My Evotri Summer "Project!"

It's kind of like "Project Runway."

Except it's not.  No, not at all.  Unless, of course, you are under the delusion that spandex is fashionable.  In that case, I'll let you continue to live in your little dreamworld.

I keep trying to come up with a catchy name for us, but all I can think about because I'm ridiculous is the M.I.L.FF.s, which would stand for "Mom's I'd Like to Follow Fast" but that *could* be misconstrued into something that's not what I call "school appropriate."

So for now, I'll just call them my new training buddies.

I wanted to do something this summer that would still fit the mission of Team Evotri but also fit into my chaotic life a little more.  I do still LOVE working with the high school girls, but the tough part about that is that 8am is early for them.  They really aren't into starting any earlier than that.  So I thought, what about trying to find some people like me?  Super busy moms who have to get stuff done, like, when the sun comes up, or it doesn't happen because they are chasing children around like crazy persons and don't stop until bedtime?

So that's what I decided to do!

I sent out some emails to local Early Childhood PTAs and got a few people interested in joining me to train for this Sunday's sprint triathlon.  It's a local, newbie-friendly race that I just love to do.  So over the past 6 weeks or so, I've been sending out weekly emails, training tips, and arranging some workouts for everyone that hopefully hit everyone's strengths and weaknesses equally and had something for everyone.  It's been so fun, and I'm so proud of all these girls!  They have come so far in such a short time, and I can just hear how excited they are for this Sunday's race.

I think I may have infected them with the tri-bug!  SCORE!

This morning was our last organized workout before the race, so I hoped to make it extra fun.  We met up at the Lake for an open-water swim and they all did a great job!  The lake was like glass this morning and we beat the storms that were headed our way.

Try not to be too jealous that this is pretty much in my backyard...this morning's swim, calm lake, sunrise

My awesome sponsors sent some FABULOUS schwag and I had enough to make some goody bags for all the girls.  They each got a seat cover, race belt, and some temporary tattoos compliments of Quintana Roo, some GU and CycleOps stickers, some shampoo/conditioner/Hoo Ha Ride Glide samples from Reflect Sports (who is not a team sponsor, but was just generous and cool like that--thanks, RS!), a Team Evotri visor compliments of Headsweats, and then courtesy of Stu I had some extra awesome prizes to give out to reward their hard work:  A helmet, some road glasses, some Yankz, some socket rocket goggles, AND a CycleOps t-shirt!  So the girls all headed home with a bag full of goodies and something pretty big, too!

Me, being ridiculous, as I explained how to do transitions

So here's to a great race for all these awesome chicks.  Cheers to:

Laura B: Mom of two girls and head XC coach where we teach, who is in NC now, but will be kicking butt and taking names when she gets back as she rides the MS150 Pedal to the Point. Laura's been working hard so that she can kill at the Rev3 Aquabike at Cedar Point!

Laura C:  Mom of two who did her first tri 20+ years ago when she lived in Florida and for that I called her the "O.G." of triathlons, to which she asked, "Old Girl?" and I had to explain how no, O.G. is a term of endearment I and many west-coast rappers like to use for ORIGINAL GANGSTA.  She is a smokin' fast runner (Boston-qualifier!) and I know she'll have a great race!

Ana: My partner in crime who I love talking into things, and who is a seriously fierce athlete (former collegiate soccer player)!  Ana has three adorable kids and I have a feeling she's going to have a solid debut in triathlon and I'd better watch out, because I could just be creating a monster with her like I did back in the day with my girl DaisyDuc!  This will be her first triathlon ever.

Tracy:  Mom of 2 (including one who is just 6 months old!) who has long been an Iron-Fan to her super awesome, MULTI-Ironman finisher hubby, Jeff, and is making due on her wedding promise to Jeff that if he took dance lessons with her for their first dance, then she'd do a triathlon. :)  She definitely wins the "most improved" award on her swimming!  Tracy went from having some slight panic issues on her first open water to swimming like a pro this morning!  So excited to see her race in her very first tri.

Christina:  Mom of 3 who is a seriously talented swimmer and already caught a bit of the tri-bug last year at Portage Lakes and at a tri near a family vacation in Wisconsin.  I see lots of tris in her future, and she is so upbeat and positive!  Her husband is racing, too, so this will be a true family affair for her.  Great work, Christina!

Tiffani:  who I have been playing some SERIOUS phone/email tag with and finally got to meet in person this morning!  Tiffani clearly a talented athlete and a great cyclist and runner who is a little worried about the swim, but she worked through those demons today in the open water and hopefully that will boost her confidence at the start line Sunday.  She's a mom to an 18 month old boy and her husband is also doing the race on Sunday!  Yahoo for racing families!  This will be her first triathlon ever!

I hope to expand this even more next year, as I had a few more girls that were interested but had a rough time making the workouts.  I tried to really tell everyone that, no, really I understand that completely, and that this is about joining the triathlon family and living the lifestyle and fitting it into OUR lives together.  And I do believe we've all done that pretty darn well.

Please leave some comment love for these super cool ladies and maybe a tip for their first tri! I'll pass it along.  And I'll be sure to be back next week with a race report for me AND for them!

Happy Training!