Here's the Sexy phase calendar.

Please RSVP to Joe at jmajka@visa.com so that he can get a head count for food.

Directions from the Pacific Athletic Club: North on hwy 101, take hwy 92 westbound, take the Alameda de Las Pulgas exit, turn right onto Alameda de Las Pulgas, go past the 4th traffic signal (which is Parrott Drive), the next on the left is Columbia drive turn left. 3rd house on the left.

617 Columbia Drive
ph: 650 579-2840

*Take at LEAST Friday afternoon off, but the whole day even better!
*Staff will not be in the office on Friday, so they should be sure all of their questions are answered by 5 pm Thursday!

*We don't like no litter bugs! Be respectful of the land. Don't throw
wrappers on the road during your training, and please clean your campsite before leaving on Sunday.
* Bring 1-2 gallons of water to be used during the event.
* RAIN OR SHINE! We are racing, you may have rain during your Ironman! Please pack accordingly.

* Stay for Sunday's Ironteam Breakfast & cheer on the Wildflower teams at the official Ironteam Run Waterstop, located yards away from breakfast.

From Coach Wayne...

Team,

Tom, Monica and I appreciate seeing each of you on a regular basis. We love to see you excel at the workouts. We love to see you integrate as a team. We love to see you experiencing new things, even if those things are difficult in nature. Most of all, we want you to integrate your experiences thus far into your 1/2 Way To Iron experience. Between now and the 17th, complete the following three tasks.

First task is to construct your race plan. I have attached a
rudimentary race plan model for you to use, as well as a monster example of the details an athlete can go into in a race plan.

Secondly, Tom, Monica and I need you to identify your objective AND
subjective expectations for the 1/2 Way To Iron race. What do we mean by that you ask?

What is your viable swim, bike, and run pace currently, and how does
that apply to the distances put on the table at Lake San Antonio. An
example you say? How about for me, I expect to maintain a 1:40 per 100, which means for roughly 2000 yards of swimming it should take me 33-34 minutes. At 16 miles per hour, it should take me 3 1/2 hours on the bike. At a 10min per mile pace, it should take me 130-140 minutes on the run. Add in two 10 minute transitions, and I am looking at a day of roughly 6 hours and 45 minutes. That is an objective evaluation. The subjective part would be, no stomach ache, no bad maintenance issues, no negative self talk, feel strong on the climbs, etc. Include both the objective and the subjective in your race plan. Do this stuff prior to arrival at Lake San Antonio so you have a post race action plan to address how to maintain, make better, or completely change any aspect of your performance after experiencing the 1/2 distance race.

Last, we need each mentor group to ID at least 4 viable dates
(preferably weeknight) that we can conduct our mentor/coach action plan meetings. It is best not to combine mentor groups as the meeting is best with 6-10 people max. We need to start these meetings the week of 28 March and complete them by the 8th of May if at all possible.

If there are some people in each mentor group that simply can not fit in with their own mentor group(and I mean time wise, not socially for those of you who are smiling right now--), then we will make whatever
accommodations possible to meet with you in smaller groups, or possibly even solo. We need each mentor to bring at least 4 viable dates with them to the 1/2 Way To Iron race so we as your coaches can review them and make the time available to complete this important stage of the program.

So, 1-race plan, 2-objective/subjective expectations, 3-Mentor/Coach
viable meeting dates. Three expectations, besides maintaining balance with the "five" things (eating, sleeping, socializing, working, training) is what we need you to complete. We will miss you this week, but look forward to our time together under the stars at Lake San Antonio in about 10 days.

Your coaches,
Tom, Monica, Wayne

Please bring a dry change of cloths.

Here are the details:

When: Saturday, March 12, 2005...meet at 8:30a ready to ride by 8:45a
Where: 385 Aviation Blvd, Santa Rosa, CA (directions below from the City)
What: Approximately 56 miles around beautiful vineyards

Please note this is an unsupported ride so please plan on having enough foods and fluids for a pleasant 56 mile ride. There are two markets along the way Dry Creek Store and Jimtown Store where you can replenish.

If you plan to join us, please RSVP to me directly. I look forward to riding on Saturday.

Kamal

There is no sign on the edge of tiny Lake Placid proclaiming the approaching village as the home of two Winter Olympic Games. Here, inside the vast, forested Adirondack State Park, there is room for unaffected understatement.

The introduction to the Olympic setting of Lake Placid comes a mile from the village, where looming 243 feet above a bend in the road -- as if wedged in the clouds -- is a ski jump, from which athletes launch themselves for a descent equivalent to soaring off a 26-story building.

Past the ski jump, in the heart of the village on Main Street, is a 400-meter speedskating oval, where competitive skaters in the morning and tottering tourists in the afternoon trace paths in the ice taken by Eric Heiden, winner of five gold medals in the 1980 Olympics.

