Penticton
Triathlon
Club
Winter 2005
Presidents Greeting
As another season approaches, many of us look forward not just to the weather improving and daylight lasting longer, but we are excited about another year, still full of opportunity and unraced races; chances to do better in some way; a new slate wiped clean. The potential of a new year is always a motivating force as we begin our training in earnest.
There is also something to be said for the potential in other areas of our lives. Some use most of their free time for training, looking to meet their maximum potential in their athletic endeavors. Others use triathlon as an outlet for stress, choosing to maximize potential in their homes or businesses. For others, triathlon is an area of untapped potential, where they start from scratch, perhaps motivated by others. For most of us though, we are limited in our time and energy. We must find some balance between all areas of our lives, recognizing that perfection is not possible and our maximum potential may never be met. It seems many triathletes are what they used to refer to as “Type A” individuals, for whom accepting anything less that perfection is difficult. To these people (and I include myself!), I would say that whatever you can give to any sport activity is worthwhile. To expect perfection is unrealistic and for the most part, you will be accepted by family and peers whether you are first in a race, last or a DNF. In the end, our athletic accomplishments, although they have many benefits, will not make us a better friend, husband, wife, mother, father, or co-worker. Having said this, though, our relationships with those we train with or coach can be lasting and extremely positive. As you begin your training year, remember those you see regularly on the road; find ways to be an encouragement to them and I guarantee that you will be remembered more for your thoughtful and compassionate manner than your placing in any race.
As I dismount my soapbox, and you read through this newsletter, I would like to thank Pat Amundsen for putting it together and for all of those who contributed. Remember to check out the updated website; it is under construction and suggestions for improvement are welcome. The website will be the best place to find any updates regarding practice times, races, club minutes, etc and we hope this will be more helpful to members and the general public. In April, we will also once again give away 2 complimentary entries (one male, one female) to the Peach Classic Triathlon in July; all members who have paid their fees for this year will be eligible. We would like the Penticton Triathlon Club to be a club that truly does serve its members and the community, and with everyone’s help and input, we can make that a reality.
So happy spinning for a couple more months; enjoy the base training and let us know how we can help!
2005 President – Sharon Otke (sharonmcleish@hotmail.com – my real name is Otke, just in case anyone is confused, this is an outdated email address but I still use it)
Ironman
It was another record year with 2056 athletes finishing the
race, setting a new record for the most finishers in a World Triathlon
Corporation sanctioned Ironman race!!
The weather started out slightly cloudy, but a very good temperature for
racing. The conditions for the bike ride
worked very well, leading to some great bike splits by many people. The conditions then changed a bit during the
run. The sun started to come out around
Our club athletes had a great day with Tom Evans taking the
lead on the bike and holding the lead throughout the run. On the return trip from OK Falls, the second
place finisher, Gordo Byrn was really pushing the pace, closing to under 2
minutes. Tom improved upon his 2nd
place finish from last year to become the first local to win Ironman
Tom Evans
Scott Tremblay
David Matheson
Barb Scatchard
Jordy Bouillet
Brad Lee
Chris Hawkins
Milton Guignion
Richard Szabo
Gloria Woolner
Mark Rutter
Brian McCoy 12:11:3
Ed Marbach
Lisa Singleton
Cathy Sheehan
Julie Nurse
Dennis Stolen
Troy Neukomm
Doug Fox
Robert Calder
Alison Eadie
Joanne Montgomery
Kevin Sweetman
Shelley Bedard
Catherine McLean
Darryl Jones
Joy Hollingdale
Glen Prior 16:
Alan Clarke
Pat Kidd
Ironman Canada – A Rookie’s Perspective
by Catherine McLean
Growing up in
Wait a minute. I couldn’t even finish the 12 minute mile in
high school (I was 28 at the time high school wasn’t that long ago) The first
lap I would try and keep up with my best friend, the second she would be
pulling away, by the third I would be puking in the field. To think that I could finish an Ironman was
unthinkable. But I plodded ahead and
finished my first 5K in 2000 in 33 minutes!
My First Triathlon was in Harrison Hot Springs in 2001. 400M swim, 20K
ride 5K run. I had only learned to swim
4 weeks prior. (Had to take lessons as my first 25 meters was spent flailing
like a 9 year old and by the end I was exhausted, so it was off to see Tina for
lessons). There were only 250 people in
this triathlon, however that many people in a tiny lake is quite frightening so
by 30 meters I was on my back doing backstroke. Off to change into my biking
gear…Wait a minute… Ahhh there is no change room!! Hmm lucky I brought a Big towel. Finished in
My first
The Oliver half was to see how I was
progressing but I did not want to get the overwhelming fear in the swim again
and promised myself I would let everyone else go first. Consequently, I did not get into the lake
until after the whistle. In fact I think
Brad L. was afraid I wasn’t going to get in at all as he came over to encourage
me! That is a great race, and a good
distance. It only takes 7 hours out of
your day!!! (this from a girl who never did exercise growing up).
