10/15   Thu   ET Masters. LTF Schaumburg. 6:00pm. Info/Register.
10/17   Sat    ET Run Club. Herrick Lake. 8:00am.
 
10/19   Mon   Tri 101 Seminar with Coach Joe.  12:00-1:00pm.

                      Central Park Athletic Club, Lisle. Info/Register.
10/20   Tue    ET Masters. Central Park, Lisle. 6:30pm. Info/Register.
10/20   Tue    ET Masters. LTF Schaumburg. 6:30pm.
10/22   Thu    ET Masters. LTF Schaumburg. 6:00pm.
10/24   Sat     ET Run Club. Herrick Lake. 8:00am.
 
10/27   Tue    ET Masters. Central Park, Lisle. 6:30pm.
10/27   Tue    ET Masters. LTF Schaumburg. 6:30pm.
10/29   Thu    ET Masters. LTF Schaumburg. 6:00pm.
10/31   Sat    ET Run Club. Herrick Lake. 8:00am.

 

 
I met Coach Joe through another trainer about seven months ago.  At that time, I had just completed a couple of months of circuit training, had reached losing 15 pounds through a weight loss program provided through work and felt it was time for another challenge.  I felt the next logical thing to do was to run.  Running had always been my biggest challenge.  I never really liked running or tried to incorporate it into my workout routine.  I was always an elliptical or stationary bike type of person.  I remembered trying to join a running club a few summers ago.  However, I always felt like I was never progressing or had the time required to become a strong runner.  Things changed when I met Coach Joe last February.  When I met him I was upfront and told him I had three days a week, at most, to dedicate to running or working out in general.  I knew being a single mom, working in the hectic IT field, in downtown Chicago, with a son preparing to go off to college would leave me with just a few hours a week to dedicate to my work out routine.

Click here to read the rest of Gloria's story.

Monday, Sept. 28th at 5am I started my swim across the English Channel.  Wearing a Speedo, goggles, 2 jars of Vaseline, and a smile, I dove into the 62-degree salt waters and swam to Shakespeare Beach just south of Dover Harbor.  Shakespeare Beach is where most EC swim attempts start, but you have to be taken there by your support boat.  Mine was carrying the Captain, Andy, an assistant crew member, Gary, an Observer, Steve, my wife Jennifer, my mother Mary, father Don, and ET coach Craig.  Swimming up to the beach from the boat was the scariest part!  It was pitch black outside and even on the sunniest of days, you can't see your hands in the waters of the EC.  I put a flashing bike light on my goggle strap and on the back of my Speedo so the boat could see me and not run me over.  It took me about 15 minutes to swim to shore.  Once there I raised my hands above my head and the boat sounded the start horn.  I dove back in, feeling much colder this time as I had been standing in the 55 degree air for a few minutes, and started a swim that I thought would take somewhere around 12 to 14 hours.  The tide was still coming in, so I felt like I was moving my arms but not going anywhere.
 
I must have been about 500 yards off the coast when I kicked a fish.  This was very startling because it felt like I kicked a human in the stomach, so I knew it was a big fish.  This made me pick up the pace a little.  The first few hours after this were pretty uneventful.  It was dark and I just kept putting one arm in front of the other.  I lost one of my flashing lights about an hour in and my boat pilot, Andy, made me stop to put a new one on.  I think I was pissed about this for about an hour and this was all I thought about, since I had had that light for well over 10 years.  This is the kind of craziness you fixate on when you have this type of sensory deprivation.  You can't see ANYTHING, you hear only the water rushing past your ears, you can't smell, and your brain starts systematically shutting down your body because of the cold.  It is one of the craziest experiences.

 

Click here to read the rest of Todd's story.

The Chicago Marathon was the end of a great season of racing both in running and triathlon.  It was an ambitious season to get in a lot of different types and distances of racing.  I'm sure I presented as a good challenge for Coach Joe to schedule all the training that I needed to accomplish all that I wanted to do.  As usual, I think he did a good job of getting me as well prepared as I could be.  The first half of the season saw me training for my "A" race of the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman and the second half was dedicated to my second "A" race, the Chicago Marathon.  All the while I kept sprinkling in smaller run races and triathlons - 4 other run races and 4 other triathlons.  I can tell you it can be done if you have the support of family, friends and coaches - I had that.  I will also admit, it can also prove challenging to excel at any one race and thus one must accept that finishing in any event is a huge victory in itself!  This was something I learned about the Chicago Marathon.

Click here to read the rest of Jeff's article.

On September 20, athletes from Experience Triathlon, led by Coach Craig Strong, hosted the first ever open water swimming race held at Diamond Lake in southwestern Michigan.  Events included a 2.5K, 5K and 10K.  Over 25 swimmers competed in the event.  The field included one 10K swimmer who had just completed the English Channel swim in August, another 10K swimmer about to do the Channel, and many first time ever open water competitors.
 
Craig and I looked at each other after the event was successfully completed, and asked, "How did we do that?"  It all started with an age-group triathlete needing swim coaching (me), an exceptional coach (Craig), and a determined Channel-Swimmer-In-Training (Todd P) who needed more open water for his long swims.
 
Click here to read more about the Diamond Lake event.

 
ET Masters is a weekly swimming program designed for triathlon and fitness swimmers.  USA certified coaches will provide structured workouts and stroke improvement instruction at each one-hour group session.  Current session focus will be on off season base training including stroke refinement and building endurance for next year's race season.

 

Swimmers can join any week.  Click here for days, locations, cost and registration.  For additional information contact Coach Joe.

Swim Slow in the Off Season

 

Take Your Swim to the Next Level, Article 4

The Triathlon racing season is over.  As Coach Joe mentioned in the last newsletter, this is the time of the year when many athletes tend to take a significant amount of time off from training.  Coach Joe wants to discourage this hiatus and instead advocates maintaining a steady lifestyle of daily fitness.  Since your training levels are not as high as they were during the racing season, this affords an excellent opportunity to make time for technical improvements, especially in the swim.  Now is the time to get to that Masters Class or weekend swim clinic!
 
With this in mind, here is a review of a few key points from my recent articles on developing sound swim technique.  As you work through these, I recommend incorporating only one of these points into your swimming session at a time, progressing to the next only when you feel that you have a good command of the first.  Progressing in this way will allow for the full benefit of the progression.
 
Click here to read the rest of Coach Craig's article.