And another quarter-mile up the road, in a building overlooking this hamlet of 2,800 permanent residents, is the site of what may be the most famous event in American sports. It is called simply the 1980 Rink, and anyone who believes in miracles has heard of it. Nearly a million people annually, some arriving in busloads, make a pilgrimage to the scene of the United States Olympic hockey team's upset of the Soviet Union.

It was 25 years ago on Feb. 13 that Lake Placid was host to the 1980 Winter Games. Much has changed about the Olympics since -- larger and longer, more costly and more controversial -- but in the ensuing quarter-century, no place has embraced the legacy of its Olympic moment like Lake Placid.

In 25 years, it may be the best example of an Olympics that worked, an Olympics that did what it was intended to do. The 1980 Olympics put Lake Placid on the map internationally as a destination resort, brought a boom to the local economy that has yet to ebb, left little debt, bestowed spiritual aid to a flagging Olympic movement and created such good will that Lake Placid is still considered a contender for a future Winter Olympics.

Many Olympic cities, towns and regions are left with empty competition sites that are often torn down. Cost overruns are frequent. Any positive bounce from being the host to the world's best-known athletic event is hard to define or quantify.

In Lake Placid, all of the 1980 Olympic facilities are not only intact, but most have also been upgraded, and since 1980 they have been the site of 15 world championships, 65 World Cup events and 200 national-level events involving 20 sports.

The local economy has benefited as tourism has more than doubled to turn Lake Placid into a four-season resort. Although the number of hotel rooms in Lake Placid has remained static since 1980, the amount of money the hotels have taken in annually has increased by more than $53 million in the last 15 years, according to state tax figures.

The fascination with the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team has lured thousands of youth teams to Lake Placid. On most weekends from early November to late April, 1,200 to 2,500 hockey players and their parents might arrive in Lake Placid.

''Everyone wants to step foot on the rink where the Miracle on Ice took place,'' said Ron Butler, a village resident for 48 years who owns the local Comfort Inn and Howard Johnson restaurant.

At nearby Whiteface Mountain, where the Alpine skiing competitions were held, the timing sheds and scoreboards from the 1980 Olympic races are still near the old finish lines. It is possible to ski the Olympic downhill course or the trail where the American Phil Mahre won his silver medal in the slalom. The cross-country skiing tracks are eight miles outside the village and open to the public, as is the bobsled run, where for a fee a driver will hand you a helmet and whisk you down the track at 50 miles an hour.

''I don't want to call Lake Placid a theme park,'' said Roby Politi, the village's mayor. ''But Lake Placid is kind of a big Olympic theme park. And it's not fake. The people here breathe the Olympic spirit.''

When it comes to elite-level winter sports competitions, Lake Placid is always on the ready to stage another one. Two years ago, inadequate snow conditions made it impossible for an Alaskan resort to put on the national Alpine championships as scheduled. With three weeks' notice, Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid were host to the eight-day championships.

''Whatever the event, if anybody drops out, we're here,'' Politi said. ''This is what we do. The Olympics, the Olympic sports, this is our business.''

All this attention has not been good for every citizen of the village and the surrounding town of North Elba. Increased tourism has brought many second-home buyers, sending real estate prices skyrocketing beyond the means of many local residents. Million-dollar homes are no longer uncommon.

On Lake Placid's historic and picturesque Main Street, there are now national clothing outlets like the Gap and Izod.

''But I don't think anyone wants to go back to the 1970's when anybody around here who could rub two credit cards together left for Florida in the winter,'' Butler said.

While Lake Placid had successfully staged the 1932 Winter Olympics, those Games did not make the village a mecca for winter sports activity afterward. It was known outside the area primarily as a summer resort. Lake Placid officials began bidding for another Winter Olympics in 1954 but did not succeed for 20 years.

Once the 1980 Games were awarded to Lake Placid, one of their stated missions was to prove that a small town could still conduct the Olympics. Lake Placid also aimed to ride the recognition of the Olympics to a new status as a year-round resort.

The Lake Placid Olympics got off to a poor start when labor troubles produced breakdowns in the transportation system. But these woes were corrected in a few days, and by the time United States hockey captain, Mike Eruzione, and his teammates were accepting their gold medals on Feb. 24, 1980, Lake Placid's place as America's feel-good Olympics was well established.

The 1980 Olympics compiled a deficit, but at $10 million it was not insurmountable. Still, a critical step was the state of New York's decision to take responsibility for the debt and control of the competition sites.

''It was controversial to a point,'' said Ron Stafford, whose 37-year term as the region's state senator ended in 2000. ''Some people hated to give up the venues. But statewide, there was an understanding that we had take care of these things or lose the great opportunity the 1980 Olympics had afforded New York.''

To govern the sites, the state created the Olympic Regional Development Authority. It receives more than $7 million annually from the state and $700,000 from North Elba, part of a $27 million budget.

Fifteen years ago, not far from the ski jumps, the authority built the Olympic Training Center, a large complex including dormitory rooms, a cafeteria, gymnasiums, workout rooms and a wing for sports medicine care. It is host to about 8,000 athletes a year, boxers to bobsledders.

