanie van Soeren and Dirk Haupt were the other two being led up the route with Vincent Lavallee up the road to time the finish. Running at a gingerly pace 45 seconds up of John, Vince jogged expecting to have ample time to reach the top, but looking back midway through the sight of a fast approaching John changed his plans, reaching the top in 4:12 second John was definitely setting the pace for the rest of the field.

Melanie came through with a very respectable time of 5:30 which still remained to be seen how that would stan up against the girls.

The times of the finishers was privy to Vincent Lavallee since it would give an unfair advantage to the racers to follow knowing the time to beat (so naturally Vince kept this to himself).

As the main field began, Vincent was the first to leave with Matt Reeve leaving 15 seconds behind. As the hill got steep the immediate threat of exhaustion was already upon our leader as he tried to focus on running strong and preventing his mind from wandering towards potential excuses for the post race debriefing. Unfortunately this had the negative effect since focusing on clearing his mind while running surely slowed Vincent down by at last 13 seconds as he finished in a time of 4:24 seconds.

Matt Reeve close on his heels did not have this mental focus requirement (as his mind is often blank) and just focused on keeping Vincent in sight and crossed the line in 4:18 seconds. Good enough for second.

In the girls race. Rachel came through the first female in 5:50 seconds with Melanie's time holding strong, but not for long as Victoria approached the finish line in a time of 5:21 taking over the lead!

This strong finish looked as though it may hold until Jen, the favourite in this event bettered that time but a mere second!

The top 5 was rounded off with Kellen Kjera finishing in a time of 4:32 and Winston Guo 6 seconds back in 4:38.

The girls race being even closer, had the 4th place finisher Stephanie Urness two seconds back of Melanie in 5:32 and Karin Olafson in 5:38!

A great day for racing in the woods and a fantastic opener for the Fall Classic Race Series!

Full Results:

John Heinz	4:12
Matt Reeve	4:18
Vincent Lavallee	4:24
Kellen Kjera	4:32
Winston Guo	4:38
Thomas Belshein	4:49
Liam Harrap	4:50
Tyler Filteau	4:57
Branden Neaf	5:00
Matt Ridley	5:05
Kory Seder	5:05
Jesse Chao	5:06
Jake Alleyne	5:08
Johnson Jia	5:11
Dirk Haupt	5:15
Rodrigo Samayoa	5:18
Jen Moroz	5:20
Victoria Gilbert	5:21
Ceilidh Curtis	5:27
Melanie van Soeren	5:30
Ried Kimmett	5:31
Stephanie Urness	5:32
Karin Olafson	5:38
Eliza Chriistie	5:41
Rachel Schoeler	5:50
Kim Seder	5:53
Meagan Mckeen	5:57
Sherry Gu	6:02
Keely Hammond	6:08
Jen Bhatla	6:23
Laura Freeman	9:39

First Ride of the Year

Miserable weather doesn't hold everyone back! That's the kind of attitude I like to see kicking off the season. A few of you could learn a valuable lesson from the four first time riders that came out to today kickoff to winter training. There was even a noticeable improvement in technical skills over the course of the ride.

The route was a simple back and forth along Marine Dr. A great course if you want to simply spin your legs and not contend with any major obstacles.

Here is the GPS Data from today's ride. The second lap was not part of the group ride, it was my added solo workout.

I'm excited to see more of you next week. Rain or shine.

Thanks again to the four riders that came out despite the weather.

Banff Pre Race-Report

As many of you know, a group of hardcore UBCTCers ventured out on one of the most epic triathlons of their lives this past weekend, braving glacial waters, rugged mountain terrain, and wildlife at the inaugural Banff Triathlon - the season ender for the Subaru Western Traithlon Series.

New PR's were achieved and many adventures were had. A complete race report will soon be provided so stay tuned but here's a little taste of what happened this past weekend...

Group Riding

Just read this on Dave Moulton's blog. All makes sense and is something I really want to work on this semester.

Cycling in a group is one of the wonderful things about our pastime; like minded people socializing while exercising.

There are few sports where you can do this as well.

The picture on the left is a group doing just that; highly visible to other road users and riding two abreast as is legal in most places.

The picture on the right is not a group ride in my opinion; it is a group of cyclists all riding as individuals on the same section of the highway.

A few strong riders are going “Balls out” at the front, tearing what could have been a group apart. There is no socializing going on.

If there is one complaint I hear all the time from the non-cycling public, it is that groups of cyclists ride three and four abreast blocking traffic. I am sorry to say this but in many cases it is true, I have witnessed it.

Here is a group of professional cyclists on a training ride. The important thing about this group is that they are taking less than half the lane and a car wishing to pass can easily see around them to determine whether it is safe to do so.

In this next picture, these riders are technically riding two abreast, but why are they taking the whole lane? What is with all that unnecessary wasted space in the middle?

Here is another large group of about twenty experienced riders; these guys have the luxury of a nice wide shoulder on this stretch of road, but even if the shoulder was not there they would only be taking half the lane and it would be easy for a passing driver to see around them.

Then there is this group. You could argue that this stretch of highway is three lanes wide on either side, so why shouldn’t a group of cyclists use the whole lane. Just because you can, does that make it right?

It is not that difficult to ride two by two in a pace line, it just takes a few like minded individuals to democratically decide that is what they want to do.

If you ride in a single pace line, the line is twice the length for a car to pass, and there is usually a rider dropping back from the front, so the line is still two abreast at some point.

A group like the one shown on the left can cover a lot of miles at a fairly good pace, and training wise is more beneficial to everyone.

I may leave myself open to criticism in saying this, but it seems to me that many want to look like professionals with the equipment and clothing but have no interest in trying to ride like a professional.

That is to take the time to learn to follow a wheel, and to ride in close proximity to others.

And socialize, even the pros do it in the middle of the peloton during the Tour de France.