KidsTLC, a neighbor and community partner to Garmin, has offered the Girls on the Run program to girls in residence the last three seasons. The mission of KidsTLC is to provide opportunities that transform kids and families in crisis while ensuring a safe environment. For two of my coworkers and me, coaching Girls on the Run at this site has taught us to be mindful of the challenges youth experience today while we model healthy habits. We’ve found that the teen girls at this site are especially motivated by seeing how far they’ve gone during a lesson activity—aren’t we all when we take those first running steps? The girls have had a chance to wear our Forerunner watches to track their progress during Girls on the Run sessions. No need for coaching the girls how to use these watches. They quickly figured them out and soon started asking things like “can I have the touchscreen one today?” or “how can I get it to show my heart rate?”

In a post-season survey, the girls were asked to list the one thing they learned from Girls on the Run. Here are some of the responses: I am stronger than I think, physically and emotionally. To be a responsible, caring person. That I am worthwhile. I learned that you have to be plugged into the positive cord. How to be a positive role model. And here’s what the coaches had to say: "Running has given so much to me that giving back only makes sense. Working with the young ladies at KidsTLC has been enjoyable and rewarding,” said Marisa, an active runner. Jackie, a busy mom to two boys, said “In previous years, I declined volunteering with Girls on the Run as my spare time seemed so limited. This year, the call came at the right time and for the right site. Girls on the Run offers so much to our KidsTLC students. I am happy to play a small roll in enriching their lives.” For me, coaching at KidsTLC has been an extension of my belief in living out a healthy, active lifestyle as an example for children and teens. I hope the time we invest with these young ladies will inspire them to make healthy choices for a lifetime.

Thanks to community partners like Garmin and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) and others for making it possible for Girls on the Run to keep going and growing. If you call KC home, join us for our 5k celebration, Sat, May 19, 9 a.m. in Riverside, Missouri!

After you've done the upgrade, send us a picture of your panel and it may just get featured on the Garmin website! To see some of the beautiful panels that have already been submitted, check out our online gallery.

Hello there, Garmin runners. I am so honored and blessed to be given the opportunity to represent the United States this summer in the Marathon and to be supported by a great company like Garmin. My training has been going great and I am on track to toe the line in August and stride for a chance at victory! I wanted to share a few insider tips with you about things runners can do to improve their marathon and half marathon times:

1. Do fartlek training:

Here’s an example of how it works. Always remember to warm up before you start and approach each session with lots of energy. Try to avoid putting a time or distance limit on the session before you start:

• Jog gently for 5 minutes (or so) then pick a landmark in the distance to aim for and a running pace. For example, this could be the next lamppost in your view, and you decide to run at 70% of your maximum speed until you reach it.

• Run toward the landmark at the pace you’ve decided and when you reach your target, start jogging again until you’re ready for the next burst of speed.

• Pick a new landmark and running pace, but make sure they’re different from the previous one. For example, you now decide to run to the end of the street at 90% of your maximum speed.

• Keep completing these varying distances and speeds with gentle jogging in between. End the session when you feel you’ve done enough and had a thorough workout.

3. Do drills for 4 to 5 minutes at the end of your run. Also, be sure to apply sit ups and push ups or other forms of core workouts to your routine. This will help with strength and decrease your chance of injury. Here are a few examples of drills:

• High Knee Running / Quick Feet Drill

The objective of this drill is to increase your leg turnover and improve your knee lift for when you need to pick up the pace a bit.

Start off jogging slowly, when you hit the point where you want to start your drill, increase your stride rate so that you take as many steps as possible over about 20 meters or so with a high knee action. You should be bringing your legs up in front of you and maintaining a nice upright posture. The goal is not to move forward quickly but to maximize the number of steps that you take; remember this one is about leg turnover not stride length.

You should feel this one in the front of you hips and thighs (hip flexors) as they will be working hard to lift your legs up in front of you. Do a few quad stretches after this one to loosen things up.

• Butt Kicks

Butt Kicks have a very similar objective to the high knee running drill, to increase leg turnover. However, as you most probably have guessed from the name, the emphasis is on the hamstrings and the recovery stage of your stride. The hamstrings are often overlooked by runners and other athletes who have strong thighs from other activities so this one is good for getting a bit of balance back.

Once again begin by jogging slowly toward the spot where you want to start your drill and increase your stride rate, concentrating on getting you feet moving as quickly as you can and getting your lower leg to swing up behind you. Your heel should literally be hitting your butt. Continue on for about 20 meters.