They come to train at the scene of a historic Olympic Games, when one little village took in the world and put on all the events.

''The community accepted the Olympics as the purity of sport, and we've been able to keep that alive for 25 years,'' said Ted Blazer, president of the Olympic authority and a longtime resident of the area. ''Maybe that's the message of the 1980 Games, a lesson in not making things too complicated.''

Thursday - convince someone to carpool with me so I don't have to drive my ass down to Lake San Antonio by myself
Friday - pack, get to Lake San Antonio
Saturday - wake up early, eat breakfast, poop in the morning so I don't poop during the race, swim, bike, run (and look good while doing it), take lots of photos. Eat a lot and hang out with the team.
Sunday - swim? eat breakfast, drive home

Here's a better race plan from Mentor Kris which demonstrates why I'm a Web Captain and NOT a mentor...

Another excellent weekend of workouts this weekend!

Congratulations to all who participated on Sunday. It was a tough, hilly adventure, complete with lots of flats, some falls, and a few wrong and missed turns. This was both the longest and the hardest (e.g. hilliest) ride ever for many of you, and quite a step up from the rides in the Base Phase.

If you came off of this ride feeling discouraged (I heard from a few people felt this way at least a little bit), look for the positive & try to find what you can learn from the experience.

Could you have done your nutrition differently?
Could you have paced yourself better for a long, hilly ride?
Could you have been more consistent in your workouts up till now?

Also remember that part of Ironman training is psychological - it doesn't always feel good. Maybe it was just an off day (we all them), but these days also make us mentally tougher.

Regardless of whether you had a good day or a challenging one, you should all be very proud of yourselves!

A few practical comments about this ride and cycle workouts (whether they are coached, captains, or on your own) going forward:

1. Safety - there were a few incidents of people not stopping
(or even really slowing down) to turn right on red lights. You must obey traffic laws because (1) it is the law, and (2) you are representing TNT and all cyclist, and (3) it is for your own safety. Please observe traffic laws.

2. Be self-supporting - There were a number of people who came
to the ride unprepared to ride. When riding (even at a coach-supported ride) you should always have: spare tubes (at least 1), a patch kit, a frame pump and/or CO2 (recommend a frame pump in addition to CO2), ID (drivers license, etc), medical insurance card, fluid replacement (at least two bottles), food, money (cash & credit card). A cell phone in the group you're riding with is also nice (if possible). On colder rides or ones that threaten rain, also carry leg/knee (<65 degrees), arm warmers & a rain jacket.

3. Ride with a buddy, if possible. Even if you're not into the
social thing on rides, it's always safer to have another rider at least within sight, especially in remote areas. This is doubly true for women.

Before as ride begins, seek someone out who is about your pace, and keep an eye on each other.

This week is a recovery week, so take it easy and let your body heal from the accumulated stress of the last three build weeks. We have a short coached swim on Wednesday at 6:30 pm at Fremont High School. The NB Team will be joining us at Gunderson for Sunday's Swim + run workout. Please be on the deck & ready to swim at 8am. We'll head out for a 7-8 mile run after the swim. Be prepared - please bring fluid & calorie replacement!

See y'all on Wednesday!

Lisa

Location: San Antonio
When: Friday March 18 - Sunday March 20
On Friday try and arrive by 5pm.

Schedule
Friday
Iron Team All Team Meeting - 7:30pm

Saturday
Breakfast on your own w/ mentor group
Halfway to Iron Tri(swim/bike/run) Wildflower course
Post meal dinner and presentations - bring warm clothing

Sunday
IronTeam breakfast
IronTeam water stop to support Spring tri teams
Cool down workout
Return home

A few tips and guidelines
No PETS!
Please carpool
Bring a friend
Turn in your forms to Ananda
Bring a camera

Age Range: 25-68
Money raised: $185,000
Team Fundraising Goal: $600,000

"Whoever saves a single life, it is as though he saved the entire world."
- Babylonian Talmud

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they
can go."
-T.S. Eliot

If you drive up Snake Rd./ Sheperds Canyon in Montclair, turn RIGHT at the top on Skyline and Redwood parking lot will be on your left maybe 1/4 mile.

(13 South from 24
Park Blvd. Exit.
LEFT onto Park.
LEFT onto Mountain.
RIGHT at first light onto Snake and follow it straight- it turns into Sheperds canyon.

You will reach the junction (oh too familiar) of Pinehurst, Skyline, Sheperds Canyon and some other road I can't think of off the top of my head)

Turn Right on Skyline and again, parking lot on left hand side.

This will be hilly (have yet to ride the route on a bike, but it is Redwood from Skyline to Castro Valley past Chabot- really beautiful - with a nice relatively flat out and back 12 miles in the middle (an dead end road going into the heart of the EB hills! so pretty minimal traffic)

Let me know if you are in!
Whitney

(end test post)