To Excel In Life...Run!

     Planning, doing, experimenting, tweaking. We make an outline and do our best to keep on track, but we need to remember things change along the way. Our group is now just 8 weeks out from the Grandma's Marathon race, and as we whittle down our training days it has become apparent that each week we'll need to look behind and ahead to make sure we maximize our workouts.      We are in a transition phase, moving form mileage focus to performance focus. Easy days need to be easy, days off kept in the schedule, and hard days are becoming increasingly more fun ( when you are in shape, it's nice to be able to let loose during a workout ). The next six weeks we will be making sure we are improving, but watching signs that we are not overtraining.       Two points to keep in mind as we dial in the last two months. 1- Just because we can doesn't mean we should! ( sure, we can run faster some days, but if we over train ugly things h...

     It's been seven years since I've run one of the Trail Mix races, it was the 25k in 2005.  Before that it was the 50k in 1995, wow, that was a while ago! This weekend I'll get to enjoy the event without running, as TEIL will be one of the sponsors of this years events. We look forward to introducing our product line to the Trail Mix participants and getting feedback from them.      Part of our goal at TEIL, as we begin to establish our brand as a line of running gear, is to provide a way to show the positive impact running has on a persons well being. TEIL is an acronym for To Excel In Life, and as runners we can all relate to how being in a training program helps our running, and our overall life. It doesn't matter if you are a 3:58 marathoner, or a 3:58 miler, running is such a fantastic life enhancement we want to do our part in sharing it with runners through our apparel, socks, accessories and running team. Yes, we are working on pu...

     In our garage, we have a 2x4 that supports some shelving that is always packed with too much garage stuff. Should we ever move, I'll have to replace it, even though it's irreplaceable. Huh? Over the years we have been marking this big 'ol yardstick with height checks of our kids, some neighbor kids, a couple friends and a relative or two. It currently holds stuff up, but it holds many more memories.      Measuring is done all day long in our lives. Costing of things, him versus her, this show over that show, music comparisons, movie comparisons and on and on. I'm thinking that very soon America will get fed up with all the complaining and helicopter radio and tv hosts that hover over any trend, news item or person, just waiting for the right fail-ment to pounce upon them and keep their listeners or viewers up to date on the latest tidbit of info. It's a pretty lousy diet of airwave ( oh wait, cablewave ) overload. It's a big Newsami drowning...

     First run of the year in just a tee shirt and shorts! Might be a record! It did feel like I was missing some clothing today. I kept thinking I was under dressed for being out in public, must have been my new lightweight, ultra-comfortable TEIL running shirt! It felt goooooooood!      After months of bundling up, even in a mild winter, it was really nice to get ready so easily today; socks-check...shoes-check...shorts-check...shirt-check...running hat-check...sunglasses-check and then out the door! No watch, either, today, just a nice easy run with Jeanette riding along keeping me company. Beautiful day running six miles through Bunker. The trails are bone dry versus a few weeks of ice-out in the shady areas, which is a great help not having to slow down and negotiate icy patches that can cause all sorts of running ailments; pulled hamstring, twisted ankle, sore butt-bone. You know, the usual suspects due to a slip, trip or fall.    ...

     Tomorrow night I will need to put in three fresh batteries for my headlamp, it's the third time I've had to reload it. While not great for the environment, it's a funny benchmark of winter running. It's been a blessing to have a group to train with this winter, and a big plus for being able to get out so often was the mild weather. Next year is going to be tough, kind of like getting out of the beach water during the summer, warming up and having lunch, then heading back out...it always seems colder the second time.       It's also the beauty of it, never being able to predict what will happen, even if you have already 'been there, done that'. Groundhog Day, the movie, is a favorite of mine. Bill Murry aka "Phil Conners" takes advantage of what appears to be repetition and turns it on its own re-run self. He becomes expert at a variety of disciplines, but ever lasting love still eludes him, no matter how many times he thinks he's got it...

     The metamorphosis is happening, and I'm not sure what to think! It's something I see in others; the training they put in, be it miles, pitches or free-throws, and how one day it all starts to come together. I saw it on my son's basketball team that I help coach. Saturday the entire team played well, and they crushed a team that had beaten them three times straight over the past two seasons.      Now, I'm starting to see it in me.      Last week I put in 51 miles on six days of training, the most since last year when a month before the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon I had a 20 mile Sunday that put me over 50. The difference this year is the training foundation is so much more consistent. Sneaking up, week by week, to hit 51 miles was very manageable. The pace was easy ( finally got snow this week so our pace was hampered by dodging snow piles and ice overs ), the temps not bad and Sunday we bumped up to 16 for the day.  ...

     It's Championship Season for Indoor Track and Field. So many young runners are racing their butts off trying to get to the next level of competition, while are others are setting PR's, finishing strong and otherwise helping their teams in what may be the final indoor race of their careers. It's a mixed bag as the season wraps up, so many emotions, so many opportunities. It happens every season, time and effort come down to a single race or event throw or jump and it can be a heart breaker or a dream maker.      For most of the distance athletes, they will have outdoor track, then summer training, then fall cross country to plan for and stretch themselves to new goals. And of course it's only natural for these young athletes to always be thinking of how to train better, to get faster, to be their best. They are amazing performers, balancing so much with school, work, training, being away from home, I'm inspired by how hard they work and how m...