Sport BC Master’s Athlete of the Year!

EAS and RTC triathlete Stephanie Kieffer won the Sport BC Master’s Athlete of the Year award for 2011.

Steph had a great season winning BC, Canadian and World Championships titles in 2011. These were the icing on a multi year campaign where she collected two more age group Triathlon World Championship Gold medals, an age group Triathlon World Championship Bronze and an overall Canadian National Age Group Championship win.

Congrats Stephanie.

Here is a special athlete ProD video for you; 

Triathlon Canada: Regional Training Centre | Vancouver

The planning for the Triathlon Canada regional training centre has begun!  Right now I am collecting data from the various stakeholders such as Triathlon Canada, Triathlon BC and the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific.  I have also held some informal meetings with community stockholder, junior and youth coaches and Vancouver based high performance triathletes.

There are a number of topics that are common to each group and intertwined themes viewed from different perspectives.

Managing these into a viable project will be the main challenge!

If our Regional Training Centre is of interest to you, please feel free to drop me a line and share your thoughts.

Alan

Triathlon Canada: Regional Training Centre | Vancouver

June 1, 2011

Today, I start my new job as the Triathlon Canada Regional Training Centre coach for Vancouver. My main tasks are centred around developing up and coming junior elite and U23 elite triathletes! To do this I will be building community ties with the triathlon community in metroVancouver and the extended communities needed to support these athletes.

If you are interested in buying into this project as a supporter in some capacity, please contact me.  Who knows, I may be contacting you very soon!

Alan

This week on myTwitter

• @AmyaKirkham raced like a true pro at #Mallorca 70.3; over zealous volunteers and injuries. Look for a solid race in #IM #AustriaMay 22 15 May
• CanoeKayak Canada Dragon Boat coaching modulehttp://wp.me/peggE-6K 14 May
• @amyakirkham sitting in 10th overall Pro #Ironman70.3Malljorca today! Look for magic on the run from her! 14 May
• Great small group intensity session with #LeadingEdge #triathlonand #cycling team. Even after super-safety talk everyone had fun! 12 May
• May 16, 2011- the day #ChocolateArts moves into my ‘hood. Mmmmmm chocolate 12 May
• #HarbourAir in #VictoriaBC en route home after a full day learning about the #TriathlonCanada national training centre program 11 May
• Once more to #VictoriaBC on #HarbourAir! 11 May
• Think the visual input of moving faster refuces perveived effort and impacts motion… Back for more testing 10 May
• Walking on a moving sidewalk doesn’t feel like walking on solid ground. Feels easier even though perceived walking speed is the same… 10 May
• brief bounce in #Toronto and then home to the best place in the world- #Vancouver! 10 May
• Leaving #Halifax for #Vancouver. Great work Peter, John and Dean at #CanoeKayakCanada for bringing the ‘big’ boats to #NCCP 10 May
• @amyakirkham Venga! Venga! Venga! 9 May
• @amyakirkham have a great spring European #70.3 campaign 9 May

Connections in swimming

Every now and again a new idea, or in this case a comparative coaching idea from another sport, yields a reward.

In today’s swim session I tried to import a coaching concept from kayak that I learned about a few years back (ok maybe a decade ago from Dr. Imre Kemecsey) and reapplied Saturday on my coaching session with Vancouver Ocean Sports.  The recycled idea is that of power circles.

The power circle concept is “relatively simple”, as a coach you associate a progression of technical elements with (or through) the relevant joints and muscles AND mental pathways needed to effect that element.  Power circles are an excellent visual mapping tool for sports with complex technical elements executed through multi-segmental movement acting in three or more rotational planes (i.e. canoe-kayak, swimming, xc skiing, gymnastics, dance, etc.).

There are innumerable power circles linking all the physical and technical elements together.  The resulting mental map of a sport’s power circles creates a very robust and flexible web of connections.

The application of this coaching technique is tricky as you have to understand the causal pathways required to effect the technique in question.  Most importantly, you have to know where a movement originates and where that movement ends.  Furthermore, as a coach you can’t rely on  visual demonstration any longer.  You have to develop clear verbal descriptions and engage your athletes in ongoing discussions as they learn the required connections.

