Belinda rocks the Rockies!

*Ironman Canada

After a solid swim that put her out of the water just a minute behind former All-America swimmer Andrea Fisher, Belinda Granger put on a cycling show that has never been matched at this historic race.

Her record-setting 4:52 split was seven minutes faster than Julianne White rode here in 1992. It also happened to be more than 11-minutes quicker than the next fastest cyclist in the women’s race, Ali Fitch.

The women many considered to be Granger’s most likely competition, Heather Wurtele and Lisa Bentley, found themselves starting the ride 19 and 30 minutes behind the Aussie.

Granger cruised through a 3:26 marathon (which she even split) and an impressive victory.

Slowtwitch forum

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?forum=1

Jenny fundraiser on Friday

Hi All,

This Friday 6.30pm Jenny McKenna Fundraiser at Icebergs. Please buy
your tickets on line www.bratclub.com.au. If you can't make it why
not buy a ticket anyway as your donation? Here are a few very short
video clips of Jenny and her Mum and Dad's response to $60,000 raised
by some friends of mine who don't even know her.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4284555317422913705&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1782470268586677472&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1899807462078044111&hl=en


Kind Regards
Jon

Frodeno down the chute!

Who says big guys can't win in the heat? Not Jan Frodeno who bridged a gap to the lead group of three during the run, bringing Simon Whitfield back into the race, and then shifted gears to capture gold in Beijing.

What a superb race.

Kudos to Whitfield for a gutsy finish. He got dropped heading up the final hill, regrouped as the lead group of four entered the stadium and then dropped the hammer with about 600m to go - before Frodeno accelerated with about 75m to go.

NZ's Bevan Docherty gets the bronze.

A disappointing finish for Javier Gomez but he's such a class act.

How about Alistair Brownlee from the UK? He led for part of the run and will have to be among the favourites heading into 2012 in London.

Snowsill wins gold!

Emma Snowsill ran away from her fellow competitors and won the gold medal with ease!

Kudos to Fernandes who put in a huge effort to capture the silver.

And a superb performance put Emma Moffatt on the podium with the bronze medal.

*First Aussie gold in the Olympics in triathlon

Olympic race - Monday - Women

Will Fernandes win the gold?

The Sub Nine Club

It's a new era for the women. Click

The Sub Eight Club

Who's in this club and what it's all about? Click

Focus

On Michael Phelps:

In his seven-day-a-week training routines, which start with a 5 a.m. alarm-clock call, and can include up to 15 kilometres of repetitive lengths and sprints each day, he is not so different from the hundreds of elite swimmers left in the wake of his double-jointed dolphin kicks. Where he manages to outdistance his rivals, according to expert observers, is in the blending of his body's rare gifts with the intensity of his planning and concentration.

"It's his physical ability, it's his ability to race," says USA swim coach Mark Schubert, rhyming off Phelps's clear advantages, "it's his ability to get excited when he needs to and to come down when he needs to come down."

Belinda Granger's Sensational Season

How you noticed yet?

Belinda won Ironman China, Ironman Malaysia. She won the Quelle France half too. While she missed the podium in Roth, she went Sub Nine that day, running 3:15.

This weekend she won Antwerp 70.3.

Never too old for the Olympics

An excerpt from a Reuters story:

Dr. Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist at the U.S. Mayo Clinic who studies the effects of ageing on athletes, said normal "physiological" ageing starts at 30 but athletes can delay this until their late 30s or 40s with prolonged, intense training.

He said lab data showed that for physiological factors associated with endurance sports the decline is about 10 percent per decade starting at 30 but this can be halved with continued hard training, especially if it remained intense.

"If you look at top performers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, the volume of training (hours per day) is sometimes down, but they keep the intensity high. They usually also do things to prevent age-associated declines in muscle mass," he said.

But Joyner said that while all elite athletes had some physical gifts it was also their will to win and ability to perform under pressure that made them succeed.

"All things being equal the person who can put forth a maximum effort and at the same time relax has a real edge. A lot of it is learning how to compete in a relaxed way when the pressure is on," he told Reuters.

Yeppoon Half Ironman, August 17th

A quick update for the Rydges Capricorn Half Ironman, August 17th 2008

Late entries are open until August 6th.

Note that in 2008 the Rydges Capricorn Half Ironman celebrates 10 years of Long Distance racing at Yeppoon (and note that the 2009 event will be the official tenth anniversary of the Half Ironman there!

Round Two of the National Half Ironman series, the event is also the QLD LD Championships and also the chance to gain qualifying points for the Australian Team to the Perth based World LD Champs in 2009

Ironman NZ 25th year

The entries are still tracking towards a record level for the 25th anniversary in 2009. Don’t delay your entry.

The 2009 event will be one not to miss. A must do for all those who have competed in the past and a unique opportunity for all those looking at competing in their first Ironman.

You can check out if your entry has been confirmed when the website is updated every Monday with all confirmed athletes.

Snap out of it!

http://alexshalman.com/

11 Practical Ways To Jump Out Of A Lazy Rut

1. Start Somewhere, Anywhere.

2. Self-actualize, Be Conscious. Think.

3. Improve Exercise Antics.

4. Engage In House Cleaning.

5. Cultivate Reading Habits.

6. Get Back On Track With Writing.

7. Hydrate For Productivity.

8. End Over-Sleeping.

9. Don’t Eat Lazy Food.

10. Simplify Your Life.

11. Embrace Your Laziness.

70.3 Calgary

Escape the Aussie winter and visit a city nestled on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

August 2nd, 2009 will be the first event.

http://www.ironmancalgary.com/

Brat year end party - Tonight

Date & Time - 2nd Aug from 7pm (can get there early to watch the footy if you like) Location

- Bondi Icebergs Function room Party Theme is - Bondi to the Rescue, so come as your favourite emergency services personnel, prize for best dressed Food will be served and some drinks supplied so get there early BRAT AGM - Is on Prior to the party at 6pm.

The club is completely run by volunteers and if anyone would like to put their hand up to help out in any way then this is the best time to put your hand up and select something you would like to do.

Lee `Persistence' Troop

Here's a good story on how one of Australia's top marathoners got himself back to the elite level after enduring some very tough races.

Lee Troop