This won't help you much, but may provide some perspective. When I purchased Pro/E I purchased a maintenance contract which allows access to PTC's knowledge base which has "Suggested technique..." articles that cover most of the basics as well as some advanced topics. It took me about a month of long days (I was still trying to make deadlines which wouldn't have been at all pressing were it not for the jump into the deep end) to get up to speed using those, the various tutorials available on the net, etc. I'm not especially swift, but I did have a background in 3D solid and surface modeling, parametric relationships, top down design techniques, CAD drafting, etc. It is a "do-able" deal, but starting off cold you will find it frustrating and time consuming, especially if working in a vacuum. You will need someone to help with the usual dumb questions we all ask.
You might want to check out proecentral.com. I believe they sell SE and will give you a membership (normally fifteen bucks or so) which will open up their forum (another potential resource) for your questions. Their forum allows binary attachments which will help (a model's worth a thousand pictures) I don't know if you'd forfeit anything buying from them. They probably will have some links to books as well. A note on books: get something on the version you are going to be using. The interface and procedural differences between 2001, Wildfire, Wildfire2 will present a very unpleasant if not insurmountable hurdle for someone working without a frame of reference.