MSC Latest News - September 2006
Triathlon Season is nearly here in Australia. The first round of events have taken place in the northern parts of the country with plenty of other events such as single sport and multisport adventure races being undertaken in preparation for the 2006/07 season down under. Of course in Australia we have a long season - even longer for athletes in warmer parts of the country. Pacing oneself through the season is crucial in order to be consistent throughout and to stay motivated, hungry and healthy to achieve your personal goals. Planning your events and your training is important whether you are just aiming for your first event or are looking to qualify for some of the major long distance or national team places on offer during and at the end of the season.

Making sure you have a system for training that is individual to your personal needs is a necessity in order to be your best. This ideally is just a simple structure written down to ensure you don't overdo things and get adequate training stress and recovery time, dependent on your goals and ability. Train Smart - Nick

"Fitness is something that happened to you when you practice good technique" - Terry Laughlin, swim coach

Latest News - September News

Dates and venues for the 2007 Australian Series and National Championships

The dates and venues for the 2007 Australian Triathlon Series and National Championships (Sprint, Olympic Distance and Long Course) have been decided. Key features of the schedule are:

· The Series will be a 7 race series commencing in November with events at Nowra and Newcastle in NSW;

· Port Stephens will not be part of the Series;

· The Olympic Distance Championship at Geelong will be held at the beginning of March in conjunction with the Cycling World Cup and will be worth 2 points instead of 1.25 with all other selection races 1 point;

· Canberra will feature an ITU Junior race;

· The elite race in Hobart will be the Australian Sprint Championship with the Age-Group race an Olympic Distance race;

· Huskisson (NSW) in February will be the Age-Group Australian Sprint Championship on the Saturday and the Long Course Australian Championship on the Sunday;

· The Series will involve our elite athletes in 4 events – Perth, Hobart, Geelong and Mooloolaba;

· The Series will culminate with the World Cup in Mooloolaba.

Cameron Brown Settles in at Noosa / Belinda Grainer Blitzes IM Canada

Cameron Brown, recent Ironman Germany Champ and 5 time Ironman NZ winner has arrived and is settling in well. He and a few of his training buddies are swimming with the MSC swim squad a few times a week and is spending many a long day exploring the Sunshine Coast hinterland clocking up the miles needed for his assault on this years Hawaii Ironman on October 21.

Part time local and regular swim squad attendee Belinda Grainger won Ironman Canada last Sunday. She held off multiple Ironman winner Lisa Bentley who has managed to have the wood on Belinda in recent years at the Australian Ironman but the two top placing's took a reversal last week to give Belinda a huge boost 8 weeks out from Hawaii. - Go Girl!

Recent results MSC athletes
Noosa Enduro MTB August 6
100km
Richard Moye 5.48
David Chick 5.54

50km
Graeme Orr 3.16
Bob Brady 3.15
Colin Brown 3.23
Peter Fry 3.27
Donald McKill 3.49
Marc Withnall 3.24
Cat Brown 4.31


State Team Time Trail (cycling) Champs - August 13 - a
A team former and current MSC athletes did them selves proud at the State Team Time trial finishing the 80km in 1hr50min. The boys (Jason Cheshire, David Chick, Ashley Thomson and Tim De Vries) were within 9 minutes of the wining team and left quite a few of more seasoned roadies in their dust!

Rydges Half Ironman Yeppoon - August 13
Chris Dmitrief - 2nd Pro in 4.09
Allan Moustoukas - 2nd in 45-49
Matt O'Neil - 4th 18-25 in 4.53
'Polo' Harrison - 4.56
Michael Broadbent - 5.14 -PB
Peter Brown - 5.19
Shaneen O'Brien - 5.31 - first Half IM
Steve Buth - 5.19.19 - PB
Carl Schmidt - 5.38
Emma Griffiths - 6.29 - PB by 1hr6min!
Peter Degnian - 6.39 - first Half IM
Jackie Coulter - 2nd 55-59 in 6.42 - first Half IM
Rod Wigglesworth - 6.46

Noosa Half Marathon Festival
Half Marathon
David Chick - 1.19
Dan O'Rourke - 1.20
David Alsop - 1.31
Colin Brown - 1.34
David Coulter - 1.39
Soren Vejby - 1.40
Peter Fry - 1.48
Lisbeth Vejby - 1.50
Rod Wigglesworth - 2.01
Angelika Hannon - 2.06
Trish Lenz - 2.17

