Week Ahead!

Dear TEAM

Many thanks to those of you who got back to me over the weekend regarding the numbers on Friday morning's session. I will be sorting through all the responses over the next few days and post an updated list accordingly. Please bear with me!

So, we're into the final countdown before the Rottnest Channel Swim on Saturday 20th February. We have a total of 71 swimmers from the squad competing across the three categories - SOLO, DUO and TEAM.

Looking forward to this week then and to help you in your planning for which sessions would be appropriate to attend if you are tapering down to the event:

MONDAY:

7am = a nice, cruisey drill & technique session - the perfect way to start your week!

9.30am = a slight variation to the normal endurance / technique session in that we'll add a short element of "fresh & fruity" today and effectively swap the steadier Monday session to Wednesday so as to not leave you too tired before the event.

TUESDAY:

5.30am, 6.30am and 6.15pm = a slight variation to the normal endurance / technique session in that we'll add a short element of "fresh & fruity" today and effectively swap the steadier Tuesday session to Friday so as to not leave you too tired before the event.

WEDNESDAY:

5.30am = a 15 mins stretch session, followed by a 60 minute swim perfect for those competing in the Rottnest Channel Swim, followed by another 15 mins stretch session - all done by 7am. This session will be with Nicola again this week.

5.50am = I will be taking out a group for a tempo bike ride session this morning at Shenton Park targeted specifically at HIM competitors - hope to see you there if you can make it.

9.30am = a steadier session today similar to what we'd normally do on a Monday at 9.30am.

THURSDAY:

6am = open water skills session at Cottesloe Beach. This will be a very light session for those competing at the weekend. Please note that due to the ever-reducing light at this time in the morning, today's session will be the LAST OPEN WATER SKILLS SESSION AT THIS DAY / TIME. PLEASE WATCH THIS SPACE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE SESSION GOING FORWARDS.

6/6.15pm = some 1500m intervals tonight at our new north Lake Monger venue. We're still trying to build a few more numbers for this session, so if you know of anyone who would like to attend, please bring them along.

NB. I would highly recommend a day-off today for SOLO and DUO swimmers in particular, but if you really want to roll your arms over, then the 6am session will be suitable for you also.

FRIDAY:

5.30am, 6.30am and 9.30am = an absolutely perfect loosen-off / taper session for the Rottnest Channel Swim today, including some stretching and short intervals to ensure you don't go into tomorrow's event feeling lethargic. All too often people take the day before a big event off and then complain about lethargy during the event - my motto has always been to have the day before, the day before off and doing something light and loose in the 24 hours before the event.

NB. SOLO swimmers should NOT swim at 4.30pm today...you'll be in bed, right?!

SATURDAY:

Race Day! Please note, there will be NO 1pm squad swim session today at Claremont Pool!

HIM competitors not involved in the race should do a 3h30 ride down the Freeway Bike Path followed by a 20' run off the bike at HIM pace. Suggested meeting point and time is 6.00am from the Bell Tower.

SUNDAY:

Rest Day!

NEXT WEEK:

All sessions back to normal, including the continuation of Monday's 7am session for those who'd like to loosen-off after the Rottnest Swim. Stay tuned for further news on squad allocations and the Thursday morning swim in due course - thanks!

GOOD LUCK!

The TEAM CORE would like to wish the following swimmers the best of luck for Saturday - got get 'em! 

NB. Apologies if I've missed anyone out from this list...please let me know if I have so that I can follow your results on the day.

SOLOS:

Suzanne Narbey, Geoff Wilson, Michael Abdo, Andrew Hunt, Andrew Stocks, Ceinwen Williams, Julien Flack, Hannah McKerchar, Vaughn Bisschops, Mary-Anne Paton, Mark Scanlon, Justine Murphy, Lisa Delaurentis, Justin Palmer.

DUOS:

Trevor Magee, David Reeve, Paul Downie, Chris Foley, Michelle Newsome, Paul Newsome, Natalia Vollrath, Suzanne Williams, Erez Berman, Nimal Wickramasinghe, Serena Wells, John Annear, John Edwards, Kim Smith, Adam Mullens, William Moody.

