December 2009

Team
Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 8
December 2009
2009 Was a Great Year of Racing for Team FeXY®
By Dave Tipler
Between multiple titles in Set-Up
Events Virginia Triathlon Series
(VTS), overall race wins and podium appearances, 2009 was a
great racing year for Team FeXY
members.
In the VTS, we captured 6 series
awards:
Kevin Baldwin 3rd MU15
Karolina Orton 1st W25-29
Ken DelRaso 3rd M25-29
Dave Orton 1st M30-34
Henry Tragle 2nd M30-34
Scott Baldwin 2nd Masters
Dave, Henry and Scott’s scores
placed them Top 10 OA and Karolina placed 7th overall woman.
For Overall race wins, we had
the following:
David Orton
Danny Brienza
Erica Nemmers
David Cascio
Dan O’Connell
Mike Sevier
Katie Davison
Jason Goyanko
Scott Bailey
Keith Saylor
Michelle Prendergast
Brad Wedemeyer
Summarizing the race results
reported, there were 14 Team
members that earned a spot on
the podium at least 4 times for
their age group. These are:
Danny Brienza (16), David Cascio
(11) Erica Nemmers (10),Scott
Baldwin (10), Dan O’Connell (8),
Dave Orton (7), Henry Tragle
(7), Michelle Prendergast (7),
Katie Davison (5), Brad Wedemeyer (5), Karolina Orton (4),
Kristin Wedemeyer (4), Ally
Hamilton (4) and Kevin Baldwin
(4).
We would like to recognize all
these people for there achievements. In addition to all those
that earned PRs and other notable results.
Team Events Update
By Shawn Clark
Greetings Team! I hope you are
all enjoying some well deserved
rest after a fantastic inaugural
season. I want to express my
gratitude to all the members that
joined this year making us such a
great team, both through racing,
training and volunteering. I couldn’t have anticipated this kind of
growth in our first year and I am
excited to support the continuation of this growth. There are
several things in the works for
both the upcoming season and
the off season, e.g. strength training workshop, Yoga workshop,
end of year party and more.
The End of Year Party is actually a
bit of a misnomer, (we know), but
we felt there are so many family
and work activities going on during this time of year that mid to
late January would actually be
better. Details are forthcoming so
watch your mail! You should
receive an invitation as soon as
we finalize a few details. We
anticipate there will be a per
person fee to cover location and
food, this is above and beyond
the amount allocated by the
Team budget. We really hope you
can make it out to help us celebrate our successful first season!
Since we are an athletic Team we
can’t focus only on celebration,
(although it’s more fun), we are
also working to get more workshops during the off season to
help us focus on limiters, core
strength and flexibility. We began
with David Glover and Krista
Schultz’s strength training workshop in early December and are
now working out January, February, and March workshops and
seminars. They should be coming
up soon! Be sure to watch the
team forum and the calendar for
these and other exciting team
training options. If you have something you really want to see addressed please start a forum
thread asking for it – we can only
guarantee we will look into it!
Don’t forget that every month we
host a new member happy hour at
Carpool in Herndon (details on
the website). The purpose of
these happy hours is to reconnect
in a social setting with your teammates, get to know new members
of the team, and to introduce the
team to prospective members.
The November happy hour saw
almost 35 people and I hope this
will only continue to grow! Mark
it down on your calendars –Third
Wednesday of each month!
Again thanks to each and every
one of you for making Team
FeXY become what it is today. I
have nothing but high hopes for
the future of the team and the
personal successes of each and
every one of YOU!
Inside this issue:
Message from the President and BOD Updates
2
Membership Updates
2
Training for Ironman:
Lessons I've Learned
Along the Way
3
How I Posted a 2:04
Marathon in Philly
3
Member Spotlight David Kay
4
Shamrock Marathon/Half
Marathon Weekend
4
Team Sponsors
5
Upcoming Events
January 11- Monthly BoD
meeting (Med Breeze)
January 16 - Yoga Clinic
January 23, 5-7 pm - Team
Winter Party
January 28 - Gear Orders Due
January 30 or 31 - Swim Clinic
February 8 - Monthly BoD
meeting (Med Breeze)
February 14 - George Washington's B-day Marathon
(Greenbelt, MD)
February 17 - Monthly Happy
Hour (Carpool, Herndon)
February 20 - Ironman Panel
Discussion
February 22-28 SoCal Training
Camp
Always check the Team website
www.TeamFeXY.com for additions, changes and all of the details for the events.
