Little Things for Healthy Running

Do your legs/feet ever feet tight? in pain? sore? Regardless, there are two things that every runner should do: 1) Foam roll and 2)Ball roll feet). preventing injuries to your IT bands, calves(shin spints), and Plantar Fasciitis(feet). Part of being a good runner is being able to take care of your body. The more consistent you are in your training the better runner your going to be. Doing the little things right is always important and is something that all serious athletes do. Sometimes the difference between a good runner and great runner is minor details(especially in highschool). So here I will try to give you some tools to help you make yourself a consistent runner prime for improvement.

Before running at Kansas State I never really knew foam rolling could benefit my running. I was always a very good stretcher, normally staying an hour later than everyone else just stretching and talking strategy with my coach. I have always been extremely flexible yet still have had issues with my my hip flexers, lower back, and IT bands. My first year at KSU I quickly learned that on top of stretching and icing after a run foam rolling is key to improve muscle recovery, flexibility and health. I started using the cheap foam rollers that school provided but after a couple of weeks they became indented with overuse and not as sturdy as before, so I decided to invest in this one here- TriggerPoint GRID - Revolutionary Foam Roller - Black-this foam roller has allowed me to remain healthy and consistently run at a high level.It has a sturdy build with comfortable material that doesnt dent, bend, or wear. You probably wont enjoy using a roller at first as it is painful and tough to get used to but overtime your muscle gets stronger and more healthy, making this running tool very useful and a joy to use when working out kinks, aches, and pains.

2) Ball rolling: this is a technique where you you a small golf ball, baseball, etc to work the muscles in your feet. While standing, take off your shoes and place a golf ball on the floor. With the middle of your foot placed on top of the ball, put pressure on that foot and move your foot around having the ball massage your foot. This is something that you wont have to purchase becuase you can use any type of round object. Ball rolling will majorly reduce your chances of getting an injury to your feet. Your feet take a beating daily, so treating them to a massage is something to do before and after they go through the daily beating of long miles and workouts. Heathly feet is key to being a healthy runner, especially after getting on the track with spikes. Ball rolling is an ideal way for runners to go out and enjoy pain free runs.

There are many ways to go about being a healthy, injury free runner. From stretching to icing, foam roalling to ball rolling, doing these little things daily will help you see a dramatic difference in how your body feels on not just daily runs, but workouts and races as well. Hope this helps!

Summer: A Time For Resting?

Summer: A Time For Resting?

It’s easy to get caught up in the vacation part of summer and tell yourself, “I’ll just work out tomorrow.” After all you do have twice the amount of time on your hands and your schedule is generally not too busy. It’s easy to go a week or two without training or any form of physical activity. It doesn’t seem like it will hurt you because let’s face it, your friends aren’t working out so why should you?

As much as we like to hit the beach or hang out with our buddies, it’s important to remember that we are training for the start of the season. The work ethic you put into training during the summer will carry over into the season and you will be more ready that ever. However let me clarify on something: I’m not telling you to work out 6 hours a days/ 7 days a week. What I’m simply saying is, develop yourself during the summer and complete whatever the coach assigns you to full completion. If you wear yourself out too much this summer, you will be gassed out when the season starts and that's not the goal. Work on the areas you know that you have to improve on.

What do you need work on? Put your ego aside for a second and ask yourself, “What are 2-3 things I really need to work on?” After brainstorming and answering your own question (I recommend not doing this in public by the way), ask a former teammate for their honest opinion as well. Once these 2-3 things have been established, research whatever it is and read more about it. People learn things in many different ways and it may be easier to have a coach tell you what to do, but reading it allows for it to register in a part of your brain that you may have not picked up from just physical activity. Also, watch the best of the best. Learn from them and try to pick out what they’re doing and apply it. Once the summer ends and you see yourself improving, you will be that much further ahead when the season starts.

So for the rest of the summer take into account what you need to work on and work on it! You will see yourself ahead of the game when the season starts. Try to dedicate at least 3-4 days of working out. Whether it be weights, plyo's running, whatever! Just do what you can to make sure you are becoming stronger and improving yourself in the areas you need work on.

That's all I got folks. Hopefully it was somewhat inspirational and informative. The season's coming up soon so start putting in the work now!

