Carleton Masters Swimming Newsletter #68                              Sunday, July 13th, 2003

To:  Carleton Coaches

Bcc: Those Registered for Spring/Summer 2003, plus "Alumni":  6:30am Earlybirds (44 addresses), 7:30am Earlybirds (32 addresses), 8:30am Earlybirds (17 addresses), 6pm Whitecaps (41 addresses), Nightcaps (13 addresses), Varsity registered with Masters (6 addresses), Masters "Alumni" (79 members)

 
Civic Holiday Cancellation
Note that there will be no Masters workouts on the August Civic Holiday, Monday, August 4th.  For those who want to swim that day, there will be a public swim from 11:45-3:30pm.  There is a workout 9-10am Saturday, August 2nd.
 
 
Summer Session
The Spring session ended on Saturday, June 28th.  Those who registered for the Spring session (May/June) only must register for the Summer session if they wish to continue attending workouts!  Contact the Athletics office 8:30am-4:30pm M-F (520-4480) for details on pro-rated prices.  The sneak preview of the Fall/Winter Sessions is included near the end of the newsletter (unchanged from last time).
 
 
Uplands Kids of Steel Triathlon
Many thanks to Alex B (x-7:30am Earlybirds), Anita R (7:30/8:30am Earlybirds), Jess R (6:30am Earlybirds) and Louise H (Coach) for their help with the swim portion of the Kids of Steel Triathlon at Uplands Base on Sunday, July 13th.
 
Whitecaps Coaching July/August
Many thanks to Claudia for coaching the Whitecaps "A" group on Thursday evenings.  As Claudia will be unavailable for the remainder of the summer, Tom A will be taking over Thursday evenings for the rest of July and August.  Tom will also coach the Whitecaps "B" group when Mits is away on vacation for a week at the end of July.  In addition, Danny Finch (SWYM coach and Technosport swimmer) will be coaching a few Monday evenings for the Whitecaps "A" group over the next few weeks.  We hope to get Danny more involved in coaching Whitecaps "A" in May-August 2004.
 
 
Fall/Winter Coaches
For the Fall/Winter session, the Whitecaps coaches will be Blake ("A" Group) and Mits ("B" Group).  Louise will coach the Nightcaps and Lynn will coach the Earlybirds.  Saturdays will be on a rotation among regular and substitute coaches.
 
 
Swimmer Notes
 
Note to Whitecaps Swimmers:  On the evening of Monday, July 14th the staff will be doing in-service training.  There will be a mini-guard competition starting around 7pm, so you may hear lots of commotion and whistle blasts.  Unless otherwise told by your coach, please ignore these emergency signals!
 
Lost and Found:  I have accumulated three water bottles left behind by Earlybird swimmers.  They are various sizes and yellow or white.  Also, on Wednesday, July 2nd, someone left a heart rate monitor watch behind after morning workout.  If any of these belong to you, let me know! 
 
Nose Clips for Sale:  Cost $5.  Contact Lynn if you are interested.
 
 
Summer Session Information
 
As always if you have any suggestions for things you'd like to do at workout, please let me or your coach know.  Here's the summary of the weekday attendance so far for the Summer session (the last two weeks).  So far there are 16 swimmers with perfect attendance.  Also, my apologies to Anita R (Spring 8:30am Earlybirds).  She was listed in the last newsletter as having missed two workouts in the Spring session, but in fact only missed one.  Please do let me know if you notice any other errors!

6:30am Earlybirds (to July 11th [6 workouts]; range 15-21; average: 18.5)
Perfect Attendance: Heather A, Keegan, Margaret K, Sandy L
Missed 1 Workout: Mark B, Nadja R, Rocio
 
7:30am Earlybirds (to July 11th [6 workouts]; range 20-26; average: 22.7)
Perfect Attendance: Chia, Francois A, Jeffrey F, Jim L, Keegan, Sean
Missed 1 Workout: Alan H, Francois J, Jean-Francois, Julie, Mark B, Mike S, Stefani, Sylvie
 
Whitecaps "A" (to July 10th [5 workouts]; range 19-23; average 20.2)
Perfect Attendance: Ben D, Debby W, Don W, Eric, Joanie, John W, Keegan, Mark B
Missed 1 Workout: Cam, Chris K, Joanne D, Julia
 
Whitecaps "B" (to July 8th [4 workouts]; range 1-9; average 6.3)
Missed 1 Workout: George, Marg E, Mariette
 
 
Race Reports and Swim Meets
 
Masters Swimming Competitions
Here's a summary of upcoming local and championship meets.  If you want to compete and have not yet registered with MSO (Masters Swimming Ontario), ask for details on cost, etc.   Full details on all competitions (including open water competitions) can be found at: http://www.mastersswimmingontario.ca/competition/schedule01.htm.
 
