Monday, September 29, 2008

Paul wins City of Subiaco Photography Awards!

Dear All
 
As many of you know I'm getting well into my photography at the moment having now done two weddings and with a third scheduled for October. I recently spent 3 days down in Yallingup on the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers "Fuji Breakaway" course which was fantastic learning from such greats as Yervant (www.yervant.com). I also had the lucky opportunity to spend last Friday evening down in Dunsborough with top landscape photographer Christian Fletcher (www.christianfletcher.com.au) showing me how to improve my post-production images in Photoshop. Anyway, all exciting stuff and I know that some of you have expressed an interest in this hobby of mine and thankyou for that.
 
Well on Wednesday evening I won the 6th Annual City of Subiaco Photographic Awards in the "Culture" Category with this attached shot of an old "Tin Lady" walking the streets of Singapore when I was over there with the Team for last year's Singapore 70.3 triathlon event. I even picked up a nice little $250 prize purse too which I was stoked about! If you're out and about in Subiaco, the photos are being exhibited at the Subiaco Arts Centre and will eventually be displayed as large banners up and down Rokeby Road!
 
Have a great long weekend and see you tomorrow.
 
Paul

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Public Holiday Sessions Cancelled

Dear All
 
Owing to small numbers at this weekend's sessions and then me realising its a Public Holiday (!), we have decided to cancel Monday's training sessions in the likely event that very few people will show, i.e. the 9.30am swim and the 6.00pm windtrainer session. I apologise for any inconvenience and for the short notice. For those following the program, this week is a recovery week anyway, so I would suggest that you do the following sessions as per your program / motivation:
  1. Run - 45 mins very easy
  2. Swim - http://swimsmooth.blogspot.com/2008/06/session-69.html
  3. Cycle - 1h30 including 5 x 3' pickups at L3 ith 2' easy spin between each.
We'll pick back up again on Tuesday morning at 5.30am for stretching and 6.00am for the swim. Please note that I am predicting larger numbers this week at swimming and as such will probably look to split the Tuesday / Friday early swims to the 5.30am and 6.30am options from the week commencing the 6th October - but I'll confirm this next week! If you have not already done so, please confirm whether you'd prefer the 5.30am or 6.30am option - thanks!
 
Have a good weekend!
 
Paul

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Feedback Results and training this Saturday

Dear All
 
Many thanks to the 20+ responses we had to the feeback form. You still have your chance to have your say at http://www.theteamcore.com/feedback.html Your feedback is incredibly important to us, so please do make the time to give us some constructive advice on what you'd like to see on the program for the coming months.
 
In summary from the feedback I have received, we will be executing the following modifications:
  • On a Saturday morning we will run two bike sessions. The first will be an Ironman-specific brick session which will meet at 5.30am at the Dodgy Dunnies on the southside of the Narrow's Bridge for the 6 athletes now confirmed for this race. The second will be a more "social" ride meeting at 7am from the Bell Tower for those people wishing to ride for a maximum of 3h30 (i.e. 50 to 90km). This will typically feature a coffee shop break or finish and will be ideal for those concentrating on shorter events this year, or for those who just want to "cruise" a little more. I have set up a specific thread on our forum for details of these rides each week (including plans for this weekend) and to encourage a little more group interaction. This can be seen at http://teamcoretalk.freeforums.org/saturday-s-brick-session-arrangements-t85.html for the Ironman group and http://teamcoretalk.freeforums.org/saturday-s-social-ride-t86.html for the Social Group. By splitting up these two sessions now and offering two levels of riding, I am hoping to see a few more faces out there each week.
  • Wednesday's ride will have 5 pre-determined routes that we will rotate to maintain a sense of sanity rather than always using the Shelley Loop (which is great for intervals, but can get a little boring admittedly!). Further details of these 5 routes to follow. This is our free TEAM ride each week, so please make the effort to support it.
  • Thursday's running intervals will have an Endurance group and a Social / Sprint group split - again to avoid discouraging those who think all we do is "long stuff". Come down and have a go each week at 6pm for a 6.15pm start at McGilvray Oval - its a great workout and chance to work on your pacing and technique!
  • With respect to periodisation, as you know, each session per week has a set "theme": e.g. Monday 9.30am swim and Tuesday 6am swim is LONG + STEADY + TECHNIQUE work; Wednesday 9.30am swim and Friday 6am swim is SHORT + THRESHOLD + SPRINT work; and Friday 9.30am and Saturday 1pm is SPRINT + TECHNIQUE + OPENWATER SKILLS (e.g. DRAFTING + SIGHTING). Similarly Monday's bike windtrainer session is SHORT + INTENSE, Wednesday's bike intervals are THRESHOLD work and Saturday's bike session is LONG + STEADY + SOCIABLE. Finally, Thursday's run session helps develop PACE AWARENESS + THRESHOLD. Those athletes following a structured program, e.g. the Ironman, have special instructions each week as to whether this is a recovery week or a hard week etc. Normally I have factored that same feature into the program as whole. Now however, we will make this a little less obvious, so for those of you who just want to come down a couple of times per week and have a solid workout you can, and those who want the more periodised approach will be informed (as per their program) on whether to "sit back" a bit or "push on". Periodisation is an integral part of what I do as a coach to get you optimal results, but for those training less seriously, this is less of a necessity. Hopefully you can all see the benefit in this modification to the way we'll do things, regardless of your ability or event.
Rottnest Channel Swim Program:
 