Volume 1, Issue 8
Page 2
Message from the President and BOD Updates
By Scott Baldwin
At the October meeting we
voted in the new members to
the Board; Rob Barlow as Treasurer, Michelle Prendergast as
Membership Director and Dave
Tipler as Member at Large –
Communications. Returning to
the BoD are myself as President,
Reid Kiser as Vice President,
Craig Ellis as Secretary, Shawn
Clark as Member at Large –
Events/Socials and Mike Copeland as Member at Large – Special Projects. This is a highly
motivated group that some days
I have trouble keeping up with.
I look forward to seeing what
they are capable of in the coming
years leading this Team.
I’d like to give a big thanks to the
outgoing Board members, Dave
Orton, Ally Hamilton and Danny
Brienza. They’ve all had a big
part in the huge growth of the
Team’s first year. Danny will
continue as the LA Area group
leader and as a consultant on
gear and sponsors for the Team.
The November meeting introduced our Team Coach, David
Glover of EnduranceWorks.
David brings many year of racing
and coaching experience to the
Team. Look for upcoming announcements on training plans,
clinics and workout schedules.
The last major Team event for
2009 was Philly Marathon and Half
Marathon. We had 12 members
race between the two events with
8 PRs being set. David Kay finished off his spree of marathons in
2009 with Rehoboth and Philly
back to back. He finished both in a
total time of just under 8 hours, 24
hours apart. November we also
had two more Iron Rookies test
themselves. Both Dave Orton at
Ironman Florida and Will Kuper at
Ironman Arizona showed what
FeXY really is. Each of them had
great debut Ironman races! Karolina Orton and Samantha Ellis had
great races at Richmond marathon,
each meeting the qualifying standards for the Boston Marathon.
Can we say the season is done yet?
What a great ending to the year it
was…
In the month of December, the
Board has continues to be busy
with planning for 2010. We are
working to secure our sponsors
for next season as well as deter-
2009 Team Growth
mine budget, Team race and
event schedule, and gear offerings to name a few things we are
working on. We will keep everyone posted as we finalize each
of these.
62
66
53 55 55
40
43
32
The event committee is busy
planning the year end party (in
January). I look forward to
seeing everyone there to spend
some time away from training
and racing and to reflect on the
past year and get excited about
the coming season. Thanks to
Michelle, Shawn and their Team
for heading this up!
It’s been a great year as far as
Team growth. We started with
8 members at the beginning of
2009 and we are at 66 members
with several applications under
review. We’ve all made huge
progress towards our goals on
the race course. We’ve given
back to the sport through volunteering. We’ve established
great relationships with our
product partners. Where will
2010 take us? I look forward to
finding out.
25 27
17
10
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
Novemeber
Decemeber
It’s been a few months since the
last edition of our Newsletter.
Although we’ve been quiet, the
months of October, November,
and December have been extremely busy for the BoD and
the Team.
Some Team Statistics:
“When the going gets
tough, trying going
harder and faster!”
Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year!
See you out there!
Membership Updates
By Michelle Prendergast
The shorter and colder days of
fall didn’t keep Team FeXY from
growing the last few months.
Hopefully the cold weather and
dreams of summer will bring
more people who share the
FeXY mission on board! There
are currently 66 members of
Team FeXY.
We would like to welcome
David Cascio, Bradley and Kristin Wedemeyer, Meg Gray, Ernie
Castro and Andrew Marquardt
to the Team in November. Our
new Team Coach, David Glover,
is now also a member of Team
FeXY, currently residing in Towson MD after many years as a
Reston resident.
David and Meg are from Reston,
Brad and Kristin are from
Ashburn, and Ernie hails from
Oak Hill, Virginia. Andrew is
currently living in Arlington,
Virginia. These new members
bring a wealth of endurance
sports experience to the Team multiple Ironman, 70.3, and
marathon finishes. Brad and
Kristin are training for IM Arizona in 2010 and Meg is signed
up for Ironman Louisville.
