IMPORTANT NOTES

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The Presidential Platform

Hi team,

It's spring and plenty of action is afoot. On Friday night, we had an excellent turn out for the season launch Club run and drinks at the UWA Tavern. The club run is picking up steam as the days get slowly longer, so get along for a healthy start to your weekend!

We've released our calendar for season 2018/2019.  These are the events we're "targeting" as a club, with the aim to get a strong turnout and team atmosphere, so see if you can work some or all of these events into your personal calendar.  These events will also contribute to our revamped club championship awards, so get involved and race hard.

The committee has also been working to identify our fundraisers for the season. I encourage everyone to lend a hand as many hands make light work! These are shown on the calendar but more details to come next month of where help will be required. 

To support everyone getting up and running for the new season, we'll be running a 4 week transition tune-up as part of the Tuesday morning sessions. Even if you're not a regular Tuesday trainer, get on board for this four week period for $50 (or $20 for those who already run with us) and make sure you're ready to rock and roll at Club Champs in late November. Anyone is welcome at these sessions so feel free to spread the word. 

Club members have continued to be busy over the past month, with a myriad UWAers running in the various City2Surf events. See below for Nathaniel and Angus' accounts of their sterling debut marathons. Best of luck to Gaby, who is representing Mexico on the Gold Coast for the ITU Age Group Worlds in September.

Finally, the club has been offered a free team entry to the Augusta Adventure Fest so please contact the committee if you're interested.  We hear Charles will be out there carving up the course as a solo so you can chase him down!

Cheers,
Brenden Koh
UWATC President

Sports Nutrition tip from Gaby

Carbohydrate mouth rinse

Even though the mechanism is not fully understood, a growing number of studies have shown that rinsing the mouth with a carbohydrate-containing drink is associated with improved high intensity endurance performance lasting 30-60 min.

Benefits are estimated at 2-3% similar to that of carbohydrate ingestion, with rinsing occurring routinely for about 5-10 seconds.

Athletes who are prone to gut distress during high intensity exercise, may want to consider this technique given its reduced risk of gut discomfort.

If you want to know more or you have any questions, feel free to email me at gaby.lnb@gmail.com.

Swim, bike, run... eat!

Gabriela Villa
Master of Health Science
B.A. Nutrition and Wellness
IOC Diploma in Sports Nutrition
Intensity - Advanced Sports Nutrition
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Open Day wrap-up, Nick Thompson

On Sunday the 12th of August, UWA put on an Open Day with the intention of giving high school students an overview of not only study options, but also other opportunities offered at the University. As a result, UWA Sport affiliated clubs were invited to set up an interactive demonstration in the attempt to not only provide an enjoyable atmosphere to the Open Day participants, but also to attract some new members to their respective clubs.

For our club’s demonstration, we hooked up a bike to a stationary trainer with the aim of convincing people to put in an all out sprint for 15 seconds, the prize of participation being legs full of lactic acid, but also the invitation to come down to training for a couple sessions.

A good, talented bunch of students put their bodies to the test throughout the morning and will hopefully come down to training in the near future. A big thanks to the members that came down to help out, and to provide a friendly face, namely James (Allen), Edwin and Tash.

Bring on the season!

City to Surf marathon 2018 Post-race report, Nathaniel Wells
 

The training and race, in short: built from a longest run base of 20km to 15, 20, 25, 30, then 32, 30, 32, 34, and back down. I blew up some muscles around my left ankle/left calf a week and a half out from the race, on my easy active recovery run of all things, so I never got in my final 15km long run 7 days before race day. It also threw me off massively mentally, but luckily, it seemed I just pulled something and it recovered over a few days. On the week of the race, I did Monday intervals like usual, an easy run of 5km on Tuesday morning, and relaxed after Wednesday intervals until the Sunday of the race. The legs started to feel really fresh and light by Friday. Race week ended up being my biggest week of running to date. The race went amazingly, my goal pace was 4:35-4:40 and I ended up averaging 4:25, for a time of 3:06:15 for 42.2km and 3:08:05 for the official time (too much ducking and weaving around so I ran 400m extra).

I woke up at 4 to account for going to the toilet multiple times before the race, yet it didn’t work. I still needed five toilet trips. What is wrong with my digestive system and bladder? Breakfast was 2 pieces of sourdough toast with strawberry jam, half a glass of juice, and a small black coffee. No milk. I got to the start line at 5:20. I found the toilets, pissed for the millionth time, and did drills and some walking around. I ran into Sarah and Adrian early on and chatting with them calmed my nerves a bit – I was extraordinarily nervous for this race. I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. Yet even despite that, I set my goals lower than I was in fact capable. When I originally signed up for the marathon, the goal pace was 5:00 k’s. Then every week I trained, it seemed to get lower. The goal pace never got low enough, in the end, despite my thoughts that I was overly optimistic with the goal I ended up with.

I thought my bladder was empty, after ANOTHER trip, and I was very wrong. I jogged it out back to the start line for 5:50, ready to roll, and saw Michael there. We both made our way to the front, and Michael gave me the single best piece of advice I would receive in relation to the whole 42.2km that I had to run: Just stay relaxed.

