This Weekend 2/27/09 is Vern Week.

Welcome back to the events page. As you can see, we are building up to Vern Week. Vern week gives each of you the chance to name your own distance goal that we will put up on the roster. Leave us a note in the comments or reply to the team email and let us know what you will be posting for mileage during the weekend of 2/28. Time does not matter for this event and if you are one of the few working through some physical issue. Feel free to bike or use an elliptical machine.

Part of the fun of any virtual event is using you imagination. Please take the time to visit Passamaquoddy and search through the archives of February 2008 for details on last years Vern Week celebration. You'll learn that last years run was not without it's short comings.

Doc Terminus informs me that new air scrubbers have been installed over at Chum Shop Earth and that the running trails are much improved. I am also told that Herring Whips and Sea Perch Pop Ups will be sponsoring the race again this year. Earlier this year many Passamaquoddians were surprised to learn that the Sea Perch Pop Ups were actually cat food. In fact the makers of the frozen treat were shocked that people were eating it by mistake. In an effort to address a growing new market, the formula has been changed to one that is "safe for human consumption."

The challenge for the weekend of 2/14/09 comes to us from the "Voice" himself.

Greetings Team Voice!

This week's challenge is a bit unique and calls for a different kind of
introduction.

But bear with me to the bear end, and we'll barrel through it.

Let's face it - we've all hit ruts at times. Some of us are STILL in them. Why?
We hit a BIG goal and surpassed it. And now what? We have more goals, but
they're kinda far out there.

So let's focus on what GOT us to those goals. Because at some point on our
training, we were our BEST us. It might have been during the race. It might have
been during training. It might have been a second, a minute, an hour, a week.
Whatever! Maybe it was physical, maybe it was mental, maybe it was even
emotional!

Regardless - your challenge this weekend is three-fold.

1. Articulate to us, the team - what it was you did that made you the BEST you
BEFORE.

ex. (During my training periods, I focused on using LONG strides, so as to
maximize my distance! OR During my training runs, I made sure I always listened
to DISNEY music)

2. Work that into your routine this weekend. Tell us how it goes.

ex. (This weekend when I do my longer workout, I'll focus on using LONG strides.
OR This weekend I'll revamp my playlist for my workouts!).

3. Oh yeah - since it's us - include 100 crunches. :)

Now - there's a BONUS section to this challenge.

4. BONUS - part of what made ME the best me was my charity work. And it's still
going. In fact, I've already raised an ADDITIONAL $100+. And I know you guys
have all helped in one way or another. But if you want bonus points this week -
raise some money this week. Whether it's from your latte fund, or a co-worker,
or just spare change. Raise money to send to me for our charity work. Those
Make-a-Wish kids need it badly. Shoot for $5. Just five dollars.

If you raise it - let me know and I'll tell you where to send it.

Good luck team! Enjoy this week's more esoteric challenge!

MAIN STREET AWAITS!

From the desk of Jennifer Teig von Hoffman comes the challenge for the weekend of 2/7

Greetings, Team Voice, from the chilly Northeast! I just can't face
the icy Boston streets....but that 1/7 mile indoor track at the gym
has become one of my happy places.

This week's Challenge is short and sweet: The 20% solution. Find an
aspect of your workout that has been feeling a bit stale, or not quite
intense enough, and bump it up by 20%. That could be 20% in one go;
for example, if your current "long run" is 5 miles, run 6 instead. Or
it could be broken into smaller increases; for example, you could do
two runs, and go 10% farther than your usual distance each time. Even
if you have to walk part of the time in order to increase the
distance, the miles still count!

Or you could apply this creatively! If you wog, you could run 20% more
of the time, and walk 20% less.

And of course, sit ups and push ups....ask yourself, could you do 20% more?

Whatever you do....remember it's all about progress, not perfection.
It doesn't matter whether you're a marathoner, or lacing up the
running shoes for the first time in decades. Just keep moving forward,
just keep swimming!

