- 0 to 50 minutes = ~14'00" per km (my goal pace, but when I was feeling particularly sluggish)
- 50 minutes to 3hrs = ~15'30" per km (when things started to pick up and I was holding good form)
- 3 hours to 4 hours = ~14'30" per km (when I started to peg other swimmers back)
- 4 hours to 5 hours 23 minutes = ~17'00" per km (when I was powering at my best)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Rottnest Channel Swim Results
Friday, February 25, 2011
The next few Saturdays...and also the 9.30am sessions
- Saturday 26th February = CANCELLED (Rottnest Channel Swim)
- Saturday 5th March = Claremont Pool with coach Adam Young
- Saturday 12th March = Claremont Pool with coach Shelley Taylor-Smith
- Saturday 19th March = CANCELLED (Water-polo tournament) - we are looking at the viability of running a two-part Saturday open water clinic at Cottesloe Beach at 6.30am for those of you doing triathlon and the Half Ironman in Busselton in particular - please reply if you'd be keen on this 1h15 practical open water skills session focused on sighting, drafting, turning and developing open water confidence and speed. The session will finish early enough to allow you to hop on your bike for a ride afterwards and be great preparation for getting used to that transition feeling between swim and bike which is very rarely practised.
- Saturday 26th March = CANCELLED (Water-polo tournament) - as per notes for last week
- Saturday 2nd April = all back to normal with coach Paul Newsome at Claremont Pool
- Monday 28th Feb. & Wednesday 2nd March (as normal)
- Friday 4th March (outdoor 8 lane pool at Challenge Stadium with Sandy)
- Monday 7th March (no sessions - Labour Day Holiday)
- Wednesday 8th March (Claremont Pool - 25m pool - will be fun, trust me!)
- Friday 11th March (outdoor 8 lane pool at Challenge Stadium with Sandy)
- Monday 14th March (as normal)
- Wednesday 16th March (Cottesloe Beach - open water session - loads of fun!)
- Friday 18th March (Claremont Pool - 25m pool - will be fun, trust me! With Sandy)
- Monday 21st, Wednesday 23rd and Friday 25th March (all as normal, with Sandy taking Friday's session)
- Monday 28th March (Cottesloe Beach - open water session - loads of fun!)
- Wednesday 30th March (as normal)
- Friday 1st April (Claremont Pool - 25m pool - will be fun, trust me!)
- Monday 4th April and Wednesday 6th April (as normal)
- Friday 8th April (outdoor 8 lane pool at Challenge Stadium)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Squad Shirts have arrived!!
Just letting your know the Rottnest Channel Swim Squad shirts arrived today and look fantastic! In total there will be 57 of us wearing them on Rottnest Island and given the vibrant blue colour we should all really stand out! Can't wait.
Shirts can be collected from the Claremont Pool on Friday morning. I'll be there from 5.30am to 7.30am and again at 9.30am to 10.30am. Cost per shirt is $30. Please aim to have the correct change as this will help speed up the process. Here's who ordered what:
http://www.swimsmooth.com/pauls_images/Shirt_Orders.pdf
What I shall do is lay out the shirts in piles of sizes and ask you to pay your money owing and collect your shirt from the respective pile (I might bring along a little helper to help me with this on Friday morning!!). We have not ordered any spare sizes, so hopefully everyone is happy with their shirt sizes or can arrange to swap within the group.
See you tomorrow morning then!
P.S we will not have too much provision to lug a load of shirts over to Rottnest on Saturday, so please (if you can) make an effort to collect them from the pool on Friday - thanks!
Paul
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Quick tips for Saturday - Just Keep Swimming!
- Bring lots of towels - swimmers get cold in this event not when they're in the water but when they're exposed to the wind on the boat deck (even on warm days). A nice, dry towel is always nice to hop out to rather than a sopping wet flannel.
- Ideal transition (swim) times would be somewhere between 3 and 8 minutes. After the first swimmer has done the first 1000m off the beach, my recommendation would be to slot into rotations of ~8 minutes or 4 to 500m. Anything too much longer than this and you'll see a noticeable drop-off in speed. Anything much shorter than this and you run the risk of tiring through constantly hauling yourself out of the water. The elite teams will rotate every 30 seconds to 2 minutes but this is totally full on, and may be a little too extreme for most teams.
- Keep it chirpy on the boat deck - it's a fun event and you should really approach it as a team, even if you don't know some of your team-mates too well. You'll be amazed how good you feel giving someone a well deserved compliment on their swimming and likewise what this feels like to be reciprocated.
- Stay off the grog until you reach Thomson's Bay - 'nuff said! :-)
- Use a rope with a bouy on the end to haul your finishing swimmer's into the boat once they tag the relay swimmer - they'll appreciate the effort saved here and it'll improve your torpedo position in the water too!
- As per note # 1 for the Teams, bring lots of dry towels and also some warm jackets too. Silver foil emergency blankets are also very good for those concerned about losing too much heat.
- Eat and drink well - roughly aim for ~600 to 750ml fluid per hour as well as ~60g of carbohydrates per hour too. This might break down as a biddon of Gatorade per hour as well as a couple of halve banana sandwiches (or similar) washed down with plain water. If you run low on fuel you will rapidly start to cool down - watch out for these symptoms!