During this one you will feel it in your hamstrings, so show them some love and jog out of each repetition. Stretch gently if things are feeling a bit tight.

• Pull Throughs

This is one of the hardest drills from a coordination point of view. If you can master this one then you should feel pretty agile. The objective with this drill is to develop the timing and power to get your leg in position to power yourself through your stride, hence increasing your stride length.

Starting from a walk, in a nice upright position, extend your leg out in front of you like a hurdler and then bring your leg down and through to contact the ground in a powerful fashion directly under your center of gravity. As your foot contacts the ground, drive up on your toes and swing your other leg forward and repeat. Do about 12 to 15 steps on each leg like this.

Do a bit of a jog after each repetition concentrating on your form and imagine you are Desi Davila!

• Bounding

Bounding is also a tough drill, however it is also the most fun and beneficial once you have it locked in. Bounding will really help you to develop your leg power and strength, in turn increasing your stride length.

Again, beginning from a slow jog, bound forward and upwards with a high knee lift. Land on your other leg and repeat the movement. Continue alternating legs. Concentrate on holding good form and keep your head up and drive with you arms. This will help you keep the whole movement together. Repeat for 8 to 10 steps on each leg. Jog out of each repetition.

Since this is a more advanced movement, heavier runners and people who have not done this drill before should take things easy and not try to drive too far or too high with each stride. If you find it hard or your form deteriorates you are better to do a smaller number of bounds on each leg, rest, and then repeat.

Keep chasing your dreams and working hard,

Meb

Spring is a great time to dedicate some of your spring-cleaning time toward your GPS!  Spend a few minutes visiting our website and download a free software update using our WebUpdater program. Simply connect your Garmin aviation portable to the computer and download the WebUpdater program to update your unit to the latest version.  It is good practice to perform software updates on a regular basis, so if it has been a while, dedicate a few minutes to getting things up to date this spring.  These updates generally help out with GPS satellite acquisition and assist with XM weather downloads, as well.

Speaking of XM weather, as pilots we know springtime really means an increase in the number of Convective Sigmets, an abundance of cumulonimbus clouds, and dusting off the aviation weather books so we can remind ourselves of the difference between what  “PL” and “GR” represent in a METAR weather report (ice pellets and hail, in case you were wondering).  Many of these pilot-related, springtime concerns pertain to weather and for good reason; it is typically a large part of what contributes to our “Go/No-Go” decision.  If you haven’t used your XM antenna all winter long, it’s a good idea to have a refresh signal sent.  Simply connect the antenna, power the unit on, take it outside with a clear view of the southern sky, and type your Radio ID into this website.  You can find your XM Radio ID number on the bottom of your XM antenna. These two simple enhancements will make getting back into flying much easier this spring.  Besides, you didn’t really want to clean the gutters anyway, right?

• Dashboard

Here you will see your five most recent activities including a brief summary of each and a view on the map.

• Analyze

In this area you will have access to your activities page (a list of all your past activities including metrics of each), reports (where you can really dig in and look at your progress by searching for weekly, monthly or custom date range totals or averages), and health (this is your personal well-being portal where you can input your daily weight and with the Tanita BC-1000 Body Composition Monitor you'll see Body Fat, Body Water, Bone Mass, Muscle Mass and many other useful metrics)

• Plan

With this tab we have given you quick access to your calendar (to view past and scheduled workouts), courses (where you can create a custom course/route and send directly to your compatible device or just to get an idea of where you might want to run/ride/explore), workouts (a tool to allow you to create your own workouts no matter how simple or complex and send to your compatible device or to print off and bring with you), and goals (with this option you can keep yourself honest, and motivated by setting goals based on time, speed, pace or distance to name a few and let us track these over a set period of time for you)

• Explore

Here you'll be able to search the millions of public activities from around the world and even access courses that other users have created. You'll also have one-click access to the cycling data of Team Garmin.

As with any change in our lives, whether it's a new pair of shoes (those annoying blisters after the first couple runs), a new seat on your bike (not always a fun break-in period) or a new look to your favorite social media site, we understand it can take some getting used to.

It is our goal to continue to interact with all of you and to create a Garmin Connect Community where active users can feel like home!

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week - the blues have been hot so we expect the reels to be singing all week!

