Mercury Rising Women Own the Race!

143 ladies showed up to race the Calgary Hypothermic Half Marathon today. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 13th place in the women’s field ALL went to Mercury Rising athletes! Lorraine Churchill blazed her way to 2nd, with a pb time of 1:38, over 35 minutes faster than her previous official half marathon time. 3rd place went to Leanne Sherman, who had a breakthrough race, and a pb time of almost 4 minutes! Hot on Leanne’s tail (8 seconds to be exact) Patty Infusino took 3rd place, pb’ing at 1:42. And rounding out the streak of personal best times for the day, Marija Susnjar battled her way to a pb, finishing in 1:49, taking 13th place.

Congratulations, Ladies! Way to represent!!!!!

*Editor's Note: The results published were based on the 10:00am race wave. Unlike past years, this year an additional 1:00pm race wave was added to the race and those results were posted after this blog was written. Despite an extra 48 women's results being added to the combined list, the girls' overall placement only changed slightly, putting them in 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 21st out of 191 women.

Congratulations Michelle!!

Mercury Rising athlete and coach Michelle Milot (aka Rockstar) has been selected for the Team TBB Elite Development Squad! This means that she will be working with world-class coach Brett Sutton and his team for 2011.

Sara has been coaching Michelle for 4 years and can tell you that there is no one more worthy of this than her. Michelle has the attitude and work ethic of someone who can and will achieve her potential in this sport. As a coach there is no greater reward than seeing someone who was a complete beginner 4 years ago become a competitive athlete and an age group champion through hard work and dedication. Michelle's next goal is to make the leap to the elite side of the sport and we look forward to seeing her succeed!

Go Rockstar!!!

Swim Camp Follow-up

Over the years I have noticed that following a swim camp (or any camp for that matter) athletes are often left with a high level of motivation and generally tend to feel inspired (i hope!) and are ready to make good on what was learned. The trouble lies in the follow up, when we go back to our normal lives and responsibilities and tend to let go of what was learned and go back to our old habits, including poor swim technique.

In the days following the camp, Clint put together a series of video clips for one of his athletes to help keep her on track. I thought everyone could benefit from his work, so here goes:

It all starts with a great clip of Thorpe. You can see where his hand enters the water very clearly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm-vSqlWmgs&feature=fvw

Here's one of Phelps. In this clip Michael is clearly extending well behind his head before he enters HOWEVER he's going so fast that he incorporates a beat of glide before he catches. This gives the illusion that he pushing his arm through the water. If a slower swimmer (say over 1:30 per hundred at a minimum) were to try this technique they would begin to sink before they started their catch. This highlights one of the many reasons we dont recommend taking our cues from Olympic 100m freestylers! We mortals can't possibly emulate them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc&feature=related

Here's Popov
Super slow - very clear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIzBaSiWdRA&feature=related

Here's a guy who is NOT Phelps, Thorpe or any other gold medalist:
Perfect: note how he exits the water at his hip. One of my favorite clips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ieteTZ2rk&feature=related

This is EXCELLENT as well (its Jodie Swallow!) - also from swimsmooth.com - great site!
He even talks about getting rid of the dead spots at the front of the stroke - he's talking about the glide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiNkAMU8syI

Enjoy and keep working!!

You don't want to miss this!

In August 2010, Mercury Rising launched the first in a series of events to raise money for charity. At that event, we heard Laura Dodds tell her amazing story of overcoming the struggles of living with Fetal Alchohol Syndrome through the sport of triathlon. We managed to raise $1200 for the Calgary Fetal Alcohol Network's Empowerment Fund.

Now in 2011, we are aiming much higher, organizing bigger events with bigger goals. From the outset, we wanted our chosen charities to have meaning to us personally. For example, Laura is coached by one of our coaches, Michelle. This time around, we are raising money for Brain Cancer Research alongside one of my childhood friends, Alyson, who was diagnosed with Brain Cancer over a year ago.

Alyson is a woman of great talent and even before her diagnosis she was an inspiring person and leader. She has agreed to put together a presentation for us that i have no doubt will inspire us as athletes and enrich our lives. I am very much looking forward to hearing what she has to share.


On January 16th 2011, we will be holding a charity event at Tri-it Multisport, 2640 Parkdale Blvd NW, Calgary. Our goal is to raise $5000 for Brain Cancer Research. The day begins with Alyson's talk at 9am. We welcome anyone and everyone to join us for the talk which will be open to the public by donation. At 11am we will start the 3h SPINATHON, which will include live music and an inspirational slideshow followed by lunch. Join us for the whole day for $99 (or $89 for Mercury Rising athletes) and ALL of the proceeds will go towards the cause. Alternatively, join us for the whole weekend including the swim camp (go to www.mercuryrisingtriathlon.com/camps for details)! Its going to be an amazing weekend of learning together.

What follows is some further information about Alyson, her talk, and how you can expect to be inspired:


Seminar Bio - Balanced Roles for Smarter Goals
“With awareness of the fuller picture, your outlook becomes reasonable and your actions become practical and in this way, favourable results can be achieved” – his holiness the Dalai Lama
As an elite amateur athlete, there are constants demands on your time. You have limited amount of energy to expend and unlimited commitments demanding your attention. To achieve success in your goal of completing Ironman, it is critical that you have a plan which helps you manage your “athletic” roles in the pool, on the bike and on the road, without ignoring your “life” roles in your work, with your family and with yourself. While training, much of your immediate energy may need to be focused on your sport, however investing all your energy into but one part of your identity can leave a person feeling stressed, overwhelmed, unmotivated and resentful, all of which will only work to limit your performance on the course. In developing your plan for Ironman, it’s important that you consider how you can incorporate time to develop your “life” roles in conjunction to developing yourself as an athlete. It’s time dream about the best you can become, acknowledge all the key roles which make up your unique identity, and articulate smarter goals to balance your life and unleash your potential.

