BTS Blog 24/2/11

GEELONG RACE RESULTS

The first round of the Aus Champs series at Geelong was held last Sunday in testing conditions. Strong winds and a very choppy swim made it a tough day for everyone competing however it didn't prevent some fast times.

BTS had a few athletes travel down with some very good results. Alissa Williams showed her potential with a 2.18 (pb) and third place in the 20-24 and is now a very real chance to podium for the series as she heads towards Mooloolaba and Sydney. Hannah Hogan continued on after her great race in Perth to place 4th in the 30-34 while Nic Savage coming back from that bad crash last year and her first race for 10 months was 5th in the 25-29.

Yas Grigaliunas was 13th in the 30-34 and Evie McNiell had a strong race to place top 20 after a a great swim and ride. In the men's we had Chris Bierton come in 7th in the 20-24 and John Agyik 10th in the 35-39 while Martin Collinson did a pb of 2.18. Each one of these athletes has overcome setbacks and worked very hard to achieve these results so it's exciting to know there is still so much more improvement left in them.

BEGINNER COURSE

Our latest beginner course participants complete their course this Sunday at the Raby Bay event. As always it's been great to see another 16 people get into the sport and try different things.

We look forward to welcoming them into the BTS program and watching them work towards future events. It should be noted that Nic Savage and Martin Collinson are previous beginner course graduates and now they are competing at a national level.

Nic has a real chance to be among the top 3 in her age group in the country and Martin has gone from being someone who couldn't swim and was doing over 2.30 for OD events to almost breaking 12 min for the 800m tt and now on the verge of a sub 2.15 at Mooloolaba based on his rate of improvement at every race he competes.

UNIFORMS

We have just received a new batch of tri suits and cycling gear that are available for sale. We also have some one piece women's tri suits for people to sample so we can get the cut right.

Every Friday we will have the uniforms at the wind trainer session for people to try and on and look at.

FEEDBACK MEETING

As part of a review process we're undertaking at BTS we would like to hold a feedback meeting on Sat Mar 12th. This is an opportunity to offer any suggestions and feedback on the program we offer.

Everything from coaching, training, camps, fees, sponsorship, beginner courses, website will be discussed so it is a perfect opportunity for any ideas you may have.

If you would like to be part of this meeting please e-mail mark@brisbanetrisquad.com.au . The meeting will take place at a Southbank cafe (our shout) and be from 9.30am for about 90 mins.

IM TRIP

We still have a couple of places left on the IM supporters trip for Port Mac IM and half on May 1st. We actually have 20 people competing so it is quite a large group heading down there considering we have about the same amount heading to Cairns and 5 people travelling to New Zealand next week.

FUNDRAISING

If there is anyone looking at fundraising the organisers of the Mothers Day Fun Run have an opportunity to raise some funds.

It involves some bag packing for the event so if you're interested contact Anthony Peterman on anthony.peterman@hotmail.com or mobile 0438 384 136.

TRAINING

One of the common attributes of any successful age group athlete is they make every session count. Whether it is a recovery session or a hard interval based set they make the most of the limited time they have to train.

Something I have noticed lately is some people are not pushing themselves hard enough at the designated hard sessions. For the majority where Mooloolaba and now Sydney are the main goals we're in a tough training phase. This type of training is best done a 4-6 week blocks as it is quite hard both mentally and physically.

The returns from it are great as they push you to that next level but you need to work hard. When I say working hard I mean breathing hard at training and not being able to have a conversation to the person next to you at wind trainer. It means not being afraid to find your limits and learning to hurt.

Racing hurts and sometimes you need to try and replicate that in training. It must be done at the right time in your training cycle but done well you'll be amazed at the results. So next time when you're in that designated "hard" session, push that little bit harder and reap the results on race day.