Sat Aug 16th Technosport 4k Meech Lake (Blanchet to O'Brien): Warm Up: 7:30am, Start: 8am; cost: $30 (includes brunch); deadline: Wed Aug 6th (open to all; MSO registration not required; those wearing wetsuits are considered exhibition).
 
Sun Sept 7th MSO 5km Championships, St Marys Quarry (near Stratford): Warm Up: 10:30am, Start: noon; cost: $35 (includes awards and post-race meal); deadline: Sat Aug 16th (MSO registration required, wetsuits not allowed).
 
 
Meet Results: (Please let me know if I've missed anyone or any events.)
 
Sat June 7th Technosport Distance Meet:
Francois (Earlybirds) and Lynn (Coach) took part.  Results still not available.
 
Sat July 5th OAC Triathlon (1200m swim [closer to 1500m!] / 22k bike / 7k run; 217 individuals, 47 teams):
Individual:
Sheila (Whitecaps "A"): 10th overall, 2nd woman and 1st in her 35-39 age group in 1:33:17
Christian (6:30am Earlybirds): 49th overall and 6th in his 25-29 age group in 1:46:18
Mike D (7:30am Earlybirds): 104th overall and 12th in his 30-34 age group in 1:56:33
Natalie A (8:30am Earlybirds): 137th overall and 15th in her 30-34 age group in 2:02:29
Ellen L (Whitecaps "A"): 153rd overall and 8th in her 20-24 age group in 2:06:43
Renee (8:30am Earlybirds): 170th overall and 6th in her 45-49 age group in 2:10:27
Alice (6:30am Earlybirds): 208th overall and 16th in her 25-29 age group in 2:34:31
Team:
"Hurry Up" with Jacinthe swimming and Iyad cycling (both 6:30am Earlybirds): 17th overall and 9th mixed team in 1:40:26
 
Sat July 5-Sun July 6th Welland North American Dragon Boat Championships:
Debby W (Whitecaps "A")'s  team (Gibson & MacLaren / Party World Bytown Paddlers) had a great showing at the Welland Dragon Boat races last weekend.  Competing against teams from all over North America, they were 3rd in the 500m race and 5th in the 250m. 
 
Sat July 5th North Bay Triathlon:
Rudy (6:30am Earlybirds): 11th overall (9th individual), and 1st in his 55-59 age group in 1:58:57
 
Sat July 12th Technosport 3k Meech Lake Race (27 competitors):
John Baxter (7:30am Earlybirds): 9th overall and 1st in his 40-44 age group in 49:20.
 
Sat July 5th Tri it in the Wilderness, Elliot Lake (25 competitors):
John Bowen (6:30am Earlybirds): 5th overall (4th individual) and I thought you all might enjoy John's race report:
 
Short Version:
Never believe anyone from Elliot Lake who tells you there are a few rolling hills.
 
Details:
My girlfriend was going up to Elliot Lake to visit some friends, and I noticed on the Elliot Lake website that there was a triathlon that weekend. Elliot Lake is an old mining town North-West of Sudbury, which is now a retirement heaven. I figure a tri in a retirement town – I’m liking those odds!
 
The race director told me on the phone that the course had “a few rolling hills on the bike”. Those words would latter haunt me.
 
I signed up and off we went! 7 hours down highway 17 and a sleep in a strange motel latter, I’m standing on the beach in a bright yellow wetsuit I borrowed from Rudy, thinking a 1500m swim in a pool looks nothing like a 1500m swim in open water!
 
The swim was beautiful, nice clean water and there were not too many participants so there was no swimming over each other – well, there didn’t need to be, but every one needs a little fun ;-) I swam quite well, except for few zigzags. I thought I was in the last pack out of the water, but I was actually a little better than midway.
 
The first transition was probably the slowest in tri history, but I eventually got out of the wetsuit (note to self: practice that sort of thing before racing!) I thought I was ready for the “rolling hills” of the 40k bike ride. The previous evening we had driven part of the bike course and that is when I was told that these rolling hills had names like 1-mile hill! My legs burned and lungs exploded, but I managed to finish strong and I started to look forward to the hopefully flat run.
 
The first 3k of the run were flat – well, what normal people call rolling hills! The next 7k was Elliot Lake style rolling hills. I managed to pull off a 5th place finish over all, 4th place out of those not doing it as a relay. A good friend of mine says, “You have to take those results however you can get them”, so there is no need for me to say that that’s out of 25 racers!

All in all, I am defiantly going back to “Tri it in The Wilderness” next year and I hope to see a lot of you guys out there too! Mark it on your calendar for next year, it’s worth the drive and excellently put on!!!

John Bowen
 

Ask the Coach
 
Dear Coach:  I can never figure out which direction my lane is supposed to go.  What is the secret formula?  To Swim Clockwise or not to Swim Clockwise, that is the Question
 
Dear T.S.C.o.n.t.S.C.t.i.t. Question:  It's perfectly logical (really!).  We have each lane go in the opposite direction to those on either side.  The reason for that is that it allows you to swim closer to the lane rope as if your arm swings over (or under in backstroke), you will only brush against someone going in the same direction, rather than smashing arms with someone going the opposite direction.  At the Carleton pool, the lane next to the diving well has to go counter-clockwise (up the right) for safety reasons, so that backstrokers won't hit their head on the sharp corner.  All the other lane directions are calculated from that.  The shallow end lane directions are the same as they would be if the pool was set up Long Course (50m).
 
