Wish your next business meeting could be more like this...

ok - so I knew there would be advatages and disadvantages to going out and trying to start a business after being in the corporate world for over 20 years. But today was one of those good days.

For lunch today I decided to have a business meeting in a non formal setting - so I called the crew together - me - packed up and went to the park. This meeting was to be a brainstorming session on how Team Hendryx can give back to the community.

Wekiva Springs, a great place for your next corporate meeting - the snacks for this meeting included Power Gels, Enervit and Gatorade, the entertainment was my iPod and endless miles of singletrack to run on.

The agenda - 7 mile run - mix in 8-10 extended pick ups at 6:45 pace and a nice swim in the spring after the run - during the fun of the run is the best time to brainstorm because you are free, your mind is relaxed, and you know that you do not have some corporate big wig waiting for some stupid powerpoint presentation after your meeting is over.

Any way - the meeting started on time - ended on time and there was more accomplished in the 90 minutes than any meeting I ever attended in a corporate setting. I came up with 5 ideas for community involvement and plan to execute most of them - none of them were just repeating what my boss said or were forced because you HAVE to participate. I also came up with 5 new contacts for Team Hendryx.

Of course - it is now up to the team - ME and SEAN - to execute on the ideas and to move them forward - but wouldn't you rather rely on yourself to drive ideas to success than rely on some bozo you know can not?? I have a wonderful team of free consultants that are always willing to step in and help when the brain is locked up - and boy do they have great ideas.

I think this meeting will be a weekly session from now on and there are always the 16-20 mile training runs that Sean and I take - we usually come up with multiple good ideas there - some times they are lost because of the long mileage and forgetfulness but not very often.

Try the above for your next meeting - if you would like me to come facilitate let me know - I have the time. Enjoy your cubical and meetings that start late, end late and cause you more work for which you know will not help the bottom line :-) Cheers.

Miamiman Race Report

Team Hendryx Conquers Miamiman ½ Iron Triathlon

Team Hendryx, Athlete Training and Development, (www.teamhendryx.com) sent 5 athletes to Miami on Sunday, 11/11/07 to tackle the 70.3 mile ½ Iron Tri (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) course. Team Hendryx athletes joined over 650 athletes in Miami on a perfect day for racing. Water temperatures made the swim wetsuit legal and except for the winds on the bike course the race conditions could not have been better. The final leg of the tri was capped by the athletes running through Miami Metrozoo enjoying the sites of the animals. While many of the athletes suffered at points throughout the day all finished healthy and with great results.

Athlete Results:

Mike Radi – 6:29:01 (s-39:43, b-2:39:28, r-3:01:37)
Mike Russo – 5:29:45 (s-45:11, b-2:49:59, r-1:46:39)
Beth Gagnon – 6:29:13 (s-44:20, b-3:11:34, r-2:24:33)
Steve Gillis – 5:33:48 (s-34:51, b-2:35:50, r-2:16:03)
Kevin Johnson – 5:51:16 (s-44:45, b-2:52:25, r-2:05:23)

Coaches:

Sean Hendryx – 4:38:53 (s-33:17, b-2:30:41, r-1:30:30) - 13th overall
Bill Wenner – 5:21:36 (s-40:19, b-2:40:39, r-1:53:44) – 127th overall
Steve Griggs – 5:04:44 (s-34:08, b-2:2:39, r-1:58:23) – 57th overall

Mike Ra, Mike Ru, and Beth G were all competing in their first ½ iron distance race.

Athletes Overhead:

“When is the next race” – Mike Russo
“I have already signed up for another ½ iron and would like you to train me, took 40 minutes off my time when I was self trained” – Kevin Johnson
“Awesome” – Beth Gagnon
“I am not used to having awesome support like that” – Steve Gillis

A special thanks goes out to Beth Wenner, Rene’ Mayer and Stephanie Owens who were out on the course in force supporting the athletes. They were the loudest cheerers by far and supported all athletes in Miami not just the TH athletes (Stephanie will be tackling the ½ iron next year and Beth will be tackling the Olympic distance).

Do you want people to say this about you? Bill sez, keep running

Team Hendryx excels at Thanksgiving 10 Miler and 5K

Quick race report from the Deland 10 miler and 5k. This race was brought to you by Altavista http://altavistasports.com/ and was a very well done race. The crowds were not large but probably about 350 or so in the 5k and 250 or so in the 10 miler. Nice venue in Deland, FL and the race went well.

Team Hendryx was represented by 3 athletes and had Rene' and Steve on the course doing their training runs and cheering on runners.