Alan

 

stock training programs

After a few years humming and hawing about generic training programs, I am going to draft some for the more popular events in the sports I love to work with.

Historically, I have not been a big believer in generic plans.

However, I am a big believer in high quality coaching being available to those interested in it.   With more and more participants in triathlon, running, cycling and paddle sports, there seem to be more and more poor quality training programs available than good quality ones.  Anyone can hang out their shingle as a coach it seems, but very few have any skills that would allow their true coaching peers to recognize them as such- experience, track record, certification by a national sport coaching association,…

I have often heard said that it takes very little time to wreck an athlete through overtraining and poor guidance, but  a very long time to build long term success.  Any promises to build success in a very short time are more than likely just plain old BS.

So, I’ll see if I can draft up some plans that I would be proud to present as stand alone guidance.  Plans I am thinking of are;

• a program that sychs with the Triathlon BC series
• an Ironman Canada program
• a program that targets a few Half Ironman programs in BC / generic Half Ironman plan
• a cycling plan for events such as the Vancouver GranFondo
• possibly a paddling program for Around Bowen Island or similar events

Where I see existing plans failing is in the lack of long term planning for the participants.  The biggest oversight is the failure to align the program with the stage of sport participation the participant is at (i.e. learning to train, training to train, training to compete, active for life, etc.).

In many sports, these stages are applied only to younger athletes in the Canada Games, National Team, etc. streams.  Adult participants and those not fortunate enough to be in the above programs are all placed in the same active for life stage, ignoring any individual goals or competitive ambitions or even a desire to train professionally.  With many adults in endurance sport being professionals themselves, exposure to professional training and training programs is a natural fit.

Keep checking back for updates on this project!

Alan

Engineered Athletes in action

Here is a quick update on some of the Engineered Athletes and teams I coach.

IDBF Club Crew Championships (Penang, Malaysia): Dragon Boat

Victoria BC’s Gorging Dragons (training program and performance analyses) earned a Silver medal in the 500 m, and Bronze medals in the 2000 m and the 200 m and 2nd in the 500 m premier division mixed crew races.

full results coming…

IVF Sprint Outrigger World Championships (Sacramento CA): outrigger canoeing

Kathryn Ginther of Penticton BC (training program, technique and performance analyses) came home with three Bronze medals from the V6 1000 m, V6 500 and V12 500 m events.

full results

Canadian Triathlon Championships (Kelowna BC)

ELITE RACE

Martina Wan (full program, performance analyses and technical coaching support) announced herself in her first elite race as an up and coming force to be reckoned with in women’s triathlon.

On the bike, Martina worked super hard and was the strongest rider in the chase pack as reflected in her 4^th fastest bike split! She performed a clinic in T2 skills posting the second fastest bike to run transition and led the chase pack onto the run in 6^th places.  Martina pushed harder than she ever had in a race to finish 11^th overall and 8^th Canadian!

Well done Martina!

AGE GROUP RACE

2008 World Champion and now 2008 Canadian F4044 Champion; Stephanie Kieffer (full program, performance analyses and technical coaching support) was unstoppable!

Stephanie was also 3rd overall in the women, but only after the the eventual winner and second place finisher had chased her down on the run.

With over 25 participants in the race, LETC (program and technical coaching) was solid across the board with four podium appearance and nine automatic qualifications (q) for the 2009 ITU Olympic Distance Worlds in Australia!

