Warrior of the Sea 2011 Open for Entry

Entry for the Warrior of the Sea Swim is now open. This is a race a lot of Sligo Triathlon Club members took on last summer and everyone enjoyed what was a challenging and well organised race across Sligo Bay. Contact Scot Reid: reidscot@gmail.com for more information or if you have any questions. Entry is available online www.wots.biz

This is being run as an independent event and is not a Sligo Triathlon Club event.

"6 kilometers of wild Atlantic Open Water sit between Rosses Point and Strandhill.

Test yourself against the elements in this truly unique open water swim.

Three broad inlets reach out into the Atlantic through Sligo Bay carrying hundreds of thousands of tonnes of water every second. Using this raw power, the race leaves Rosses Point, following in the wake of the Famine Ships before sling shotting around Coney and Maguines Islands and heading across Sligo Bay into the heaving waves of Strandhill and exiting the water under the gaze of Queen Maieve.
www.wots.biz

Date: June 25th or 26th (depending on conditions)"

Lynsey Dunne's English Channel Update

Club member Lynsey Dunne is taking part in a relay swim across the English Channel this summer in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. This is a follow up to her first update on progress and training, if you'd like to make a donation there is a link at the end of the posting. The club thanks Lynsey for this and wishes her good luck in training as D Day gets closer!

"Just to give you all a quick update on how my training is progressing for my English Channel Relay. I am currently 8 months into the training plan and for the most part I have been sticking with the plan. I am still trying to swim 6 times a week, which includes one long swim and 5 smaller (2 – 3 km) swim sessions. I have increased the distance of the long weekly swim from 4 to 12 km over the last 8 months. I just completed my first 12 km last Friday. As all my training is still being performed in the pool I had the pleasure of completing 600 lengths of the Clarion (20m pool). I broke the 12km swim up into two sessions; doing 6km in 2 hours before work and then finished off with 6km in 2 hours 5 minutes after work. This replicates how the relay swim will go on the day with us taking turns swimming two hours on and two hours off. Lots of people have been asking me how I keep track of the number of lengths I’ve done and what I think about as I’m swimming and the same answer covers both!! I count …. In my head I break the swim up into 1km (50 lengths) segments and just focus on completing each 1km at a time. Although I try not count down the number of km’s I’ve left to do I do get a big push knowing I’ve reached the half way mark of a long swim. I’m hoping to brave the open water at some stage in March and will slowly acclimatize to the cold water (with no wet suit) over the next few weeks, which should be fun! So to date I am happy with the way the training is progressing and really excited about getting back into the sea. Lap swimming in the pool can get a bit monotonous although all the support I have been getting from the club members in the pool has been great. I’ll keep you posted on how the cold water acclimatization is going and if you like you can keep track of our progress through our facebook page and website:

www.ourchannelswim.com and http://www.facebook.com/ourchannelswim

Lynsey Dunne

Club Cycle Sessions Saturday 9am

Don't forget that club cycling sessions are taking place every saturday morning. Meet up is at summerhill carpark with the cycle getting underway at 9am sharp. All abilities are welcome and groups form for all abilities so no one gets left behind. These cycles are easy pace and distances are whatever each group decides. Newcomers are especially welcome.

Don't forget to bring your helmet and a drink. There is no charge for the sessions.

Reminder Reenrolment for swim sessions

Don't forget the re-enrolment for swimming takes place in Sligo Regional Sports complex at 915pm tomorrow Tuesday 22nd February in the old gym on the ground floor beside reception.

There are very few places left in the sessions with most of last terms classes coming back. For any new comers the places will be served up on a first come first serve basis. If you've got an email from the club to tell you your place is reserved you still need to attend on tues. Some people have already paid, they do not need to attend on Tues.

Have to stress that fully paid up club members will of course get preference for places so please make sure arrange that (see side of blog for details).

The cost is a reasonable €85 for 3 months (March, April & May) which will also include an open water swimming workshop & lecture and a pool qualifying event (essentially another time trial) for anyone taking part in this summers swim series.