Ironman
day dawned and as usual in my life I ended up arriving late (only 45 minutes to
get ready) however the unexpected advantage is there is no line ups at the
potty! I was one of the bunch that
didn’t actually make it over the timing mats until 55 seconds before the canon
which since I was about to cry looking at the crowd coming to see ME, little
ol’ me off, the lack of time to absorb it all was a good thing. It is overwhelming. What a truly freaky thing it is to try and
swim with that many people. The day couldn’t
have gone better. No real problems
except, note to self, don’t bother with anything that has chocolate on it as it
melts, so bye-bye peanut butter cups.
The run was just like bar hopping 26 times. Each station was a party! A moment to walk and talk with the
volunteers, some of them seem to be on good drugs or caffeine, something as
they are so energetic, keep in mind that by the time I came through they had
been there a while! When I finished in
- The Iron Spirit Award is for an individual who
has persevered, endured to overcome obstacles, to finish the event. At times, the spirit leading to the
perseverance can be just to continue to get to the start line. Candidates include Jill Savege, and
Bruce Fairweather. For this
individual, the start line was the spring time, after a great start to
training, completing the Peach City Half Marathon. Somewhere along the training regime, at
least with respect to cycling, this individual forgot that we limits as to
how fast we can travel around corners, and landed off the road, resulting
in a broken collar bone. This major
inconvenience severely hampered training for the summer. However, this individual did not stop
training, going on to complete the Logan Lake Triathlon in August and the
Okanagan Marathon in October. The
2004 Iron Spirit goes to Bruce Fairweather.
- This year we had a Junior Triathlete program,
coached and lead by volunteer coaches, Sharon Otke, Ellis Andrews, Susan
Andrews, Aart Van Kooij, Tina Hoeben, Brad Lee and Joe Wessel. Candidates for this award are Erin
Wamsteeker and Rob Smith. This
years Junior Triathlete of the year has been passionate about the sport,
qualified for the BC Summer Games, and we hope will continue to love the
sport. Congratulations to Rob
Smith.
- We had a number of newcomers to the sport of
triathlon this year, a few just wanting a taste of it, and a few crazy
enough to want Ironman
- The nominees for the Inspirational Award include
Kevin Cutjar, Barb Scatchard, Catherine McLean, and Brad Lee. This year’s Inspirational Award goes to
someone who has supported the club in many events, volunteering when not
competing, finding humor to hide fear, and truly spreading a tone of don’t
stress it. Essentially, to this
person, it’s only a triathlon. She
will forever be known as trying to “Train the brain to feel no pain”. Congratulations to Catherine McLean.
- We had many nominees for the volunteer of the
year. The nominees included the
junior triathlon coaches, Christine Ostrom, Claire Matheson, Kevin Cutjar
and Barb Scatchard. This years
winner is a new club member, and when not training, or competing, was out
volunteering at races, or helping others during their long training
days. This person somehow managed
to volunteer despite fighting numerous colds. She is a natural runner, and it will be
great to see her racing more in the future, congratulations to the 2004
Volunteer of the Year, Claire Matheson.
- Age Group awards are split into Long Course and
Short Course. Among the age
groupers, the woman’s long course athlete of the year decided that one
Half Ironman race was not enough, competing in Oliver, and in
- The woman’s short course athlete of the year is
again the provincial champion in her age group in both triathlon and duathlon,
and won her age group at the Oliver Half Ironman. She has a penchant for toasting Colonel
Puff Puff, congratulations to Lydia Miller.
- We have two very strong contenders for the men’s
long course triathlete of the year.
Scott Tremblay was 3rd in his age group in the Oliver
Half, finished Ironman
- This years men’s short course triathlete of the
year made the provincial team in both the triathlon and duathlon, and set
a PB at IMC this year.
Congratulation to Brad Lee.
- The elite Men’s triathlete of the year had a
year of dreams. He won the Great
White North Half Ironman in
- The elite Women’s triathlete of the year went to
The
Penticton Triathlon Club gave a special appreciation gift of a beautiful
bouquet of flowers to Sharon Otke
for her huge efforts in getting the junior triathlon coaching program onto its
feet this past year.
