Good Luck to our Kona Athletes - Club Awards Night - Club Championships
The first priority for this newsletter is to say GOOD LUCK to our super athletes racing at Kona this weekend! Joss Cheli (2242), Richard Dunbabin (590) and Mark Patterson (1259) we're all behind you and looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back from the big island! For those of us at home, they can be tracked in the IM Tracker app, and the race is also going to be streamed live on the Ironman Facebook page.
Awards Nominations
The annual dinner is all about celebrating the successes of the year. Not just the winners of the club champs, but it is a chance to acknowledge those members that have given back to the club, or really excelled as an individual. We are asking for your nominations for the following categories:
Female Athlete of the Year
Male Athlete of the Year
Most Improved Female Athlete of the Year
Most Improved Male Athlete of the Year
Club Member of the Year
The nomination process is really quick and we want your input! Please submit your nominations here by Monday night.
Club Dinner
This year's carnival-themed club dinner promises to be a great night and take place at OXSRAD on Friday 8 November. As a pumpkin turns into a golden carriage, OXSRAD will take you to an adventure into Wonderland to celebrate our club’s community, look back at a variety of racing achievements, share the stories of your journeys and enjoy a night of fun and entertainment. This night only DJ Sax will put his hands on deck to play his best selection of infectious tunes that you won’t resist to dance and sing along.
It is that time of the year when you can forget about heart rate zones and power data for a moment, ditch the lycra for smart attire, leave those energy bars and gels behind to indulge in a wonderful cold and hot buffet with a selection of carnival sweets. Please do not forget to bring along the person that has most likely stood in the rain or sweltering heat for hours waiting for you to cross the line, put up with your training demands or baked a cake or two for Per-Blenheim swims, as your key support is an essential part of our club’s community.
The evening will start with reception drinks at 6.30 pm with dinner at 7.30pm, and promises a carnival extravaganza filled with colours, good food, drinks, speeches and lots of fun. Please note that places are limited so early booking is recommended.
Raffle Prizes
We will be holding a raffle at the dinner in aid of OXSRAD and would appreciate any donations of raffle prizes. If you have something you would like to donate, please email Dana on social@oxfordtri.co.uk.
Vinyassa Yoga
Spaces are still available for the next series of 9 yoga classes running from the 15th of October until 10 December at 7pm - 8:15pm at Oxsrad. The cost to participate to the whole series for our members is only £40. Space in the Studio is limited therefore make sure you secure your place asap by paying the entry fee.
The classes are dynamic, building strength and flexibility while releasing tension from the body. They are open to all abilities: variations will be given for beginners and more advanced students.
These sessions are very popular so secure your place here now to avoid disappointment!
Club Championships
Please remember to submit your results for Club Championships races on the club website. To do this, click on the "Your details" button in the top right hand corner (next to Logout) and you will see a list of previous results with the option to "add result".
Sunday Rides
With the Oxford Half this weekend, we haven't currently got any rides going out. If you feel like riding and are looking for some company, feel free to post in the facebook group and I'm sure there'll be others who would like to come and join you!
Captains' Corner
This week we have a write up and some thoughts from Jon Tindall about Sweat Testing and Hydration after last Tuesday's session. We'd also like to say a big thank you to Jon for all his work into organising the Sweat Testing and Hydration seminar with Precision Hydration.
On Tuesday we had a hugely successful day of sweat testing followed by an excellent hydration seminar in the evening from Precision Hydration.
The sweat testing uses a medical technique normally reserved for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (with affected individuals sweating out large amounts of sodium). It then produces a result for how much sodium (salt) you lose per Litre of sweat. This knowledge then helps you to plan your hydration strategies for a race, to help perform at your best. As it is largely an individual’s genetics that will determine this, the result will not change drastically through your life. The average amongst the thousands of athletes they have tested is 950mg/L.
To highlight how different we all are, here is some of the results we got
Rai – 572mg/L
Rebecca – 696mg/L
Neil – 635mg/L
Dan - 943mg/L
Jonathan – 1293mg/L
Nathan – 1371mg/L
Fiona – 1371mg/L
Now…..this is not a competition on who is the saltiest sweater (although Nathan and Fiona are equally very salty). It does show how a hydration strategy is very individual and should be planned out pre-race.
This is only part of the story though, the second piece of information we need is how much water do we lose, which can be determined by weighing yourself pre/post exercise minus the amount of liquid you consumed. This is very dependent on temperature and intensity so is best done at a similar temperature/intensity to race day. This will give you a guide to how much you need to consume per hour to stay adequately hydrated throughout the race and is recommended for everyone regardless of whether you had the sweat test done or not.
It is possible to have extremely salty sweat but not sweat much per hour or vice versa. The white salt marks all over your trisuit after an event doesn’t automatically mean you will be at the high end, as our results have shown.
There is some really interesting articles, blogs and podcasts on this company and I would definitely recommend reading or listening to one. If you missed out on the opportunity of a sweat test there is a machine at Silverstone.
Thank you to everyone that came along, I hope you all learned something new and had some questions answered. If you have any further questions feel free to contact myself (jonathan.tindall@my.jcu.edu.au) or James (hello@precisionhydration.com).
We would like to make this section as interactive as possible so please send any questions to us about anything triathlon related we would be happy to answer them (or if we can’t answer we will find someone more qualified!) Sarah and Dan captain@oxfordtri.co.uk
This Week’s Programme
Fri 6.45pm Stages Indoor Cycling @ Oxford University Sport - 1 space available
7.00pm Swim Session @ Kidlington -Waiting list
Mon 7.50pm Static Bike @ Oxsrad - Waiting list
8.30pm Swim @ Headington School -Waiting list
Tue 7.00pm Hill Run @ Headington Hill
