*Hello Gators,* Quoting the great Lumiere, the talking candlestick (for the most part)… “It is with deepest pride, and greatest pleasure what we welcome you to our events! And we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair as the conference room proudly presents… your seminar, your clinic, your race, your social! Be our guest! Be our guest!” We have many, many events planned for the coming months including seminars, clinics, races, and our favorite, socials! In the next six weeks alone we have seven club events ranging from next week’s “Bikability” bike safety and maintenance clinic being delivered by club coach and member, Brian Kozera, to the “day before Mother’s Day” (Saturday, May 7) Million Dollar Bike Ride which raises money for rare disease research (our club is riding for “Team CDKL5 Riding for a Cure” to benefit research for a cure for the CDKL5 genetic disorder that affects Avery Kozera). Learn how you can “be our guest” at these events in the “Mark Your Calendars” section of this week’s edition of “Gator News” This week's news topics include... - *Accomplishments… *Lady Gators running rampant across America!!! - *About A Gator… *Outnumbered but holding his own!!! - *Emergency Contact Info… *If there’s something weird and it don’t look good, who we gonna call??? - *Recommended… *What’s a Fartlek and who’re Joe Friel and Barry Siff??? - *Gator Fitness Challenge Update… *One week to the finish!!! - *Mark Your Calendars… *Lots of upcoming events including three seminars, our next three club races, plus a special ride!!! *Happy Birthday**! *Best wishes to Steph Babiec who celebrates her birthday on Easter Sunday, March 27! *Welcome to the Club**!* A warm welcome to our newest Gator, *Rudram Das*, who recently joined the club! Rudram, we look forward to meeting you at an upcoming workout (or event)! *Accomplishments**: *Recent Gator accomplishments in Delaware, New Jersey, and New Mexico… - *Saturday, March 19:* - *Shamrock Shuffle 15K (Rehobeth Beach, DE): Maureen Pinkerton* had another fantastic finish completing this event as the #3 overall female finisher… *PODIUM!!*... and also finishing in the top third overall (and first in her age group). Great job, Maureen! - *Sunday, March 20:* - *Ocean Drive Marathon (Cape May County, NJ): Jen Ruiz *made her marathon debut in awful conditions with significant headwinds, particularly in the final portion of this point to point course. Despite all of that, Jen successfully *COMPLETED HER FIRST MARATHON* and had an amazing 6th place age group finish as well as finishing as the #18 overall female and in the top third overall. Jen is already contemplating the location of her next “non-windy” marathon. Congrats, Jen! - *Bataan Death March Marathon (White Sands Missile Range, NM): Michelle Sipe *successfully completed a marathon in her 31st state on her journey to 50 at this event that commemorates the World War II Bataan Death March in which 75,000 American and Filipino troops were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps following the US surrender of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to the Japanese in 1942. Awesome job and excellent race selection, Michelle!! - *Saturday, March 26;* - *Bunny Palooza 10K (Bethany Beach, DE): Maureen Pinkerton* hopped into another race and made it back to back weeks of running events. And this time *Lew* joined her for his first ever 10K finish. Editor’s Note: Rumor has it that Lew was vehemently opposed to participating in something called “Bunny Palooza” for his first 10K but when he heard about the great after party and beer garden he relented. *About A Gator**: *This time we cover an athlete that has been an avid cyclist who decided to take on triathlon with a total of about a half hour of swim training. Since then he’s run marathons and is currently training for another marathon in Europe as well as his first 70.3 north of the border. Learn all about *Jim Foster* in this edition of “About A Gator”. *Recommended**: *A few recent podcasts worth checking out… - *State of Triathlon:* If you want to learn about what’s going on in the world of triathlon, there were a couple of recent *interviews with USAT (USA Triathlon) President, Barry Siff*… - *Endurance Hour #155: * http://www.endurancehour.com/2016/03/endurance-hour-155-usa-triathlon-president-barry-siff-timex-team-camp/ - *Endurance Sports on Fire #32: *http://esofire.com/barry-siff/ - *Running Terminology You Should Know* (Marathon Training Academy)… http://marathontrainingacademy.com/running-terminology - *Joe Friel Interview *(Endurance Sports On Fire #48): Much of the philosophy behind our tri club training is based on concepts from Joe Friel. This is a good interview that give you some of Joe’s background and insights into triathlon training… http://esofire.com/joe-friel/ *Gator Fitness Challenge IV**: *We are heading into the final week of our latest Gator Fitness Challenge. 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: 1. *SBR Challenge:* At least 30 minutes each swimming, biking, and running with a combined minimum total of at least 2 hours. 2. *Plank Challenge:* 5 minutes! *Mark Your Calendars**: *Upcoming events include… - *Wednesday, March 30, 7pm-8:15pm, YMCA Corporate Conference Room: Bikability Clinic… *Bike maintenance and safety clinic conducted by Brian Kozera. - *April Seminars:* - *Tuesday, April 12, 7pm-7:45pm: Nutrition for Triathletes *conducted by club sponsor, Bodymetrix. More details coming soon! - *Wednesday, April 20, 7pm: Running Clinic *conducted by our club sponsor, Chester County Running Store. Topics covered will include… Considerations when selecting a shoe for training and racing, proper shoe fit, injury prevention, training and recovery. Stay tuned for more details coming soon! - *April Club Events:* - *Sunday, April 10: Love Run half marathon… *19 Gators are running… It’s not too late to join (and we have our own port-a-potty!)… http://www.cgiracing.com/theloverun - *Saturday, April 23: Schuylkill River Trail 50K Relay… *We have two full 6 runner teams in this 31 mile relay running event that includes an out and back between Phoenixville and the Conshohocken Brewery (you guys know where that is!). Each runner will complete a 5-6 mile leg. If there is additional interest, we can still field additional teams or just come out to cheer us on, drink some Sly Fox “SRT Ale”, and enjoy some food trucks and music at the finish line festival. For more info… http://www.schuylkillriverrelay.com/ - *May Club Events:* - *Sunday May 1: Devilman Triathlon (Cumerland County, NJ)… *14 Gators are participating in our annual kickoff triathlon that includes sprint and “half-lite” options as well as duathlons… It’s not too late to join… http://www.piranha-sports.com/Race344.aspx - *Saturday, May 7: Million Dollar Ride (Philadelphia, PA)... *Registration fee is $25 if you plan to fundraise and $60 if you do not fundraise. The $60 fee is only good until April 1… After that it increases to $80… Here’s a link to more info and the registration site (note that as of now some club members are doing the Medium/33 mi ride and others are doing the Long/73 mile ride; the fee is independent of distance and you can change your distance after registration)… http://www.milliondollarbikeride.org/mdbr-2015/ Happy Easter and Go Gators! *Don M*