Dear Coach:  When I swim in the open water, I have a hard time going in a straight line.  Any tips on how I can straighten up?  Zig Zagger
 
Dear Z. Zagger:  When swimming in open water, it is necessary to occasionally look ahead (sight) to check that you're on course.  However, as sighting makes your hips sink, you don't want to do it all the time, and you want to keep your head up for as short a time as possible each time you sight.  The key is to find something really big to sight on, so that you can easily see it when you look up.  When you first try sighting, you may want to look up every 2-3 strokes to see how you're doing.  As you become more comfortable, you want to decrease that to every 6-10 strokes.  When you're racing, it's best if you can check out the course from the water to find appropriate land marks (e.g. turn around buoy lines up with big tree or red boathouse; finish line is in front of lifeguard chair, etc.).  Looking for small orange markers in a sea of red bathing caps just doesn't work :-) !
   
 
Private and Semi-Private Masters Lessons
Prices for private lessons for Carleton Members are $35 for 1 hour, $65 for 2, $90 for 3, $112 for 4 and $132 for 5 hours, all plus GST.  Private lessons are also available to non-Members at a higher cost ($50, $85, $115, $142 and $162, all plus GST, for 1-5 hours, respectively). 

For those who want to take semi-private lessons (2-3 students), the cost per student for Carleton Members is $21 for 1 hour, $39 for 2, $54 for 3, $67.20 for 4, and $79.20 for 5 hours, all plus GST.  Semi-private lessons for non-Members cost (per student) $30 for 1 hour, $51 for 2, $69 for 3, $85.20 for 4, and $97.20 for 5 hours, all plus GST.

Here are the private lesson times for July-August:
7:15-8:15pm Monday, Tuesday (August only)
6-7pm Wednesday
7-8pm Wednesday (August only)
 
Contact Lynn for more information and availability.
 
 
Fall/Winter Session Sneak Preview
Some of you are already looking ahead to the Fall and asking what Masters programs will be available.  Full details will be available shortly, and registration will start August 1st.  Here's a sneak preview!  The Fall session will start on Monday, September 15th.  (For the first two weeks of September we will likely run a few $3 workouts if there is enough interest -- more details in a future newsletter.)
 
The regular Masters programs offered for Fall/Winter (i.e. mid-September to December, and January to April) are as follows: 7:30am Earlybirds, 8:30am Earlybirds, 6pm Whitecaps, and 8pm Nightcaps (back to the usual 8-9pm TuTh plus Sat am).  The 6:30am Earlybirds will resume after the Varsity Season ends and will run mid-March to April.  Child Safety Supervision will be offered at the 6pm Whitecaps workouts plus the 9am Saturday workout.
 
There will also be three High Intensity Masters programs offered.  These groups train with the Varsity team during the Varsity season (mid-September to February).  Swimmers must be able to repeat 100s free on 1:45 or less and 100s of other strokes on 2:00 or better.  Spaces are limited.  The High Intensity groups are: a) 6-7:30am MWF; b) 7:30-9:30am TuTh (Th is Long Course); and c) 7:15-9pm M, 6-7:40pm W, and 5-7pm Sat. 
 
 
Reminders
 
Newsletter: An e-newsletter (like this one) is sent out about every two weeks.  If you have new lane-mates, please mention to them that they should give their e-mail address to their coach if they'd like to receive it.
 
Suggestions for Workouts or Interested in Making up a Workout or a Set?: If you have suggestions for the workouts (something you like that we never do, or something you dislike that we do too much!), or if you'd like to try making up a workout or a set in a workout, just talk to your coach. 

Interested in Copies of the Workouts?: Are you interested in getting copies of Lynn's workouts ahead of time?  Let me know.  I usually e-mail out the week’s workouts (Tuesday through Monday) on Sunday.

Weekly Social Events: All swimmers are invited to join us for:
Thursday Dinner (after Whitecaps workout): Meet by the Tuck Shop around 7:45pm
Saturday Brunch (after 9-10am workout): Meet by the Tuck Shop around 10:30am

Triathletes: Check out Rudy Hollywood’s (Earlybirds/Whitecaps) website: http://www.trirudy.com and subscribe to the daily tri-news e-mail.
General Information: Program information, old newsletters and the Carleton Masters records can be viewed at: http://carletonmasters.tripod.com/. 

Your input to this newsletter is most welcome, especially for the Swimmer Notes, Race Results and Ask the Coach sections!  To be added or removed from the receiver list, just let me know (lynnmarshall@sympatico.ca).

See you at the pool!