Derek

Remember the Perfect

I’m standing at the free-throw line, imagining my favorite basketball player, throwing the ball out a couple of feet with some backspin. I stare up at the rim and give it my best heave. *Brick*. My dad turns to me out on the driveway, shakes his head and says, “quit doing all that excessive crap, keep it simple, 2 dribbles, a deep breathe, and IMAGINE yourself making the shot.” After disagreeing and trying to prove him wrong, I watched him make 88 free-throws in a row. I then decided to take his word for it. I lined to shoot again, followed pops orders, and swished my first shot. My dad continued, saying I needed to remember how the last one felt because it was perfect; always remember how those feel. This concept worked for me when I was playing basketball. It was a great technique which probably improved my free-throw percentage dramatically. Recently however I use it in my running.

You are not always going to have a perfect race, but you might have some moments. I have tried to remember those perfect moments when I am racing. I use workouts, races, long runs... Any reminder of a time when you felt you were strong, in control, and able to react to any move being made. The visualization technique is a huge help for me especially when I am in a new situation against guys that are most likely more skilled and experienced than me. I try to look back on my “moments” during a race and use them to help me win a race or improve a personal record. There are many types of strategies and techniques that racers use, but visualizing, and remembering those perfect moments works well for me... What about you?

Trick or Treat... No Candy, Just Success

October 31st, 2011.... Most people recognize this date with the holiday Halloween. Cross Country runners, however, know this as championship season. Whether I am in high school or college, this weekend is something I have looked forward to since my sophomore year in high school. Right now it falls around the same time as Big XII Championships, while high schooler's have STATE. This weekend should be on your mind year round. Either your gearing up to be in tip-top shape, or your preparing, training, and setting goals for this weekend.

These championship caliber meets is what sports are all about. It is a showcase of the best talent, and the best teams around competing to be top dogs. If that doesn't get you excited, if you don't get chills thinking about "nerd-bombing", a phrase coined by Jason Collette referring to eating people up the last moments of the race, and if you don't have this weekend as a major part of your goals then your not wanting to be the best. I have learned that the best runners are the ones who are consistently thinking about how they are going to get better and beat their competition in the big meets. When every coach are trains you for your final meet, its important that you use each race, long run, interval as a stepping stone in preparation for you to be your best when it counts.

These summer months seem like an eternity to me. I live and die on the competition aspect of our sport. I can't say I absolutely love going out and running day in and day out, but I sure as hell love how running is the purest form of competition. Your going to be as good as you allow yourself to be. The only time I enjoy running is when I know that I am getting better each day, so when I have days off I feel like a lazy shit. I find it important that each day your doing something harder or better than anyone else is. Running is mental, so if you go out each day with the mindset, "I am going to get better today", then when race day comes around you will know your ready.

I think in order to be one of the best runners its all about planning to succeed. I have found I have my best seasons when I set high goals for myself, including times or places that may seem a bit out of reach. But these goals give me something I know I have to work hard for each day.  By setting goals primarily for the big meets I allow myself time to understand my racing techniques, and to come to terms with my capabilities. No one cares about small meets. No one cares if you got 1st or 48th in the first meet of the season. Everything comes down to whether or not your ready to compete when everything is on the line. Keep that in mind these summer months as school is on its way and cross country comes rolling in! What kind of goals are you striving for this season? What are you doing now to be ready this fall?

Kyle

All Your Questions Answered

So I'm sure there's a bunch of questions going on over there: What's track like in college? What should we expect? How much do you train? And how am I going to compare to other athletes on the team? I'm going to do the best I can to answer all of those questions and give you a little taste of what my first year in collegiate track was like for me.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect entering the first practice. By now I knew a few kids on the team, so we were all comfortable around each other but we were all really looking forward to see how everyone would perform. You hear about these athletes in high school and how phenomenal they are and now you are at practice with them. Pretty cool. The environment on the track is more competitive than any meet you have been to in high school, that's for sure. Some words of advice: Don't try to compare yourself to everyone in everything you do. You will drive yourself crazy and often times be faced with failure that you may or may not have experienced before in high school. I found myself always looking to compare myself to others and if I didn't do well than I would get extremely frustrated. Now don't get me wrong, I am all about friendly competition amongst teammates, however, I think that for the first few weeks don't find yourself getting caught up too much into it because you will improve more in a year than you will ever know.