Round 1 Duathlon Results

Well done to all who competed in an extremely windy Round 1 of the club Duathlon series. A big thanks to all the marshalls who helped out. Photos and videos to follow...

Place	Bib	Name	Run 1	Cycle	Split	Run 2	Finish
1	13	Niall Melvin	00:10:10	00:40:17	00:50:27	00:11:37	01:02:04
2	10	John Hanley	00:10:44	00:44:26	00:55:10	00:12:12	01:07:22
3	22	Alan French	00:11:27	00:39:10	00:50:37	00:17:22	01:07:59
4	33	John Mulrooney	00:11:36	00:44:43	00:56:19	00:12:49	01:09:08
5	1	Ronan Brennan	00:10:49	00:47:01	00:57:50	00:11:42	01:09:32
6	6	Greg Kelly	00:11:02	00:45:52	00:56:54	00:13:01	01:09:55
7	11	Tommy Sheridan	00:12:06	00:45:16	00:57:22	00:13:44	01:11:06
8	7	C. McGuinness	00:11:58	00:46:42	00:58:40	00:13:45	01:12:25
9	37	Eanna McHale	00:11:34	00:49:00	01:00:34	00:13:41	01:14:15
10	8	John Burrows	00:13:20	00:46:17	00:59:37	00:14:59	01:14:36
11	21	S. O'Donoghue	00:12:20	00:48:34	01:00:54	00:13:43	01:14:37
12	26	Sheila Ryan	00:12:55	00:47:37	01:00:32	00:14:30	01:15:02
13	23	Ashley Henry	00:11:24	00:52:02	01:03:26	00:11:45	01:15:11
14	38	Martha VDM	00:13:25	00:47:27	01:00:52	00:15:00	01:15:52
15	19	Enda Madden	00:14:03	00:46:10	01:00:13	00:16:07	01:16:20
16	30	David Dunne	00:12:33	00:49:10	01:01:43	00:14:44	01:16:27
17	15	D. Cunningham	00:13:42	00:49:24	01:03:06	00:13:50	01:16:56
18	14	Gavin Patton	00:11:46	00:52:44	01:04:30	00:13:32	01:18:02
19	17	Lisa Dunne	00:12:37	00:51:49	01:04:26	00:13:51	01:18:17
20	12	Czarke Kelly	00:12:24	00:53:20	01:05:44	00:13:54	01:19:38
21	3	Anthony Blake	00:11:50	00:57:53	01:09:43	00:13:30	01:23:13
22	29	Brian Reilly	00:13:51	00:54:08	01:07:59	00:17:33	01:25:32
23	20	Tom Ford	00:15:46	00:51:49	01:07:35	00:19:02	01:26:37
24	9	Chiara Conway	00:16:01	00:57:45	01:13:46	00:20:28	01:34:14
25	28	Richard Bourke	00:14:25	00:59:21	01:13:46	00:20:28	01:34:14

Video Analysis Review

IF ANYONE PICKED UP A WATCH ON WEDS NIGHT THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND PLEASE CONTACT SHANE


We will be doing the video analysis review on Weds 2nd March 9pm, & Friday 4th March 8pm
Each session will run for 50 mins, Colm and Shane will conduct the reviews with the group split into two meaning swimmers will get a little more time than we have had available in the past.
We have booked the old gym (meeting room) in the sports complex for this

Everyone will get a CD with their footage on it afterwards. This will be the last video analysis the club will be doing until the autumn.

Come on the night you're assigned to, if you need to swap we will try to accomodate you

Contact shane_odoherty@yahoo.co.uk with any questions.

