Weekly Transition 12Feb2014

WORD FROM THE COACHES
What a weekend for another Long Distance event on the calendar. Melbourne threw everything at athletes on Sunday and it was great to see those racing take it in their stride and roll with the conditions on the day. You learn from every race you run, and Sunday was no different. Well done to our team of 20 athletes and a big thanks to our friends at EnduranceTeam for allowing us to set up camp with them on Sunday. 🙂 Read our wrap up of the weekends race here… 

This week just about every athlete is enjoying recovery week. A chance to refuel, refresh and hit back again on the weekend for the next block of training. Our Sprint distance athletes will taper in nicely at the end of the week for their big race on Sunday at Race 3 of the Gatorade Series which doubles as the Australian Sprint Distance Championships. Some big titles up for grabs and we have a few strong contenders again. Leading from the front will be some of our advanced Short Course Team including Ryan Bourke, Mark Skilton, Will Pullin, Dan Kelly, Sarah Grove and Kathryn Siddle. New athlete Amy Giannotti is set to have a strong first race with us, and our team of girls in the Athenas always race strongly against their competition. We have a few athletes who have been right in the mix in previous races and looking to make the jump back into podium contention including Harry Spartels and Belinda Griffiths and Open Athlete Jeremy Critchett is looking to continue his form in this category looking to run in the 16’s for 5km. We also hear that 2 x Kona Qualifier Marina Jurjevic ill be making her sprint debut this season, so keep an eye out for a strong performance from her also! 🙂

We already have 45 athletes signed up ready to race, so good luck to all who are racing – and if you haven’t entered yet make sure you do! Online entries close Thursday 5pm. Click here for details and to enter. Also ensure you read below training details for this weekend.

Most of our Half Ironman Athletes have finished their official race campaigns for the season, and it will be great to see a number of them out racing the final Sprint distance races to round off their season. Our Ironman Melbourne are in full flight now, with less than 6 weeks until their big race. They will commence their course recon swim/runs from Frankston back along the bay this weekend, so anyone out riding on Sunday’s over the next few weeks make sure you give them a shout out if you see them!

Our lone contender at Ironman New Zealand in 3 weeks time is Katie Bennett – taking on her first Ironman race in her home country. Katies will also be leaving us at the same time as she has made the decision to move back home to live and study. Katie’s last week with us will be next week, so if you see her at training make sure you wish her well in both her race and her move.

TRI ALLIANCE LAUNCHES SUNSHINE COAST!
Last week Tri Alliance was excited to launch a new training base in Maroochydore, on the Sunshine Coast. It’s an exciting time for Tri Alliance as we continue to establish ourselves as the leading Triathlon brand in Australia, with talks also currently underway in Western Australia. Tri Alliance now has training squads in Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Click here to watch this great video put together thanks to Aus Sports TV.

WEEKEND RIDES
Great to see that we had nice controlled group riding on the weekend, where athletes worked well together, completed solo efforts when required, and kept an eye out for each other. We want to continue to re-enforce if you plan on joining our weekend group rides you MUST wear a piece of our Tri Alliance Cycling Kit. This is for the safety of our group. If you do not have Tri Alliance kit, you will be asked to ride at the back of the group. We are mainly concerned about Beach Road riding and other cyclist ‘jumping in’ to our group rides, so with all riders in team kit, this shows a form of unity and minimises the risk of other riders joining our groups. We have no issues with others sitting on the back of group rides, but the danger occurs when they start mixing with our athletes when they don’t know what the group is doing and/or we don’t know their ability. So if you haven’t got a kit yet, jump online here and order. AND heads up to keep your eye on a special discount happening THIS FRIDAY! 😉

BAYSIDE TRAINING – COMMENCING NEXT WEEK!
Tri Alliance is excited to announce the commencement of training sessions in the Bayside area from NEXT WEEK!
We will be holding sessions out of Bayside Aquatics, Mentone including swim, bike and run sessions, with a full timetable starting next Monday 17 February! This will provide athletes with even more flexibility and variety with their training and we will be introducing our new Swim Coach Anna Boomers and Run Coach Rupert Vandongen to these sessions.
CLICK HERE for full details including session times and locations. Any questions please contact [email protected].