Don't forget, we start this on Monday 6th October and you can register your interest at http://www.theteamcore.com/futureprograms.html or actually go online and reserve your place with the newly added online payment function for this program at http://www.theteamcore.com/shop.html This will be a great program and really encourage a team environment for teams, duos and solos. If you've ever felt you'd like to challenge this event, there's never been a better time to do so. Final program arrangements will be posted next week.

Kind regards
 
Paul
 
Paul Newsome
Head Coach Swim Smooth & The TEAM CORE
World Class Coaching delivered in YOUR language!
www.swimsmooth.com
www.theteamcore.com
Tel. +61 431 540 980

Friday, September 19, 2008

Your chance to have a say!

Dear All
 
Here's your chance to have a say in the running of The TEAM CORE!
 
It is our goal to make The TEAM CORE the absolute best, most friendliest, heaps of fun, inspiring and motivating multisport training program in Western Australia - but we need your help for us to work towards that goal. Your patronage is incredibly important to us and as such if you can think of any ways in which we could improve what we offer (i.e. new sessions or different ways of doing things etc) we'd love to hear from you!!!
 
Rather than asking a fairly ambiguous question "how could we improve?" - we've taken the time to prepare a quick 10 mins or 25 multichoice questions survey that you can easily fill in online and let us know what you think. Its all here at:
 
 
Please do take the time to let us know what you're really thinking - it'll make a big difference I'm sure! Thanks is advance - we will consider ALL feedback that you send through.

Kind regards
 
Paul

Saturday Brick Session

Dear All
 
Please be advised that Saturday's brick session will meet at the Dodgy Dunnies on the southside of the Narrow's Bridge tomorrow morning at 7am.
 
The ride will follow the route below:
 
 
This is essentially a 120km out & back route that takes you down the freeway bike path to Armadale Road, east on Armadale Road until you meet Albany HWY, north on Albany HWY and then right and heading east on Brookton HWY. Turn around when you speedo says 60km. Once you arrived back, you will transition to a short 20 mins run off the bike. This will be a challenging circuit and extreme care should be taken on the major roads that are used. Please execute a good nutrition strategy for the session. I will be there to set you off and give you some individual tips on what I'd like you to work on etc.
 
Going Forward:
 
This session has been primarily frequented by the Ironman "crew" and as these guys will be starting to develop the length of their sessions in future weeks, we will look to start this session at 6am from next week onwards. It will always leave from the Dodgy Dunnies until the last 4 weeks before the race when we'll add a swim component down at Cottesloe Beach. I will always email out a route beforehand so people know where they're going. Its then up to you to get down there, get your "head down and bum up" and then report how your session went to me on your training log. These next 8 weeks are absolutely key to your preparation for the race, so come wind or rain you need to be out there. Meeting up to do this with the group (even if and when you split up) will help with the motivation factor.
 
Kind regards
 
Paul

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Monday night windtrainer session back to "The Shack"

Dear All
 
Please be advised that our Monday night windtraining session will move back to the good old "Sweat Shack" from Monday 22nd September onwards.
 
