This week at Exponential Performance Coaching

I hope that every one had a good long weekend





Squad paddle


The Exponential Performance Squad kayak sessions will be held on Wednesday as usual. This session will start at 7.30am from the University Rowing club. This week’s session will be focused on technique and endurance development.


These sessions are $20 per session or sign up for 5 sessions for $80.





Squad run


The Exponential Performance Squad running sessions are starting this Wednesday at 5.30pm. These sessions are focused on developing off road running skills and fitness while introducing you to different off road training grounds around Dunedin.


The first session will be held from the Woodhugh Malvern Street entrance and will consist of a 1 hour run working on rock hopping skills.


The Cost of these sessions are $15 per session or sign up for 4 sessions for $50.





Coast to Coast Training camp


There has been a lot of interest in this training camp. So much so that it is booked out and there is now a waiting list. With this in mind EPC will be running a 2nd camp on the 16th and 17th to manage with the demand. Those who have registered their interest in the initial camp will be contacted this week regarding paying their registration fee to secure their place on the camp.


Those who have not expressed their interest in attending the camp yet but want to attend then let me know as soon as possible as places are limited and there is a strict limit on numbers due to safety.





Grade two course


There is one spare spot on a grade two course on the 14th and 15th of November. These grade two courses are held in Wanaka by kayak guru Eric Billoud. The cost of these courses are $342. The course in run over twos days with skills and training on the first 1 ½ days then assessment on the final ½ of day two. Let me know if you are interested or know of someone who is interested in attending





EPC athletes at the races


Congratulation to Bruce Ranga who raced in the Pilots Beach to Vauxhall 20km kayak race last weekend. It is clear to see that Bruce’s hard work in the boat is paying off with coming second.

Bruce putting down the power in his new Evolution Omega

Good luck to Chris Yeats of Hokitika who takes on the 5 passes cycling tour this coming weekend. I will be a big three days on the bike covering 600km, I hope the weather is good.

Also good luck to Milan Brodina of Methvan, Pam Thompson of Invercargill and Hannah Thorne of Dunedin who take on the Timaru 6 and 12hour mountain bike race as solo competitors this coming weekend, I look forward to catching up with you guys up in Timaru sometime over the 12 hours.

A number of the Dunedin based EPC athletes are in the middle of end of year University exams. Best of luck to these guys and girls in their studies and exams over the next few weeks.



Exponential Performance Coaching tip of the week

In order to gain the maximum benefits of your hard training sessions, make sure you have a meal containing carbohydrates and protein within 30 minutes of finishing training. The mix of protein and carbohydrates is critical to stimulate maximal up take by the muscles. Good examples are things such as tuna on rice or pasta, chicken or ham bread rolls, breakfast cereal and milk,, poached eggs on toast or specially formulated recovery shakes.



Happy training

Matty

Last weeks athlete profile

Hannah Thorne, 32 years old

Hannah is currently based in Dunedin, working as a doctor specialising in Pathology.She is originally from Shropshire in the UK where she spent most of her spare time horse-riding whilst growing up.

Hannah had a bit of a late introduction to multisport, cycling and racing in general. She first picked up mountain biking when she moved to Rotorua from the UK in 2003, loved it and ended up competing in some local Rotorua races.

For a challenge, some friends and her entered the 2005 2 day individual Coast to Coast, so she taught herself to kayak and road bike. Hannah ended up in the top 10 women and after that became a bit hooked on racing!

Since injuring her knee in 2005 her focushas been more on cycling. What kind of cycling? well anythings with two wheels will do; road, cyclocross, cross country MTB, downhill MTB.... you name it and Hannah probably rides it fast.

'Since moving to Dunedin at the start of 2007 and training with Matty, I have been able to achieve results in multisport and cycling that I am very proud of. My favourite pastime though is still riding singletrack and doing jumps on my mountain bike :)'

'The best thing I have found with EPC is the training programmes are designed to fit around other commitments like work. The training sessions focus on making the most of the time available to me. This usually means lots of intervals that are hard but they really work. I've also enjoyed the social aspect of the group training sessions and have met lots of really nice, like-minded people.'