Fri Night
Anthony Blake	Ashley Henry
Jana Dresse	Eamon McAndrew
Aidan carty	Kieran Cunningham
Lyndsey dunne	Mary Kehoe
Michelle Henry	Carmel Regan
Adrian O Connor	Siobhain Durkin
Cecil Whiteside	Roy Kelly
Tom Forde	Niamh Mullaney
Damien McSharry	Declan Conlon

Weds Night
Laura Spellman	Trevor Hunter
Kieran Toibin	Fiona Farragher
Lisa Dunne	Lisa Quinn
David Smith	Trevor McSharry
Brian Gill	Martha VDM
Noel Keavney	Leo Donlon
Maureen Laffey	Daithi Feehily
Kieran Coleman	Donncha O Connor
David Downes	Alex carey
Dermott Cunningham	Peter Duignan

Sundays Round 1 duathlon

The competitor briefing and start lists for sundays race can be found in the top left of the blog. This years series looks set for some serious racing. The three categories will be finalized after round 2 and this will hopefully ensure a couple of cliffhangers in the last two races. Sign on is from 8:15am on Sunday morning and closes at 8:50. Race starts at 9am. If anybody else is free to marshall the briefing takes place at 8:45 at the beach car park, all help appreciated. If not then make sure to be at the beach from 10am onwards to cheer on the finishers. Good luck to all competing.

Do The Du!

Just a reminder to anyone gearing up to this seasons club duathlon series; Boyle Fire & Rescue's annual Duathlon takes place this year on May 1st and our races will leave club members in perfect form for the race. It is a good opportunity for the club to get in a local event and hopefully Sligo Tri members will make up a large part of the field on the day. Entry is open now (click here), cost is €25 and all proceeds go to a very worthy cause.

Early Season Try a Tri

Entries open soon for this years early season Try a triathlon. The event is being held at the Regional Sports Complex on the 10th April at 10:30am (sign on from 8:30am). Distances are a 250m swin, 10k cycle and 4k run with categories for adults, juniors and children (one day licences from TI are required for adults and juniors). Cost is €25 for adults, €20 for Juniors and €10 for children. Contact Pauric Deery (087 222941) for more details; further info will be posted here in the run up to the event.

Swim TT Results

Thanks to everyone who took part and helped with last nights time trial. Only name to be mentioned is the event organiser's Scot Reid who not only ran a very smooth event but also swam the fastest time of the night.

22 of last nights participants had done the december timetrial. Good news is that the training is paying off, 75% of them swam faster than they did 8 weeks ago, which is a great statistic.

The times are listed below but as said previously, we are awarding prizes for improvement from last years TT. The formula used for anyone interested was = (old time-new time/old time)*100.
The percentage increase in speed over last time.

The clear winner was Anthony Blake who has been working very hard in the pool since september and the results are clear to see. Maureen Laffey came in second knocking a whopping 1:30 off her previous time. John Elliot had already been swimming fast making his % improvement very impressive.
We have trophies for the 3 prize winners which will be presented at a later date.

Splits were also taken, this information will be sent on in due course.

Prizewinners
Name % Improvement

Anthony Blake	13.84
Maureen Laffey	10.67
John Elliot	8.7

Results

Posn	Name	Time
1	Scot Reid	05:03:00
2	Matt Mcgarrigle	05:16:00
3	Shane O'Doherty	05:29:00
4	Alan Shaw	06:14:00
5	Lisa Dunne	06:16:00
6	Cecilia McGuinness	06:17:00
7	Lynsey Dunne	06:32:00
8	brian reilly	06:43:00
9	Eamonn McAndrew	06:59:00
10	Martha VDM	07:01:00
11	Tommy Sheridan	07:11:00
12	Jana Dresse	07:13:00
13	John Hanley	07:14:00
14	John Elliot	07:21:00
15	Sean Flannery	07:25:00
16	Brian Gill	07:37:00
17	Brian Sexton	07:45:00
18	Keiran Coleman	07:52:00
19	Anthony Blake	07:53:00
20	Gwen Hunter	07:57:00
21	Dermott cunningham	08:10:00
22	Noel Keavney	08:11:00
23	Ronan Brennan	08:23:00
24	Damien McSharry	08:30:00
25	David Smith	08:50:00
26	Aidan Carty	09:41:00
27	Tom Forde	10:56:00
28	Maureen Laffey	12:50:00

2011 Training Duathlon series

The marshalling duty list for the duathlon series can be downloaded here. If anyone cannot make their day they can nominate someone to stand in by forwarding contact details to stcduathlons@gmail.com before Friday. Conditions look set to be damp for Sunday morning with a slight headwind at the start of the bike route, a full briefing and start list will be posted here later in the week. Anyone who has not yet paid the 15 euro entry for the series can do it here via the clu PayPal a/c.