Mike Russo ran a 20:10 5k - 6:30 pace - Mike placed 2nd on the 45-49 age group and was 24th overall - this was Mike's fastest 5k since he turned 40. This type of speed will set Mike up well for his Boston quest when he hits the streets of Tampa in February.

Sean Hendryx ran a 1:02:31 10 miler - 6:16 pace - Sean was 6th overall and 1st in the 40-44 AG. Sean used this race as a supported training run - he wanted to run 6:15 miles in the rolling Deland course and obviously accomplished his goal. If this was a race that you predict your time Sean would have won easily.

Lisa Stauffer ran a 47:21 5k - 15:15 pace - Lisa is new to TH and has been showing marked improvement since her time with TH. This was over 1 minute per mile faster than Lisa has ever performed in a 5k. This improvement with the long mile she is putting in has been awesome in Lisa's training

I ran a 17:53 5k - 5:46 pace - I was 3rd overall and 1st in the 40-44 age group. This result was very good for me considering I just turned 42 and this is my fasted 5k ever - by 31 seconds. Very happy with this result and how this speed will be incorporated into my Tampa race.

Overall, Team Hendryx was supported well and performed well at this race. Next up for the Team is OUC 1/2 marathon and Deleon Springs 1/2 marathon. Try to catch us.

To experience Team Hendryx check out http://www.teamhendryx.com/

My training week

I will try to post every week keeping up with our training with our quest for Boston. This week was a very good week and I seemed to have recovered well from the 1/2 ironman on November 11.

The week after the 1/2 iron the mileage was low - about 25 with the long run being 15 miles. This week we attempted to ramp up the miles some in order to get heavy miles before Tampa.

Monday: easy 5 miles around a 7:50 - easy days I tend to run more on time than on miles but it was about 5.

Tuesday: this became a day off because I decided to pop in to a Turkey 5k - so Tuesday became rest day - will incorporate the 800s speed work this week

Weds: scheduled 7 became 8 - easy pace of 7:45 or so - nice run in downtown O-Town

Thurs: RACE DAY - I decide to run the 5k and just use the race as a speed workout - we really went to the race the flyer cars, advertising Team Hendryx. Had a good race - 17:53 for the 5k - this was my fastest 5k ever - at 42 I can not complain. Here were my approx splits 5:35, 5:48, 5:53 - 3rd overall and 1st masters.

Fri: went for a 30 mile spin with the boys (and girls) from Epic - good ride with some rolling hills - stayed in the small chain ring the whole time - average speed about 20mph. Ran 4.5 later in the day at an easy 8:00 pace.

Sat: 5.5 miles with some strides on the end.

Sun: 16 miles with 6 miles of rolling hills mixed in - about 1:58:00 for the run - 7:23 pace - maintained the steady pace for the whole 16 - might have ran a tad slower in the end - the rolling hill section was about a 7:20 pace. Good confidence booster for upcoming training.

About 45 total miles this week - good week overall - no bad pain or injuries - knock on wood - and a good long run on Sunday - looking forward to getting in to the long miles. I will mix in some trail running this week to mix up the training a little.

Check back daily - the team is doing awesome.

http://www.teamhendryx.com

anyone want to ride bikes

This is for anyone - all ages and ability. I will be riding Weds mornings in the Clermont area - most likley out of the Epic Cycle http://www.epiccycleusa.com store - rides will be early so I can get to work - let me know if anyone is interested and I will shoot you time and location.

Team Hendryx http://www.teamhendryx.com will be working out of Epic Cycles every Weds so if you wnat to stop in and see us feel free.

Thanks

Thankful lists are always tough because someone seems to be left off - so if you were left off I promise it was probably just an error and not me being unthankful to you.

I am thankful for Beth who is the most supportive and loving wife. I am thankful for my Dad, Liz and Teddy - even thought they still have not called me for Thanksgiving. I am thankful for Homey who adopted us and is a decent cat - for a cat! Great friends always make me thankful - Dave and Dawn, J and Kevin, Sean and Rene', Stephanie, Ralphie, B-man, Bobby and Steph, Scotty and Betty, Nino and Marcy, Scooty and Lynn. Thanks to all the great Team Hendryx athletes who make my job easy and who are dedicated to being successful.

A special shout out has to go to Pat and my old organization - without their wisdom and sudden realization that after mutilple years of employment I was really a no good for nothing employee I would not be writting blogs, updating web sites and coaching athletes for a living. Thanks to all my peers at my old organization who supported me at work and who gave me encouragment to end the tirany that the organization had become.

