Team,

This weekend, Mother Nature smiled on us again. Saturday and Sunday were both beautiful days, great for biking and running. Whether you chose to join in the group workouts for the weekend, or do your own thing, we hope you enjoyed yet another beautiful weekend in the Bay Area.

Each year, at the various Ironman races, I’m always struck by how good we, as IronTeam members, have it. Our athletes are consistently better trained and better prepared than the average Ironman racer. And it’s not just because of the fabulous coaching! ;)

First of all, we train here. We get lots of weekends like this one. Even our “bad” weather, isn’t really that bad. We get a little rain, we get a little wind, and maybe later we’ll get a little heat. Compare that to the athlete who lives in the midwest and can’t ride outside until April. We win.

Second, we train as a team. Sure, many people have training partners, but as a TEAM, each of us has 40 training partners. Feeling down? Having a tough day? A teammate is right there, ready to pick you up and encourage you. Ironman training is a long process, and includes many ups and downs. The Team helps with the rough patches.

Finally, we train with a purpose. It has been said that Ironman training is one of the most selfish things you can do. But we take the inward-looking act, and turn it outwards. We’re inspired, not just by the strength of each other, but by the strength of our honorees. We remember those we have lost. We remember those who have survived. We remember those who are still fighting. We remember that we’re lucky… not just to train with a team of amazing individuals in a fabulous place. But remember how lucky we are just to train at all. Many patients would give anything to be able to ride 50 miles on a bike. Some would give anything to be able to get out of bed.

On behalf of all our honorees, and the millions of patients out there we will never know, we thank you for your commitment to this program. Thank you for recommitting, and thank you for continuing the fight. There is no cure for blood cancers yet. But with your help we can make a difference.

As you know, we will be doing a half-ironman on Saturday.  We will be racing on the Wildflower course.  While this event is run like a race, the goal for the weekend is not necessarily about completion of the race, but providing a long workout opportunity to test your race nutrition and pacing plans.  Because of our EMT support on course, we have a few “hard cutoff” times.  If racers approach those times, we will “shorten the course” to allow them to cross the finish line by the cutoff time.  FYI - we don’t usually have to do this, but we plan for it just in case!

Read Coach Ann’s email again. Read the race plan included and create your own for this weekend. Send them to the coaches - we’d love to read them. If you have any questions please ask us.

Look to this week’s Captain Message for the taper schedule as we prepare for the long course on Saturday.

Be sure to ask Richard about his new career as a valet parking attendant.

Go long, stay strong and taper!

Ann, Chris, Steve and Dan

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 11:34 pm and is filed under IT2009 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.