Hello Gators, As we continue to recover from too much shoveling, let’s think of happier times ahead. We have determined our likely list of club events for this year with the highlight being our “destination event” in Lake George, NY over Labor Day Weekend. This will be an awesome time with Gators participating both individually and in team relays in the Olympic and Half Ironman distance events. If you have not yet replied to the January 22 e-mail with the subject “Tri Club: Lake George Triathlon Festival… You in?” but would like to join us for the fun, please reply back by this weekend so that we can assemble our teams, determine our lodging options, and plan for lots more fun! It’s going to be a great time with guaranteed sun and at least 70.3 degrees (and miles)! Here’s our full club event schedule. If you are still planning your season, you’ll be guaranteed to find a lot of Gators at the following events… . Sunday, February 28: Gatorthon (Spring Valley YMCA, Limerick, PA) . Sunday, April 10: Love Run Half Marathon (Philadelphia, PA) . Sunday, May 1: Devilman Triathlon/Duathlon (Cumberland County, NJ) . Sunday, May 22: French Creek Triathlon (Elverson, PA) . Sunday, June 5: Independence Triathlon (Lake Nockamixon, Quakertown, PA) . Sunday, June 12: Ironman 70.3 Eagleman (Cambridge, MD)j . Sunday, August 14: Steelman Triathlon (Lake Nockamixon, Quakertown, PA) . Saturday, September 3-Sunday, September 4: Lake George Triathlon Festival (Lake George, NY) . Saturday, September 10: Diamondman Challenge Festival (Bear, DE) . Sunday, November 20: Philadelphia Marathon/Half Marathon This week's news topics include... . Membership Renewal… Keep your member benefits in tact by renewing by Monday, February 8!!! . Gatorthon… Coming to a treadmill near you on Sunday, 2/28!!! . Are You in Love?... If not, what are you waiting for??? . Gator Fitness Challenge Update… Hopefully you are making good progress on the challenges!!! . Periodization Information: Are we in Base, Build, or some other period? And by the way, what do “Base” and “Build” mean??? . Recommended: Expand your knowledge on all things triathlon and endurance sports related!!! . Mark Your Calendars… Coming in February!!! Happy Birthday! Best wishes to the following Gators who recently celebrated birthdays! . Tuesday, January, 19: Rebecca Bonawitz . Friday, January 22: Ellen Friend . Monday, January 25: Jeff Spillane Membership Renewal: Reminder that ALL members must renew by the no later than Monday, February 8 to maintain continuous member benefits through 2016. The fees are the same as 2015… $125/individual or $200/couple (same household). You can renew at the Y’s front desk or online under “Aquatics”… https://philaymca.org/locations/spring-valley/<https://philaymca.org/locations/spring-valley/> Gatorthon: Based on the success of Gatorthon last March, we are again going to host this club event/fundraiser on the morning or Sunday, February 28 on the treadmills at the Spring Valley YMCA. And we already have a huge number of runners based on the Facebook replies. If you have not yet replied and are interested in participating, please let us know! Basically you can run any length from a mile to 26.2 miles with teams each completing a treadmill marathon. This is also a major fundraiser for us so watch for an announcement soon about how to make contributions. Last year we had 17 runners and raised $1,000… This year we are expecting to exceed both totals (and have a lot of fun)! Are You in Love?: If you have not already registered for the upcoming Love Run in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 10, what are you waiting for? We are closing in on 20 runners, which will enable us to accomplish a grand achievement… The use of our own port-a-potty at the event. So join the fun by registering as part of our team today! Note that you can also register as part of a relay team (each team counts as 1 towards our goal). Contact Michelle Leonard for more details… Michelle.M.Leonard@gsk.com<mailto:Michelle.M.Leonard@gsk.com>. Gator Fitness Challenge IV: We are in week 4 of our latest Gator Fitness Challenge (week 5 starts on Monday, 2/1). The GFC motto is “it’s never too late to start”, so if you have not yet signed up and would like to do so, please contact Don Mack. This week’s Gator Fitness Challenges: . SBR Challenge: At least 30 minutes each swimming, biking, and running with a combined minimum total of at least 2 hours. . Plank Challenge: 1 minute, 20 seconds (increases 20 seconds each week) Periodization Information: Much of the underlying philosophy behind our workout planning has to do with “Periodization”, which means that throughout our training cycle we are progressing through a series of “periods” leading up to and following our most significant events. Of course attempting to build this into our workouts is next to impossible as we are all training for different types of events on different dates. But if you do not have a personal coach, you will find that the preparation you get from the club workouts leading up to major events from May through September works pretty