OA	GENDER	CAT	NAME	SWIM	BIKE	RUN	TIME
ELITE WOMEN
11	8CAN	ELITE	Martina Wan TP	22:03	1:10:11	0:42:04	2:16:10
AGE GROUP
10	10	3M40-44	Alan Carlsson q	20:50	1:02:18	0:40:39	2:05:45
41	3	1F40-44	Stephanie Kieffer TP q	21:29	1:06:30	0:44:20	2:14:23
66	61	7M25-29	Doug Giles q	29:41	1:05:47	0:40:57	2:18:29
76	69	8M25-29	Rob Eakin q	27:36	1:07:04	0:43:33	2:20:22
117	17	3F20-24	Justine Clift q	24:51	1:10:57	0:46:52	2:25:04
167	33	4F30-34	Elizabeth Urbach q	29:22	1:11:43	0:46:14	2:29:55
174	140	16M25-29	Brian Roth	27:35	1:09:59	0:50:35	2:30:35
175	35	7F35-39	Lynda McCue q	28:56	1:13:47	0:45:32	2:30:43
196	47	7F25-29	Jody Wright q	26:17	1:12:51	0:50:23	2:32:21
248	72	16F35-39	Heather Caldwell	26:08	1:17:49	0:50:22	2:37:36
265	191	30M30-34	Andrew Harlos	28:35	1:14:04	0:53:47	2:39:23
271	79	18F35-39	Stacy Gorkoff	27:57	1:19:18	0:48:13	2:40:21
289	84	14F25-29	Nicole Warren	29:14	1:19:06	0:50:19	2:41:43
294	208	35M30-34	Michael Ryan*	34:58	1:13:01	0:49:59	2:42:14
297	210	35M35-39	Denis “9½” Peregrym	36:13	1:09:04	0:54:22	2:42:25
316	220	35M45-49	Stan Rogowski*	32:39	1:20:01	0:46:21	2:44:29
326	226	28M50-54	Clayton Reichert	36:02	1:12:57	0:53:45	2:45:42
340	103	19F25-29	Caylee Wasilenko	24:41	1:21:28	0:58:12	2:46:48
342	104	20F25-29	Erin Bigelow	29:53	1:21:27	0:51:57	2:47:10
343	105	20F35-39	Alison Thompson TP	31:11	1:18:56	0:53:52	2:47:28
353	112	11F45-49	Bronwyn Masson	32:35	1:16:34	0:56:19	2:49:09
454	162	2F18-19	Andrea Reichert*	25:27	1:27:42	1:03:00	2:59:39
540	218	45F30-34	Marnie Richter*	35:52	1:28:26	1:11:48	3:19:59
554	229	2F65-69	Mary Battell TP q	41:55	1:32:00	1:08:28	3:28:16

TP Engineered Athlete training program

* LETC Alumni

q qualifier for 2009 Worlds

full results

Triathlon World Championships

This past weekend were the ITU Olympic Distance World Championships in Vancouver BC. True to form, Vancouver tested not only the athletes’ fitness, but also their logistical preparation as water temperatures were between 10-12° C, air temperatures 12-17° C with sun, wind, waves, cloud and rain showers thrown as well.

The race course itself was also a challenge with a very difficult bike and run course to pace.

The swim was cold rough water for the women and then canceled for the men. We were looking at 10-15 kn winds from the NW that ended up coming in on the athletes’ left side for most of the swim, with only a 50 m section of downwind swimming. Any swimmers with rough water experience were laughing and having fun.

The bike course was four 10 km loops of a course featuring lots of short gentle hills in close succession, false flats, one long hill followed by a flat section into another gentle hill then a deceptive downhill onto a flat section before looping around again. If you paced it wrong; anaerobic hell within 10 minutes…

The run was a MENSA test, three 180° turns per lap, seven 90° turns per lap, a short steep uphill (elevate VO2 and perceived exertion over pace), a short gentle uphill (elevate VO2 a and perceived exertion tiny bit over pace), a couple of long gentle downhills (elevate muscular work over pace while reducing perceived exertion) and a wonky 2.5 loops with a different start and finish point.

The tri club I coach at Leading Edge Triathlon Club was very well represented with 18 athletes participating and we came through with flying colours as more of a team than a club with non-participating athletes providing all day support for their team mates. Outstanding!

Highlights for me were two super emotional performances by Martina and Stephanie who stepped up as true professionals on race day.

