Welcome to tri-buddies!

Hello everyone,

It's a new year and with it starts our triathlon training! Sara, Alex, and I are setting up a low-key, non-professional training club (emphasis on nonprofessional). You are cordially invited (read: pressured, even harassed! =) ) to join us in improving our swimming, biking, and running.

How the club will work:
Starting in February, we'll meet once a week for ~1 hr to receive some 'training' by an invited 'speaker'. Each week a different sport (swimming, biking, running, or weight training) will be highlighted. The goal of these meetings is to receive some instruction and improve our skills at the sports. The speakers will also suggest workouts to do prior to the next meeting.

The goal:
Complete the Triangle Triathlon on Sunday, July 8, 2007. That is a 750 m swim, 15 mi bike, and 5 K run. This distance is totally doable for all of us -- even the slowest of us will likely finish in around 2 hours. Now, if you're not sure you want to commit to the full triathlon training, no worries -- you're still welcome (and encouraged) to come workout with us. Come improve your crawl stroke! Who doesn't want to climb hills better on their bike?! The broader goal is to improve our
skills at these sports and to maintain a good level of fitness, so even if you are unsure about competing in the triathlon itself, please come and participate in some or -- even better -- all of our training.

Prereqs:
We want to encourage all our friends to participate, and we want to emphasize the beginner-ness of this enterprise. We do, however, want us to start from the same fitness level. Here's what we'd like to be able to already do when we start training together in February:

Swim: Be able to swim 10 full laps (back and forth) in 30-45 minutes; it doesn't have to be continuous, you can stop and rest as needed.

Bike: Be able to bike 10 mi outside (think American Tobacco Trail down and back) or for 15 minutes continuously on a machine.

Run: Be able to run continuously for 5 minutes.

So start training! If you need help getting started talk to one of us, or visit www.beginnertriathlete.com. They have lots of Couch-to-Sport training plans and lots of inspiration.

We'll be in touch closer to February. And please forward and recruit any interested friends!

Best wishes!
--Erica