MSC Latest News - July 2006
It's always a great time when July rolls around each year. Apart from being the month in which I was born, there is also quite a lot happening all around the world in sporting circles. Of course in the cycling world, July mean's Tour De France time. And with the last week taking place as I write it's proving to be the most open race for many years. It looks set to go down to the wire with the last time trial looming as one of the most important since Greg Lemond took the crown away from Frenchman Laurent Fignon back in 1989.

At MSC headquaters quite a lot is also happening with a series of training camps being pieced together for 2007 which will include some of Australia's best coaches and pro athletes on staff. This is just one of a few new initiatives planned for next year.

Details will be released in October. The Noosa Triathlon Training program has been condensed to 12 weeks and will kick off on August 7. Details will be on the MSC website shortly. Train Smart - Nick

"Some 99 percent of failure comes from people who practise the habit of making excuses. If you are going to point a finger, point it at the mirror" - Chuck Noll

Latest News - MSC Race Results

Gold Coast Marathon / Half Marathon Festival - July 2
Luke Reynolds - 1.28.20 - First effort at the distance
Peter Brown - 135.40
Mark (Polo) Harrison - 1.40
Peter Degnian - 2.08.01
Trish Lenz 2.08.29 - PB

Off Road Duathlon Mt Cotton Brisbane - July 16
Dan O'Rourke 5th overall open Male - 2.21.23
Bob Brady - 2.58.14

Upcoming MSC Athletes racing

IM Lake Placid (New York)
Justin Hunter

IM Germany (Frankfurt)
Peter Seldon

Both events are being held July 23 (this Sunday) check out www.ironman.com

Noosa Enduro MTB August 6
Daniel O'Rourke
Cat Brown
Yolanda Brady
Bob Brady
David Chick
Richard Moye
Dallas Blacklaw

State Team Time Trail Champs - August 13
A team of four - some former and some current MSC athletes are pitting themselves against the clock and other teams over the 80km course.

Tim Devries, Jason Cheshire, David Chick and Ashley Thomson are doing this discipline for the first time.

MSC Athlete Richard Moye is also taking part in another team

Rydges Half Ironman Yeppoon - August 13
Sarah Fien, Sue Stevenson, Chris Dmitrief, Jackie Coulter, 'Polo' Harrison, Emma Griffiths, Shaneen O'Brien, Peter Degnian, Rod Wigglesworth, Paul Titman, Carl Schmidt, Allan Moustoukas, Steve Buth, Peter Brown, Michael Broadbent

MSC / Triathlon World Championship Team Members
Shane Vivian - male 35-39
Jenny Tanner - female 55-59
David Hill - male 50-54
Jill Harris - female 55-59

Hawaii Ironman - October 21
Sue Stevenson
Chris Dmitrief
Sarah Fien

Allez Sport Athlete of the month
Our MSC / Allez Sport Athlete of the month award has been awarded to Trish Lenz from Brisbane. A big 7min course PB at the Gold Coast Half Marathon on July 2nd showed that she is on track do her Marathon in Melbourne in October. Trish wins a $50 voucher courtesy of Allez Sport in Mooloolaba.


Top ten things to Improve your swimming
As technical as the sport of swimming can be, it is tough to narrow down the answer to the often-asked question, "what should I concentrate on?" or what should the swim stroke look like. Here is a general "top ten" list of steps to improving your swim for a triathlon. These aren't necessarily in any order, but should go a long way in helping you achieve your goals, whether you are a beginner or trying to get that PB at Noosa this year.

1. Hand Entry.
Slice your hand into the water right about at your goggle line, and drive it forward. Many swimmers attempt to get as much "air time" as possible by reaching the hand out before entering into the water, but it is actually more efficient to go through the water with your hand as you
rotate from one side to the other.

2. Head Position.
Keep looking straight down when swimming freestyle. It's important to keep your head down with only a small part of the back of your head out of the water. Also, as you rotate through the water, try not to
move your head with the rest of your body rotation.

3. Pull.
In freestyle, your hands should pull all the way back past your hips. The last part of the stroke before recovery (arms coming out of the water) should be an acceleration behind you, and not up out of the water.

4. Kick.
Try minimizing your kick as you train for swimming. Most people will kick extra hard to make up for lack of balance in the water. Minimizing your kick will allow you to improve your balance, as well as conserve energy.

5. Training Intensity.
The best way to measure your training intensity is to count your heart rate immediately after each swim. You can estimate your heart rate by counting your pulse rate for six seconds immediately after each swim. Add a zero to this count, and you will have your approximate exercise heart rate per minute.

6. Master's Swimming.
Move to a slower lane to work on stroke improvement. If you belong to a masters team, don't feel that you always need to keep up with your lane mates at every workout. Masters teams typically have many people with many different swimming goals. It's important to do your own thing! Remember that technique comes before all else and if this means swallowing a little pride to make improvements, just think of how much faster you will be for this in the long run.

7. Habit:
Keep your arm from crossing over. One of the most common bad habits I see in swimmers is the arm crossing over to the opposite side on the pull. Breathing on your left side results in your right arm crossing over, breathing on your left side results in your right arm crossing.

Often times this happens when one goes to breath, but sometimes it's caused just from over-rotating. To avoid this, make sure your head isn't moving with the rest of your body, and try to pull more in a straight line (still bending the elbow) and ending the pull on the same side you started (i.e. right hand slices into the water, pulls back and hand ends up near right hip).

8. Keep the Feel.
If swimming is your toughest sport, it is important to "keep the feel" for the water, and get in the water at least 3 days a week. This way, your body maintains its kinesthetic awareness of being balanced in water.

9. Work Those Lungs.
Mix in some hypoxic training sets into your workouts. For example, do a set of 4x100's breathing every 3-5-7-9 strokes by 25, with 15 seconds rest in between each 100. Your lungs will thank you for it towards the end of the swim part of your race!

10. Work Your Weakness.
In the sport of triathlon, most coaches agree that you should spend the most time working on your weakest of the three sports. For many this will be swimming! Within swimming, the same concept applies.

Spend the most time working on the weakest part of your stroke. If balancing on your side is an issue, do some kicking drills on your side. If moving your head is a problem, focus on head position most of the time. Whatever it is, you will gain the most by spending your pool time improving on that weakness.