well with the ideal timing being a June event. In fact, I mostly used the club workouts for my Ironman Lake Placid swim and cycling training and felt that I was very well prepared. The periods through which we progress include Prep, Base, Build, Peak, Race, and Recovery… . Prep for us takes place in the latter part of the year prior to going into Base… It’s the period where you are preparing yourself ready to train for the coming season. . Base is about a three month period at the start of the year that is broken down into Base 1, Base 2, and Base 3, with each being approximately four weeks in duration. We are currently in the early part of Base 2. The main difference you will see in our workouts is a slight increase in duration and the introduction of some “Zone 3” intervals. For example, this week’s Saturday cycling session was 1:45 versus 1:30 during Base 1. And it included several Zone 3 intervals where we were mostly sticking with strength building and Zone 2 intervals in Base 1. Base will continue until sometime in March when we will transition to the roughly 2 month Build period. . Build will include a focus on more race-specific fitness and you will see this introduced into the workouts. By the end of Build, you will typically be about 2-3 weeks from a significant event. Build will include some of the longest sessions that we conduct. . Peak follows Build for 1-2 weeks where you will notice a focus on race specificity and more rest. . Race Prep follows Peak and takes place during race week. This time will be used to rest/taper and prepare to race. . Transition follows a race and can range in duration from a week to a couple of months depending on what is next on your schedule. The focus is on physical and mental recovery. More races means a shorter (but not non-existent) transition period. For more details, check out the information from Joe Friel, the leading authority on periodization, at the following links… . Periodization white paper<http://www.wentwood50.co.uk/downloads/training_periodization.pdf> (3 pages) . K.I.S.S. Periodization<http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2010/04/kiss-periodization.html> . Another Block Periodization Study<http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2013/04/another-block-periodization-study.html> Also, much of our cycling and run training is done based on heart rate zones. If you do not already have one, a great investment is a heart rate monitor. Most of the major multisport watches have them, but you can also get an inexpensive one for as little as $30. Once you have a heart rate monitor, the next step is to determine your zones. The best way to do this is to complete a lactate threshold heart rate test, which takes a maximum of 30 minutes (of vigorous exercise). One of your club benefits is that we will instruct you on how to complete a cycling and run test and, once completed, we can provide your custom heart rate zones. You are encouraged to take advantage of this benefit. And contact anyone on our coaching staff for more details about periodization and/or heart rate zones. Recommended: If you are looking for something other than music to listen to during your workouts or in the car, there have been some great podcasts posted recently along with a good article… . Endurance Planet<http://www.enduranceplanet.com/>: Multiple podcasts covering health, nutrition, and training tips. . Effortless Swimming<http://effortlessswimming.com/>: Interview with Pennsylvania pro triathlete and nutritionist Kim Schwabenbauer, the importance of getting enough sleep, gaining the mental edge, and how to swim faster in open water. . Triathlete Training<http://triathletetraining.com/>: Besides Tiff’s interview… “Don’t make the mistakes I made… Career triathlon lessons”. . DC Rainmaker<http://www.dcrainmaker.com/podcast>: Great weekly podcast from the leading endurance sports gear review website covering all of the gear we use for training and racing. . 27 Apps Every Runner Should Know About<http://www.runnersworld.com/electronics/27-apps-every-runner-should-know-about>: An article covering the pluses and minuses of a slew of running apps. Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming events include… . Saturday, February 20-Sunday, February 21: The Endurance Sports Expo will take place at the Oaks convention center. We are also considering having a group dinner and seeing the Jesse Owens 1936 Olympics movie “Race” that Saturday evening. . Saturday, February 27, 7am-8am: Reintroduction of the “Intro to Triathlon” program at the Y. This is a seven week program ($25) that includes a basic introduction to triathlon with two weeks each spent on swimming, cycling, and running with the final week being a mini-triathlon. If you would like to participate in the class or you have any family or friends that might like to do so, please contact Danny Friend for more details. This is a great entry point into both the sport of triathlon as well as our club! . Sunday, February 28, 8am: Gatorthon II will take place on the treadmills at the Spring Valley YMCA. Go Gators! Don M