Swim TT Tonight

We need time keepers tonight, one for each lane to take the splits so if people could bring someone along to help it would be much appreciated, they will be given the clipboards and time form so it's pretty easy. Also bring along stopwatches, wrist or the ones worn around the neck, we have some but need a few more.

Remeber all competitors must be changed and ready in the stands by 21:45, check in at 9:30pm

Good luck to everyone taking part.
For more information contact event organiser Scot Reid reidscot@gmail.com

Swim Training Re-enrolment

This term ends next week so we're going to do re-enrolment for this years second term next week. It takes place in Sligo Regional Sports complex at 915pm on Tuesday 22nd February in the old gym on the ground floor beside reception.

We will be running our coached Tues, Weds and Fri sessions again. These filled up very quickly last time and were oversubscibed with some people missing out unfortunately.

Have to stress that fully paid up club members will of course get preference for places so please make sure arrange that (see side of blog for details).

Anyone who is already in one of the sessions and is a member can have their place held until reg night by emailing shane_odoherty@yahoo.co.uk
If you'd like to continue in the tues session for example, please put "Tues Swim Session" in the subject line of the email etc for the other nights.
If you're not there on the night for registration you may lose the place so make sure to come.
If numbers are high enough we may run an additional session. If any of the returning swimmers can't come on tues you can confirm your place with the fee at one of the other sessions this week.

The cost is a reasonable €85 for 3 months (March, April & May) which will also include an open water swimming workshop & lecture and a pool qualifying event (essentially another time trial) for anyone taking part in this summers swim series.

Marathon Swimming Seminar - Galway 26th Feb

Could be an interesting one for some of the triathlon club swimmers taking on some longer swims this season:

Saturday 26^th February 2011

The Kingfisher Club, NUI Galway

5 to 7:30pm (no need to register and no charge – just show up)

Hosts: Andrew Flanagan & Ned Denison (Chair of Swim Ireland National Open Water Committee)

Agenda (with questions encouraged throughout!):

The joys

The agonies

The celebration

Preparation

What it is like

Why it is "different" than pool swimming

Solo attempts at the English Channel - the odds

A few changes you should implement before going for a long swim

The cold

How to take the next move that puts a long swim in your life plan

2. Andrew will discuss his preparations and 2010 English Channel swim

3. Final questions and discussions

Wednesdays Pool Time Trial

Please see below the heat allocations and lane allocations for Wednesdays Pool Time Trial. C

All competitors must be changed and ready in the stands by 21:45 at the latest. Check in from 9:30pm in stands. 22:00hr Sharp Start Time. Warm up from 9:50pm-9:55pm.

Ensure you know your heat number and lane number

There will be NO Heat or lane changes on the night

IF YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THE LIST BELOW YOU ARE NOT ENTERED AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE PART. WEDNESDAYS TRAINING FOR NEXT WEEK IS MOVED TO 9:50PM ON FRI NIGHT.