You will finding yourself lifting more weights in a week than you do a year in high school. Weights is a big thing. With the track season being close to 9 months long, we become more injury prone and one of the best ways to prevent injuries is by lifting weights to make us stronger and less injury-prone. One suggestion for the summer: LIFT WEIGHTS! LOT'S OF THEM! As much as we love the beach body, unfortunately with track, a lot of those lifts are useless for the sport. Instead of curls, bench, and sit-ups, I would try doing some cleans, squats, snatches. Yes, I know, every one's favorite lifts. You actually begin to like them. But don't get too excited, it wasn't until the second year until I started liking them myself. :)

Now training folks, depending on where you go is 4-6 days a week! Most of the times you get Sunday's as your only day off. Pretty exciting right :) After the second week your body will get into a routine of going to practice and lifting weights. Just to let you guys know- it's a long season! I mean in Minnesota our season is quite pathetic. It's 8-10 weeks long, usually there's snow on the ground until the end of April, and it's very hard to perform at your best because the weather is unpredictable. Thank God for indoor track though! Usually the first indoor track meet will be sometime around the middle of December. I'm not a mathematician or anything but I'm pretty sure that's 3 months 4 months for those who start in August of training before any more at all. Pace yourself because the season is long!

Overall, the first year of track for me was great. The season was crazy long but I loved every day of it. At times you may find yourself getting disinterested and that's why I'm going to advise all of you to find a person in your event group that can be your accountability partner. This person should always have your best interest and mind and you guys should push to beat each other in any way you can. It's important to remember too, that every day you should work to get better while taking all the advice you can. There's going to be a million things being said to you your first year. Turns out guys, you may not have as good of technique and form as you thought you did. Constant adjustments will be made in your running, event, weights, etc. Just keep an open mind and remember that your coaches got where they are for a reason. If you're someone like me and may not have the greatest running form or lifting technique- ask for help!! That's what the coaches are there for. If you continue to go about doing things the same way you may injure or hurt yourself. Learn the right way the first time, it's easier that way.

Well that's all I got for ya. Work hard this summer because the indoor season will be here in no time!

The Unknown

When it is officially off-season and the 9 months of competing are over, what are the track athletes supposed to do?  How do they stay in shape?  After the last meet of the season athletes typically get a couple of weeks off, which is a nice time for us to relax from traveling, competing, and studies.  But directly afterwards its right back to the pavement to prepare for the fall… Cross Country.

If you are like me you will have a summer job to make money for personal expenses, and school. You most likely live in a hot and humid climate and hate running at any time of the day because its hot no matter what! Now if you’re not from the Midwest, you might not realize the excessive heat and humidity that is a daily occurrence here in Kansas City but running past 7 a.m. is a nightmare. That’s where the dilemma shows up. Do you wake up at 5 am, knock out your 10 mile run, and make it back to shower, change, and drive thirty minutes to make your 8-5 job? Or do you bear the heat?

I have become the guy who runs directly after work, in the full 100 degree temperatures, getting my work in with the mind-set of trying not to pass out. Yeah ill end up on the treadmill a couple of times, which isn’t too bad if you’re watching the series modern family, psych, or God forbid the Royals. I have found the grind from running everyday does take a toll on my legs, so I rely on the treadmill more often than not. Which, by the way, is a great tool for picking a pace to run at and being forced to stick to it!   My old high school coach always told me that the hardest part about running  is walking out the front door. This statement could not be more true, especially when I am stuck running by myself the entire summer.  After being at work for 9 hours and having approximately an average of 5-6 hours of sleep, the only thing that gets me out the door is the “unknown”.

The “unknown” to me is a lot of things. The unknown of what kind of shape I am in, vs what I should be in. The “unknown” on what shape my teammates are in, cause everyone who is a competitor wants to be the best, same team or not.  But most of all the "unknown" of my competition. In order “to keep on keepin on”, I have to convince myself that there are other athletes working their ass off thinking the same thing.  Each day when I head home from my 8-5, I am not thinking work is over, but it has just begun.

What gets you out the front door? Do you wake up in the morning to workout or  do you value your sleep? Keep on Running!

Kyle

Running Basics and E-books here!

Major Dilemma: Entrepreneurship

 Did you know the average age of a 1^st year Entrepreneur is close to 40 years old! When I think of an Entrepreneur I normally think of a college kid that makes it big—the creator of Napster, Facebook, etc. These guys are living the american dream, created there own company, and have an easy life, right?   After reading this article, I realized you can’t plan for is immediate success creating your own business.  Entrepreneurship is almost a skill you build overtime. So the reason I wanted to write this article is to share some thoughts on why entrepreneurship seems like a smart major for the long run, and how the majority of Entrepreneurs have gone about creating their own business.


 Any college kid with large eyes and a bright future is most likely dreaming of big money, a luxurious life with not much work and a lot of play.  That is not entrepreneurship.   The key motive  current students have coming out of college is everyone wants big money ASAP.  Sure, there are the select few that have the means, idea, and capability to create a large, profitable business straight out of college, but the majority of students don’t.  So what are they supposed to do?