The "Sweat Shack" can be found at 22 Fairfield Street, Mount Hawthorn, WA 6016 and is just off Scarborough Beach Road. Please arrive for 6.00pm to commence the session at 6.15pm. Parking is on Anzac Road and you may leave your windtrainers in the Sweat Shack for convenience each week.
 
If you've never tried a wind trainer session before, then you should pop along and have a go!! We have a few spare windtrainers and the Sweat Shack is an ideal venue for this session, utilising our awesome projection cinema screen to display a wide variety of cycling DVDs to keep you pumped!
 
Come along next week and see what the buzz is all about!
 
Cheers
 
Paul

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Saturday's Cafe Crawl Bike Ride

Dear All
 
This week is a bit of a transition period for many of you. For those who are competing at the Ironman WA race on the 7th December this is your "week-off" - a chance to unwind and completely relax and enjoy yourself - we have some tough work ahead, so make the most of it now! Its been very much a program of two halves with this break signalling the chance to have as much of a psychological and emotional break from training hard as the physical. Others are just now starting to come out of the woodwork and think about doing the TWA triathlon season or even the Rottnest Channel Swim, so its a great "downtime" to get your butt in gear and come along to a few sessions without feeling like you're going to be too far off the pace - you've just got to take that first step!
 
So, I thought it was an ample opportunity this week to have my 30th birthday! Argh! That's right, I turn the grand-old age of 30 this Saturday and to top it all off (for those who haven't heard) myself and Michelle are expecting our first baby in March - awesome stuff! In order to really accept just how old I am getting (?!) I would like to cordially invite you all out for a cruisey cafe ride this Saturday which will total ~45km. We'll start this week at 8am and meet down at the Mount Street Cafe at 7.45am for anyone who wants to grab a quick coffee and then ride down to Freo for a spot of breakfast at Gino's (or somewhere equally good). It'll be a really light spin and chance to socialize, so if you've been hiding away this winter and would like an easy introduction back into things - why not come and join us!
 
Squad swim will still be on at 1pm...maybe with a fun relay at the end which I can partake in too!
 
Cheers!
 
Paul
 
 

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Changes to Training Schedule, effective Monday 8th September

Dear Athletes
 
Please be advised that due to a restructuring of the current training program in light of poor attendance at some of the sessions and anticipated greater demand for others as we go into summer, the following changes will be effective as of Monday 8th September (all now viewable at http://www.theteamcore.com/weeklyprogram.html):
 
ADDITIONAL SESSIONS:
 
It is great that we have so much interest from within the squad to participate in the Rottnest Channel Swim this year and some of the various lead-up Aussi Masters Open Water Swims. Our 20-week program officially starts on Monday 6th October, but a few of you have expressed an interest in getting things rolling and off to a good start in September. I'm hoping that we can put in a really, really strong and fun team for the Rottnest Channel Swim and believe that we can knock the socks off the competition! Our strength will be in our shared vision of having a goal to work towards and doing so with plenty of team spirit in a fun and supportive environment! We'll be running seminars and talks leading up to the event to cover such areas as nutrition, technique and mental preparation which will really help to build a great thing to be part of! The program will cater for teams, duos and solo swimmers of all levels of ability...think "The TEAM CORE Half Ironman Squad" but for the Rottnest Swim - we won the best team support award down in Busselton, lets do the same for Rotto!! As such, here are a few proposed additions to the program:
  • Saturday Morning Openwater Session - a structured openwater swim session on various courses around the coast and river with support boat assistance and paddlers (all volunteers welcome!). This will typcially start at 9.00am (from Saturday 11th October) and will range in duration from 2.5km to 10km depending upon which category you are participating in. Our full program will be available soon for perusal which will include selected Open Water Swims from the calendar at www.mastersswimmingwa.asn.au which will replace these sessions at appropriate times.
  • Tuesday and Friday Morning Sessions - with the predicted increase in participation at these 2 sessions and the emphasis on providing you all with the absolute best quality coaching support, we will be offering two back-2-back sessions at 5.30am to 6.30am and 6.30am to 7.30am as soon as our numbers start to regularly get above 24 people (likely from October onwards). Unfortunately we will lose the morning stretch session prior to the swim, but may aim to do that in the carpark instead!!
  • Non-coached Swim Sessions - as Coach Paul will also be building up for the Rottnest Solo swim, we will be offering all Rottnest Program swimmers the chance to swim with 4 uncoached but programmed sessions with Paul on a Monday and Wednesday at 10.30am and on a Tuesday and Thursday at 4.30pm if you can make it. These are currently running.
Cost for the Rottnest Swim Program will be $495.00 for the 20 week program from October 6th up until the race or $595.00 if you want to start in September (24 weeks). This represents exceptional value as swimmers on the program have access to any of our squad swim sessions for less than $25 per week! Please register your interest by replying to this email!
 