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST COACHES
We would like to welcome the newest Coaches to our team:
Anna Curuthers – Swim Coach for our Bayside training. Anna has had over 20 year of coaching experience ranging from junior swimmers, triathletes through to master swimmers.
Scott D’Aucourt – Scott has progressed quickly within the squad and as Cert 1V in PT and Performance Triathlon Coaching accreditation, he is a great addition to our Short Course and Beginner Coaching Sessions.

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST ATHLETES
The New Year is always a busy one with plenty of races, but also lots of new athletes coming on board, either through our Try-the-Tri Program, seeing us at races, or through friends/family. So we welcome our newest athlets over the past month – all 15 of you! 🙂
James Ogilvie, James Atchison, Luke Emerson, Amy Giannotti, Renee Kiley, Tai Lennon, Danielle Marsh, Shaun Power, Georgina Riddiough, Grant Rogerson, Coleen Smith, Jacob Snelgrove, Megan West, Emily Wilson, Carolyn Sullivan

IRONMAN MELBOURNE PROMOTION
Thank you for those who responded to the call out for promotion work for Ironman Melbourne. We have passed your details onto the promoters and if they require you they will be in contact directly. So thanks once again!

UPCOMING RACES & EVENTS
Sunday 9 February          Geelong Olympic & Half IM
Sunday 16 February        Race 4 Gatorade Series, Elwood (Aus Sprint champs)
Saturday 1 March            Olympic Distance Qualifier, Davenport
Sunday 2 March                Fitness First Corporate Tri, Elwood
Sprint Distance Qualifier, Canberra
Sunday 9 March               Olympic Distance Qualifier, Victor Harbour & Wollongong
Sunday 16 March             Race 5 Gatorade Series, Portarlington
Sunday 23 March             Ironman Melbourne
Sunday 30 March             Race 6 Gatorade Series, StKilda
Sunday 6 April                 Mini, Sprint & Olympic Distance, Mordialloc

BIKE STORAGE AT MSAC- PLEASE READ
Please read the following notice from the mangement team at MSAC regarding storing your bikes while using the MSAC facilities:

‘Recently staff at MSAC have had to ask several people to remove their bikes from the venue & this has been an ongoing issue. Patrons are not allowed to bring their bikes into the centre. We are not able to look after their bikes or take responsibility for any loss or damage that may happen to their bike. Patrons trying to bring their bikes into the Centre, will be informed to use the multiple bike racks located across the facility. Excuses such as “my bike is expensive” or “I forgot my lock” are not acceptable. We will not allow bikes in the centre and will be ensuring all staff members enforce this.’

ROCKET SCIENCE AQUA SENSE REVIEW 
Read Coach Ryans review of the brand new Rocket Science Aqua Sense, and why he chooses to wear the Rocket Science suit.  Click here to continue reading..

MIZUNO WAVE HITOGAMI REVIEW
Coach Ryan has been busy and has also reviewed the newly released light weight yet vesatile running shoe the Mizuno Wave Hitogami. Click here to read… the hype on this new Mizuno shoe.

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE
An unfortunate accident during a training ride on the weekend left one athlete taken by an ambulance, and another two walking wounded but otherwise relatively unscathed. We cannot stress first the importance of safety while on the bike, but secondly ensuring you are adequately covered should anything happen. Continue reading for an exclusive offer to Tri Alliance athletes.

GMHBA is pleased to offer  Tri-Alliance athlete’s exclusive access to this month’s partner offer. Get a Quote or Join Now
*Plus, if you join by 28th February 2014, we’ll give you $150 Cash Back plus a waiver of most 2 & 6 month waiting periods when you take out a GMHBA Combined Product. To ensure you receive this special offer all you have to do is use promotional code Tri-Alliance.

Finally a health insurance product that rewards YOU for staying fit and healthy! GMHBA has some exciting news. We have developed a range of packages specifically for people into sports and fitness.