For more information contact event organiser Scot Reid reidscot@gmail.com

Heat No. 1
Lane No. Swimmer
1 Ronan McNamara
2 Scot Reid
3 Shane OʼDoherty
4 Matt McGarrigle
5 Alan Shaw

Heat No. 2
Lane No. Swimmer
1 Gwen Hunter
2 Lynsey Dunne
3 Cecilia McGuiness
4 Lisa Dunne
5 Sandra Deery

Heat No. 3
Lane No. Swimmer
1 Brian Reily
2 Eamonn McAndrew
3 Leo Donlon
4 John Hanly
5 Brian Gill

Heat No. 4
Lane No. Swimmer
1 Tommy Sheridan
2 Sean Flannery
3 John Elliot
4 Noel Keavney
5 Brian Sexton

Heat No. 5
Lane No. Swimmer
1 Anthony Blake
2 Kieran Coleman
3 Dermot Cunningham
4 Damien McSharry
5 David Smith

Heat No. 6
Lane No. Swimmer
1 Tom Forde
2 Aidan Carty & Ronan Brennan
3 Jana Dresse
4 Edel Carty
5 Maureen Laffey

Duathlon Start List

Online entry is closed -there is a field of 50 lined up for the series which should see some good early season action. The full start list by category will be posted here early next week. Good luck with the training...

Pool Time Trial

A reminder that the Swim Time Trial (400m) is going to take place on Weds night 16th February 9:50pm in the sports complex pool. We're moving the weds training session that week to Friday (18th) so as not to cut into training time.

Anyone taking part needs to be in the viewing area for 9:20pm to get their lane and round details and for a lane draw. We will be tight on time so need to keep things moving, late arrivals won't be allowed take part.

Good news is that's there's no charge to take part and we have 3 prizes on offer, to be awarded to the 3 swimmers with the biggest % time improvement from the event we did in dec.

Below is a final list of the entries, if you're not on it you're very welcome to come along and watch but there are no more places available. If anyone on the list finds they cannot take part please let me know.

Any questions to shane_odoherty@yahoo.co.uk


Aidan Carty John Hanly
Alan Shaw Kieran Coleman
Anthony Blake Leo Donlon
Brian Gill Lisa Dunne
Brian Reilly Lynsey Dunne
Brian Sexton Matt McGarrigle
Cecilia McGuinness Maureen Laffey
Damien McSharry Noel Keavney
David Smith Ronan Brennan
Dermot Cunningham Ronan McNamara
Eamonn McAndrew Sandra Deery
Edel Carty Scot Reid
Gwen Hunter Sean Flannery
Jana Dresse Shane O'Doherty
John Elliot Tom Forde
Tommy Sheridan

February training update from Club Coach...

February Training Note to Athletes

Athletes,

By this time I’m sure you have built up a foundation using high volume and low intensity training sessions J If not don’t worry there is still plenty of time.

For those of you that have been racking up some slow miles over the winter, spring marks the time to start introducing some higher intensity training into your schedule.

Running

The weekly running session which is now on Tuesday and has been going since November, begins tonight to introduce some threshold intervals in to the workout. So as not to surprise anyone this means that each athlete will complete a set number of 4minute intervals at their threshold pace. For someone who walks this could be a jog and for someone who is running it’s just a slight increase in pace to where it’s comfortably hard.

These intervals will be completed in loops around the Sligo IT Gaelic football pitch meaning anyone who is just coming along for a jog will not be left behind.

Cycling

Depending on the weather we could have our first club cycle of the year this Saturday @ 0900 from Summerhill car park, beside the roundabout. Depending on numbers and abilities the groups will be set out and varied spins will be completed.

Turbo training continues on Thursday Nights in the Grammar School on the Mall.

Swimming

Swimming sessions continue Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings with the spring time trail next Wednesday the 16^th of February.

Strength and Conditioning

Sean and I have been developing the SAC class to include some Yoga based stretches and Pilates base core work which I’m sure you’ll agree is tough going but trust me it’s all worth it. This continues every Thursday night after TT as normal.

A big thank you to all who have supported the club training sessions, it makes our time worthwhile when we see all the progress you are making.

See you at training,

Regards,

Ronan McNamara

Sligo Triathlon Club

Coaching Coordinator

Swim Video Analysis - Tues 9:20pm

Video Analysis Pool Session is tomorrow Tuesday 8th February. The video analysis takes up the entire pool so tuesday swimmers not taking part should not come, last weeks extra friday session was put on for that reason.

