In California, Patrick Haenel raced the Big Bear Olympic race and finished in 3:07. On this high altitude course, his time was good enough for 16^th overall male.

Closer to home, Sally Borg and Elaine Rayski raced the JCC Reverse Tri. Sally took 1^st in her AG and 6^th overall with a time of 1:27 while Elaine won the Athena competition with a time of 1:32.

Jona Davis raced the Boulder Sprint Tri in sports crazy Boulder, CO, but we’re still awaiting those results. Knowing Jona, she shredded the course!

From the world of epic racing, we present Frank Smith and Ric Emery. Frank raced the Mohican Trail Marathon in Ohio. This is one of the toughest off-road marathons in the world. The trail is rocky, muddy, hilly and hot. At one point, Frank lost his shoe in the mud and had to dig around for it! This was Frank’s 9^th marathon in 9 months. He finished in 7:09 taking 10^th in his AG and 100 of 136 finishers. Some finishers came in at over 10 hours! Did we mention this is a tough race?!

Ric Emery raced the 24-hour endurance MTB race at the 24 hours of Enchanted Forest in New Mexico. Every endurance athlete has to be mentally tough and able to handle unforeseen challenges. Ric had his share in this race. Thunderstorms rolled in during the afternoon and it rained and stormed so much that organizers had to put the race on hold for several hours before starting back up. Ric rolled with the punches and kept his nutrition going, got warm and focused on what he had to do once the race resumed. He finished the day taking 4^th of 31 in the single speed category in this grueling 24-hour event.

Nice job everyone!!

Toby Baum, SheriAnne Nelson, Daniel Efune, James Sun, Caroline Sekaquaptewa, and Jim Rassi raced Boise 70.3 in Boise, ID under under the hottest and windiest conditions that the event has ever seen. Special congratulations go out to Toby and SheriAnne. Both qualified for the 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas. SheriAnne, though, will forgo the Vegas race to focus on her IM Hawaii prep.

Toby Baum – 5:03 -  10^th in AG qualified for 70.3 World Championship.

SheriAnne Nelson – 5:03 -  3^rd in AG and 6^th overall amateur female. Qualified for 70.3 World Championship.

Daniel Efune – 6:52 – 37^th in AG. Daniel is racing IMAZ this fall.

Caroline Sekaquaptewa – 7:54 – 51^st in AG. Caroline said the day was harder than IMAZ!

James Sun – 8:26 – 128^th in AG. James is racing IM Lake Tahoe in Sep.

Jim Rassi – Jim completed the swim and bike but withdrew after one lap of the run to save and injured knee. Jim is racing IM Whistler in August.

Meanwhile, at the Kansas 70.3 and the Eagleman 70.3 in MD, Randy Speight and Todd Gibby each completed their first long course race.

Kansas 70.3

Randy Speight – 6:58 – 58^th in AG Randy is racing IMAZ this fall.

Eagleman 70.3

Todd Gibby – 5:07 – 36^th in AG. Coming this close to five hours in his first 70.3 was a great result!

While this was a weekend for long coursers, there was a sprint held up in Payson, AZ. Jeanine Schmidt used the race as a nice high intensity workout and took second overall and 1^st in her AG with a tie of 1:15. Jeanine will be racing IMAZ this fall.

Nice job everyone!!

Congratulations to the rest of our finishers, as well!

Amica Tri – Las Vegas

Laura Miles     5th AG            3:09

Deuces Wild – Show Low

Olympic

Dorothy Waterhouse   1st AG            2:59

Gary Waterhouse        2nd AG           2:49

Tom Hennessy            2nd AG           2:35

Rachael Quillinan        2nd AG           2:48 PR!

Jeanine Cordova         3rd AG            2:27

Jenifer Garner             4th AG            2:53

Joan McGue                5th AG            3:48

Henry Wright              5th AG            2:42

Lowry Barfield           6th AG            2:50 PR by 10 min!