The marathon start was great, despite my heart rate being ridiculously high before I was even running. It was a much more casual affair than the half, with far less people, and far less grand ceremony. Before I knew it, 5:59 arrived and I needed to piss again, badly. Too late for that. The race began, and I was off. For once I didn’t need to shoulder my way through hundreds of people who definitely should not have started at the front. It seems marathoners are much more aware of their own skill levels. I rolled my legs over for the first 2km down the terrace, feeling a bit tight and still overly nervous. My heart rate was high due to the nerves, which contributed to my watch giving me a performance condition of ‘-1’ about 8 minutes into the race. I think it does it based on commencing heart rate in activity, and I resolved to say ‘screw you’ to my watch and perform at my peak whether it liked it or not.

..... read the rest here

* * *

City to Surf Marathon- Race Report- Planning is key!, Angus Duncan

Three weeks before the city the surf I found myself round a pub table bantering with mates during which the subject of city to surf was raised. Being the competitive people each of us are we all started to then egg each other on to sign up.

Out of nowhere one of my mates says, “Angus, why don’t you do the marathon?”

I replied, “Mate, it’s three weeks away and unless you’re gonna do it I’m alright.”

The reply, “Nah, you’re just weak.”

And with that I pulled out my phone and signed up for my first marathon. The reverse psychology had worked, but I also managed to persuade all 4 mates to sign up for the 12km! The real victory was mine.

Waking up the next day a little worse for wear the dread set in. The focus was then could I train for a marathon in less than three weeks, work and live a relatively normal social lifestyle all with limited running fitness?

Training

To fully appreciate what I need to do I mapped out the three weeks putting down all social events, all training sessions and milestones I had to hit. Mapping out social events in particular was really important in achieving a balance between sport, work and socialising as well as allowing me to factor in where I might need a little extra recovery. This plan also allowed me to visualise whether I would have enough time to become running fit alongside scheduled rowing and swimming training and some off road mountain bike races paid for.

For each week I scheduled in a long run (20-30kms), interval training, a fast pace medium distance run (10-15km) and a kings park green mile session, per week. Doing the long runs at a slow steady tempo (for me 4.50-5.10min pacing) was really important to improve my pacing ability whilst the intervals allowed me to focus on speed and the green mile helped (in part) with the hills.

The rowing, riding and swimming was also important just for variety and using different muscle groups. However, two weeks out from city to surf I had two big mountain bike crashes in the space of four days which did a lot of damage to my knee and wrist. I was a little worried if I could do the marathon, but soldiered on nonetheless.

Nutrition wise I ate my normal diet trying to do nothing out of the ordinary other than enjoying myself at my favourite craft beer festival one week out from the race. Most people might ask why, but again mapping out my training and social schedule allowed me to factor this in.

If there was one thing I would change for next time it would be doing more hills. Although people had said I was a fool for doing the city to surf as my first marathon because of the hills I took the ‘ignorance is bliss’ approach and did not allow for sufficient hills preparation- not even regular green mile training could fully prepare me.

..... read the rest here

UWA & Beyond

Dear UWA Triathlon Club,

Rapid Ascent invites you and your club members to join us for the new-look Augusta Adventure Fest set for 3 & 4 November 2018, in Augusta, WA.

The new fuel-injected format offers standalone races on Saturday, and a non-stop adventure race on Sunday; the ideal races for triathletes to push their training and competition experience as the summer triathlon season kicks into gear.

I have provided some event information below, as well as attached the event flyer/poster to include in any club communication such as social media, email newsletter, or printable display.

PLUS, we'll give you a FREE TEAM ENTRY^ as a way of motivation and thank you for spreading the word to club members!

Events include:

· Ocean Swimming race: 2km

· Ocean Paddling race: 15km

· Trail Running race: 15km

· Mountain Bike race: 35km

· Adventure Warrior*: the fastest cumulative time for all 4 standalone races will be crowned the overall champion (the races are run consecutively across Saturday, with time for rest/recovery in between).

· Augusta Adventure Race: non-stop traditional adventure race; solo or relay teams.

o Ocean Swim 1km

o Coast & Trail Run 6.6km

o Mountain Bike 15km

o Inlet Paddle 6km

o Final 200m run.

Whatever you choose, you'll be racing through the magical wilderness 'down south at Augusta, WA – past the iconic Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, under the Karri trees and through a range of untouched landscapes in air so fresh you'll feel truly alive!

Entries are open, and we'd love to see you and your club members at the event.

Training payment details

Running/cycling: Visit the UWATC website to get all the info and sign up.

Swimming: Visit UWA Uniswim for more information and register/sign up here.

To discuss personal programs, speak to Charles Biddle or Grant Landers.

HELPFUL PLACES TO FIND INFORMATION

** See official UWATC Facebook page for most up to date information

** See swimming Facebook page for swimming specific info

** See the UWATC website for training and payment information and season calendar

** See Facegroup group 'Who wants to go (for a swim/ride/run)' for uncoached/informal group sessions

** See UWATC Strava group to check what training everyone is up to

** Any queries/feedback, message via the official Facebook page or email committee@uwatriathlonclub.com.au