10km
Jay Pattison - 36.07
Anthony Boyd - 36.26 - 3rd 18-24
Jess Flemming - 41.34
Marc Withnall - 46.36
Jenny Tanner - 51.13 - 1st 60-69
Brian Hannon - 53+
Graeme Brewer - 1.14
Lyndal Noble - 1.21 - first ever 10km
Steve Buth - 1.21 (support for Lyndal)

Upcoming events with MSC athletes
Epic MTB September 3
Cat Brown
Bob Brady
David Chick
Richard Moye
Dan O'Rourke
Peter Degnian
Yolanda Brady

MSC / Triathlon World Championship Team Members - September 3 (this weekend)
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 was also in there for Hawaii but came to grief last week on the bike and has a broken collar bone, scapula and ribs to nurse for the next 6 weeks! Not what you want 9 weeks out. We wish Sarah a speedy recovery and a quick return to the start line.


Long Course Worlds Qualifiers - November 19 (Canberra)
Vanessa Williams
Allan Moustoukas
Peter Brown

FOLLOW WORLD CHAMPS (THIS WEEKEND) ON LINE with full live video and audio coverage of the elite and U23 races on Sunday with over 25 cameras on the course and commentary from Barrie Shepley and Libby Burrell. There will also have live timing in real time and text updates. Live coverage begins at 7.30 am local time with the U23 women and continues at 10.45 am for the elite women, 1:00 pm for the elite men and we round up with the U23 men at 3:45 pm.

Be sure to log onto www.triathlon.org for full LIVE video coverage this weekend.Website for the event: www.trilausanne.ch

International Triathlon Union website www.triathlon.org

Live viewing will also be available from 7.00am Saturday (Swiss time - our approx 3.00pm)for the ITU Juniors event.

Selection policies for both Long Course and Olympic Distance are in draft form and will be set and publicized within a few weeks.

Allez Sport Athlete of the month
Our MSC / Allez Sport Athlete of the month award has been awarded to Emma Griffiths. Emma had an awesome race at the recent Yeppoon Half Ironman taking 1hr and 6min off her previous best Half time. Last newsletter we ran the very inspirational story about Emma training up for the event on her way to Ironman WA at the end of the year. Well done Emma. This month the athlete of the month wins a 2XU elite running top courtesy of Allez Sport in Mooloolaba.

High Pedalling Cadence
By: Michele Ferrari

The Art of Spinning... Read about the concepts and advantages of having a high pedalling cadence while training/racing.

Pedalling at 60 RPM (revolutions per minute) or at 90 RPM during an uphill course: what are the effects on performance, tiredness and recovery?

At 60 RPM it takes 1.0 second for the crank to make a complete revolution (360º), at 90 RPM it only takes 0.66 seconds that is 34% less.

The contraction time of the muscles involved in pedalling, decrease thus of that same percentage.
During the muscle contraction phase, blood flow (and so the oxygen carrying) to the single fibre, especially the most profound ones, lessens because of the increased pressure within the working muscles.

Moreover, in terms of equal power output supplied by the cyclist, a cadence of 60 RPM requires a 34% more of applied force to each push on the pedals, compared to a cadence of 90 RPM. This means a heavier load for muscles, tendons and lower limbs-lumbar joints.

It is easy to realize the advantages of a more “agile” pedalling cadence, especially when the rider is busy with an all-out effort, as soon as the oxygen carrying becomes the limiting factor of his performance.

Also the recovery between 2 or more efforts, within just one training session or race, or even within the next days, takes advantage from an agile pedalling cadence, whereas the risk of injuries or overworking lesions increases with lower RPMs.

A high pedalling cadence also improves the pumping function of skeletal muscles, the most important factor in defining systemic venous return of the blood to the heart.
This peripheral pump plays a critical role in circulatory functional capacity, and can be viewed as a second heart.

In conclusion, high pedalling cadences are favourable to riders, as demonstrated by the examples of great champions such as Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong.

A very long training as well as specific sessions are needed in order to learn how to pedal comfortably and profitably at high cadences, particularly during climbs: but that is a different story.