What a great testimonial

Check out the last post on our Facebook page, I took a screen shot so everyone could see it fast and easy…….for all of you that wonder if our products work:

Geat Testimonial tptherapy

Craig Alexander Ironman World Champion 2008-09

Here is Craig with our Australian Distributor talking about the importance of the Trigger Point Performance Products…

Craig is an amazing athlete thank you ofr te kind words!!!

IM Florida 70.3

Trigger Point headed out to Disney World for the Ironman event last week. Though the weather was hot and humid Trigger Point came out in full force. The first day brought many athletes that needed help with all kinds of issues. We rolled them out and showed them how to maintain a healthy body.

The second day brought even more heat and humidity. Steve Ratchford, a TP sponsored athletes and expo staffer, had a tougher time dealing with the heat since he is from Chicago IL. He not only worked a great event, but also raced the event on Sunday. Steve may not have had his best race, but he pulled through the heat and exhaustion and came close to his goal.

We had several other sponsored athletes come by the booth, Hunter Reed and Alex McDonald to name just a few. They all had the same response when asked about the race. The heat and humidity was a killer, but it was a good training race. Many of them will be at IM Coeur d’Alene and we will look forward to seeing them succeed there.

Sprint DU – Multisport Mayhem

After a hard week of work and training, Guy Petruzzelli a sponsored Trigger Point athlete,  headed to Central IL, for a sprint DU – Multisport Mayhem in Mattoon, IL.

“It was a Tri/Du combo so, it was good to see how I would match up with running and riding with triathletes and to see how the legs were doing. The course is not super hard, however, Saturday morning brought cold temps, and howling 25-30 mph winds. As is typical with Spring racing in the Mideast, the winds were also gracious enough to be swirling, so you never really got a tailwind for any substantial period of time.

The first run went as I expected, with the first mile plus, into the wind, and a cross wind, with me hitting T1 in 2nd and feeling relatively decent. Hit the bike, and rode as hard as possible, passing lots of triathletes, and chasing down the guy leading the Du.

Now, the bike would have been a lot more tolerable if it wasn’t resembling the Team Time trial from the Giro D’Italia. I know the country roads weren’t closed off, but, when I caught the leader, I felt like I was his lead out man for the sprint at the end of a stage. I thought about pulling up to see what he would do, but, into the head wind I knew I would come to a standstill.

I finally just hammered the last mile into T2, and took off on the run. Same course, same wind. I was hurting a bit, but started to come around, when this guy came back on me. He even thanked me for pulling! We raced to the line, but he got me. After I crossed, he saw I was pissed, so, he came over to congratulate me, and thank me again for pulling and protecting him from the wind. I kid you not. The idiot didn’t realize the RD was right there, as were about 5 other people who were stunned he thought this was ok. He got a 3 min penalty, and I got the win.
Its not really the way I wanted to win, but, it was a win. Its my fault for not really dropping him sooner and running his race instead of my own. So, there’s your lesson – always race your race, not someone else’s. Yeah, he may have got his, but I still believe if you race your race, you’ll feel better no matter what the result.”

Mary Beth Takes Gold At Pan Am!

Timex athlete Mary Beth Ellis of Boulder, CO dominated the field this Saturday at the Pan Am Championship Triathlon in Oklahoma City. With a race best 38:42 run split Mary Beth crossed the finish line a whole minute and seventeen seconds ahead of second place. This victory marks one of her finest triathlon achievements to date ranking right up there with her 2nd place overall victory at the 2008 70.3 World Championships. Mary Beth will continue to focus on ITU and 70.3 events this year, keep an eye out for more great results!

11th Overall Finish At Wildflower

Erich Wegscheider, a TP sponsored athlete, had a great race at Wildflower. Read below for his story.

I knew I would have to get great positioning on the swim as to not lose too much time to the top swimmers. Unfortunately, I didn’t. The Collegiate Men’s wave was 166 deep and the start was a battle! I lined up at the front, but got pushed back since we were past the timing mat. Once we were underway, I fought to find the front, but ended up being pushed wide of the first buoy. By that point, there were no fast feet to be found. I swam ahead of the main pack and behind the leaders. I came out of the water 25th in 22:20.