Learning from Injury, January 2005
By Grant Nixon
Injury
is something that all athletes dread thinking about. For the average
triathlete, it is something that will inevitably occur, but there are
definitely ways to take some positive lessons away after the unpleasant
incident.
I
am one of those average triathletes who developed a chronic progressive injury.
Unfortunately, I required arthroscopic surgery, cartilage trimming and some
bone scraping. This was followed by 6 weeks on crutches with 4 months of rehab
to hopefully return to full function. I would like to pass on some insight I
have gained through this process.
The
most important injury prevention device is a heart rate monitor and proper
training heart rate zones. I am surprised at how many triathletes I talk to who
don’t wear a HR monitor. One of my downfalls was having the monitor and zones,
but cheating and doing workouts above the target zone. It is ironic that for
most triathletes to cheat is to train too hard.
Most
of us have been out on that long run and a nagging knee or hip pain may appear.
We can usually run through the nagging pain, and it tends not to be a problem
next time. If the pain persist or recurs over a longer time frame then you need
to have the injury diagnosed so a proper treatment regime can be started. Your
physician, physio or massage therapists are a good starting point. The mistake
I made was not following up with further diagnostics when the initial treatment
failed. There are so many triathletes training with chronic injuries that have
not been diagnosed properly. Seeing your physician and requesting a referral to
an orthopod or for an MRI is critical in managing this chronic injury. IT is
amazing what an MRI can detect inside a joint. The MRI will give you a specific
diagnosis that will guide your decision on treatment. This becomes even more
important in a non-curable injury when developing a creative training program
to decrease chance of re-injury.
The
depression following injury or diagnosis of a chronic injury can be tough. It
is important not to get triathlon tunnel vision, but to think in broader terms.
We all have lives outside of triathlon and the time off associated with injury
forces us to stop and see the great people we have in our lives, family and
friends. The positive people are the best to be around, phrases like; not being
able to run this summer will really strengthen your biking and swimming, or
running mates offering to run for you in a team race, are great to keep your
morale up.
Rehabilitating
an injury is very similar to preparing for a key race on your competitive
schedule. You want to get information and guidance from people you respect and
trust, and then implement your plan in a patient and methodical manner.
Throughout this keep a positive attitude and work toward your healing
objective.
Winter Training Tips
During the winter is a great time to focus on developing a good aerobic base (ie: no super hard intervals or highly intense training) and efficient technique in the three disciplines of triathlon. We naturally will tend to slow down with the shorter day and colder temperatures, so why not use the time you do have doing quality training? In the latest issue of Triathlete magazine, there are some good training workouts that I have included here for those looking for some direction in their winter training sessions. I have only picked one each for the swim, bike and run, but anyone interested in reading more can contact me and borrow the issue. The three I have chosen are workouts that help improve your aerobic capacity, but also throw in some technique work.
The swim workout I have reproduced here is a combination of 2 workouts.
Warm-up: 200 free/100 kick (no board!)/200 free/100 kick. Optional 10 sec rest between.
Technique set: 5 X 50m kicking on left side down and right side back. Keep hips and shoulders facing the side wall of the pool and head close to the shoulder, maintaining a streamlined position on your side.
5 X 50m rotating kick, 6-9 kicks each side then switch. Same body position as above.
5 X 50m one arm freestyle, left arm down and right arm back. Maintain same body roll
position as in the kicking drills above every time you stroke
5 X 50m catch up drill (wait until one hand “catches” the other above your head to stroke
with the next arm)
Aerobic Main set: Pyramid freestyle; 50m-75m-100m-125m-150m-125m-100m-75m-50m
Cool down: 100-300 easy, only every 4th length should be freestyle.
Total distance: 2450 meters, not including cooldown.
BIKE WORKOUT
Warm-up: 15-20 minutes easy spinning
Main set: 4 X 30sec fast spin (about 100 rpm) – 30 sec easy after each.
2 X 10 min – 2 X 4 min in a big gear, seated and spinning at 80 rpm (change gears one harder
the first 4 min), then remaining 2 min on aerobars or drops spinning at 85-95
rpm. 2 min easy spin recovery before next 10 min set.
4 X 10 sec “fast spinning jumps” with
the 10 sec spin as fast as you can staying seated, keeping the upper body still
trying not to bounce.
Cool down: 10-15 min easy to moderate spin
RUN WORKOUT
Warm up: 15-30 min easy running on different types of surfaces and terrain.