So far, December has also been
a busy month for new Team
FeXY memberships. Ken DelRaso from McLean, Johan Duba
from Herndon, Devin Carr from
Reston, and Todd Katz from
Oak Hill have also joined the
team this month. Ken is signed
up for Ironman Lake Placid in
2010 and Johan will bring years
of Xterra off-road triathlon experience to the Team. Todd and
Devin add some variety with
Crossfit and running backgrounds.
Dave Cascio, one of the latest
additions to the Team, hammering down the Queen Ka’ahumanu
Highway during the Ironman
World Championships, Hawaii
2008
Welcome to the Team
everyone. We can’t
wait to start training
together!
Volume 1, Issue 8
Page 3
Training for Ironman: Lessons I've Learned Along the Way
By David Glover
As an Ironman-distance coach and athlete, I’m
asked this question all the time: “How do I train
for the distance?” I'd like to share a few of the
lessons learned after having worked with dozens
of full distance athletes.
Quick background on me
I began running and strength training in high
school for fitness and continued with both
through college and into the Navy. I never swam
competitively and I rode on a too large road bike
in high school for fun. I had several friends in
college and in the Navy who were triathletes but
I was too intimidated by the sport to try it
then. After being treated for cancer in 1995, I
bought an inexpensive road bike and entered my
first sprint-distance a few months later as a way
to prove to myself that I had beaten the cancer. I
was instantly hooked, but an Ironman-distance
event still seemed impossible at the time.
Lesson Learned #1: You need to put in the
time.
There’s no way around it. If you want to do well
in a long distance event, you have to do the long
distances in training. At the time, I was newly
married and working full-time, but I made time to
commit the necessary 1-3 hours each day during
the week and longer blocks of time on weekends. If you don’t like to do the 4+ hour bike
rides, then Ironman-distance training and racing
may not be for you. That being said, it is not
necessary to ride a 100-mile ride every weekend,
which leads me to Lesson Learned #2.
Lesson Learned #2: Seek out expert knowledge.
Training for an Ironman is a significant investment
in time and energy. Following a structured training plan reduces the anxiety of: “What am I supposed to be doing and when?" Leveraging a credible knowledge source - in my case, both my friend
and our training plan - gave me the confidence to
know that we were doing the right thing. My
friend also taught me about such things as bonking,
making sure to carry multiple water bottles for
long rides to avoid unnecessary stops and pacing
over longer distances. At the very least, buy a
book or a training plan.
Lesson Learned #3: You don’t need a
$5,000 bike.
I competed my first two Ironman races on my
$600 Cannondale road bike with cheap clip-on
aerobars and regular wheels while wearing separate bike and run outfits, which didn't
match. This relates to Lesson #1, as you still
must put in the training time. As I would also
experience in future races, comfort is just as
important as aerodynamics for longer events.
Lesson Learned #4: Find compatible training partners.
This one is significant. I did not appreciate how
much of a difference having a good training partner made until I began training for my second full
distance event as my neighbor was finished racing
for the year. The long rides and run were lonely
and my motivation sagged, resulting in a time
more 30 minutes slower than my first race.
As the saying goes, learn from the mistakes of
others. Good luck with your training and I hope
to see you at the starting line this year!
How I Posted a 2:04 Marathon in Philadelphia
By Eric Barrett
As most of you probably heard I
posted a 2:04 at the Philly marathon at the recent FeXY team
event. I’d like to share with the
Team my race experience and
how I accomplished this time.
There are several ingredients to
the recipe of posting an Olympic
qualifying time. Things like training, fueling, and race plan were
all part of it at Philly. However,
the main factor I attribute
to this time was a big mistake in the Cronotrack
system. Yeah, that’s right,
the tracking system needs
some work in Philly, and as
nice as it sounds the Olympics will have wait. While it
may not be as exciting as
the title of this article
sounds, I’d like to share with
you my experience at my
first Team FeXY event.
First off for those of you who
don’t know me I joined FeXY
about 6 or 7 months ago after
several beers with Reid talking
about our shared running goal of
qualifying for Boston. At this
point I’m a runner who’s attempting to transition into a
triathlete, but I haven’t achieved
all of my goals as a runner which
mainly consists at this point of a
Boston Qualifying time. I’ve
made a few attempts at it but
they have all ended poorly with
injury or dehydration and leaving
me not even close to what I
know is achievable for me. To
give you an idea of how my attempts have gone, for me to
qualify for Boston I need to run a
3:15:59, and the closest I have
come is a 3:47. You are probably saying to yourself, “what the
hell is he thinking? That’s not
even close.” The Marathon has
become a bit of a curse for me
after tearing my calf at mile 12
last year at the Marine Corp, and
suffering from dehydration after
the National earlier this year
(that was the 3:47 race).