As usual, I was excited to get on the bike and make up ground. On the way out, I passed quite a few riders and was in the Top 10 nearing the turn-a-round. Then I was passed shortly thereafter. I subconsciously settled into half Ironman pacing, but snapped out of that and rode with more urgency coming back in. I came into transition in 8th and my bike split was 1:09:31 (5th fastest).

Before the race, I figured that I would have to run a sub 38 minute 10k in order to be competitive, but that was much easier said than done considering the hills on the course and my lack of speed work. Regardless, I was out there to reel in as many people as I could. I tried to stay as steady as possible on the climbs and let loose on the descents. I caught the 6th place guy around kilometer 4 and saw the
5th place guy not too far up the road ahead. I was steadily gaining time and eventually pulled even around kilometer 7.5. I decided to stay with him and said “Let’s push each other, keep the people behind us, behind us, and finish strong.” As we continued to run together, the intensity was picking up.

More and more spectators were lining the roads and our little battle was getting attention. He stayed behind me the entire time, so he had the upper hand, but my confidence was sky high. As we rounded the corner leading down Lynch Hill, a spectator yelled “Who wants it more?” It was at that very moment I decided to go. I let go of my form altogether and just started hammering down the hill. I had no idea if my break was going to last since the descent is a mile and I had cyclists zooming by on my left. Essentially, there was no opportunity to look over my shoulder on the hill to see if my decision was going to pay off. With 300 meters to go, I glanced back and saw that I had opened up a comfortable gap and then turned my focus to the finish chute where I saw 4th place guy about 80 meters ahead. Had I had more real estate to work with, he would have been mine, but I was content with my position and enjoyed the run down the chute crossing the line in 5th. I ran a 37:19 and that gave me the 5th fastest run time for the Collegiate wave. I finished 11th Overall.

TP Staff Update

Marco Antonio Salinas is one of the newest members of the TP crew. Below is a little information about our new Shipping and Receiving Manager.

“I was born in Houston, TX, but was raised in the Rio Grande Valley. I attended Edinburg North High School and graduated 4th in my class, out of 450. While there, I played tuba in the high school marching band, concert band, and symphony orchestra Since he took piano for two years, prior to high school, I also participated in the high school jazz band. For sports, I was on the varsity tennis team.

For college, I went to the University of Texas at Austin, where I majored in Engineering Route to Business. My engineering focus was Mechanical Engineering and my business focus was Supply Chain Management. I graduated in December 2008 with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

After the economy taking a downfall, I was having a tough time finding a job in Austin. It was by chance that I saw Trigger Point’s ad for a shipping & receiving assistant. I replied to the ad, interviewed with Thomas Boyken, and the rest is history. At Trigger Point, I am the shipping department. Nothing gets in or out without going through me. I fulfill orders, perform quality assurance, and get things where they need to be, on time. I also handle all of the expo supplies and product for tradeshows and Ironman events that Trigger Point attends.”

Trigger Point Staff: Meet Steve

Trigger Point has been lucky to be in a growth position, and with that growth we’ve experienced our fair share of success and challenge.  One of the biggest daily challenges we face is finding ways to improve and streamline our operations while removing obstacles, eliminating redundancies, and continuing to deliver the best possible product, education, and customer service possible.  Trigger Point prides itself in providing its customers, athletes, and associates with not only a world class product but world class education and information.

We’re a fairly small and close-knit operation, so whenever we decide to make an addition to our team, we go to great lengths to find the right person for the position.  A few weeks ago, you briefly “met” Thomas Boyken (see the FedEx Golf Challenge blog entry).  Thomas has been with Trigger Point for more than three years, and has done just about everything imaginable with and for us.  He’s currently in the UK working with one of our international distributors, and last week, he was at the Boston Marathon.  

We only mention this because one of the hats that Thomas wore was that of “operations guru.”  He has since transitioned into a dedicated sales position, and is now responsible for servicing and growing our east coast and international accounts – hence the gonzo travel schedule.

