Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Meet Frazz Cartoonist Jef Mallett at the Chicago Triathlon

Author Packing Two Book Signings and Three Triathlon Races into One Weekend

Boulder, CO, USA - August 25, 2010 - Award-winning and nationally syndicated cartoonist Jef Mallett will test the limits of human endurance this weekend by participating in the Chicago Triathlon Triple Challenge and meeting fans and fellow triathletes at two autographing events. The Triple Challenge features the Fleet Feet Sports Supersprint Triathlon on Saturday and the Sprint and International-distance races on Sunday. Mallett is the creator and cartoonist of the triathlon-friendly Frazz comic strip, which is set in an elementary school and stars a janitor who is a triathlete in his spare time. Mallett will autograph copies of his new book Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete at two events this weekend.

Friday, August 27, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, August 28, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Fleet Feet Sports Booth
Multisport & Fitness Expo
Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave.

Mallett's new book explores the triathlon lifestyle, with which Mallett is all too familiar! With the same humor and insight that readers love in his Frazz comic strip, Mallett delves into the intoxicating subculture of the sport that is three sports. His wide-ranging text and wonderfully insightful illustrations celebrate the necessary rituals and inescapable quandaries of the triathlete.

Peter Sagal, the Chicago-based host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and a 2009 Chicago Triathlon finisher, describes Trizophrenia as "a funny, heartfelt, serious work of evangelism."

Jef Mallett is the cartoonist of the award-winning and nationally syndicated comic strip Frazz, which runs in over 160 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada and at comics.com/frazz. Jef has published three collections of Frazz illustrations, Frazz 3.14159..., Frazz, Live at Bryson Elementary, and 99 Percent Perspiration. He also illustrated Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer. Jef writes a regular column for Inside Triathlon and Triathlete magazines and is a contributing artist for VeloNews magazine. Jef has been racing triathlons on and off since the early '80s, alternating between triathlon and bike racing. Jef blogs regularly at jefmallett.net.

To schedule interviews with Jef Mallett or host an event, please contact:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, VeloPress, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

The Chicago Triathlon press contact is:
Louise Edwards, Louise Edwards Public Relations, (312) 751-5511, PRLou@aol.com

To order Trizophrenia for retail, please visit velopress.com/shops or contact:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, VeloPress, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

UPDATE: Phil Hersh of the Chicago Tribune profiles Jef Mallett and his very busy weekend!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Never Miss a Workout with One-Hour Workouts

Boulder, CO, USA - August 24, 2010 - For athletes seeking fitness, the most important rule is never miss a workout. But everyone has bad days-work demands, unexpected errands, and changes in family plans make sticking to a training plan seem as difficult as the workouts themselves. One-Hour Workouts: 50 Swim, Bike, and Run Workouts for Busy Athletes means never missing a workout. Athletes can rescue the day and stay on track using these base, tempo, and speed workouts to meet today's training goal in just one hour, from warm-up to cool down. One-Hour Workouts is now available in bookstores, bike and tri shops, and online. 5 free workouts and the table of contents are available at velopress.com/workouts.

Endurance coaches Mark Newton, Michael Jacques, and triathlon legend Scott Molina offer busy athletes their 50 favorite no-nonsense workouts for swimming, cycling, and running. Each workout is efficient yet challenging so that athletes can get in a quality training session before daybreak, over lunch hour, or whenever they can steal the minutes.

One-Hour Workouts is designed for ease of use. The book is compact and sweatproof so it's easily stashed in a gym bag or desk drawer, and the workouts are grouped for quick reference. The coaches offer tips to develop good form, and they explain how to modify workouts throughout the season to match an athlete's current fitness. In addition to the 50 swim, bike, run workouts, One-Hour Workouts includes 10 bonus workouts for strength training, crosstraining, bricks, and technique drills.

With One-Hour Workouts, busy athletes don't have to sacrifice their training to the full catastrophe of daily life.

One-Hour Workouts: 50 Swim, Bike, and Run Workouts for Busy Athletes
by Scott Molina, Mark Newton, and Michael Jacques
Spiral-bound sweatproof pages with 2-color interior | 6" x 7", 136 pp., $24.95, 978-1-934030-58-5

Scott Molina ("The Terminator") claimed 104 victories as a professional triathlete. Molina now trains, races, and coaches triathletes in New Zealand. Mark Newton is an exercise physiologist with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Sydney. He has worked with triathlon stars Chris McCormack and Normann Stadler. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Michael Jacques is a multisport coach and elite-level distance runner with over 15 years of coaching experience. He lives and coaches in New Zealand.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher of books for cyclists, triathletes, and runners. VeloPress is the book-publishing division of Competitor Group, which publishes VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and Competitor magazines and produces the Rock 'N' Roll marathon and half-marathon series, the TriRock triathlon series, and the Muddy Buddy adventure race series.

Media review copies, excerpts, author interviews and events:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com