Wow - back to to good stuff - thanks to Beth, she is the best, thanks to the in-laws! Thanks to Hawaii for being such a great place to travel. Thanks to TNT for sending me to Hawaii. Thanks to fine golf courses, fun races, long boards, bending the rules until cracks appear and to Calvin!

Thanks to running a 17:53 5k on Thanksgiving and being 42 years old.

Thanks to my partners at Fleet Feet http://fleetfeetorlando.com and Epic Cycle http://epiccycleusa.com.

Hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and look forward to a terrific one next year

I am Thankful for Frazz

so I still need to do my blog for things I am thankful for but after reading Frazz today I am thankful for the laughs that Frazz brings me - and his creater is a triathlete which is pretty cool...

Run for the fun of it - JUST RUN

So, I had a 7 mile run on the schedule today and just did not feel like running so I put it off ... an put it off... and put it off - but about 2:15p I decided it was time to get this workout done. So I decided to do something I usually do when my motivation is low...

I JUST RAN - no watch, no designated route, no known mileage - JUST RUN.

I know what time I left my house - I know what time I got home and if I really want to I will go to www.mapmyrun.com and see how far I ran.

I find that when I am lazy or not motivated to run I will JUST RUN - it is refreshing -no schedules, no designated running routes, no worries. It refreshes me and helps me get through the run with no troubles.

Next time you are lacking motivation - JUST RUN.

**word of warning - I have gotten lost and turned a 60 minute run into 2+ hours - so make sure you know where you are and how to get home :-) Enjoy!

Boston, here we come...hopefully

I have always been warned about posted your goals on line or publishing them to the public, you could always fail and the world would know. However, what good is training if you do not have a goal - it could be a stretch goal but hey - it's a goal.

4 members of Team Hendryx are starting their quest to qualify for The Boston Marathon. Follow along as Rene', Mikey, Bill and Sean make their quest for Boston 2009. Mikey must run a 3:30 marathon to have his qualifying dream come true - Sean and Bill must run 3:20 and Rene' 3:50 - none of these are going to be easy accomplishments but with the proper coaching a training we will all meet our goals.

Rene' will be running the Disney Marathon in January and the rest of us will run Bank of America Marathon in February if all goes well we will all be in Boston 2009.

Total mileage for this week will be about 40-45 miles with the long run being 16 miles - add in some weight training and some core training and we will be on the way.

Check back soon for updates on how Team Hendryx is doing in their quest! Wish us luck.

Training, Training and More Training

This weekend was a great weekend for training - great weather in Orlando and my legs seem to be coming back from the 1/2 ironman last weekend (race review coming later).

Ran an easy 15 on Saturday - Sean and I covered 15 miles in 1:52 - 58 for the first half and 54 for the return trip. The weather was just perfect and the run went well. After last weekends 1/2 iron it was nice to be able to rebound and be able to get a long run in.

The Team Hendryx Athletes were awesome - they all ran various distances because they are all training for different events but they all did wonderful and are all getting so strong!

Sunday was a 5.2 mile race at Sea World - it was supposed to be a 10k but got shortened to 5.2 miles - after 15 the day before I will take the break (race report coming soon)

This week was a total of 28 miles - most easy with the race on Sunday - ramping up to 40+ next week to get ready for Tampa Marathon and Crazy Legs relay! Stay Tuned!

Rat Frickin Dog

Ok - there is nothing like a Rat Dog show - but going to a Rat Dog show for your birthday is extra special - thanks to my wonderful wife for taking me to this show. Rat Dog always has a special meaning because we basicallly met at a Rat Dog show!

Show review - I thought the show was decent but I did not think it was awesome - I seem to be in the minority here but there is something about a show in Lake Buena Vista that seems to keep it a notch lower than it should be - it was almost like The Mouse was back stage shaking his finger at Bob every time it got rocking.

However - there were some highlights - Days Between was just hauntingly awesome! It is only the second time played by The Dog and I do believe this is the last song that Hunter/Garcia ever worked on.

The Weight was pretty good - no one can play it like The Band but Bobby gave it a good run.

Althea/Ashes was cool - especially when they could not decide what song to start with.

Overall the show rates a 7 - but the venue is awesome and the people always delight. That was show 80 for Dead and Dead combo bands!

Thanks sweetie! :-)

Coaching Available

Might as well start with an Ad - Team Hendryx is open for business and we have a coaching plan available for you - contact us and we will help your reach your running, cycling swimming or triathlon goals.

www.teamhendryx.com