When it comes to exercise there is a fine line between pushing your body to its limits and overdoing it. So with fantastic benefits and enhanced claiming limits, you need to ensure you have the right cover for your fit and active lifestyle with one of our four Fit Packages.

Our Fit packages encourage, support and reward you for staying fit and healthy.  We also put significant dollars back in the hands of local clubs and communities, to improve and protect the health and well-being of grassroots fitness and sport participation in Australia.
Contact us  1300 446 422 [email protected]

ELWOOD LIFESAVING CLUB FUNDRAISER
Do you have a few hours up your sleeve and want to donate your time to a good cause? Our friends at the Elwood Lifesaving are seeking volunteers to help with their Highway Collection (tin rattle) on Saturday 22 February, with the morning anticipated to bring in much needed funds to the Club. Click here for more details and to register your interest.

ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE??
Mark ‘Sharky’ Smoothy founder of Smiling for Smiddy has a Challenge for YOU!

“I began an adventure, one that was infinitely bigger than even I could have imagined, my Oz 7 in 7 trip around Australia. Seven years in the making, this epic trip will conclude with two legs, covering over 2300kms in total.

You’ll cycle leg one travelling from Melbourne to Sydney via Canberra (3-9 Oct) or leg two
finishing it all off from Sydney to Brisbane (12-18 Oct), or maybe both! (There will be two lay days in Sydney included between the legs for recovery) – and I would love for you to join me!”

Stage 1, 1300kms
Departs Melbourne – 3 October 2014
Arrives Sydney – 9 October 2014
Stage 2, 1200kms
Departs Sydney – 12 October 2014
Arrives Brisbane – 18 October 2014

Read the full tour brochure here>> Registrations are now open, with places strictly limited (ONLY 30 PLACES).  To register please follow this link>>
Let us know if you are keen, as we already have one athlete joining stage 1 – so who else is up for the Challenge???

FACEBOOK – more than a ‘social network’
Tri Alliance utilises Facebook on many levels (like millions of other businesses / clubs /groups) and one of the reasons, is it allows for direct communication to our athletes in an instant. Any changes to training, updates in sessions, new events etc are all delivered via the Facebook medium. We also use it to share pictures, stories and allow athletes to interact with each other.

So if you have yet to embrace Facebook, we encourage you to at least set up an ‘alias’ account and follow Tri Alliance so you don’t miss out on any important or noteworthy information directed to our athletes which may not communicated on email. And make sure you ‘like’ each of our pages to ensure you are getting the relevant information you need.

Happy facebooking…

• Tri Alliance Triathlon Training – for all global news, information, advice plus more
• Tri Alliance Victoria – specifically for our VIC Athletes
• Tri Alliance Queensland – specifically for our QLD Athletes
• Tri Alliance Running Group – join our FREE running group
• Tri Alliance New/Beginner Athletes -(group) this group is for anyone new to Tri Alliance/triathlon and can feel free to ask ANY question that our Coaches will happily answer.

TRAINING THIS WEEKEND

SHORT COURSE

• Saturday: 7.30am Elwood Beach. Pre Race Session. Bring all swim, bike, run gear. OR
• 8.30am Elwood Beach. Beginner skills session, for those who are new to the squad or triathlon. Learn the tips and tricks for racing.
• Sunday: Gatorade/Active Feet Race 3, Elwood Beach. www.supersprint.com.au for full details

LONG COURSE

• Saturday: Long Ride + run off bike, leaving North Point Cafe 6.15am. Follow own program distances, or speak to a Coach.
• Sunday: IM Melbourne Race Recon from Frankston. Ensure you are part of our IM Melb FB Group for full details.

TRIATHLON TRADING POST
BIKE WANTED!
Do you have an old bike laying around that you are ready to part ways with? We often have newbies looking for their first bike to get on, and one we are looking for at the moment is:
Giant – Avail 1 road bike (or similar), Medium (not too particular about the year). If you have something that might be of interest, please contact: Ronnie [email protected]