Speaker Bio - Alyson Woloshyn
Alyson Woloshyn is a leader, athlete, writer, consultant, motivational speaker and mentor. Alyson draws on her over 15 years experience developing people and programs, to offer practical and tactical strategies to inspire people to turn their impossible dreams into possible realities. Deeply committed to community engagement, professionally she has chosen to invest her talents working in the public and not for profit sector. As a community leader she has participated in planning major concerts, raised tens of thousands for local charities and assisted in planning major events such as the 2009 Juno Awards in Calgary. She currently works at the University of Calgary as the Director of Client Services and volunteers for the Calgary Stampede and Young Adult Cancer Canada.
In May 2009, Alyson was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma (GBM), an incurable form of brain cancer. Although a severe and serious diagnosis, she has chosen to approach her journey with cancer with strength and optimism and shares her journey through writing to help people understand how to turn devastating tragedy into a life’s greatest opportunity.
In her spare time Alyson is happiest when engaging in an active lifestyle which includes yoga, running, and outdoor activities like skiing and mountain biking. To bring her balance she writes, meditates, cooks and maintains close relationships with friends and family.
Website – alysonwoloshyn.com Book – “Blogs for the Brain” – available at alysonwoloshyn.com

Chosen Charity - Alberta Cancer Foundation (ACF) Brain Cancer Research Grants and Trials
The Mission of ACF is to deliver progress in cancer research, prevention, treatment and care by generating community investment for Alberta's coordinated research strategy and cancer centres throughout the province. Alyson has created a specific campaign “Woloshyn’s Warriors” to support ACF in their research to find new treatments or a cure for brain cancer. Alyson has completed 15 months of treatment which included surgery, radiation and chemo-therapy. Treatment was “successful” however brain cancer can not be cured and recurrence happens in 99% of cases, likely in less than 5 years. Alyson has received the maximum dose of radiation and chemo-therapy a body can manage, consequently when recurrence happens, unless new therapies are created, there will be no options but putting hospice plans in place for Alyson’s care. Confident that new effective treatments are on the horizon, Alyson has chosen to support ACF research efforts to find new ways to treat or cure her disease.
Information about Alberta Cancer Foundation can be found at - http://albertacancer.ca/page.aspx?pid=643
To view “Woloshyn’s Warrior” campaign please visit - http://albertacancer.ca/page.aspx?pid=747&tab=0&frsid=620

We look forward to seeing you there!!

SWIM CAMP SCHEDULE NOW AVAILABLE!

The schedule for the January Jump Start weekend is now available! The weekend basically includes 2 events in one. The swim camp runs on Friday evening and all of Saturday and The Inspiration Series Event #2 is all-day Sunday. The whole weekend costs $350 and a portion of this will go to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Sunday's spin-a-thon is also being run as a separate event and costs $99 with a 10% discount for Mercury Rising athletes. All of the proceeds will go to charity. We hope to see many new and familiar faces, so come and be inspired!

Friday January 14th

5:00pm-6:30pm Tri It Multisport; welcome & shopping

7:30pm-8:30pm SAIT Aquatics Center Pool; warm up session & individual swim video-taping


Saturday January 15th

6:00am – 8:00am SAIT Aquatics Centre Pool; hard swim, stroke feedback

8:30am – 10:30am SAIT Campus Room V-10; breakfast will be provided, video stroke analysis

1:30pm – 3:45pm SAIT Campus Room V-10; more video stroke analysis, injury prevention discussion from our sponsor, Scott Sherman @ Panther Sports Medicine Trico Centre

4:00pm – 6:00pm SAIT Aquatics Centre Pool; stroke feedback and practice


Sunday January 16th

The Inspiration Series Event #2; Tri-it Multisport

9:00am - 10.00am Talk from motivational speaker Alyson Woloshyn; snacks provided

10.30am - 2.00pm 3h30 Mega Bike Session with Michelle Milot; includes live DJ, singers and slide show!

2.00pm - 3.00pm LUNCH and final words

We look forward to seeing you there!

Viva Las Vegas

A great finish to a great year! Watching Tisha cross the finish line at Ironman Canada was one of my own personal highlights this year. To see the smile on her face, and the tears of joy in her eyes...still gives me goosebumps to think about. This girl definitely earned her every one of her finisher's medals this season. Although her season was filled with personal challenges, her commitment to training never waivered, and continued on right up to the Las Vegas Marathon this past weekend. She crossed the line at 4:08, a PB by 30 minutes, and STILL had the energy to take her teenage daughter on a shopping spree! Congratulations, Tisha!!

At last! Here she is.....

Rosalee Sara Lien, our newest team member, was welcomed into the world just before midnight on Saturday, November 27. She took her time coming and arrived safely weighing in at 6 pounds 11 ounces. Mom, Dad and baby were all smiles at the finish line and are all doing great! Congratulations Sara and Clint! We can't wait to meet you, Rosalee!!!