*Hello Gators,* March has arrived! Longer days, warmer temperatures, and one month closer to race season! But before reaching March, we raced our way out of February like a Gator with an incredible Gatorthon event! It was a great way to symbolically slam the door on the winter and start looking forward to the spring (and no more treadmill running). Have a great weekend! This week's news topics include... - *Accomplishments… *Gatorthon!!! - *Who’s Next?... *Naked But Not Afraid, Newlyweds in Napa, and a Gator Myrtle Debut!!! - *To INFINIT and Beyond!... *Don’t miss the annual ONE DAY, ONCE A YEAR, club Infinit sale… MONDAY MARCH 7!!! - *About A Gator… *Kicking Cancer’s Butt!!! - *Recommended… *Swimming and Gear Tips!!! - *Gator Fitness Challenge Update… *Hopefully you are making good progress on the challenges!!! - *Mark Your Calendars… *Lots of upcoming events including our annual Infinit club discount and some newly announced seminars!!! *Accomplishments**: *What an amazing day we had this past Sunday, February 28! Gatorthon exceeded expectations on all fronts! Thanks to everyone that ran, donated, supported, and was in any other way involved with the event. In particular, thanks to the Y staff, including Danny Friend and Tom Gallagher for their support in the planning and execution. By the numbers… - *$1,382 (and counting):* Donations towards the YMCA’s Annual Campaign… Close to a 40% increase over last year!... *THANKS TO EVERYONE!!* - *2 World Class Event Volunteers: Emma and Maddie Friend* - *100% (9 for 9) completed marathons (blue font indicates 10 or more miles):* - *Team 1: Gregg Heimer and Andy Rosebrook* - *Team 2: Michelle Sipe, Adrienne Foster, Chris Reiter, Jason Brannen, and Heather Irwin* - *Team 3: Frank Moffa, Tina Belles, Mary Donovan, Patty Trainer* - *Team 4: Byron Solvason, Jim Foster, Ellen Friend, Maureen Pinkerton, and Kerri Brannen* - *Team 5: Michelle Leonard, Brent Voynar, and Rob Fletcher* - *Team 6: Jon Wesler, Danny Friend* - *Team 7: Jen Ruiz, Diane Lynch, Steph Stranick, and Logan Washburn* - *Team 8: Don Mack* - *Team 9: Vince Bellino, Tim Pfluger* - *Total Miles: 235.8* (and probably a lot closer to 275 miles if you count all of the extra miles run before and after the “official miles” plus others running on their own such as Melissa Moffa and Kimberlea Heimer) *Who’s Next**?: *This weekend we have coast to coast running and one guy running in a naked event… - *Saturday, March 5:* - *Myrtle Beach Half Marathon (Myrtle Beach, SC): Susan Flavin *participates in her first event as a Gator! - *Sunday, March 6:* - *Naked Bavarian 20 miler (Blue Marsh, PA): Tim Pfluger *will not actually be running naked, but will have to provide some explanation about the naming of the event the next time he attends a club workout! - *Napa Valley Marathon (Calistoga, CA): *Newlyweds *Gregg Heimer* and *Kimberlea Heimer *embark on a honeymoon marathon fresh off of their successful half marathon finishes at Gatorthon! *To INFINIT and Beyond!**: *Monday, March 7 is our once a year, one day nutrition sale on custom blend formulas from our nutrition sponsor, Infinit. Many of us have used Infinit for training and racing and have had positive results. See additional information below from the e-mail that was sent to the club on Saturday, 2/27; contact Michelle Leonard or Inifinit's Emily Elsbrock for additional information... INFINIT Nutrition is proud to sponsor the Spring Valley Y Multisport Gators. To celebrate our partnership, March 7th, all Gators will have access to an exclusive online VIP Sale! As a member, you have the chance to purchase INFINIT custom nutrition, gels and INFINIT branded gear at the biggest discount of the year. Simply log on to our website www.infinitnutrition.us between 12:00 am - 11:59 pm on Monday, March 7th and enter your club discount code SVgators in your Shopping Cart prior to checkout to apply a 40% discount on Custom Formulas, Gels, and INFINIT Gear! We’re excited to be supporting you in the upcoming race season! Your INFINIT Nutrition Team Emily Elsbrock Assistant Sponsorship Manager Formulation Specialist Emily.E@infinitnutrition.us (513) 791-3500 ext. 104 *About A Gator**: *She’s still working on the open water swim, thing, but she’s already beaten cancer, so there’s no doubt that she’ll conquer the swim as well. Learn all about *Susan Ryan* in this edition of “About A Gator”. *Recommended**: *A couple of recent podcasts that you might want to check out… - *“18 Things to NOT Do While Swim Training”* (Endurance Sports On Fire #15): Some great tips… https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endurance-sports-on-fire!/id1073294995?mt=2 - *“Running Gadget Questions with Ray Maker”* (Marathon Training Academy): Ray Maker is the founder of the “DC Rainmaker” website (and podcast) that covers anything and everything you would ever want to know about endurance sports (not just running) electronic gear. This is a great introduction (plus there’s a photo of Ray in case you ever wondered what he looks like)… http://marathontrainingacademy.com/interview-gadget-guru-ray-maker - *“2016 Olympic Hopeful Joe Maloy” *(Triathlon Training #69): The podcast that made Tiff Pfluger a household name that most people cannot pronounce presents this interview with American Olympic triathlon hopeful Joe Maloy, who happens to be from Wildwood, NJ… http://triathletetraining.com/ *Gator Fitness Challenge IV**: *We are in week 9 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:* 3 minutes (increases 20 seconds each week) *Mark Your Calendars**: *Upcoming events include… - *Monday, March 7: *Annual “one day a year” Gators team Infinit nutrition sale… Don’t miss it!!! - *Saturday, March 12: *St. Patty’s Day Bar Crawl… See Melissa’s event invite posted on Facebook for details. - *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! - *Date TBD: 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! *Weekly Workouts**: *Here’s what’s left for the weekend… - *Saturday, March 5, 7:30am-9:30am:* Get in the zone (Zone 4) at this week’s Bike Trainer/Run brick workout led by Don M in Room 2. Do you have any song requests? Send them to gatorstri@gmail.com and you may hear your song during the workout. Go Gators! *Don M*