Getting a regular job in the field you are interested will go a long way in helping you understand how a business truly works and operates.  This base will allow you to create a business plan of your own, and keep you better prepared for the future.  Remember, the average age of an Entrepreneur is near 40, so taking your time and making sure you know what you are getting into is the common trend for the majority of successful entrepreneurs.  

So what else can someone do with a major in Entrepreneurship?  Really it depends on your Niche, how well your business plan is put together, and when you have the financial means to see it through. I am not majoring in entrepreneurship because I think I will start my own business right out of college, or even within 10 years. I think its a major that gives me a solid overall base moving  forward into the business world. I will be introduced and familiarized with a multitude of business areas such as marketing, finance, accounting, managements, and strategy. Having a background in these areas can make you a key asset to many companies and demonstrate your big goals for the future. 


Majoring in Entrepreneurship means you can start your own company, run anything from a large corporation to a small local business, or just be a regular employee. Do with it what you will, just make sure your screws aren’t loose so everything runs smoothly when you do decide to start your own business! I realize I haven't been promoting starting your own business when your young, but that is because your not likely to be prepared. However, there are plenty of instances that I don't mention where it would be a great idea to start up now. I believe online business is something anyone can do at a young age and become very successfully. The link below has great value and is inspirational in that these are some success stories that young people have had. I believe everyone wants to work for themselves, but not everyone has the right tools.

An Entrepreneurial Know-How!
- This link above will give you 25 stories and how-to's of young successful entrepreneurs!


Commence

Campus Rep Positons

Minimum hours, free swag, MONEY, and a reference letter, what more could a college kid want out of a job. This is exactly what you get if you become a campus rep. Campus reps are affiliated with many companies nation-wide. These companies, ranging from large corporations to local businesses, are trying to promote and market their products on college campuses all over the country. This job allows students the freedom to work minimum hours and on their own time, while getting free stuff! Are you interested yet!?

At Kansas State University, I personally know the Red Bull student rep. He gets cases of Red Bull each month, and a couple hundred dollars a month to go to parties and bring Red Bull and swag with him! This job requires someone who can market and promote the company's product in a positive way. Big name companies such as Red Bull, Apple, and Asus all have these student rep programs on Campuses Nationwide. You can go to www.collegehero.com to check out available rep positions.  What are you waiting for? Go to your favorite company, local business, etc and see if you can become a rep on campus. Fun, easy money for college students who get to work when they choose! Its either this or...Or Become a Mystery Shopper!

Roll Tide

Job Help

Hello Blog world,

My name is Kyle Hanson. I am currently a Junior at Kansas State and Majoring in Business. Lately there has been a lot of pressure to make money, make more money, and make money on top of that. I am blessed to have a pretty good job interning this summer, but when I head back to school, I need enough cash to last the whole school year. I wouldn't be worried about it if I could get a part time job when I am back at college but being apart of the Cross Country and Track and Field team greatly hinders my ability. So the reasons I need more money include:

1) New running shoes = $110

2) New computer= $700 dollars

3) Flight to Italy to visit the girlfriend studying abroad = $1000

That itself totals a mere $1810 dollars!

I don't know about you but that kind of money is pretty tough to come by, so for the time being I am doing what I can to improve my chances of finding a very flexible part time job/ get a job lined up for next summer.

So what can you do to improve your chances and ability? A key to getting a interview, job, etc. is to have a great error-free resume to go with an exceptional cover letter.  After visiting countless websites, job searches, and university affiliated functions I have these ideas:


1) Use your College/University's Career Employment Services,

- upload your resume/cover letter

- work with there representatives to improve said documents.

There is nothing easier to do then post these documents on their website and wait for an opportunity to fall into your lap. Many employers use these websites to find future hires, so this is a great place to start.

2) If you are looking for Internships it is never to early to start applying! There are tons of websites out there to help you!

 http://www.internships-usa.com/  is my favorite link to thousands of possible internships all over the country. It might not work for you if your school does not have access to this site.

- again check your schools CES program in step 1 for something more in your area!

3) Stay open to any learning opportunities.

Sometimes it means learning a new skill and doing something you might not be thrilled about. But having tools in your toolbox never hurts, and in today's economy opportunities are hard to come by. It is becoming less what you know but who you know. So networking is key and having many skills to offer is a huge benefit!

It is important to always be looking, always be putting yourself out there risking it! Things don't fall into people laps, unless you do the work before hand! So update your resumes! Build that cover letter! and start putting yourself out there for opportunities.

Is there any ideas, sites, part-time jobs, etc that have worked for you? pyramid/get-rich-quick schemes you can offer? Just joking, but I would love get some feedback or information you have found useful!

Cheers!

Kyle