Evotri2: Race Day!

Congratulations to our new triathletes, Samm, Maureen, Maddie, and Megan!

I am so proud of all four of these ladies. They had a rough day to race but didn't let it get them down! Every time I saw them they had BIG smiles on their faces, and they absolutely ROCKED the Huntington Sprint Triathlon on Sunday!

Maureen, Samm, and Megan pre-race

As part of my commitment to Team Evotri, I organize training for area high school girls to prepare for a sprint triathlon. This is my third year, and I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to do this with the baby's arrival in February. However, my friends Anne and Danielle were super awesome about letting me work with their cross country girls. We did weekly bricks and also did an open water swim to prepare for the race. The girls worked really hard all summer, and it was so fun to see their progress!

Fast forward to this weekend...some pretty big storms blew through on Saturday, so I was a little worried about how the lake would look. Sure enough, it had some pretty big chop. I knew that the stronger swimmers would be a little slower, but fine. However, this race attracts a great deal of newbies, and I could imagine how nervous they would be when they saw the water.

These four girls were so much fun to work with this summer. Maureen is an accomplished swimmer and runner, and has a great attitude. Her biggest fear during the race? "Fish...I'm afraid of seeing fish!" I told her that the fish would all be scared away from the earlier waves, and not to worry!

Maureen and Samm getting ready!

Samm is also a strong runner, but was very nervous with the swim. She was afraid she'd be "the last blue cap." I promised her that wouldn't be the case, and sure enough, it wasn't! Samm, I swear I saw several blue caps after you. :) Not that it mattered, anyway--I told her she'd catch them all on the run!

Our own little version of the Monona Terrace

Megan was on vacation last week, and wasn't even sure if she was going to race until about the day before. Boy am I glad she did--holy smokes, that girl is fast! She had a fantastic race, and even took 3rd in her age group! Way to go, Megan!

Maureen, Megan, and Samm show off their body marking

And Maddie deserves some major kudos for her efforts! She's not even in HIGH SCHOOL yet! She just has been doing the summer training with the high school girls because she's super motivated and has a lot of talent. She did a fantastic job in the triathlon, too! Nice job, Maddie! I know you'll have lots of great seasons ahead of you.

Maureen, Samm, Maddie and Megan...and some random guy giving a thumbs up.

The girls stood nervously on the beach. Secretly, I was a little nervous for them, too. This was not the calm-as-glass lake they got last year. This was going to be pretty tough.

But luckily, these chicks were FIERCE.

Once they were off, I ran up to volunteer at the aid station. Since I couldn't race due to my shin, Rick, the RD, has a policy that you can take a rain check for up to a year. Pretty awesome, huh? Not only that, but if you volunteer at one of his races, you get a voucher good for any other race he runs! You just can't beat that. So I manned the water station. I figured it would be a great place to help out, but also to see everyone come in! I got to see TriEric, his wife Aimee, and lots of other tri friends. Eric and Aimee both had great days and placed in their age group. Way to kill it, guys! I was pretty bummed to sit this out, but volunteering and cheering was definitely the next best thing to actually racing.

TriEric on his way to a 2nd place AG finish! He also helped out with our Open Water Swim 2 weeks ago. Thanks, Eric!

All four girls were out of the water, and I breathed a sigh of relief! I was a little worried about the chop...it was bad enough that they had to delay the last wave about 15 minutes. Seeing all four girls enter T1 with big smiles was the best!

Ominous black clouds in the sky...check.

While on their bikes, the HEAVENS opened up. It absolutely poured. By this time, I moved to T2 and directed runners exiting transition. Again, I knew it would be a place that needed a volunteer, and selfishly I wanted to see all the girls come in and make sure they were okay! I worried about them a bit out in that rain, but was so happy to see them all come in and take off on the run.

Samm and Maureen leaving T2!