The session will get underway at 9:50pm sharp. All swimmers must be on the poolside, registered and ready to get into the water by then. All swimmers need to register and be assigned a number before anyone swims. Registration is quick and will start at 9:20pm on the poolside stand. It's essential that everyone gets a number and stays in sequence otherwise we won't be able to indentify swimmers. If you arrive to the complex at 9:50pm or later you won't be allowed take part so make sure to get there on time for registration. There is no charge as it's covered by membership/swimming fee.

ONLY PAID UP CLUB MEMBERS WILL HAVE THEIR VIDEO REVIEWED BY THE COACHES AND GET THEIR CDS, SEE PAYPAL LINK AT SIDE OF SCREEN, IT'S EASY TAKES TWO MINUTES OR CONTACT CECILIA OR NIALL. NO EXCEPTIONS.

It's useful to bring a bathrobe or big towel to keep warm in between your videod lengths. You will only swim 2 lengths in the session, one for two front camera angles and one for two side angles and will be sitting on deckside getting cold in between.

We will gather at a later date to analyse the strokes and all swimmers will get a CD with their video on it (only theirs, no one elses).

Club member Mark Capillitan will be kindly doing the underwater video again, check out Mark's website www.markcapilitan.com

Any questions email shane_odoherty@yahoo.co.uk

New duathlon categories...

This years races will include 2 new prizes, voted for by the marshalls on the day -the first of these is the "Voya endurance prize", which will go an athlete who finished out the course despite having to strugle with injury/ mechanical problems etc., -the second is the "Voya combatitive prize" which goes to the athlete putting in the best sprint to the line as voted by the finish marshalls (one vote per marshall on the day). Entry is open now (see left), as this is a training race places will be limited to less than 50 per race.

2011 Training Duathlons

It's that time again, early season racing kicks off in just a few weeks with the start of the training duathlons. Dates for this year are:

• Round 1 -20th Feb in Rosses Point (2.5/20/2.5 -one for the bikers)
• Round 2 -6th March in Rosses Point (5/20/2.5)
• Round 3 -20th March in Lough Key (5/23/2.5)
• Round 4 -3rd April at Knocknarae (2.5/17/5 -hills all round)

The events will have a mass start but will be between male and female athletes in Rookie, Intermediate and Advanced categories. Above is a video of the bike route for Rounds 1 & 2; which will be the route for the 2011 Sprint Triathlon for anyone looking to get in some practice on the course. The Lough Key leg takes in the Boyle Triathlon route for some more full tri course practice (and builds up for the second annual Boyle Fire and Rescue duathlon on 1st May -click here for more info). Click here for a map of the Boyle leg run route, and you can download a map of the Boyle leg bike route here (.doc). A map of the Knocknarae route can be downloaded here.

Entry is 15euro for the series, which is as cheap as we can make it, and all competitors do one days marshalling (with bigger numbers in the club we need bodies on the roads to ensure safety!). The event should see some good racing judging by the numbers out and about this early in the year. We'll open up an online entry for the series next Sunday.

Pool TT Open for Entry

The next Swim Time Trial (400m) is going to take place on Weds night 16th February 9:50pm. We're moving the weds training session that week to the friday so as not to cut into training time.

Good news is that's there's no charge to take part and we have 3 prizes on offer. These will be awarded to the 3 swimmers with the biggest % time improvement from the event we did in dec. The dec winners are exluded from winning prizes this time but are of course eligible to take part. Prizes really up for grabs with improvements being rewarded.

There is a cap of 30 swimmers based on the last event since it was tight on time.

The event is open to Sligo Triathlon Club Members only. Entry is now open for the event, to reserve your place email shane_odoherty@yahoo.co.uk with "Spring TT" in the subject field to reserve your place. Entry is reserved for the people who took part in the last one until friday night, after that any club member can take part.

2010 members can simply renew membership with the button to the left of this screen.

This filled up quickly last time and would be expected to do the same this time so please get in touch (& sort membership if required) soon to avoid missing out.