This past weekend also marked the start of the Tour of California (TOC), where Team Garmin has sent a top squad in search of an overall individual victory. Last year, the team took home the best overall team award and want to keep that momentum moving forward. Tom Danielson appears to be the team's leader for this year's TOC and based on his early season form we should be in for a fun ride! After stage one of the race, Garmin had earned its way onto the podium with Heinrich Haussler in second position.

As evidence from their unparalleled, exclusive race and behind-the-scenes footage, our friends at Bicycling Magazine appear to have caught the argyle fever too. At their "Garmin Insider" page you can find photos, candid interviews and videos about your favorite Garmin riders. The stylish kits that our riders wear with pride even made the list of the top stylish teams of 2012!

Here is a great recap of the first stage as told by team manager Jonathan Vaughters: Stage One.

Get your cowbells out and your vuvuzelas pointed to the sky as we cheer our argyle riders on to victory!!

Pass It On aims to change that.  By matching caring adults who have a passion for the outdoors with children who don't typically have access to the outdoors, the Pass It On program allows kids to learn about a wide variety of outdoor activities in a safe environment.

Tonight and tomorrow, the group will host its largest fundraiser of the year, Bust-A-Clay for Kids' Sake at Flint Oak Lodge in central Kansas.  You can read more about the event here, and if you feel so compelled, you can donate through the Garmin team's fundraising page.

As things go some times, my second day there I pulled my calf muscle on a run, and running was out for this month of training. Not ideal, but we must adapt. Focus became getting healthy and putting big miles in on the bike, and what was already going to be a focus….swimming! As luck had it, my Forerunner 910xt showed up in the mail the day before I left for camp, and I was able to use this amazing unit to track my progress and work for the next 5 weeks. I decided for these 35 days, I would swim--  every day. No matter what happened I would touch the water every day. Whether it was swimming with my big brother on the Ironman Hawaii course or a workout in the pool. Sure, some days were lighter, but some days were heavier with double swims sandwiched around a long ride. But I was in the water swimming. I had never been able to swim this much before due to weak shoulders and chronic pain. Before my trip I went in to Rebound Physical Therapy and learned some pretty useful exercises that I did daily to strengthen my weak muscles so I could handle the swim load.

One of my favorite swims was an open water swim from my sponsor in Hawaii, The Mauna Launi Hotel  & Bungalows. I would usually walk to a neighboring beach and swim laps around a boat that was moored about 500 yards out. Typically, I did a few warm up laps, then I would do laps for time, and then usually somewhere I would focus on breakout speed to simulate a race effort and then settle in. It was a great way to find rhythm and get a good feel for race type conditions. Of course the turtles and the handful of dolphins, I was lucky enough to have as swim buddies from time to time, were a welcome treat. They would come close enough for me to tack onto the end of their group, and I would literally swim my pace with dolphins surrounding me.  Spectacular, and yes I promise this is work!

It was great to be able to swim in the ocean, but at least half of my swimming was done in a pool. This is essential as I am always trying to improve upon my stroke and drills and shorter intervals are essential for this.  My coach Matt Dixon would prescribe the set, and I would put my head down and get to work.  Most days in the pool were between 4-5,500 yards and consisted of a mix of intensities and drills.  My focus for this period was to improve my cadence of my stroke and I would do this by swimming faster 25 yard intervals and doing drills with a snorkel and a band around my ankles (something that was easy to track with my 910XT). Try tying your feet up and swimming, your stroke rate will improve. ha ;)

Did this 'swim camp' work?  Yes, I believe it did. In 35 days I swam every day with a total distance for the camp of over 150,000 yards. This is not a huge load compared to some “swimmers”, but for me, as a triathlete with chronic shoulder issues, this was huge. In 5 weeks I had noticeably more speed and strength in open water and my pool 100yd pace had improved by 3-4 seconds. I’ll take it. Once the season gets rolling this should put me in the front group of every race and allow me to race from the front early.  Definitely worth the 35 days of “swim camp”. 

Moral of the story is, focused 'one' sport camps, or focusing on a weakness for a period of time can be VERY beneficial. With triathlon we have to juggle so much that sometimes we become stagnant because we spread ourselves too thin. For me, this camp showed that a single sport focus can allow you to make breakthroughs in a short period of time, and in the end will lead you to be an overall better athlete if handled correctly.  And…. Training in Hawaii is pretty awesome ;)

-- Matt