All four girls had solid runs and finished the race strong, with lots of smiles! I am so proud of them. Great job, girls! I am already bouncing around ideas to make this program even bigger and better in Year 4. Just wait to see what I have up my sleeves...I have big plans, I tell you! BIG plans.

I do want to take a moment and direct some good thoughts, vibes, and prayers towards a good tri friend, Laura Jones. I cheered my head off for Laura as she ran into T1 with a big smile on her face. I figured she'd be well on her way to another age group finish. Instead, she was hit by a car while at mile 3 of the bike. She remembers nothing except waking up in the hospital. Her bike was totaled. Here's what she posted on facebook last night:

"Keep the energy flowing in: Fractured: right wrist, c6 vertebra, possibly torn left acl, bike in bits and pieces, concussion, staples in the head, driver sited. I'm going to be ok, just not today. Peace."

Laura, you're a great competitor and friend. I am so grateful that you will be okay, and so sorry you're in such pain right now. I know you'll be back out there soon. Hugs to you. And to everyone else, please, please be careful out there.

FIRST BRICK!

SO proud of these girls! They are on their way to becoming triathletes. Way to go!

They braved the nasty drizzle-ly weather we had this morning and did their very first brick! They were NONE too happy about the fact that I made them wear helmets...they made that abundantly clear. ;) But I told them real triathletes wear helmets and to ROCK the helmet hair look.

We rode about 25 minutes and then ran 13 off the bike. I rode in the street while they stayed on the sidewalk. I tried to push them just a bit at the end and several of them came into our "transition zone" breathing pretty hard, which was great to see! We talked a little bit about proper bike fit--quite a few of them are so scrunched on their bikes so I told them to raise their seats up a bit. Hopefully that will make it easier for them next week! We had all kinds of bikes--mountain bikes, old borrowed ten-speeds, green bikes with wicker baskets on them...you name it! But they did it and did SUCH an awesome job.

Afterward we stretched and played a little "triathlon trivia" where I asked questions about transition, our race distances, Ironman, etc. and gave away some super cool Headsweats Evotri visors. BIG thanks to Headsweats for providing these visors for the girls!

I am so excited to be a member of Evotri and to be able to run this program with the help of my friends, Laura, Anne, and Danielle. Now, I need to get typing here and take advantage of naptime to get out my first newsletter.

GREAT WORK, GIRLS!

First workout with the Evo kids!

Friday was the first spin with the girls for the Evotri Battle of the Schools. We met up at the Ride and Workout for a spin. These girls are mostly runners with a dash of swimmers thrown in, and none of them claim to be cyclists at all. I thought this would be a great way to start them off before our brick on Tuesday morning.

It went really, REALLY well! The studio was PACKED! I was so excited to see such a great turnout and a HUGE thanks to the CC coaches Laura, Danielle, and Anne for encouraging all their girls to be there. I talked with Danielle and Anne's girls afterwards and it sounds like many of them are really interested in the triathlon. It's hard because work, CC workouts, and vacations knock a few kids out who really want to do it, but hopefully I'll still have a good crew of girls this year!

Madison--my rock star freshman who did the tri last year--is moving to California in July so she can't race. :( I'm super bummed. She is such a sweet kid. But she still told the whole team how much fun it was and that they should definitely do the race! She's still going to work out with us until she leaves. A few of the other girls did the race last year and it was clear that swimming and biking were much harder for them...one girl said, "Please, PLEASE help me with the swimming! I thought I was going to die!" She admitted to not training at all for the swim, though. I assured all of them that we'll do some open water swims so that they will be ready to go! And also that if they train, they won't feel like they're going to die. :)

I am SO SO SO excited to lead the girls on their first brick on Tuesday morning! I am going to swim in the wee hours of the morning, grab a bite to eat, and then ride up to meet the girls for a half hour ride and 15 minute runoff. We're going to start nice and slow...I just want to get their feet wet here. Their CC coaches are actually requiring them to swim for cross training once a week, which is great! Now I need to get out the calendar and pick out a few evenings for some open water fun.