- Transition times for Duos should be similar for Teams. Last year myself and my wife Michelle after the first 1000m did 4 rounds of 10 minutes each, then down to 4 rounds of 8 minutes each, then down to round of 6 minutes each until the finish as a rough guide of what you could try.
- Use a small white board to write messages of good luck to each other or commend your partner on their stroke. The irony of a Duo is that you never actually speak to each other for the whole event - leaving a message like this can be really motivational and fun!
- Be prepared to tow more than your fair share - hopefully both you and your partner will balance the swim out nicely and you'll each do your fair share, but the cold, shoulder niggles etc can all throw best laid plans off course and you could find yourself doing more than you had bargained for - don't panic - just get on with it!
- Aim to stop roughly every 1500m or 25 minutes for fuel and drink. My personal plan is alternating every 1500m with 250ml gatorade and then a gel and ~150ml of water at the next stop, but each to their own and you should know your own formula by now from training practice.
- Don't try ANYTHING new on race day - better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
- Expect to feel crap at points during the swim, but realise that these low points (both emotionally and physically) will pass if you keep focusing positively and just completing one stroke at a time to get you across there.
- Have confidence that all the hard work has now been done, look forward to having a great experience, keep a smile on your face at all times and especially enjoy the sunrise which is totally memorable I found on my first solo swim!
- Don't get grumpy with your crew. Like Dory says, Just Keep Swimming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA
Anyone fancy a DUO swim at the weekend?
Friday, February 18, 2011
Training this Weekend and Suits for Sale
- Saturday 7am - Cottesloe Beach swim (meet in front of the pylon) 2 to 5km loosener before next weekend's Rottnest Channel Swim
- Saturday 1pm - squad session at Claremont Pool. I'll personally be back on pool deck this week and have great little set lined up this week. Please note there will be NO Saturday session next week (26th February) owing to the Channel Swim.
- Sunday 7.30am - North Cott SLSC have a similar swim to our Saturday one going out from the SLSC buildings at 7.30am prompt.
- WS PZ3 1 = only been used a few times .. in new condition..( Size is Womans small, weight 50-55kgs ish, but weight range is rough..) = price = $150
- WS PZ3 2 = brand new ( tag attached ), never been worn( Size is Womans small, weight 50-55kgs ish, but weight range is rough..) = Price = $200
- Helix WS = Near new again, only been worn twice ,( Size is Womans small, weight 50-55kgs ish, but weight range is rough..) = price = $300
- Apex Orca = Worn a bit , has cut arms and legs for quick exit, ( Size is XS, roughly 50-55 Kgs, but weight range is rough ) = Price $100
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Rotto SOS! 2 x paddlers and 1 x swimmer needed!
Also, Kathryn Granheim's team are looking for a paddler too (they're coming over from Melbourne). Please contact Kathryn on 0403 068 011.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Room to rent or house to sit?
I'm very pleased to announce that Coach Adam from the UK will be returning to these shores for 8 weeks from Wednesday 23rd February onwards - just in time to be part of my crew for the Rottnest Swim!
Adam's accommodation has sadly just fallen through right at the last minute and so he's desperately trying to find somewhere until the 20th April as a room / unit to rent or house to sit. If anyone has or knows of anything, please contact Adam directly on adam@swimsmooth.com
Many thanks - we can't wait to have him back!
Cheers
Paul
Monday, February 14, 2011
Rottnest Shirt Design for the Squad
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Training this weekend...
- Saturday 6.15am meet for a 6.30am start. Meet at Trigg SLSC tower for a ~10km Rotto "Rehearsal" swim, heading south for ~5km and then turning around and heading back. Plan is for people to bring their paddlers with them if at all possible and practice proper race nutrition. This is our last major swim session before the event. Even if you're not doing the solo swim this year, you might like to try doing part of this swim, say down to Scarborough and back (total = 3.6km) or if you fancy paddling I know there are a few soloists whose paddlers can't make it this Saturday and would appreciate the support.
- Saturday 1.00pm. Claremont Pool. Squad session in the pool ideally focussed on developing your openwater skills for ocean swimming and triathlons. It's a good one this week and would really suit the duo and team swimmers this weekend! Come along and give it a try!
- Sunday 7.00am. North Cottesloe Beach. North Cott SLSC have an ocean swim heading out bang on 7.00am with IRB support. Choose your distance - 2.0km to 8.0km and celebrate a 40th birthday swim with Coach Adam! Sure to be a fun one!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Awesome results from the squad this weekend!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
iiNET Team Sprint Cup for Autism West
- Over 180 years
- Over 270 years
- Open Men's
- Open Women's
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Anyone popping down to Busselton early...
Training and Racing this weekend...
- Cottesloe to Swanbourne Swim (2.2km) on Saturday. Enter at: https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?ID=3376 - registration is 7 - 7.45am, briefing at 7.30am and start at 8am. We'll meet down there for those keen at 6.45am for a short swim and stretch loosen-off and for those super-keen will also swim back following the race.
- Saturday 1-2pm squad swim. I'm anticipating small numbers this week (due to the racing) but if you can make it down to Claremont Pool, that'd be great.
- Busselton Jetty Swim (3.6km) on Sunday. Enter at: http://www.busseltonjettyswim.org.au/ - registration is 6 - 7am (no clear briefing / start time but I'm thinking 7.15am and 7.30am respectively?). Again, we may do another lap of the course (steady) for those solo swimmers wanting to get in a little more distance.