Guilt Free Christmas!!

Having just had the quietest retail free Christmas ever, we are back in action and contemplating our attack on 2013.
I hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We have eaten well (understatement), drunk in moderation (not entirely true) and have been working out consistently (read into that what you will).

I read the other day that people who worry about what they eat between Christmas and New Year should worry more about what they eat between New Year and Christmas!!
We have certainly enjoyed our holiday period but the hard work starts again next week. 

One last blow out on Monday night first though, so whatever you are doing then have a GREAT New Year and we will see you in 2013!!!

Hard Case Bike Box Rental, Aurora, Toronto

Whether you are flying home for Christmas or planning your flights to races in 2013 your precious Carbon Fibre is certainly going to need a bit of protection from those nasty baggage handlers.

We have Hard Case Bike Boxes available for rental and you can see all the details on the Website  HERE

Bike Boxes for rental are the Elite Vaison as detailed below.

Bike Box Description
The Elite Vaison Bike Box does what is says on the box! Putting concerns over transporting your bike at ease, the Vaison has a great reputation in the bike transportation world. Weighing in at 17 kilograms, it's 4.5 kilos lighter than the previous version, ensuring that travelling with your bike could not be any more simple.
The Vaison Bike Box from Elite is tough, solid and squash-proof and has five lockable catches to ensure secure closure. An ideal bike box for transportation of your bike while travelling on the road, planes and trains, it's suitable for large road bikes, Triathlon and mountain bikes, and has enough capacity to hold other items along with your bicycle.
(I have even managed to fit in my Scott Plasma with it's integrated seat mast on several occasions - something I have failed to do with several other hard case boxes).

Structured Training Starts Here!!

Today is the start of something monumental. It is the first official day of my 2013 Training Plan targeting, amongst other things, Ironman Mont Tremblant in Quebec next August.

It may not sound monumental to most people but having not really raced last year, or indeed since July 2011, then this is a big thing for me!!

2013 will be different for us. We have stripped back our previously overloaded work/life/coaching commitments to a more sensible level & also changed Continents!!

Having sat down with my Coach (Genevieve) we have planned out the timing of my 'A' & 'B' races and she has incorporated all these into my Annual Training Plan on Training Peaks. After a period of unstructured training I am really looking forward to working to a plan again and Training Peaks is great tool for managing that plan.

I'll let you know how the first week goes but so far I have completed a swim technique session and all I will say is that my muscle memory has amnesia!!

New Swim Clinics for 2013

We have added some new dates & Clinics to the Swim Analysis page on the website.

There are 6 new Video Swim Analysis Clinics now open (3 in January and 3 in February).
These 2 hour sessions are all on Sunday afternoons from 1.00 pm till 3.00 pm. They include over & under water video capture, pool side review & stroke correction session back in the water.

We have also added in the all new Stroke Correction Clinics. You will need to sign up for either a 3 week or a 6 week block for these commencing on Sunday 13th January 2013. These Clinics are all on Sunday mornings from 11.00 am till 12.00 pm.

The Stroke Correction Clinics will operate in a small group and will be a Coached pool based Practical Drill and Swim Session for Freestyle swimming.

These 1 hour sessions will focus on Stroke Efficiency, Propulsion and Body Position.

For best results use in conjunction with our Video Swim Analysis Clinic but this is not essential and you will still get loads out of the sessions without this.

Benefits
Enhanced efficiency through the water
Better propulsion for less effort
Reduced injury risk
New drills, hints and tips to enhance your swim training
Less fatigue - exit the swim leg feeling fresh and ready for the bike leg

www.athelite.net/swim-analysis

Christmas in Zone 1

Given that Christmas Day is two weeks away I am feeling strangely 'Un-Christmassy'.

At first I couldn't put my finger why this is, but then I realized that it has almost been forced upon us for the last 7 or 8 years. This is our first Christmas in all that time that we have not been immersed in retail whilst running the Triathlon Shop.

At this time we usually have all the decorations up in the shop windows, Christmas tunes playing non-stop, and are handing out mince pies and Mulled Wine to all our customers. We are not planning Sales evenings, Triathlon Club Christmas Parties, organizing Christmas Swim Sessions or Fancy Dress Runs. The phone is not ringing off the hook with customers desperate for must have items or calls from suppliers chasing orders for next year.

This year it will all be very different for us and I think we will be spending the festive period with my Heart Rate strictly in Zone 1.
I fully intend to make the most of it in case it never happens again!!

Busy week last week!!

I’ll start with my apologies for the lack of Blog posts last week. I don't really know where the time went – one minute it was Monday then all of a sudden it was Sunday evening. I'll promise to try harder this week!!

Following my previous post last Monday about our new home at Bayview Physiotherapy in Aurora, we have been busy setting up the office and Bike Studio here and completed the first bike fits on this site. If you are interested in booking a Retul Bike Fit then email us at bikefit@athelite.net. Prices are discounted for December so now is a good time to book your spot.

The middle of the week saw our container of worldly possessions finally arrive from Scotland. We packed up all our belongings at the end of August and they have been either sitting in the docks somewhere or on the back of a container ship ever since. It was great to see all our gear finally arriving in Canada, mostly in one piece. We have been out running most days and it was so nice to finally wear winter running clothing rather than all the lighter summer gear that we had with us.

We have also been getting ready for the first of our Canadian Video Swim Analysis Clinics which was held yesterday at St Andrews College Pool. Compared to where we coached our Athelite Club Swims in Scotland this is a great facility. A nice clean pool with functioning lane ropes, a working pool clock, warm showers and a lot less flotsam floating around in it.  

We have had so much interest already in these swim clinics and we have another 2 sessions again this Sunday 16^th. There is a morning and an afternoon session with each one lasting for 2 hours. There are only a couple of spaces left now so if you are interested then please email us at coaching@athelite.net or have a look on www.athelite.net for more details.

If you are pushed for time with all your Christmas shopping then we shall be running more clinics in January when the pool re-opens after the holidays.

Have a great week!!

Athelite @ Bayview Physiotherapy, Aurora

We are excited to announce that we have now officially taken up residence at our new office within Bayview Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine Clinic situated on Wellington St. East in Aurora.

The Clinic is John Pendleburys second, with the first being based on Eglinton Avenue East in Toronto. The Clinics are staffed by a multi-professional team. They provide Physiotherapy, Massage Therapy,  Acupuncture and other rehabilitation services to clients who have a range of sports injuries, musculoskeletal or orthopaedic conditions.

The facilities provide a great venue for us to operate alongside these other professionals . 

We have our Retul Bike Fit Studio here, our office, an in-house gym for people wanting Strength and Conditioning programmes plus space for much, much more in the future.