Through those bad experiences
it’s hard not to have some self
doubt, but I know I’m capable of
better. This time I decided to try
something different in my training
which is why I joined the team.
My training for the Philly Marathon
started when I first joined the Team
track workouts. I found adding
these quality workouts to my week
drastically improved my endurance
and speed. The other main
advantage that I found was that
running with some people
faster than myself really
pushed me harder than I
would have on my own. For
those of you who don’t do
these but want to improve
overall conditioning, I highly
recommend these workouts.
Most of the long runs I had to
do by myself or with Matt
Tavares, another new FeXY member, and I consistently followed the
plans that Scott had posted for us.
To see how Eric’s marathon in Philadelphia really ended and what his
plans are for 2010, see his full article
on the Team Website at
Eric Barrett’s Article
Volume 1, Issue 8
Page 4
Member Spotlight
By David Kay
I started running in late September 2006, on a
dare from my personal trainer. The combination of selling the company that I co-founded
in 1997 and desire for new fitness challenges
led me to running. Prior to 2006, I had spent
most waking hours doing one of three things:
building my $4
billion commercial
real estate company, spending
time with my wife
and two children,
or working out
with my very
intense personal
trainer. My wife,
who had been
running on and off
for years, encouraged me to try it
but it wasn’t until my trainer pointed out a
gentleman in our gym about to run his first
marathon. He said he thought I could do it
with the fitness that I had if I trained for the
next 5 weeks. I found a spot in the Marine
Corps Marathon through a charity and signed
up. My first run was epic; keeping in mind I
had never run more than a mile or two and
only had five weeks to train. I went out slow
but covered 16 miles on my first outing…I
was hooked! I ran the Marine Corps Marathon five weeks later and finished just over 4
hours. Not too fast but I was definitely desiring more.
I did the National Marathon in the spring of
2007 and then got injured. I was training hard
on trails in anticipation of more trail racing
and caught a toe on a log and tore my right
meniscus. This put me out for a few months
and no Fall races. It did set my desire to train
more and harder and I had continued to work
with my trainer several days a week. I began
to run again and trained consistently through
the winter. I ran the National Marathon again
in the spring of 2008 and felt I was ready for
my next challenge…a 50-miler. I enjoyed the
trails and selected the Bull Run 50-miler, a
fairly hilly technical run. I was in the best
shape of my life and was running 40 to 60
miles a week consistently.
In April 2008, I ran the Bull Run and unfortunately fractured my ankle and tore a ligament
at mile five. Although it was tough, and very
hot, I finished the race, meeting every cut-off
time. Mentally, it was the toughest event I
had ever done. My ankle was in very shape
but there is no greater pain than not finishing.
This event set up what would be the worst
summer of my life. A week later, still in a
cast, I was undergoing surgery for a serious
illness. My surgery would require the removal
of my hip flexor muscle in my left leg and my
doctors did not expect me to be able to seriously distance run in the future. I also spent
most of the summer undergoing several very
intense treatments. I was able to pedal my bike
with encouragement from my wife on a daily
basis, but was too tired too much of anything
else.
To learn more about David, how he started
triathlon and how he found Team FeXY, see
his full article on the Team Website at
David Kay’s Article
David Finishing a 5-k with his daughter Sophie
Shamrock Marathon/Half Marathon Weekend
By Neva Fulkerson
March might not be perfect beach weather, but it
certainly has potential to be perfect running
weather. For those of you that have selected a
spring marathon or half marathon as an early goal
for next year, how about joining FeXY in Virginia
Beach for the Shamrock Festival
(www.shamrockmarathon.com)
So far we have a solid group
of folks heading down the
weekend of March 20th & 21st
to run the Shamrock Marathon or Half Marathon. We
have blocked off a total of 8
rooms at the Hampton Inn
North Oceanfront, located
about 3 blocks away from the
marathon start, 10 blocks away from the half marathon start
and right at the finish line. The rooms are $159 per night
with a two night minimum. Currently the rooms have been
reserved for Saturday and Sunday night, but the possibility
exists of switching to a Friday and Saturday night stay. There
are only a few rooms remaining so please let Neva Fulkerson
(imfexy5@gmail.com) if you would like a room.