TEAMS:

Jeremy Buttsworth, Emmy Poulsen, Robyn Ahern, Sarah Humphry, Tim Humphry, Bevan Lawrence, Liz Dundas, Annette van Hazel, Guy van Hazel, Michael Fischer, Amanda Nitschke, Adam Young, Ian Klaasens, Cath Fletcher, Elise Gray, Courtenay Harris, Jackie Steinepreis, Paul Merson, Riaz Khan, Carl Andrews, Marina Wallace, Patrick Hollingworth, Chris Pemberton, Felicity Bailey, Melissa Cooney, Kristy Fogarty, Chris Murphy, Ian Crisp, Dan Fogarty, Bill Carmody, Julie Kerr, Joe Kierath, Georgina Good, Louise McGown, Caitlin Hunt, Jen Newman, Liza Magennis, Vera Sistenich, Katrina Mercer, Keith Anderson, Desiree Silva.

Cheers

Paul

A note on numbers...

Dear TEAM

Hope you've all had a productive week.

I just wanted to mention the numbers situation after this morning's
530am session. As you know it was incredibly busy in this session and
we had to make a couple of adjustments to the lane structure as a
result. It looked like we'd be able to keep the 4th lane there for a
moment which did help manage things a bit but then the Dolphins turned
up and as it is their booking we had to retreat to 3 lanes as normal.

You may recall that back in August we managed to secure a 4th lane in
the 630am session which was put in place to balance out the demand for
the sessions. However, for the last two weeks a few people have
drifted from their 630am allocated time to the 530am session which
culminated in this morning with quite a bit of stress on the lane
space availability.

In response to a Blog at the end of January stating that numbers were
a bit low and that there was potentially some space in some of these
sessions, I only heard back from three of you specifically requesting
the swap.

It is really great to see so much interest in the squad, but we need
to do our best to manage the interest as much as possible and require
your help and assistance with this. We are confident that the PAYG
card system is enjoyed by most of you for it's flexibility and value
but may have to look towards putting in place a monthly fee as an
alternative and easier to manage system. It's a bit of a catch 22
situation as I'm sure you can understand.

So here's my suggested action points:

1. Please have a check of the comfirmed list here http://theteamcore.com/images/Confirmed_Squad_List.pdf
and make sure you are on the right list. If not, please email me
with the corrections. Three of you have already done so and need not
repeat this. This is on a strict first come best dressed scenario.

2. If you have any strong feelings either way on how the 530am session
was handled this morning, please, please let us know. We need this
feedback.

3. Please let me know your thoughts on a monthly fee and whether or
not this would work for you. Again, I really want to ensure that
everyone is having a fun session, learning lots and keeping fit in a
nice environment without feeling overcrowded.

Please remember, we can always look at additional sessions during the
week if we think this will help matters.

Thanks everyone for your support and understanding on this matter. I
think any business goes through it's growing pains and we really value
your feedback to help us create the very best environment in which to
train.

Have a great weekend! Oh, and on a lighter note, read on below:

It finally happened...

Dear Team

I thought this little story of my misfortune today might brighten up
your Friday afternoon!

My speciality area within the coaching world as many of you know is
1-2-1 Video Analysis and Stroke Correction. I love this opportunity to
spend some quality time with a single swimmer showing them what it is
they need to improve. Since we launched Mr Smooth last July, these
sessions are proving more and more popular and I'm currently fully
booked for the next 9 weeks. It's a real chance for me to draw upon
now 14 years of experience doing these sessions and helping people
enjoy their swimming more.

I'm often asked if I've ever fallen in the pool whilst concentrating
on the task of filming a variety of different angles above and below
the water. The answer is always a very proud "no". I'm sorry to say
though that as of the 11th February 2010 I can no longer make this
claim!