Thomas left some mighty big shoes to fill, but we think we’ve found the guy who can not only fill those shoes but take them and run.  We’d like for you to meet Steve Litscher, our Operations & Business Development Manager.  Steve started with us about a month ago and has been running non-stop.  Rumor has it he doesn’t leave the office until around midnight most nights… to say that he’s immersed himself in our products and process would be an understatement.

Here’s a picture of Steve in his office – if he looks a little scruffy it’s because he hasn’t had much time to do anything outside of work, including shave.

 

Steve sitting at his desk

Steve comes to us by way of Arkansas, although he’s a Cheesehead by birth.  Steve’s experiences are many – he most recently spent several years working as the AVP of Data and Information Services for a multi-billion dollar bank, where he masterminded a comprehensive inventory solution, architected and transitioned the bank’s infrastructure to a fully-virtualized Blade/SAN environment, served as project manager for all major software conversion and new systems implementations, created and led the bank’s disaster recovery plan group, and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the technical support department.

Automotive junkies may remember Steve as the guy who created “thewaxtest.com,” which was purchased by Jump Media Group and spun into a series of magazines titled “Guru Reports.”  Steve’s been a car guy for as long as he can remember, and his experiences in creating and publishing magazine and web content will serve us well.  

Steve’s a fanatic when it comes to organization, risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and all things “operations.”  We’ve tasked him with everything from helping design marketing materials for our soon-to-be-released-product (known as “The Grid”) to building a complete CRM platform, complete with inventory reporting, integration with our accounting packages, and compatibility with our shipping and order tracking software.  We think that project alone will keep him busy until he’s ready for retirement.

Steve’s hobbies are many, and his interest in triathlons and cycling have us stoked.  He is an accomplished video and sound editor – he claims to be quite good with Final Cut Studio – and as we mentioned earlier, he’s a bit of a wordsmith and shutterbug thanks to his work at Guru Reports and Roadfly.com.  He’s an avid blogger (his personal blog has been online for almost six years), loves animals, enjoys cooking, and prides himself as a bit of a technology geek (did you know he has seven iPods?).  

Steve’s got several triathlons planned for this year, and has already competed in at least one cycling race (he rides a Cervelo R3).  Look for him at some of the events we attend, including Ironman Wisconsin and the Longhorn 70.3 (although, our goal is to keep him locked away in the offices so that he can strengthen our operations).  He’s new to Austin, and apparently loves the area.  He’s ridden the 360 loop, run the Lady Bird Johnson trail, and swam in Barton Springs.  (editor’s note: why isn’t he working more?!)

So, that’s Steve Litscher, our newest addition to the Trigger Point Team.  Please join us in welcoming him aboard, and if you’re in the Austin area or see him at an event, be sure to stop by and say hello.  Oh, did we mention he’s also in love with our products?  We’ll leave you with a quote/observation from him:

“The benefits of working at Trigger Point are many and countless.  I’m surrounded by a great bunch of people who are incredibly talented, enthusiastic, and motivated; I get to work in an industry that is exciting, challenging, and extremely rewarding.  Answering the phone and working with people via e-mail may be the best part of this job – I hear nothing but positive things about our products and services, and there isn’t a day that goes by where someone doesn’t thank us for helping them with a problem or issue.  Heck, on my first day in Austin, a waitress bought me dinner just because I was wearing a Trigger Point t-shirt. She said that our products had helped her resolve an issue with her plantar fasciitis.  That’s amazing!  I’m really looking forward to doing great things here – Cassidy is an incredible person with an even more incredible product and I see nothing but great things to come.  That, and a phone call – looks like someone from the NFL is calling us, so I’d better run!”

Allan Hits the Ground Running

Aurora, Ontario (March 29, 2009) Aurora, Ontario Triathlete Paolina Allan
shook off the winter rust and hit the ground running with an impressive 4th
place finish in the historic and prestigious, Around the Bay Road Race in
Hamilton, ON, today. Allan, who is one of the top long distance triathletes
in Canada, ran a time of 2:05:50 for the 30K distance.  The Around The Bay
Road Race is the oldest running road race in North America at 115 years old
- just a few years older than the historic Boston Marathon!