We have also set up teams for both the full
marathon and the half marathon. If you have
not already registered, please register under
the name Team FeXY Imperial Pints
(password is “teamfexy”) if doing the full
marathon and under the name Team FeXY
Half Pints (no password) if running the half
marathon.
If you are looking for some encouragement during
your training, please join us on Wednesday and Friday
morning starting at Greenberry’s in Reston. Check
the forum for the latest starting times and routes. If
you are looking for a structured training plan, there
are Full and Half plans available on the Google Group
as well.
For those of you unable to travel
to Virginia Beach for the Shamrock
Festival, another option is the
National Marathon/Half Marathon
(www.nationalmarathon.com) on
March 20th in Washington, DC.
We have another good group
running that race as well.
What is FeXY:
Team
Newsletter
Edited and Published by:
Scott Baldwin
11780 Bayfield Court
Reston, VA 20194
E-mail: TeamFeXY@gmail.com
Stay up to date
TeamFeXY.com
1) Fe - Symbol for Iron (Periodic Table of Elements)
XY- Male Chromosome composition
FeXY- iron man
2) Team FeXY's Definition of FeXY:
Being FeXY is doing what you love with conviction, pride, determination and passion. It is
the athlete who grits his/her teeth and digs
deeper and deeper, the strategist who is thinking ten steps ahead and knows everybody's
next move - the person in total control, with
total confidence, always pushing their limits.
Why are we FeXY and why do we race…
We race because we have to, we have to
because we crave every training session,
every race, every interaction, we crave everything about it, we crave it because we love it…
we love it because it is part of us… It is part of
us because we are FeXY.
Our mission and vision is to train, race and socialize as
Team FeXY®
Team Sponsors
Bonzai Sports specializes in triathlon bikes, road bikes, and off road multisport bikes as well as a wide
variety of triathlon accessories including race apparel, nutrition, swim gear and is staffed with the best
mechanics in the area. Bonzai offers wetsuit rentals and sells every major brand of open water swimming wetsuits. If you know what you want, order on-line through www.tribonzai.com.
K-Swiss erupted onto the triathlon scene in recent years and has quickly made itself a major player with
innovative designs and a variety of shoes for every type of athlete. K-Swiss's new revolutionary mi-soul
tech was just named The Best New Shoe by Runners World and will be seen on Team FeXY members
blazing to record times this season.
RaceSox is a recent spinoff from Twin City Knitting which has been providing athletic and compression
socks for the MLB, NFL and other elite athletes for the past 45 years. RaceSox’s superior quality in
materials, the functional design and outstanding performance has been tried and tested in the lava fields
of Hawaii and by endurance athletes around the world. All athletes, from weekend warriors to our
current elite athlete, are wearing the RaceSox Series. Whatever the race, a RaceSox product is an inevitable and invaluable piece of equipment.
VeloVie is about creating customized, superior, and innovative bicycle frames. Their distinctive plan is to
provide riders with a lifelong, custom teammate, their Velo Vie bicycle. The VeloVie business model
revolves around customer service and working directly with the consumer. What this translates to is
the highest quality, customized bicycles at less than half the cost of similar bikes.
Orca is committed to putting the most advanced wetsuits, skin suits and gear on the market. Their
products are customized with the most high quality fabrics for everything from long course athletes to
sprint triathletes. Orca’s new AeroSkn revolutionizes triathlon apparel construction and is the fastest
fabric in triathlon.
Motor Tabs turns ordinary water into a smooth, refreshing sports drink! It’s as simple as dropping an
effervescent tablet into water. Motor Tabs is a portable sports drink that can go anywhere, as the tablets are individually wrapped in water/air tight foil packages that protect them from sweat, dirt and
other harmful elements. Whether it’s on the bike, run, hike, gym or at work, Motor Tabs restores vital
fluids that are lost during physical activity or illness.
(Click Sponsor Logos to go to their website)