• Stephanie came through with an amazing 11 second win in the women’s 40-44 category that was called the surprise upset of the race by the finish line announcer! I can tell you she was definitely not upset! Stephanie has chased this win for three years and earned every meter of her dominance by never relinquishing the lead from start to finish.
• Martina has prepared very hard this past year, after a super rough race in Hamburg at the 2007 Worlds where she was recovering from a brutal bike crash two weeks before the race.Starting with a swim that saw her kicked in the face and one side of her goggles fill with blood, she stormed through T1 putting over 2 minutes on some of her rivals! On the bike she proved her new fitness was for real and held her own against the 2008 European champion and top Australian girls. Going into T2 she demonstrated amazing skill by taking another 1-2 minutes out of her rivals and heading onto the run in fifth place. She quickly locked up fourth and a tactical error by one of her rivals handed her third by the end of the race!

  Since World’s last year, Martina has logged hundreds of hours in the pool, on the bike and running to set up the fitness and technique that will allow her to enter the elite level. With her third place finish in the 25-29 category, she has all she needs for her resume when she applies for an elite license.

I am very, very proud of these two amazing athletes and all their preparation and hard work paying off.

A couple of other highlights were Jean-Yves running a 10 km PR on this brutal course, looks like you’ve finally found that extra gear Jean-Yves 😉 and Rob who has come such a long way since last year and knows this is a sport and level of competition where he belongs and thrives!

More later on logistical errors, equipment screw ups and comments on the elite races.

Alan

Here is an article from Triathlon Canada on 2008 Worlds

The spirit of being a true champion

Here is a video clip I have to share with you guys. For all you paddlers, its not paddling. What it is, is the final few hundred meters of a World Cup Triathlon in NZ.

This is what we coaches should aspire to teach our athletes, the spirit of being a true champion. You can’t help but love this kind of effort!

Alan Carlsson
Engineered Athlete Services

catching up

Its been a while since I managed to get a post up, let’s just call it a very busy summer.

I had a significant shift in my personal sporting goals after the Moloka’i solo surfski race back in May. I had put in so much effort over the winter that paddling was not as attractive as usual.

Combined with what looked like some success in my battle with seasonal allergies, I decided to shift gears away from the water and back over to triathlons. Prior to taking up competitive paddling in 95, triathlon had been my thing.

A few years ago, I started up a triathlon club here in Vancouver with my triathlon racing nemesis Andrew Tuovinen.

Every race against Andrew followed a similar script; I smoked Andrew in the swim then held my own on the bike. Depending on the length of the swim, technical difficulty on the bike and length of the run, Andrew would either catch me on the run or come very, very close. Not that I was a slouch on the run, Andrew was super fast with a 10 k PB in the 32 min range and a one mile PB in the low 4 min range.

Andrew and I have very compatible coaching styles with complementary strengths and weaknesses. The club is almost at 50 members and we’re very proud to say showing some excellent long term athlete development.

This year we had 15 athletes compete at Ironman Canada, and of those all 15 finished the race and 11 of them were taking on an Ironman for the first time. We had emphasized the run as being the key element in the race and all our guys and gals ran super strong marathons to finish their races. We even had a few negative splits on the run! Not bad after 3.8 km of swimming and 180 km of cycling!

At the triathlon club Andrew and I each have a number of athletes working with us one on one. They range from elite level athletes to rookies. One things these athletes all have in common is that they are goal oriented and willing to ask for guidance.

It is a very rewarding environment to coach in. We’re super happy with the club we’ve built and proud of the sportsmanship demonstrated every practice by the club members.

For me, I even managed to complete a few triathlons. My paddling left me with super upper body fitness and my swim was as good as ever (51 min for 4 km), but my aerobic fitness was shockingly poor for weight bearing exercise. I’m working on that now.

My immediate coaching challenges involve two triathletes who want to make the podium at the 2008 ITU Age Group World Championships.

As I am in the planning phases now, my first task is retooling training program templates to deliver all the information we needs to perform at our best.

I’ve got some good ideas on how to improve sport specific fitness, especially when I consider the bike-run interaction.

When will I get back to paddling? I think I’ll wait for the spring or summer of 08…

Alan

Alan Carlsson
Engineered Athlete Services