CANCELLED SESSIONS:
  • Monday morning long run - all athletes on programs for Busselton Ironman should run this session from their own house as opposed to the proposed meeting point down at the UWA Boathouse. This seems to be a favoured choice anyway as the sessions start to increase in length and time pre-work becomes more "precious". Please update your Training Peaks diary after each run to let me know how you've performed.
  • Tuesday evening technique run - this session will be "postponed" until further notice or subject to increased interest in the summer months. Thanks to Nimal, Deb, Andrew and Nic for supporting this session over the last few months. Anyone interested in attending one of our squad run sessions should now attend the Thursday evening running interval session at McGilvray Oval at 6pm.
  • Wednesday evening squad swim - surprisingly this session never really took off (which was a shame) and as such will be cancelled until further notice. Please see the program at http://www.theteamcore.com/weeklyprogram.html for alternative sessions.
MODIFIED SESSIONS:
  • Saturday Brick Session - as the length of these sessions in preparation for the Busselton Ironman starts to increase substantially, coach Paul will not be able to attend for the whole session (nor would he be fit enough to do so!). Paul will meet the group as per the weekly email (usually at 7.00am) to explain the session plan, motivate you for the session and give you all constructive advice on what you should be working on. We'll be adding some swim-bike-run sessions in here over the next couple of months (TBC), so Paul will obviously take you through the openwater swim session as well and then set you off on the bike ride. All athletes on the Busselton Ironman Program will be requested to meet with the group in order to benefit from the motivation and camaraderie that this inspires. After each session, athletes will be requested to drop Paul a call, email or SMS to let him know how it went.
Cheers
 
Paul
 

Monday, September 1, 2008

Saturday's Simulated Half Ironman Training Session

Dear Athletes
 
For those of you who have been training up for the Ironman and will be participating in this Saturday's simulated Half Ironman training session, please visit http://www.theteamcore.com/documents/Simulated_Half_Ironman_Courses.pdf for full details of the courses that we will be using. Thanks Nimal for all your hard work in putting this together!
 
The plan is to meet at 6.30am in the Sorrento Surf Club Car Park for a 7.00am start. A briefing will be held at 6.45am, so please make sure you are prompt and on time! Everyone will start together. This will not be a competitive race, just a chance for you to string together a solid brick session before next week's planned week off. This will give us a good chance to see where you're "at" for Busselton in December.
 
I will be at the car park for 6.30am and will take you through the briefing at 6.45am. I'll set the swim off and watch everyone's bike gear in the "transition area" (car park) until everyone has left to head out on the bike course. A warm top and leggings would be advisable so as to not get too cold! It doesn't need to be a blistering transition, but equally, I won't be making you a cup of tea either! I will then follow you all out on my scooter to make sure everyone gets out to Wanneroo Road safe and sound. Due to the length of this session I will not be able to stay around all morning (due to other coaching sessions, i.e. the squad swim and 1-2-1s) but will make sure you get yourselves off to a good start. Each athlete will be requested to give me a call on 0431 540 980 once they have finished to have a chat about how it all went.
 
I would like each of you to treat this like a race with respect to how you prepare yourselves, i.e resting up well beforehand and having a good breakfast in the morning and AVOID RUSHING around...we will be strict with the start time, so if you are late...that's time added onto your finish, just as it would be in a real event!! The key is to have fun and give yourself a bit of a test...some of you will go really well and feel great, others maybe not quite so, but one thing you'll all have in common is knowing what needs to be done for the full event on the 7th December! Nutrition is going to be key, so if you haven't already listened to it, download the podcast at http://www.theteamcore.com/podcast.html and use the advice on there for your preparation!
 
Go TEAM CORE!
 
Paul