Hello Gators, One of the decisions from our last quarterly coaches meeting was for our coaching staff to individually contact our members for one-on-one discussions about how last season went and your goals/objectives for 2016. Later today you will receive via e-mail a short questionnaire for you to complete that will help to prepare for this discussion. It will include the name of the coach that will be contacting you sometime this month. We’re hoping that this will help you with your planning for next year, so please take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire. Also… This is the time of year when many athletes take a breather… And that makes sense since a long season just ended for many. It is important to not stop cold turkey as that will only set you up for a tough start in 2016. So we are optimizing the club workouts for this part of the year to focus on the key aspects of October-December training, specifically strength building and technique improvement. The lengths of the workouts, particularly for the bike, will be shorter than they have been over the spring/summer. To offer some incentive to keep working during this timeframe, we are again offering the Gator Fitness Challenge (GFC), which begins this week (each week ends on Sunday). It includes a weekly goal… at least 1 hour, 30 minutes total of swim, bike, run training with at least 20 minutes on each discipline. This year we are also adding a “Plank Challenge” where we are starting at 20 seconds and adding 20 seconds per week culminating with 4 minute and 5 minute planks in the final two weeks. And we have added bonus points for overall totals… Swimming: 10,000 yards, Biking/Spinning: 5 hours, and Running: 50 miles… You will receive this each time you achieve these milestones. And the best thing is that you can accomplish most of these goals by simply attending some of the club workouts. If you have not already committed to GFC III, sign up today!... You can do so by posting a reply to the GFC III Facebook post (as 31 of you have already done), sending me an e-mail, or signing up on the tracking sheet now posted on the Y's lap pool bulletin board. So if you haven’t already done so, commit today!! This week's news topics include...Accomplishments… 50K of Running, Gators Attack Piranha, Triple Dipping, Ironman Take 5, Running to Lake Placid, Running to DC, and Quake Up!!Who’s Next?… Chicago, Bobtoberfest, and Get On Your Game FaceMark Your Calendars… Upcoming club events include the Spring Valley YMCA Game Day 5K, the Philly Food & Wine Festival, the Philadelphia Marathon/Half Marathon, and our End of Year Club Party!! Happy Birthday!: Best wishes to the following Gators celebrating birthdays this weekend!Saturday, October 3: Dominick DayritSunday, October 4: Frank MoffaSaturday, October 10: Ruth Subach Accomplishments: Some season long and individual event accomplishments…Piranha Season Series: Thanks to a significant turnout at Piranha’s Diamondman Challenge Festival and the awesome season accomplishments of Kelly Beauchamp, Ken Beauchamp, and Don Schlichtmann, our club was able to take 3rd place overall in Piranha’s Greater Atlantic Club Challenge… PODIUM FOR EVERYONE!!!... despite having much lower participation level than many of the clubs above and below us. Overall we had the highest average number of points per athlete than any club. Also, some spectacular individual achievements in Piranha’s season long standings…Ken Beauchamp was the #2 overall maleKelly Beauchamp was the #3 overall femaleMichelle Leonard was the #1 finisher in her age groupDon Schlichtmann was the #2 finisher in his age groupTim Pfluger was the #5 finisher in his age groupDon Mack was the #7 finisher in his age groupTrevor Bellino was the #7 finisher in his age groupBill Cooney was the #8 finisher in his age groupMaribeth Baker was the #10 finisher in her age groupByron Solvason was the #11 finisher in his age groupTiff Pfluger was the #12 finisher in her age groupFriday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26:Ragnar Adirondacks (Saratoga Springs, NY to Lake Placid, NY): With very little notice, Ruth Subach said “Sure, I’ll drive to Saratoga Springs, NY and run 18 miles over a 24 hour period” and along with her 11 teammates successfully completed this 200+ mile team relay race. Ruth’s overall distance was the farthest she had ever run in a single event giving her a PERSONAL DISTANCE RECORD!!! Way to go, Ruth!Saturday, September 26:Quakerman Olympic Plus Triathlon (Quakertown, PA):Brian Kozera continues his amazing comeback with a 2nd place relay finish… PODIUM!!!... as he completed the bike and run legs of this event… Awesome, Brian!!Don Mack finished #11 overall and 1st in his age group… PODIUM!!!... Don’s other accomplishments included the following overall finishes… #6 T2, #7 run, top 15% bike and T1, top 30% swim.Chris Reiter finished #19 overall and 2nd in his age group… PODIUM!!!... Chris’ other accomplishments including the following overall finishes… top 10% T1, top 15% swim and bike, top 20% T2, and top 45% run… Great race, Chris!!Patty Trainer overcame a rough start on an unusually rough and turbulent Lake Nockamixon swim to have a great bike and run. For Patty these were PERSONAL DISTANCE RECORDS for triathlon bike and run legs… Way to work through it, Patty!!Triple Dip OWS (Brooklyn, NY): Nabil Radouane completed a very tough current filled 5K swim alongside swim coach legend Terry Laughlin. This was the finale of an amazing swim season for Nabil as he set a GATORS SEASON DISTANCE RECORD for most swim race miles… Great job, Nabil!!Sunday, September 27:Ironman Chattanooga (Chattanooga, TN): After working back from a tough bike spill during his training, Bill Cooney was able to complete this 144.6 mile course (4 extra miles on the bike) becoming a five-time IRONMAN. And in the process Bill set PERSONAL RECORDS for his overall Ironman time (beating his previous best by about 10 minutes) and for his Ironman swim time… Nice work, Bill!!Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3:Ragnar Washington DC (Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC): For a second straight weekend we had a Gator participating in a Ragnar team relay event. Steph Stranick and her team ran through some awful weather and were able to capture a 2nd place finish in their division… PODIUM!!! in this 200+ mile team relay event. Way to go, Steph!!Sunday, October 4:Blues Cruise 50K (Blue Marsh Lake, PA): Tim Pfluger decided that running 26.2 miles was not far enough as he took on his first 50K trail race. Not only did Tim set a PERSONAL DISTANCE RECORD, but he had a very successful race with an 8th place overall finish (out of 291) that included an age group 1st place finish… PODIUM!!! Excellent work, Tim!! Who’s Next?: Best wishes for safe and successful events for the five Gators that are in action this weekend in Pennsylvania and Illinois…Saturday, October 10:Bobtoberfest 4 Mile Run (Philadelphia, PA): Tree FosterSunday, October 11:Chicago Marathon (Chicago, IL): Adrienne FosterSpring Valley YMCA Game Day 5K (Royersford, PA): Eric Afre, Kerri Brannen, and Don Mack Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming events include…Sunday, October 11: CLUB EVENT – Spring-Valley YMCA Game Day 5KFriday, October 16, 6pm-10pm: Gator Night at the Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival (Valley Forge Casino)Saturday, November 7, “The Barn” in Royersford: End of Year Club Party. More details will be coming soon, but if you can attend, please accept Mellissa’s Facebook invite!Sunday, November 22: CLUB EVENT – Philadelphia Marathon and Half MarathonDecember (date TBD): Annual Member Meeting Go Gators! Don M