In an interesting side story – this was a journey realized and dream
full-filled for Allan. Ten years ago, then many pounds over-weight, new to
running and fitness and taking on perhaps too long running race, she ran the
Around the Bay Race in well over four hours near the back of the pack.
Today, she was amongst the very best runners at the front of the race!
While Allan’s focus is still triathlon she has been concentrating more on
her run fitness and performance and it paid off today.  “I knew that I
needed to raise the level of my running this year and the Around the Bay
Race was the perfect focus for me over the last few months”, said a tired,
wet and cold Allan after it was all over. Race conditions were typical for
March in Southern Ontario – 6 degrees Celsius, pouring rain and high winds!
Allan pocketed $750 for her efforts.

Allan’s main focus for the year will be to get back to the Ironman World
Championships in Hawaii. “If I am going to really competitive at the Ironman
World Championships, I know that I needed to raise my running game and the
race today proved that it’s getting there.” Allan optimistically added, “I
hope that I can carry this running form into the triathlon season”

Next up for Allan will be the Bob Hartwell Half-Marathon on April 26 in her
home-town of Aurora, ON. She will attempt to qualify for the Ironman World
Championships later on in the year in July at the Ironman USA triathlon in
Lake Placid, NY.

Full results at www.sportstats.ca

2009 Sponsors – Cervelo, Nineteen Wetsuits, Enduro Sport, 3T, Merrell, TP
Therapy, Master Ducks Swim Club, Kiwami

Natchez Trace Duathlon

Guy Petruzzelli, one of Trigger Points sponsored athletes, had a great race last weekend. Read below to find out how he did.

“I headed out to Tennessee this past weekend for the Natchez Trace Duathlon, a short, but extremely hilly course, with top-level competition. I was a bit nervous about the terrain, since the Chicago winter only provided me 4 days of outdoor riding, but I had been training pretty hard, so I was hoping my fitness would carry the day. After checking out the whole course on Saturday, I knew that even though the race was short, it would play to the strengths of the most fit, so, I gained some confidence as I ran the single track trail for the second run.

Race morning arrived, and I was nervous as I saw the guys lining up to race. I just kept thinking about the advice of my coach – calm mind, watch your “get out pace” and never let up. The first run started out with a nasty climb for over a 1/2 mile, starting at 6% grade and kicking up as high as 19%. So, I let a couple guys go, figuring, they were going to gas early at that pace. Fortunately, I was right. By the end of mile 1 on the first run, I was sitting in 3rd, only 10 seconds off the leader. Got back into T1 and hit the bike, climbing out the same way we did on the run. But I felt strong, and spun up the hill on to the open road. As the bike leg progressed, I felt stronger and started to push the hills hard. I knew I had lost a couple places on the bike, but, not a lot of time. I stayed calm, not wanting to blow up with a closing 5K run. Whipped out of T2, and hit the single track. It was muddy from the previous day’s adventure race, and the guys who passed me on the bike began to suffer as they sunk a bit in the mud and were tentative on the dry portions of the trail. I took a chance about 1/2 mile into the second run, doing a 30 second surge to pass 2 guys, and get into some clean air to get out of the trail. After 1.5 miles, we hit the road again, with a steady climb to the second mile marker. I saw 2nd and 3rd place, as well as first. With a mile to go, I wasn’t sure if they were hurting or not, but I knew it was time to go. I kept surging till I caught 2 and 3 as we hit the last 600 meters back to the park. I saw first place, but I was feeling the lactic acid taking its toll as the final climb on the run cut in to my legs. But, I crested and sailed down, feeling great. As I walked thru the finish chute I felt great, thinking maybe I should have gone harder, then after one sip of water and another step, I ended up vomiting in the nearest trash can. Thankfully, away from the crowd. I felt a bit better seeing the 3rd place guy having to be put on Oxygen after crossing the line and collapsing.

Big thanks to Trigger Point, as I took my kit with me to help warm up for the race, and roll out for the long ride home!”