Past results:

2009

1st open woman Whaka 100km MTB, Rotorua

1st open woman Mountain 2 Mountain

1st women's team Peak to Peak

1st solo woman Naseby 12hr MTB

1st masters woman South Island XC Cup

2008

2nd open woman Bannockburn Gutbuster MTB

1st open woman (2nd woman overall) K2 road race, Coromandel

3rd open woman Whaka 100km MTB, Rotorua

2nd open woman Mountain 2 Mountain

1st women's team Peak to Peak

3rd individual woman Goldrush

2nd individual woman Rail Trail Duathlon

2nd open woman Otago Peninsula Challenge MTB

Future plans:To focus more on cycling (particularly mountain biking) and to race elite women cross country MTB in the summer. I may also try some singlespeed and 24 hour MTB racing to keep things interesting!

Hannah would like to say a big thanks to her sponsor R&R Sport

New Trek TT bike

For all you bike tech lovers out there you will love the look of the new prototype Trek TT bike. The brake pads intergated into the fork is amizing.

Check it out below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73zKmPg2_0w

Old School Multisport

Below are the links to the youtube videos of the Alpine Ironman. This event is often said to be the worlds first multisport race. Designed by Robin Judkins the same guy who now designed the Coast to Coast.
These videos are a great watch and give an idea of where multisport has come from.
Back in these days there were no grade two certificates (the only qualification you needed was a bushy beard or moustache) and men were real men (none of this shaving your legs stuff).

See if you can spot Steve Gurney in his early days of racing (hes wearing back and white tights).
Also Geoff Hunt the director of the Peak to Peak (he is one of the first off the skis).

Good inspiration to get those kayak skills up to a good level.

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DkyKBYFUXE
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQEHgXxKA50&feature=related
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XYj96OQH98&feature=related
Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FtoD4SBR1Q&feature=related
Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSORFC731fQ&feature=related

Enjoy
Matty

This week at Exponential Performance Coaching

Squad paddle

The Exponential Performance Squad kayak session will be held on Wednesday as usual starting at 7.30am. Meet down at the Otago university rowing club and be prepared to start paddling at 7.30am. This weeks session will be focusing on technique and strength endurance development.

Squad run

The Exponential Performance Squad running session will begin again in 2 weeks. Running sessions will focus on specific Coast to Coast run training and will introduce you to specific off road running areas around Dunedin.

EPC athletes at the races

Congratulation to Hannah Thorne who won the open woman's race at the Whaka 100km MTB race in Rotorua this weekend. This race consisted of 100km of single track around Rotorua and came only 3 weeks after her win at the M2M multisport race. Well done Hannah. Check out Hannahs profile at the EPC blog http://exponentialperformance.blogspot.com/

Congratulation to Chris Yeats who despite throwing up several time through out the race came 3rd veteran male in the rail trail bike race. This races covers the full length on the Central Otago rail trail in one big hit. Good luck to Chris this weekend as he takes on the challenging Wild Coaster road race from Greymouth to Westport.

Coast to Coast training camp dates

Preliminary dates for the training camp have been set as the 8-9-10th of January 2010. Check out the EPC blog page for specific details of the training camp. Numbers are limited so register early.

Exponential Performance Coaching training tip of the week

This piece of advice comes from the nasty weather that has just hit Dunedin over the weekend. If the weather is bad outside and you have a specific session set, don't put in off because of the weather. Put on a thermal and jacket and get out the door. Its never as bad as you thought it was going to be once you get out into it. Even if it is to nasty to complete your full session or you have to change it up a bit get out there and spent time in the bad conditions.

Training in rough, windy and wet conditions will make you a lot stronger and confident come race day.

Well done to those who got out on Sunday in the wind and snow you will have one up on those who decided to say inside. Rumor has it there were a few EPC athletes sighted out on the harbor doing their paddle training yesterday, now that's gotta be good for ya.

Happy training.

Matty

Coast to Coast Training Camp Info

Training camp aims
1) Specific C2C terrain training
2) Specific back to back brick sessions
3) Course familiarisation
4) Gain knowledge from others
5) Enjoyment

Dates: This training camp will be held on the 8-9-10th January 2010

Cost: the cost of this training camp is $300. If team athletes want to partake in individual training sessions on the different days such as only do the paddle on Sunday the cost of this is $150.

