smart and simple advice from coach julie

Finding the cues that help you do the right thing at the right time during training can take minutes off your time in Ironman racing. Find something that will make you swim, bike or run efficiently when you are so tired that your brain can't process more than one word or phrase at a time, and you will be rewarded. If you have taught your brain to think "run tall" or "cadence" rather than "i'm dying", you will have a real mental advantage over your competitors.

Click here to read a great blog on the topic!

Julie's Blog

Phat Camp

Dear Mercury Rising Athletes,

Due to blondness, mommy-brain and various other factors outside our control, there was some confusion as to the actual dates for the camp in Penticton in July. Having found our marbles, the final dates are as follows:

Saturday July 17th- Saturday July 24th.

Time will be allotted for travel to Penticton on Saturday the 17th and also to travel home on the 24th.

Also, a niggling feeling that the word "ghetto" was perhaps not completely PC, lead us to Wikipedia where we learned that "ghetto" actually refers the places in Europe where the Jews lived before the concentration camps. We have therefore decided to change the official name of the camp to "Phat Camp". That's right yo.

Also, at last year's camp, one of our campers was asked if she was collecting for underprivileged children because of the use of the word "ghetto" on her sweatshirt!! (the fact that she was collecting bottles all week may have been a factor also).

In any case, the camp is now called Phat Camp, get used to it people!

Another fast day for Mercury athletes! Personal bests across the globe!!

Huge congrats to Michelle Milot, taking second place in her age group and 14th overall at Ironman South Africa, with a pb time of 10:28!! Michelle and boyfriend Gary, were meant to arrive in Port Elisabeth on Tuesday, but because of flight cancellations in Europe due to the volcano, they had a 3-day journey, finally arriving Friday!!

In Calgary, Leanne and Megan both ran the Police Half Marathon. Leanne chopped over 20 minutes off her previous best time, from a year ago at the same race!! Megan had a solid race as well, running 2mins faster than last year!

Lorraine challenged herself by running a solo, unsupported half marathon while vacationing in Hawaii. Without aid stations, the support of crowds, or the push from other competitors, she managed to take 15 minutes off her previous pb!

The fast running continued in Saskatchewan, where Tisha ran a personal best time at the Saskatoon Police Half Marathon, and Jenna ran her best 1/2 as well, and narrowly missed a pb due to the course being 1/2 a km too long!!

Meanwhile, down in Texas, Kim ran herself into 3rd in her age group at the Hermann Memorial 70.3 after taking a 2 year hiatus from triathlon while recovering from a bike crash. What a comeback for Kim!

Mercury Rising website is live!

It's here!

The new website for Mercury Rising Triathlon went live just moments ago!

See the new site at www.mercuryrisingtriathlon.com

Thanks to Carlos and everyone who made this happen!

Visit often.

Fast Running in Saskatchewan!

Congrats to Mercury Rising triathletes Nick, Shana and Todd who all posted great times at the Regina Police Half Marathon today.

Nick ran 1h39, a PB by over 5mins! Nick has trained consistently all winter and some tough run sessions recently helped him achieve a big improvement.

Shana also posted a PB of 1h56, and had no problems beating the 2h barrier. After weeks of heavy training on top of completing of her thesis, she ran strong from start to finish!

Speedy Todd posted the team's best time of the day with a 1h33, taking 19th place out of over 450 competitors.

Congrats to all!