Team In Training Challenge For 1/30-2/1

Welcome foolish mortals…or should I say “Team Voice”. The weather in the Northeast definitely has an aura of foreboding (where running is concerned anyhow). Is this team actually stretching, or is it just my imagination, hmmmm? (no really, we’re up like 10 people!) And consider this dismaying observation, the clock is ticking till your next Disney race which offers this chilling challenge…to ensure you have the day off to place ADR’s when you hit 180 days out!!!!! J

Here is the challenge for the weekend. It’s another 3 mile challenge, but this time with a twist. For those of us who are injured, give the alternate workout a try or a variation of it to keep in good health while on the mend. Note: I’m not an expert on this so feel free to do what you can and let us know how it went.

It wouldn’t be a Team Voice challenge if it didn’t include push-ups and sit-ups, so this one is no different J All of the below should be completed by the end of the weekend, so you can split up the push-ups/sit-ups if you’d like.

Pro’s: 150 sit-ups, 100 push-ups

Novice: 50 sit-ups, 50 push-ups

3 Mile Interval Workout The idea is to help each member of the team to reach their goal time which may range from a 7/min mile pace to a 16/min mile pace. Take whatever your normal 3 mile run/walk/wog would be and break it down into the below. If you don’t have a Garmin or other GPS-type watch then you can go to www.mapmyrun.com and figure out the intervals there for your particular route. If you think this is too much for you, then try to throw in 2 speed intervals of ¼ mile or so just to get the feel of it.

• ½ mile warm up jog/walk
• ¼ mile fast interval – Fast being relative to your normal pace.
• ½ mile regular interval – normal pace
• ¼ mile fast interval
• ½ mile regular interval
• ¼ mile fast interval
• ¾ regular interval – to finish the 3 miles

Alternate Interval Workout For those who can’t hit the pavement put in 30 minutes on your favorite low-impact machine (bike, elliptical, etc.)

· 5 minute warm up speed

· 5 minute pace speed

· 5 minute pace + 10% speed

· 5 minute pace speed

· 5 minute pace + 15% speed

· 5 minute pace speed

This is a good start to the interval training and can be varied depending on what race you are training for. If you’re training for a 5k you might increase the intervals to get up to 8 or so intervals by race day. The idea here is to get a feel for them and spread out the intervals when you start getting into longer runs. This will help your overall endurance and help you meet your pace goals. Also, don’t’ go “all out” during the fast intervals as the mission isn’t to hurt yourself, instead its to challenge yourself.

Give it a try and remember that if you haven’t been doing this already that it’ll be an adjustment, but this will really help you in the long run (pardon the pun). This is something I’m planning on adding into my weekly schedule for this year. I had run 3 half marathons between June08-Jan09 all with a 1hr 56min XXsec time and feel like all the training I did during that period just helped me maintain versus move forward. I’m hoping that this will help me break through the wall and start to bring down my overall pace!

Thanks!

Chris “Stroller Boy” Cullen

Vern Week Run Set For February 28th

Greetings Team Voice members, welcome to our first virtual event of the year.
We are going to start our first event by letting each team member set their own personal mileage goal. Future events, such as the ones some of you participated in last year, will have set minimum goals.

The purpose behind these events is to encourage you on toward a new personal best. Please note the word "personal." If you have not guessed by now, our fitness goals are not about out doing each other. It's about supporting each other no matter what your goal is. I find the same excitement in Jeff Hamm's one mile as I do in Bryan Ripper's WDW land speed record. Reading about, and seeing everyone meet new goals is very exciting to me. I know that other team members feel the same way.

Here's how this works. Send me an email, or post in the comments below, that you would like to be on the roster and what your distance goal is.

Now, I know some of you are coming back from or nursing some injuries. If this discribes you then feel free to bike or use an ellipticle. But please do so ONLY if you will not risk further injury.

If your not injured you should be either walking or running.

As team members sign up I will be updating the roster at the top of this page.
If the for some reason the 28th is a bad date for you, please select another date as close to that as possible.

On the day you do the challenge visit this blog again and email each other. I will update the roster with results as they come in. Be sure to visit the link to Vern days in the previous post. And on the day of your run just picture yourself in Passamaquoddy.

On word of caution. Please avoid the Herring Whips and Sea Perch Pop Ups.