Numbers: This training camp is limited to 7 athletes. This will be handled on a first in first served basis and athletes already signed up as EPC athletes will be given a place over non-EPC athletes. However non-EPC athletes are more than welcome to attend the camp. A $75 (25% of camp cost) none refundable fee is require within a week of registering to secure a spot on the camp.

This camp will be based from Klondyke Corner just out of Arthurs Pass. This training camp will differ slightly to that of the Peak 2 Peak and Mountain 2 Mountain in that we will be camping at a DOC camp site with tents and meals being the responsibility of the individual.
The training camp will be held over 2 ½ days. See camp outline below.

Coast to Coast training camp 2009

Friday
- Arrive at Klondyke corner at 3pm
- Evening rock running session approx 1hour
- Dinner
- Mt run briefing and gear prep discussion
- Coast to Coast nutrition planning

Saturday

• Early start – drive to Kumara beach

Run 3km --> 55km road bike

• This section will be completed in 2hours30min


• Focus of this session is on developing bunch riding skills
  

33km Mt run

• This section will be run at a pace that takes 5hours30min to complete
  
• Focus of this session is on course familiarisation and rock running skills
  - Evening will be spent chilling out a relaxing
  - River briefing and gear preparation discussion
  - Coast to Coast transition planning

Sunday
- Early start
- 15km cycle to start of kayak section
- 67km Grade two kayak down the Waimac river

• This section will be completed in 5hours30min –depending on river follows
• Focus is on developing river skills, course fimiliarisation and race tactics

Athlete’s responsibilities for training camp
- This is NOT a guided trip it is a training camp.

• All athletes are to have the following level of competency for the safety of themselves and the other on the camp


• Be able to confidently ride in a bunch at 30km+ speeds
  
• Be comfortable running over rough terrain for prolonged periods of time
  
• Have a Grade 2 certificate and confidently paddle grade 2 water in their race boat

- Athletes need to bring all required safety gear as outlined in the Coast to Coast rules for each stage of the race.

• If athletes are lacking specific safety gear they may not be allowed to complete the training session.

Out on the river in the 2009 training camp

- Between every two athletes one driver will be required to transport cars, kayaks and bikes to different parts of the course. This is vital for the smooth running of the camp.

Exponential Performance Coaching reserves the right to cancel activities on the training camp, postpone or cancel the training camp if there is a safety issue such as adverse weather conditions, high river follows or athlete inexperience.

If you have any questions let me know
Matty Graham
exponential.performance@gmail.com

Last weeks athlete profile

Mathew Snowden, 21 years old

Mat Spent 3 years in Auckland when he was young but was pretty much born and bred in Taranaki.

He attended NPBHS where he competed in various codes of sport -Soccer, Volleyball, Adventure Racing, Athletics and Cross Country. He gained Tiger Jackets (colours) in all of those areas and made the honors board in Athletics and Volleyball.

The love of the outdoors got him in to endurance racing with the coast to coast the initial attraction.Mat has the Lake to lighthouse, Coast to Coast two day and Goldrush lined up this season and is looking in good shape to place well in these events.

Matt flying through the C2C mt run, 2009

Results thus far
2005
- NPBHS 1st in Arrow 6 Hour Adventure Race Auckland
- NPBHS, NPGHS Winners of the Sir Edmond Hillary ChallengeFive Day Event
- NPBHS, NPGHS 26th in the ARC 12 Hour

2009
- 4th in the Lactic turkey off road half marathon, Auckland
- 2nd in Team Round the Mountain Cycle Challenge
- 7th Rangatiki River Race
- 11th Two Day Individual Coast to Coast
- 7th Mountain to Mountain

'I enjoy EPC because Matty is very knowledgeable about multisport and what is involved to do well. Also the people I have met thus far as made it an enjoyable experience.'

Matt climbing up Snowpark road at the EPC M2M training camp 2009

Springs Challenge

Below are some photos of Hannah Yeats, Charlotte Breeze and their team mate Emma competing at the Springs Challenge last weekend.

Technical bike skill inspiration

Check out the video at the following link for some inspiration to work on your technical biking skills. Its about 5minutes long and is well worth the watch. This guy takes bike control to a whole new level.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=21337502001