Hello Gators,It's been a great week for training starting with last Sunday's perfect weather... Hopefully you've had an opportunity to take advantage of it!This week's topics include...Accomplishments... The Poconos, the Delaware beach, Marshman, and another athlete racing in North Carolina!Who's Next?... Get smart, Rock N Roll, heroes, and the Little Red Lighthouse!About A Gator... Learn all about our club VP (who also has a big race this weekend)!Gator Fitness Challenge... We're up to 15 participants... Will you be next? You only have 11 days to decide!Weekend Training Opportunity... Another alternative for Saturday (plus tonight is another chance to dust off the trainer)! Please reply back if you plan to participate in either Saturday option so that we can get a headcount.Facebook Update... Now you can get the race schedule, sign up for the Gator Fitness Challenge, and see past editions of "About a Gator" anytime you want!TRIvia: Find out who had the right answer last week and a new question for this week!Accomplishments: A great mix of accomplishments this past weekend as we had athletes participating in nine different races!Dewey Beach Sprint Triathlon (Dewey Beach, DE): JD Landis, just one week after his first 70.3 distance race, was very happy with his performance declaring this was his best race ever. JD finished #7 in his age group (out of 47) and in the top 20% overall. JD also finished in the top half of every part of the race... Top 20% overall swim and bike, top 40% overall in the run and T1, and top 50% in T2... Way to go, JD!Rev3 Pocono Triathlon (Pocono Mountains, PA):Tim Pfluger not only completed his first 70.3 distance race, but destroyed it with an amazing 5hr, 2 min finish, good enough for a top 20% finish overall (41 out of 223) and a top 10 finish in his age group. Even more incredible was Tim's run time of 1:26:12 (half marathon), which appears to be the 7th fastest run split in the race. Awesome debut, Tim!Andy Rosebrook also had an outstanding race as he participated in the Olympic distance event. Andy finished 4th in his age group, just missing the podium by 19 seconds. Andy was also in the top 20% overall staying within the top four in his age group throughout the race. Great job, Andy!Outer Banks Triathlon (Manteo, NC): Despite having to deal with a 25MPH wind, Bob Lanyon was able to turn in a great performance with a 4th place finish in his age group and a top 50% finish overall. Bob's other accomplishments included a top 15% overall bike, top 30% overall T1, and top 40% overall swim. Fantastic race, Bob!Marshman (Downingtown, PA): The Beauchamp family turned in yet another great performance, this time including Nick in the action; while most families might be at home watching some TV, I think the Beauchamps are out in the driveway practicing transitions...Ken Beauchamp finished 1st in his age group... PODIUM!... and 14th overall (out of 308). Ken's various accomplishments included... #5 T1 time, #6 bike, #19 T2, top 10% run, and top 40% swim. Excellent work, Ken!Kelly Beauchamp finished 1st in her age group... PODIUM!... and top 20% overall. Kelly also was #12 T1, top 15% T2, top 20% bike, top 30% swim, and top 33% run. Nice job, Kelly!Nick Beauchamp finished #6 in his age group and #28 overall. Nick's other accomplishments included... #13 overall T1, top 10% overall bike and run, top 25% T2, and top 30% swim. Way to keep up with Mom and Dad, Nick!Who's Next?: We have at least ten athletes participating in four events this weekend (let us know if you are racing and not listed below). Best wishes for fun, safe, and successful races to all!...Saturday, September 20:Little Red Lighthouse Swim (New York, NY): Nabil Radouane informed me that they've trimmed the distance for this race, which was scheduled to be 10 miles. Now it's a mere 7.5 miles... swimming... and swimming... and swimming... To put it in perspective, that's the same as doing 264 laps in the Y indoor pool... Yikes!Sunday, September 21:IRONMAN Princeton 70.3 Triathlon (Princeton, NJ): Brent Voynar makes his 70.3 distance debut in this new IRONMAN event. Dean Milligan will also be participating.Bethany Beach First Responders Sprint Triathlon (Bethany Beach, DE): Mike Connelly will be participating in this "extended sprint" distance event (1K swim, 18.5 mi bike, 7K run). Masters swimmer, Dave Marine, will also be participating.Rock N Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (Philadelphia, PA): Ellen Friend, Adrienne Foster (and Jim), Dave Gale and Jamey Humphry begin our transition into the long distance running season with their participation in this massive event with music and large crowds as the runners travel in and around Center City.About A Gator: As he completed his final preparations for IRONMAN Princeton 70.3, our club VP, Brent Voynar, spent a few minutes sharing his story in this week's edition. Gator Fitness Challenge: We continue to add names to our list of club participants that are interested in signing up for our first "Gator Fitness Challenge" that was announced in the "Training Opportunities" e-mail earlier this week. This is an entirely voluntary activity in which you commit to completing at least one swim, bike, and run workout for a minimum of 15 minutes each week (total