Elisabeth Eiler             12th AG          3:02

XTerra

Jeanine Cordova         3rd OA            2:23

Ben Quillinan              7th AG            2:25

Chino Valley Sprint

Kathy Stanley             1st AG            1:36

Bolder Boulder 10K, CO

Eero Allison                                        45:28

Heather Dean                                      54:00

Barn Burner (104-mile mountain bike)

Darren West                                                    10 hours 16 min

Paul Klusak                                                     10 hours 21 min

Monday, Race #1: Pine Tree Marathon in Portland Maine: Cold, raining, foggy day (actually a great day for running).  After a 0.86 mile out-and-back, it was 7 laps around Back Cove, a beautiful route.  It was flat, groomed dirt path with the exception of climbing the bridge to cross the bay each lap. Phyllis ran this one with me and she did great.  I ran 5:06 and Phyllis 5:45.

Tuesday, Race #2: Granite State Marathon in Nashua, New Hampshire: This was a hot day (high of 91) with no cloud cover. The route was technical trail that was not well marked.  Everyone got lost at about mile 2, so we all (28 runners that day) ran about a mile off course, stopped, re-grouped and together tried to figure out the route.  We eventually got it right, but as we spaced out, I got lost a second time (along with many others).  It was an out-and back with 5 loops. We did an inadvertent ultra! Between trail, heat, more miles and time and getting lost, it was my worst day.  I felt poorly after day 2 (as it would turn out, days 1, 3 and 5 felt great and days 2 and 4 I didn’t feel as good).  I ran 5:47.

Wednesday, Race #3: Red Island Marathon, Warwick, Rhode Island: After an 1.9 mile out-and-back, we ran a nine loop course along the bay. It was a great run.  Asphalt path with constantly rolling hills—no flat!  It was cool with rain. I felt great and I ran easily for a 5:10.

Thursday, Race # 4 Nutmeg State Marathon in Hartford, Connecticut: Probably the hardest course, even thought it was 12 loops around a beautiful golf course on mostly service road. The loop was 2.08 miles, so after an out-and-back to get started, we did lots of loops.  We started at the top of the hill, ran a quad busting steep technical trail downhill, picked up the road for a short flat section, then ran a 1 mile up-hill with 2 steep sections.  The trail downhill killed my quads and the uphill was an energy sink–I could feel is draining my energy tank each time I climbed it.  It rained hard near the end, which felt great, but make for hard running.  I felt OK, but ran a 5:28.

Friday, Race #5: Old Colony Marathon in Springfield, Massachusetts: Great route in and around Forest Park.  After an out-and-back to start, we did 4 loops.  I felt great, and since I didn’t need to conserve energy anymore, I ran freely and easily for a 4:58. Again, it was cool with rain.

Locally, at Tempe International, we had 29 individual finishers and 5 age group winners! Camelback Coaching also won first place in the small club division of the AZ Tri Club Championships! Most improved award goes to Elaine Rayski and a 17-minute PR! Congrats to all of you!

Mike Roth                           1^st           35-39     2:15        Oly

Jeanine Cordova              1^st           30-34     2:19        Oly

Paul Klusak                         1^st           30-34     1:02        Spr

Jeanine Schmidt               1^st           35-39     1:09        Spr

Dwight Lundell                  1^st           70-74     1:21        Spr

Jona Davis                           2^nd          45-49     1:09        Spr

Kirk Lacko                            3^rd           50-54     2:22        Oly

Jonathan Boyd                  3^rd           35-39     1:04        Spr

Kathy Stanley                    3^rd           50-54     1:17        Spr

Lowry Barfield                   3^rd           55-59     1:12        Spr

Tyler Webb                         4^th           25-29     2:28        Oly

Sharon Johnston              4^th           50-54     1:18        Spr

Jay Mellen                          4^th           65-69     1:27        Spr

Darren West                      5^th           40-44     1:06        Spr

Will Rossiter                       5^th           35-39     1:06        Spr

Lou Ann Brennan             6^th           55-59     1:40        Spr

Patrick Haenel                   7^th           20-24     2:37        Oly

Russell Vanbeber             7^th           35-39     1:09        Spr

Abby Luedecke                 7^th           30-34     1:16        Spr

Nick Carter                          8^th           30-34     2:31        Oly

Pat Devine                          8^th           45-49     2:32        Oly

Susy Signa                           8^th           50-54     3:17        Oly

Christina Willman             8^th           30-34     1:18        Spr

Stephen Houghton           11^th         30-34     2:40        Oly

Barb Wang                          11^th         50-54     1:29        Spr

Elaine Rayski                      14^th         40-44     3:15        Oly

Kyrsten Sinema                14^th         35-39     3:41        Oly

Cindy Rodarte                   14^th         40-44     1:28        Spr

Jamie Cook                         26^th         45-49     2:52        Oly

Lindsay Buckman             Swim     Relay

In a sprint, you just go all out, right? But what if your perception of “going all out” doesn’t actually match with the effort you are capable of giving?