This week I'll be writing up my first newsletter for the girls--I'll post it here so you can see what we're doing! Man, I love this stuff. :)

Had my own 2 hour ride this morning--crazy headwinds heading out but a nice tailwind coming back! Needless to say, my power to weight ratio is probably 0 to 1 million right now...which is no good at all. I am still OK, but can definitely tell that hauling around 20 extra pounds is not going to be good for my bike split. Come on, metabolism! Please catch up to my work ethic, okay?!

Followed up my 2 hour ride with 2 hours of splashing, throwing balls, and playing with a watering can in the city pool with Bug, Matt, and Bean. And tonight we are even able to grab dinner, thanks to my parents and their super generous babysitting offer!

All in all, pretty much a perfect start to summer vacation. :)

Battle of the Schools...Year 3!

I was initially a little worried if I would be able to tackle my project of training high school kids for tris this summer. First off, there's the whole baby factor...both of my kids are really still "babies" to me (won't they always be, though?! ha ha). Second off, I need to get myself in 70.3 shape by September...and lose the rest of this baby weight. Initially, I thought I should put this on the back burner for this summer...maybe it was just too much.

But then I remembered how much FUN it is. Work, yes...but insane amount of fun, too--to take these kids who have never done a triathlon before, who aren't sure if they ever could, and then to help them REALLY do it? Well, that's just awesome.

The girls all lined up and ready to go on race morning

So here we are on Year THREE of The Evotri Youth Challenge...aka "Battle of the Schools!"

Since this year I need to be all about efficiency, I contacted the two area high school cross country coaches that I know well to see if I could fit into their team's summer workout schedule somehow. This way, the girls wouldn't see the triathlon as an "extra workout" on top of their already demanding schedules, but an integral part of their training and something that will help them become a stronger runner and stay injury-free. They were really receptive to that, and I think it will help our numbers grow even more! You know, because I can use the line, "Hey, you're already doing this stuff...why not just sign up for the triathlon?"

So I start this Friday! I am super excited. Friday mornings I'm going to spin with one team of girls and then do a short run-off for a brick. Tuesday mornings I'll be meeting with the other team for a brick workout. To keep it simple this year, I'm just going to work with these two groups. I would like to do more and add kids who AREN'T on any kind of team (remember our rock star Erin, from two years ago?) but for this summer, I think I need to keep it simple. Next year, when life settles down a tad, I can work on expanding again.

Brittney and Ashley are both graduating Friday--so excited for them!--but I'm hoping they'll be around to mentor and do some workouts with us. Madison will be back again, and I'm sure her positive attitude will encourage more of her teammates to join!

Brittney, Ashley, and Madison getting ready to ROCK the Huntington Sprint Tri, 2009

On tap for the rest of the summer will be at least 2 open-water swims, a weekly newsletter, a transition practice, weekly bricks, a pre-race pasta dinner, and LOTS of fun. And hey, no morning sickness for me this year! Even better!

So join me in following the third year of summer triathlon adventures for some soon-to-be triathletes!

Summah Summah Summah TY-YIIIIIIME....

Waving to all his fans on the Tour de France...

So much to do, so little time to blog!

Lovin' this summer thing, yo.

Had my 10 Year College Reunion at Miami last weekend. Seriously...how did that happen? We had a blast and generally acted like idiots for 48 hours...which is pretty much how we acted from the ages of 18-22. Or arguably, still act. Which was super awesome.


Bug started his first swim lessons this week, and although he's a bit young to follow really structured directions, we did blow bubbles today. Which is what I call a BIG STEP! And his favorite part of class is to hunt for "buried treasure," which are nickels in the zero-depth area. He's getting braver every time, and I'm so proud of my little fishy!