Talk about embarassing! There I was with a pool full of school kids,
the West Australian Junior Womens Synchro Squad and a client whom I've
never met before who was treated to the session as a Christmas
present. I had to use the water polo pool for the session as my usual
lane 8 had been allocated elsewhere. Using the polo pool poses some
additonal problems, namely the obstacle of the three diving boards and
fixings. So there I am merrily conducting my favourite session when
"whoops!" I clip my heel and experience that odd time-stopped
sensation where you know you cannot do anything to stop yourself
falling over! I made a spectacular splash into the pool, fully clothed
and with all my equipment, narrowly missing landing on top of the
swimmer! I think he was as shocked as I was! The synchro girls
obviously found it absolutely hilarious but of course I had to act
like nothing had happened - a tough task when you're soaking wet, have
no towel or change of clothes and are unfortunately wearing a pair of
white Capri pants (I like to think of them as sun-bleached-beige) over
black boxer shorts. I had no choice but to drip dry throughout the
whole session with no top or shoes on - nightmare! You have to laugh
though, right?

Luckily though the session went well and I'm hopeful that the only
thing damaged was my ego!

Have a fun weekend and stay away from the pool edge - dangerous place
that! ;-)

Paul

Training and Racing this Weekend

Dear TEAM

A humid change this week - quite nice this morning on the bike I have to say!

OK, looking ahead to this weekend, the big events are the Leighton 1.6km Swim Thru on Saturday, and the Hillary's Sprint Triathlon / the Herne Hill 40km Time Trial event. Highly recommend having a little bash at the 40k Time Trial if you are doing the Busselton Half Ironman. You can enter that here: www.atta.asn.au

OK, so training then:

THURSDAY:

6am = open water skills session at Cottesloe Beach - what better way to start a Thursday?!

6pm for a 6.15pm start = run session at Lake Monger (meeting at the Green Arrow)

FRIDAY:

5.30am & 6.30am = get Fresh & Fruit with us at Claremont Pool

9.30am = nice steady, technique session

4.30pm = Rotto SOLO (final Friday swim)...just do a really steady, continuous 3km roll-over-of-the-shoulders today!

SATURDAY:

7am = Rottnest SOLO, DUO AND TEAM swim session at Trigg Beach. Meeting at the Trigg SLSC at 7am for an in-the-water start at 7.15pm. Please bring a paddler if you have one. TEAM swimmers = 2km, DUOS = 4-6km, SOLOS = 6-8km...all VERY cruisey indeed! A bit of a social wind-down followed by breakie at the Trigg Island Cafe. May cut this shorter if people are looking tired etc.

NB. No official ride this week as my suggestion is to do the Time Trial on Sunday. If you don't fancy that, take a spin down the Freeway bike path and input 3 x 20' intervals at HIM pace on your tri bars with 5' easy between each. Total ride time ~3hrs. Try a short 10' run off the bike too!

1pm = Squad Swim at Claremont Pool - come and have some fun and get VERY fruity with our open water skills and drafting session - miss it, miss out!

SUNDAY:

Valentines Day - ladies, please don't forget to send me a card - LOL! ;-) Seriously, have a great, fun day with your loved one(s).

Cheers

Paul

Recommendations for the final run-up to Rottnest!

Dear Swimmers

If you are searching for inspiration and direction for your run-up to the Rottnest Channel Swim 2010, may I suggest you have a look at some of my suggestions from last year which are still current for this time around:

• http://theteamcore.blogspot.com/2009/02/taper-tactics-few-final-words-of.html - suggestions for next week's sessions.
• http://www.theteamcore.com/mentalfocus.html - get your head in the right mental space.
• Podcast # 2 on nutrition for endurance events: http://www.theteamcore.com/podcast.html - well worth a listen!
• Race Day Itinerary examples (from Hannah): http://www.theteamcore.com/images/MichaelA.pdf and http://www.theteamcore.com/images/HannahM.doc
• Nutrition suggestions: http://www.theteamcore.com/images/Placid.pdf and http://www.theteamcore.com/images/SDA_Nutrition.pdf

Above all though guys and girls, I think the big thing that came out of the Rottnest meeting last Friday at Suzanne's house was that a) you are all fighting fit and raring to go; b) you cannot get any fitter now, but you can over-cook it in these last few weeks which will be detrimental (now's the time to ease off); c) don't make any drastic changes - you have all survived (well) on the longer swims, so don't go making any drastic changes to your nutrition plans please (see the Placid.pdf document for some good Menu suggestions as discussed on Friday).