workout time must be one hour or more) from the week of September 29 through the week of December 29 (14 weeks). You can sign up by updating the spreadsheet that has been posted to Facebook, adding your name to the sheet that is posted at the Y on the bulletin board, or replying back and I'll add you. We have 15 signed up so far... Are you up for the challenge?Facebook Update: As some of you might have noticed, several documents are now posted to our Facebook Group. This includes the "Who's In?" race schedule, the "Gator Fitness Challenge" sign up sheet, and past editions of "About A Gator". If you are not already in the group, you might want to consider joining even if you are not a "Facebook person" (like I used to be before I discovered that it's a good way to keep in touch with our club members). Here's a link to the group... https://www.facebook.com/svmultisport?ref=bookmarks. Contact me if you need additional information. Weekend Training Opportunities: We are still planning an outdoor bike ride for this Saturday's workout, but we're going to offer two options; I plan to do option #2. Please reply if you plan to participate in either option so that we can get a headcount...Option 1: The same as was communicated earlier in the week... 8am-10am SRT ride starting and ending at the usual location, trail parking lot in Oaks off of Egypt Rd./New Mill Rd. Note that I will not be there to lead this ride.Option 2: Those of you that attended our Lake Placid experience sharing meeting may recall that IRONMAN Lake Placid finisher and club member Bill Cooney mentioned that his next major "event" was his annual 200 mile bike ride to celebrate his birthday. Well, this Saturday is the date for Bill's ride and he's open to any Gators that would like to participate in a portion of the ride. The plan is to meet Bill at the Oaks Pawlings Rd. SRT parking lot around 9:30am to join Bill for a 50-60 mile portion of the ride (Bill is starting at 5:30am, but will swing by Pawlings to meet anyone that would like to join). The route will include Valley Forge and the French Creek Iron Tour course; this includes a good amount of climbing, but the average speed will be very moderate... approx. 15-16 MPH average, so the ride will take 3-4 hours total.REMINDER about tonight - Just a reminder that we also have our Thursday night "bike trainers on the pool deck" session tonight between 8pm-9:30pm. I hope to see some of you there!TRIvia: If you'd like to compete for the title of "TRIvia Champion", please send your answer to the following question within 24 hours of receiving this e-mail...To what triathlon discipline does the term "EVF" apply and what does it stand for? Congrats to Bob Lanyon for supplying the only set of correct answers to last week's TRIvia questions! Bob has now answered both week's questions successfully and jumps into 1st place. Here are the answers...QUESTION 1: How many Spring Valley YMCA indoor lap pool lengths is it necessary to swim in order to cover the official Olympic distance swim leg (answer must be within two of the correct total)?ANSWER 1: The official Olympic swim distance is 1.5km, which equates to 1,640 yards. The Y indoor lap pool is 25 yards long, so the exact answer is 65.6 lengths, but unless you get hoisted out of the middle of the pool, you'd have to finish the lap and 66 lengths (or 33 laps) is the correct answer (and answers between 64-68 would have been graded as correct. As a reference, other common distances in terms of Y laps...1/4 mile: about 18 lengths/9 laps1/2 mile: about 35 lengths/17.5 laps1 mile: about 70 lengths/35 laps1.2 miles (half IRONMAN distance): about 84 lengths/42 laps2.4 miles (full IRONMAN distance): about 169 lengths/84.5 lapsQUESTION 2: Who are the current male and female IRONMAN 70.3 World Champions?ANSWER 2: The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships were held just recently on September 7 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. The winners were Spain's Javier Gomez and Daniela Ryf of the Czech Republic. Next year's 70.3 championship takes place in Austria. The 2014 IRONMAN World Championship (full distance) will take place on October 11 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Hold the Dates: There are several significant tri club-related events coming up over the next couple of months, so here's an early head's up so that you can mark your calendars...Monday, September 29: Start of the "Gator Fitness Challenge"Sunday, October 12, 9am: Spring Valley YMCA "Fall 5" 5K Run/Walk and Kids' Fun Run (Spring-Ford High School cross country course). Registration fees increas in mid-September. Race link... http://runccrs.com/results/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Spring-Valley-YMCA-5k-Flyer.pdfTuesday, October 14, 7pm-8:30pm: Spring Valley Multisport Gators Members Meeting. Opportunity to get caught up on all of the exciting stuff that we have in the works for the club. Will include an overview of how to create a training plan.Saturday, November 15: SVMG End of Year Extravaganza at the Trappe Tavern. More details coming soon!Thursday, January 1: 2nd Annual RefrigaGator OWS... More coming later on this for any brave/nutty souls that are interested!Have a great rest of the week! Go Gators!Don M