I've been working with my bro TriEric and his wife Aimee to try to really amp up the involvement in Evotri2: Tomorrow's Triathletes, Today. That's what I'm calling my Battle of the Schools. The weather hasn't been cooperating, as our first brick was thunderstormed out on Friday (BOOOOOOOOOO) but things look great weather-wise for the next week of workouts or so. We just need to keep those thunderstorms at the APPROPRIATE TIME, YOU HEAR ME MOTHER NATURE? Yeah, I said it.

Anyways, to see what is going on there, check out the blog I put together for the kids here. We've got over 30 kids expressing interest, but of course work and summer vacay always gets in the way. If we had 10 kids actually make it all the way to the starting line, I'd be really pumped! I am just excited to have another school on board this year, too. So as soon as I have some pictures to post, I will!

SUPER stoked for WIBA this weekend--old buddies, can't wait to see ya again! And can't wait to meet some new friends, too! I'm sure we'll have about a gazillionbilliontrillion pics to post next week. Giddyup!

EvoTri Battle of the Schools News!

Well, I guess I should rename... It's not "Battle of the Schools," as of now, due to legal headaches I didn't anticipate, it's just going to be school singular. Nonetheless, I've been working on some stuff and am very excited to start putting it into motion this week. I've got a good crew interested and hopefully what I do this year will lay some good foundation down for next year. And I can then get some other schools on board and have the legal mumbo jumbo down!

So basically, my initiative for EvoTri was that I wanted to get kids involved in triathlon. I'm getting a crew together here for the first time on Saturday, and I'm so pumped. I've got a good mix of swimmers, runners, and kids who just want to tri but don't really play for any team right now. I'm working with our girls cross country coach who is a triathlete (and my former swim coach when she was in high school and I was in middle school--how's THAT for nuts?) and she's been awesome. Here's what my summer plan looks like!

Saturdays: Brick workouts! We're going to start with a 30 minute ride and a 15 minute run, and tack on a little each week. Most of the kids are nervous about this. One of the swimmer girls claims she "can't run." I'm excited to see how they progress!

Wednesdays: AM spin/core class! This is going to be fun. It's something that the cross country coach has set up and will be a great cross training workout for the kids. Plus, my core could use some help, too. :)

Open Water Swims: I'm working on at least one and hopefully two of these. This is where the biggest legal headaches are. Hopefully I can get the waivers squared away and get two dates set for this soon. I think all the kids can benefit greatly from this, as we all know how different the open water is from the pool, you know?

Mini-Clinics! I'm working on doing one or two mini clinics on transitions or maybe a little bit of bike maintanence/nutrition. These will probably be after the bricks on Saturdays.

Our Two Races: July 20 Huntington Sprint Triathlon and the August 10 Greater Cleveland Triathlon! These are both sprints that are local and well-run. I know both of the RD's and they are fabulous guys. The kids can do one or both of the races depending on their schedule. They seem really excited about this! It makes me get really excited, too. :) And, I can still fit in my training for Steelhead while I'm getting these kids into triathlon, which totally rocks. Thanks, Coach Emily!

Oh, and you know what else makes me excited? My bike is ready TOMORROW. It kinda feels like Christmas Eve. I got fitted on Monday, but that's a WHOLE 'nuther post!

Anyway, I think this is a good start and I'm very excited about it! Hopefully it will go well this year, these kids will get bitten by the tri bug, and it will grow next year. I'd like for next year to have more schools and also somehow get the families involved of the kids--maybe a sort of "parents vs. kids" along with the "school vs. school!" Although, I tell ya what...ain't no way I want to be swimming or running against some of these guys....yikes! I might be creating monsters, here... ;)

Bring on the summer!

Laying out the plan

So life's been kickin' my butt a bit lately, but I wanted to get a post up to outline what I've been working on for my new team. I've been wanting to do this for a while and actually started implementing it about a month ago. I figured if I made the team, fantabulous--it will greatly help me in putting this together--and if I didn't, I was going to go ahead with my plan anyway the best I could. I am very excited to have the support of my team for this project and hope to make it even better than I originally planned!

