Training / Racing this weekend

Dear Crew

This weekend sees the City of Perth being over-run by some of the world's best triathletes in the form of the ITU Triathlon Long Distance World Championships held right here, down at Langley Park and utilising the Freeway and Mounts Bay Road area. It will be a spectacular event to watch, so I suggest you try and make it down. The event consists of a 3km swim, an 80km bike ride and a 20km run to finish. Racing starts from 8am on Sunday down by the Barrack Street Jetty. Full details here: http://www.ldworlds.org.au/en/default.htm

Racing from the squad will be (good luck crew!):

40-44 Mens

• Matt Illingworth

45-49 Mens

• Mike Bowles
• Sandy Burt (...is he back? Judging by the Aquathlon today - maybe?! Good on you Sandy!)

50-54 Mens

• David Laidlaw
• Alan Nicholls

60-64 Mens

• Graham Crocker

25-29 Womens

• Lisa Delaurentis
• Sandy Crowe

30-34 Womens

• Sarah Thomson

40-44 Womens

• Judi Clemie
• Suzanne Laidlaw
• Donna Todesco
• Sally Scaffidi

45-49 Womens

• Desiree Silva

55-59 Womens

• Anne Murrell

We'll also be batting for three British athletes with whom I've shared many a hotel-room whilst on training camps / races etc: Jodie Swallow, Leanda Cave and Daniel Plews - all will be right up there at the pointy end of the PRO field. Give them a shout for me!

OK, so back to the training for us mere mortals then:

Saturday:

6am - ride from Cottesloe Beach Car Park - just under 2hrs at a good old pace on a looped course.

8am - swim from Cottesloe Beach - aim for 3 to 5km for those doing the Rottnest DUO / SOLO swim.

1pm - squad swim at Claremont Pool (please note - 1pm)

Rottnest Solo / Duo Swimmers and those racing triathlons this season:

I've been promising to get this information out to you for a good few weeks now and I'm nearly there - promise!! First up, here's my pick of the races that I would recommend this season on a per-discipline-basis. I'm not suggesting you have to do all of them - just to help you plan: 

http://www.theteamcore.com/images/Suggested_Races.pdf

The final Rottnest Program (adjusted for this Calendar and our new timetable) is not quite complete yet, but as inspiration for some benchmarks for where you should be aiming as you step up your volume, please see last year's program as a rough guide:

http://www.theteamcore.com/images/Rotto_Program.pdf

I'm busy writing a more detailed plan for 2009/10 with some tips on what we learnt last year for those doing it this year as solo or duo swimmers which will be very useful for you. Please bare with me - I've been very busy of late (yeah, that old chestnut!). Here's one thing to get you started though - for those doing the Solo swim, aim to do a 2km continuous swim in the pool this week. Do this at a pace which you believe you could go for 5km at currently. Take the time and work out your 100m pace, i.e. 1:45 per 100m. We'll then use this as your Endurance Pace as we develop your ability to swim for ever-increasing distances. This figure is very important, so please make sure you get chance to do this.

OK, see you over the weekend!

Paul