6am – Group Ride from Elwood Lifesaving Club every day (apart from Christmas Day)
6pm – Group open water swim from Elwood Lifesaving Club (if you didn’t swim in the AM) also apart from Christmas Day

The aim of Hell Week is to provide athletes with a serious spike in their training, running in December from the Saturday before Christmas up until New Years Eve, with the exception of Christmas Day (or go ahead and do Christmas day if you’re feeling exceptionally hell-ish!).

The trick is to do a little bit each day where possible. We understand with the festive season upon us, and many people within the club will be travelling, visiting family and friends or might be working through the holidays, so fitting in training where you can is key to ensure you’re ready to attack the new year.

Some athletes prefer to take time off during this period to dedicate themselves to training (this isn’t necessary though!), others fit in their ride, run and swim in the mornings or evenings as per usual, or mix a bit of AM or PM to knock over each leg. However you choose to attack Hell Week is completely up to you.

NOTE: We urge our athletes to speak to a coach about your plans. Now is a great time to let your coaches know if you have any niggles, let them know how you’re feeling, and what your goals for Hell Week are. The more transparency between athlete and coach, the better during this high loading period.

Open water swimming can be daunting, even for a seasoned competitor, but as we hit Hell Week (and the weather starts to warm up for summer), you know it’s time to get out in the bay and practise your open water swimming.  Check out our tips to help you gain the confidence you need in the open water.

It is important to make yourself aware of road cycling rules, safety and ethics – particularly if you are going to be riding in packs.

“Cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as other road users. Whatever vehicle you drive, the golden rule is to treat other road users with respect and courtesy. All road users should drive or ride safely and obey the traffic rules at all times. Click here to view Bicycle Network’s overview of road rules.

When cycling with Tri-Alliance organised group rides, it is paramount that you observe our cycling rules. This includes signalling by voice and by hand, and also extends to ensure you are riding two abreast in an orderly fashion (no half-wheeling or sitting too far off) unless you are in a single file.

Hit the link to learn some tips to improve your safety on the road:

Keep yourself and others safe on the roads, by knowing these common bike signalling gestures. These can be accompanied by verbal commands. Reminder: when riding in a peloton, the lead cyclist(s) is in command and should signal first, with consecutive riders passing this signal down the line.

In preparing for Hell Week (or for any of our upcoming cycling sessions), you'll read that we will be enforcing a No Jersey, No Ride policy on organised group rides. Put simply, this means if you plan to roll out on a group ride departing Elwood on any day during Hell Week, the expectation is that you are wearing a Tri-Alliance jersey. 

Safety is priority.  And to keep our group safe, we need to keep you together.  This is much more easily achieved when we are all wearing the same kit.  It's simple to spot who doesn't belong, when they don't match...us!  

So, head to the TriShop ASAP and get your jersey organised now!

We are sure you can appreciate that getting any new apparel this year has been impossible due to COVID-related factors.  Factories shutting down, limited flights and unpredictable lead times on freight, created a logistical nightmare.  But, don’t despair, we do still have some stock.
And we're discounting the 2019 Hell Week jersey if you need some extra kit.
Arrive without one at your peril, as you’ll end up riding alone. 

We've created a central place for all things Hell Week.  It's a place to keep up to date with what's going on, who's doing what, when to meet, what to do.  A place to post if you have a question, need advice or need help on the day.  There a plenty of people in there already, so you'll always have someone to train with, someone to chat to and someone to offer support.  We also want to use this space to collect lots of pics from the week and for everyone to share their experiences.  So what are you waiting for?