As for this week, SOLO swimmers should swim as normal, doing the double on Tuesday (today) - normal Wednesday, Thursday and then just a single session on Friday. I will send out details of this Saturday's swim later on in the week, but it'll be at Trigg Beach at 7.00am and we'll do a ~6-8km swim on this day (cruisey) depending on how you're feeling.

And, if I can give you one final tip, let it be this - keep hydrated and plenty of early nights!!! ;-)

Cheers

Paul

Have your say!

Dear Swimmers,

After the highly successful (but brutally challenging!) 50 x 50m swim
set this morning sprinting any lap number divisible by 3 or 5, I've
happened upon a bit of an idea and I hope you're going to like it...

Today's set was actually put forward by James Forbes in lane 3
(5.30am) with a couple of minor tweaks by myself. I thought it worked
really well and added a bit of variety to the program. It certainly
kept me and Adam busy on the pool deck trying to keep you all pumped
up and you all succeeded very well with the challenge. Well done!

This leads me onto the idea. On the first Friday of every month I will
be accepting session ideas from within the squad. You can put forward
a session idea (main set) any time during the month (just email it
please) and we will review them all, pick one, add a sprinkle of Swim
Smooth MAGIC and serve it up for you to all enjoy!

So, get your thinking caps on, be creative and let us know what you'd
like to do. Can I suggest that the longest interval should be no more
than 300m given that this is supposed to be a speed orientated session.

Have a great weekend!

Paul

Training this Weekend

Dear TEAM

Please be advised of the next few day's worth of training:

Thursday AM = meet at just before 6am at Cottesloe Beach for a super-fun openwater skills session - must be able to swim 200m continuously, but above that we cater for a large range of ability.

Thursday PM = meet at the toilet block shown here in the car park to the north side of Lake Monger for an interval run session at 6pm for a 6.15pm w/up start (easy access off the Freeway north at Powis Street). Need to assess numbers and interest for this session, so if you're keen, please pop along! This is a paid-for session using your PAYG card.

Friday AM = 5.30am, 6.30am and 9.30am sessions all running as normal.

Friday PM = for the 4.30pm SOLO swimmers, if you can make it, we're going to do a fun rough water swim at Trigg Beach. Please meet at the Trigg SLSC tower at 4.30pm for a 4.45pm start. If you get there a little late, run down the beach and find us...we'll be swimming south into a screaming sou-westerly with any luck! We'll then see you for the BBQ in Floreat from 6.30pm.

Saturday AM = HIM athletes should do route # 1 from the program up into the Kalamunda Hills. Meet at 6.30am from the Bell Tower if you can make it.

Rottnest swimmers should enter the Cottesloe to Swanbourne 2.2km swim which starts at 8am prompt and registration is from 7-7.45am. The SOLO / DUOS should then swim back as well (cruisey). My favourite open water race of the season!

Saturday PM = 1pm pool squad session = openwater skills and drills in the pool that are bound to get you pumped! ;-)

Sunday = Busselton jetty swim anyone?

Cheers

Paul

P.S A massive congratulations to Renee Baker who raced awesomely well last weekend at the Perth Olympic Distance triathlon and qualified for the World Championships in Hungary next year - top notch! I didn't get down there unfortunately (computer woes sadly enough!) so if anyone else raced and would like to let me know how they went, please do so!

P.P.S If you were at the briefing for the Rottnest Channel Swim event on Tuesday night you would have received the handbook to the event. I am very proud to say that Adam's photograph of me swimming past the 10km mark in last year's SOLO event made the front cover - thank goodness you can't see how much I'm hurting! ;-)