Hello Gators, You have been doing a great job of completing your registration renewals for 2015! Just a reminder for any stragglers that January is member registration renewal month. To renew your membership for another exciting year of fabulous benefits that are part of being a Spring-Valley Multisport Gator, you can either sign up at the Y front desk or on-line. To register on-line, click here then… Click on “Program Search” (center of the page on the right)Search for the keyword “gators”Select “Triathlon Training”Select either “SV Multisport Gators – Family” ($200/yr for two people residing at the same household) or “SV Multisport Gators – Individual” ($125/yr). This week's news topics include... About a Gator... No pain, no problem!!Gatorthon… You’re chance to make a difference (and help the club)… Stay tuned!!!Contributions… Looking for newsletter contributions!!!Who’s In?... Have you committed to a race for this coming season?Lake Placid Volunteers… LAST CALL!!!Recommended… Endurance Sports Expo, coming soon!!Mark Your Calendars… Gatorthon, swim video, yoga workshop, Endurance Sports Expo, and upcoming workouts! Welcome!: We have a new member to the club and two others that have transitioned from Tri Swim class to full tri club membership. Welcome to all! We look forward to meeting you guys at an upcoming event or workout! Heather Irwin (new member)Mike Aliprantis (former Tri Swim class member)Maureen Pinkerton (former Tri Swim class member) About A Gator: This week’s profile is about an athlete who knows how to deal with pain! Meet anesthesiologist and triathlete Jason Brannen! Gatorthon: All of the details about “Gatorthon” are coming next week, but here are a few tidbits of info… Date: Sunday, March 1What’s the purpose? Our first club fundraiser that will help both the local community and the tri club.What else can you tell me? That’s it for now… Watch for details coming next Tuesday, February 3! Contributions: If you have anything that you’d like to submit for a future “Gator News”, please send it to Don Mack. Also, if you have any ideas for future newsletters, they are also welcome. In addition to that we’re looking for input on the videos that we show during the Thursday night bike trainer session. Bring on your contributions and ideas! Who’s In for 2015? The first “Who’s In?” race calendar will be distributed in early February (i.e. next week). If you have not yet had a chance to submit your list of events (anything longer than a 5K… triathlons, duathlons, adventure races, and single sport events), please submit by this Saturday, January 31 to be included in the first edition. Lake Placid Volunteers: Ironman Lake Placid volunteer registration opens on February 1. We’re again going to put in a group request for the same slots as last year… bike handling (i.e. reracking the bikes when the athletes return to T2) and “gear bag handling” (i.e. assisting the athletes with their special needs bags in T2; intent would be to do the early afternoon slot between Noon-4pm so that you can still see the full swim and be finished in time to catch our athletes as they finish the race). So far it appears that we have around 20 volunteers that will be traveling to Lake Placid, NY the weekend of July 24-26 to support the nine Gators that are racing (and the other 2,591 athletes) plus do some training and some partying. If you would like to participate and have not yet indicated so, please send an e-mail to Dean (deanandkim@peoplepc.com) and Michelle (michelle.m.leonard@gsk.com) by no later than tomorrow so that you can be included in our group (note that the volunteer slots we are requesting go quickly and will likely be full soon after volunteer registration opens. Michelle and Dean are also working on accommodations and can fill you in on those details. If you can make it, you’ll love it!! Recommended: The Endurance Sports Expo will once again take place this February (Feb 21 and 22) at the convention center in Oaks, PA. The event includes many vendors offering good discounts as well as a series of seminars on a variety of topics. The exhibitors and seminar lists for this year are not yet posted, but the 2014 lists are still there in case you’d like to take a look. The event website is www.endurancesportsexpo.com. Also, tickets are currently on sale. The price at the door will be $10/day. Or you can go online and get discounted tickets for $4/day (plus $1.09 fee) by using discount code “ese3off” (if that code does not work, use “ese2off” or “ese1off” for a $2 or $1 discount off of the normal $7/day price). Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming Events: Monday, February 2Tri Club Leadership Team Meeting… If you have any input for this meeting or would like to get involved in a tri club leadership position, please let us know.Tri Swim Class Video Analysis… At the end of the evening class (8:30pm-9:30pm) we’ll be videotaping a lap (above and under water) for anyone that would like to participate. Thanks to Nabil for volunteering to use his camera!Weekend of February 21-22: Endurance Sports Expo (Oaks, PA)… http://www.endurancesportsexpo.com/Sunday, February 22, 10am-Noon: Yoga Workshop with Maribeth (YMCA Studio Room)Sunday, March 1: Gatorthon Weekly Workouts: Remaining workouts for this week include... Thursday, 1/29, 7:45pm-9:45pm: Tri Club led by Danny (bike trainers in Room 1; this week’s video will be a Lake Placid Ironman bike course overview)Friday, 1/30 and Sunday, 2/1: We do not have planned group/coached workouts on these dates, but just a reminder that run workouts are now being posted on Training Peaks in the Friday (shorter run with intensity) and Sunday (longer run with a small amount of intensity) slotsSaturday, 1/31, 7:15am-10:30am: Tri Club with Don M7:15am-9:45am: Bike Trainers on the pool deck… Athletes training for shorter distance events (sprint or Olympic) can cut the time9:50am-10:30am (or immediately after the completion of your bike ride): Brick Run (30 minutes) and Stretch (5-10 minutes) Go Gators! Don M