You just can’t sugarcoat a threshold effort. It hurts. A lot. And many athletes aren’t willing to stay there, let alone go there in the first place. But if you really want to race at threshold, a heart rate monitor can ensure you’re actually getting  there.

For example, a sprint distance race is generally raced at or near lactate threshold, especially on the run. If a person perceives they are working at threshold on the run, and they know their lactate threshold occurs at 165 bpm, but they see 155 bpm on their monitor, they now know they still have 10 beats to give. This little piece of information might help them dig just that little bit deeper to finish a 5K as best they can.

The heart rate monitor can also provide useful data for post-race analysis. We often hear people say, “I didn’t do so well on the run,” or “I felt great on the bike. I don’t think I biked too hard.” But without real data, it’s impossible to know how well a person executed their race. If that same runner who has a threshold heart rate of 165 bpm analyzes their data after a race and notes an average heart rate in the mid 160’s, they can feel confident they gave their best effort on the day. If they see an average heart rate in the mid 150’s, they would know that perhaps what they perceived as “going all out,” wasn’t necessarily the case, or perhaps their run was affected by biking too hard.

“I had a great bike, but I don’t know what happened on the run.” If only we coaches had a for dollar every time we have heard this. I had a great bike, but . . . What does that really mean?

Often, it means the athlete has “overbiked.” If this athlete has had a less-than-stellar run and has worn a heart rate monitor, they can use heart rate data from the bike leg to determine if they spent too much energy on the bike course. For example, if a person has  a lactate threshold heart rate of 165 bpm on the bike and cycles in an Olympic distance race—which is raced at slightly below threshold—and after the event, notes their average heart rate was above 165 bpm, and that the bike leg included several spikes into the 170’s, it’s safe to say they “overbiked” the course and didn’t leave enough for the run.

In summary, the heart rate monitor serves two valuable purposes in short course races. It gives us a piece of information during the race to ensure we are working as hard as we can, and it provides valuable data after the race to confirm how well or poorly we executed our race strategy.

When you open a door, you grab the knob and “pull.”  Your hand moves toward you and your elbow and shoulder slide backward in the process.  Swimmers who don’t anchor effectively, do the same thing in the water, slipping as a result.

When you think of the words “catch” or “anchor,” the connotation is different.  To catch or anchor, is to hold something in place.  You are giving your body something to torque around to move itself through the water.  When you execute a proper catch, the shoulder rotates internally, the elbow “pops” out, and the forearm hinges downward from your “fixed” elbow.  This hinging movement, also known as early vertical forearm, is the key to the catch.

If you try to “pull” immediately after your arm extension, there is a good chance you will slip right through the stroke movement.  However, if you take the time to set up a good catch as described above, you will set up a movement that connects with your hip to drive your body forward.

Sculling drills are a great way to address proper catch mechanics.

The word “scull” has various meanings, but think of the oars you would find on a boat in order to row.  The verb, to scull, means to propel by means of oars.  So, when applied to swimming, think of your forearms and hands as oars that are going to move the water in order to propel you through it.

There are many varieties of sculling drills and all are designed to help you with the catch or anchor portion of your stroke.  Throughout the year, but particularly in the off-season, it is nice to add sculling drills to your practice.  I will describe one approach (there are many) and what to think about as you do them.