Main set: 6-10 X 20-30 sec accelerations on flat ground, full recovery in between. Concentrate on leg
turnover and slightly longer stride, not speed. Accelerations should feel smooth and
gradual.
Cool down: 10-20 min easy running.
REMEMBER:
Always stretch after your workouts! Some light weight training is also beneficial to your racing performance, as long as the excersizes are applicable to the sport. Different types of activities that do not involve swimming, cycling or running can also be great for keeping in shape and interested in training. Try aerobics, or snowshoeing, tennis, mountain biking, yoga, whatever! And enjoy the “downtime” before the racing season starts!
Weight Training Suggestions for
Triathletes
Although endurance athletes do not spend much time in the gym, what we do with our time there is important. Our focus in the weight room can help or hinder our performance. For example, striving to lift heavier and heavier weights will not help you be faster or stronger in a race that lasts over an hour! On the other hand, increased repetition at moderate weight on machines that work the appropriate muscle groups can strengthen and build your muscles in a good way. Some of the major muscle groups that triathletes need to work are:
Quadriceps (Squats and leg extensions)
Hamstrings (leg curls)
Back and Shoulder muscles (Bench press, lat pull down and shoulder press)
Calves – Gastrocnemius and soleus (calf raises)
Biceps (bicep curls)
Triceps (triceps extensions)
Abdominal/core muscles (situps, ball workouts, pilates and yoga)
Balance is also important to agility and injury prevention. Simple exercises such as standing on one leg on a puffy pillow, or doing calf raises on a step without using your hands to stabilize yourself can help strengthen the small muscle groups that we use. Other “body resistance” exercises that can be challenging are back extensions (lie on stomach with fingers touching ears and raise upper body using back muscles only), front bridges or plank position (with toes and forearms on ground, lift and maintain your body in a straight line and hold), leg raises (lying on back, raise heels off ground one inch to start, then keeping legs straight raise them to vertical, lower back to one inch off floor), side bridges ( lying on side with one leg stacked on top of the other and forearm or hand on floor beneath shoulder, lift body to a straight position and balance and hold).
So as you hit the gym in the new year, keep these tips in mind and you will be stronger for it!
Jr Triathlon Program 2005
For the second year, our Jr. Triathlon Program will begin in May and run until August. Quite a few changes have been made, and we are excited about starting up again. All athletes aged 12-16 are welcome, regardless of experience. There will be 1-2 practices per week, on Thursday afternoons and some Sunday afternoons. We have enthusiastic and experienced coaches who did a wonderful job last year, and a couple of new people who are interested in coaching this year. Last year, we had a core of about 5 kids and we hope that number will increase this year. If anyone is interested in coaching, or knows any youth who would like to be involved, please contact Sharon Otke at sharonmcleish@hotmail.com.
Other notes of interests:
The
club has a library of Total immersion Swim videos to borrow and we are also
considering some Spinerval DVD’s or other books. Please Contact Brad Lee @ bradxtlee@yahoo.ca
If
you want to send any other articles for the newsletter Please email me @ patamundsen@shaw.ca
Some more interesting races
Yeti
snowshoe races-5 or 10k
Feb. 5- Silver Star,
Feb 19- Mount
Mar.5-
Mar. 20-Cypress Mountain
April
2-Whistler/Blackcomb
April
16-Ultrayeti 25k or 12,5k Half
Email-http:www.theyeti.ca
Feb.12-Nickel Plate CC ski lopett
Feb
19.Ullars winter triathlon
Eagle Ultramarathons
May 14-Keremeos Kruncher 25 & 50k-Keremeos
July
16-Eagle 50 mile- Keremeos
Oct 8-Crater Mt. Trail Marathon Keremeos
Aug
7-
E Mail- http://www.eagleruns.com/logan.htm
If
you find any more interesting any other events or races please email me @ patamundsen@shaw.ca
Total
Immersion Swim video tapes
The
Triclub owns a set of video tapes where Terry Laughlin teaches you how to
improve your swim techniques. One copy
of the Freestyle tape was graciously donated by Bobby Krause. I made a copy of both tapes onto 1 tape. All 3 are currently on loan!!! If you are interested in borrowing these
tapes, contact Brad at bradxtlee@yahoo.ca,
or at brad.lee@investorsgroup.com.
The
clubs website is @ http://www.pentictontriathlonclub.com
Thank
you to our sponsors:
The
Bike Barn
Skaha
Outdoor Sports
The
Hog’s Breath Coffee Co.