Here's what's going through my head. You can hear my actual interview on the website, but I was rambling rambling rambling and so nervous I was shaking and I have a horrible Cleveland accent (think Aflac Duck), so I'd rather just write. :) (TacBoy and The.Bigun also caught me off guard so my rambling and bad accent is also on their latest rockin' podcast! ha ha)

Goal: I want to focus on getting young people (middle and high school age) into triathlons.

Rationale

• it is great for overall fitness
• it complements all other sports and is fantastic cross training
• it gives kids "something to do" that is healthy and NOT illegal or unproductive
• it can bring families together to train and set goals
• triathlon helps you realize how strong you are and what you are capable of--young people, like all of us, can sometimes use a reminder of this in the face of stresses they are dealing with

Plan

• Create a website/blog called "The Tri Zone" geared toward young triathletes. This can be a place to share information, training suggestions, race reports, etc. I'm pretty technologically stupid, so it might just be a blogspot thing for this year.
• Ultimately, I want this to be the foundation for a local club that any community can set up. Sometime in the near future I envision this being a "club in a box" that I can send to anyone interested in setting up their own TriZone locally. It's a relatively easy, local, grassroots-style club that I want to be easy for any parent to administer. Parents have enough going on already, so I don't want people to be intimidated by boatloads of work to get this going. Hopefully, the club can sort of "run itself" if the foundation is strong, and that's what I'd like to work toward.
• Pilot this in my community (Northeastern Ohio) this summer. See what works, and what needs improvement. Tweak it, and spread it to other communities next summer.
• I have picked a few races that we will focus on here: The CVAC Tin Man Sprint Triathlon, the Greater Cleveland Youth Triathlon, and the Huntington Beach Sprint Triathlon.
• Implement a "Battle of the Schools" to get area kids interested in competing in a triathlon, meeting other people, and pushing themselves to be their best while challenging themselves

What I've done so far:

• I am still in the planning stages here, but am getting some great support and help from my friends in my tri club!
• I am starting to contact area Athletic Directors and Principals about setting up some kind of an informal group to try the Battle of the Schools. Another friend on the Board of CTC with me is helping contact some east side schools (Kenston and Chagrin) and I'm going to work on three west side schools (Rocky River, Bay Village, and Fairview).
• I will contact all track and field, cross-country, and swim coaches in all 5 districts to drum up some of the obvious candidates, but I also want to open this to all kids because, as many of you out there know, quite a few people get into triathlon who NEVER did ANY of these sports in high school! (myself included--I never swam on my high school team--only club summer teams)
• The focus of the East Side Battle will be the CVAC Tin Man, the West Side Battle will be the Huntington Sprint, and the Greater Cleveland Youth Triathlon will be the culminating triathlon of the summers for all five schools.
• I'd also like to have some kind of picnic/recognition after the Greater Cleveland Triathlon is done to reward the kids for their hard work and celebrate with their families.
• I'm trying to figure out how to handle a weekly training session on the east side (far, far away from where I live) but know that it will be no problem for me to lead one on the west side.
• I need to also consider the EXTREMELY IMPORTANT logistics of safety and liability, so I plan on getting this in order ASAP.
• I need to consider the eligibility rules of the Ohio High School Athletic Association for any fall athletes who compete in these local races. The last thing I want to do is have a kid be ineligible to compete in a fall sport because they did a "formal" race after such and such date!
• My tri club just "stumbled upon" a local young triathlete who is doing her senior project on area triathlon clubs AND is on the JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM for USAT. Yeah. I plan on talking to her. A LOT.
• My awesome former Coach also has a contact at USAT who is on the committee for Youth in triathlon, so I'm planning on picking her brain a bit, too.

So that's what I've been up to! Oh, and getting ready for this AP test. And trying to train as much as I can. That's pretty much sucking up most of my life at the moment. And, of course, spending as much time as I can with this guy:

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this! I am really excited!