Begin by pushing off the wall, arms extended, head looking down at the bottom of the pool and use a light kick – just enough to keep your hips on the surface.  This drill is not a very fast-moving one, so take your time.  You will then scull in three different positions:

Position #1 – Extended Position.  Begin with arms extended straight in front of you (just under the surface – think Superman), roll your shoulders in, pop your elbows out, keep your wrists stiff (that is, neutral – not bending in either direction), turn your palms out and push the water away to a point just outside of your shoulders, then, turn the palms to face each other and bring the hands toward each other (like a seal), but not to the point where the hands touch.  You will be “pushing” and “pulling” the water, or sculling, in movements that are probably less than ten inches in width for each hand.  In this first position, you are practicing the set-up to your catch – setting your shoulders and elbows in the proper position for the subsequent anchoring movement.  You are also practicing the neutral wrist position mentioned above in addition to the more subjective “feel of the water” against your forearms and palms.

Position #2 – 45-Degree Position.  Begin as above in the Extended Position.  Roll shoulders in, pop elbows out, wrists stiff.  Now, without changing your shoulder and elbow positions, hinge your forearms downward to about 45-degrees below the surface.  Begin the sculling motions described above.  This is where the meat of your catch begins in the actual stroke.  The critical part is maintaining your shoulder and elbow position.  At this point, your elbow should still be well in front of your shoulder.

Position #3 – 90-Degree Position.  Begin in the Extended Position, but this time hinge your forearms to a 90-degree angle from the surface.  Your fingertips will now be pointing directly down.  Begin sculling.  You can roll your head underwater side to side at this point to actually watch yourself scull.  Pay particular attention to your elbow position relative to your shoulder.  The elbow should still be in front of the shoulder.  When you are midway through your pull in a whole stroke (when your torso is facing the bottom of the pool), this is where your elbow and shoulder and forearm should be (this 90-degree position).

Position #4 – Combination Position.   Move smoothly from the Extended Position to the 90-Degree position, making sculling movements the whole way.  Try to imagine the track that your pull will take as you do this drill.  Begin by rolling the shoulders in, pop the elbows out, keep the wrists stiff and let your forearms hinge down from your “fixed” elbow – sculling all the while.  You are trying to imprint what your shoulders and elbow and forearm should do during your catch in a slow and manageable way.

For all of the sculling positions above, you can breathe either by rolling your head to the side or by doing a quick pitch up of the head.

Proper catch mechanics are paramount for optimal propulsion. Using the sculling drills above, in addition to changing your mindset about “catch” versus “pull” will go a long way toward your goal of becoming a more efficient swimmer.

From Mallorca, Spain, Kim Essendrup completed his first Olympic distance race. The Mallorca Olympic race is draft legal for age groupers and takes place at the BEST swim facility which is one of the most outstanding training centers in the world. Kim picked a great race for his first Olympic!

At St. George 70.3, Kirk McCarville and Simon Willman toed the starting line. Kirk finished 24th in his age group in 6:26 and Simon covered the distance in 6:02, finishing 52nd in his age group. This was Simon’s first long course event while Kirk is a seasoned Ironman racer and Ultra runner.

We had eight finishers at Wildflower this year including six first-timers. Impressive results by all! WF is about 30-60 min slower than most other ½ IM races. That tends to happen with over 5,000’ of climbing on the bike and near 2,000’ on the run.

Will Rossiter              5:21                 23rd AG Yes, same Will Rossiter that went 10:31 at IMNZ in March! First Wildflower .

Toby Baum                5:34                 31st AG  Third WF

SheriAnne Nelson     5:37                 3rd AG Sheri Anne will be racing at IM Hawaii in Oct. This was a great result in a most competitive field. First WF.

Ben Quillinan             5:59                 67^th AG First WF

Kirk Lacko                6:21                 38th AG First WF.

Tom Hennessy           6:32                 20th AG First WF

Rachael Quillinan      6:40                 21^st AG First WF

Jenifer Garner          7:24                 37th AG Second WF

Congrats to our Esprit de She racers who raced locally at Tempe Town Lake.

Esprit de She – Tempe

Caroline Sekaquaptewa 1:44 – 30^th in AG

Laura Miles 1:29 – 6^th in AG

Barb Wang 1:40 – 13^th in AG

Joan McGue 1:48 – 9^th in AG

Congratulations to all our racers and good luck to Anne Dreier who is racing at IM Texas next weekend!