Mentor Monday Email - 2/25/13

Happy Monday TEAM!!!

I want to start off by saying what a success BC Squared was! I had such an amazing time that night and hope that those of you who attended did as well!! The bands were FANTASTIC, and the guest speakers were so motivating.

The mentors and I are so thankful to anyone who supported the event. We are still currently counting the money from that night, but hopefully we will have the final totals for you all by GT on Saturday.

In case your were unable to attend BC Squared and hear all of our survivor stories, I want to fill you in on something that they all had in common......they were proud that people like us are fighting to make a difference! They want us to keep pushing because it's working!! All the training on cold mornings and raising money is all worth it. They also wanted us to know how grateful they are that we don 't give up!! We are doing all of this for those that can't! Never forget that, and never give up! Through a TEAM effort we can do, and WILL DO IT!!!

Now on to the important things coming up:

1. St. Patrick's Day parade is on March 17th (a Sunday) and we will be gathering a group to do a bead drive. So anyone who is interested will need to RSVP to the mentors by Friday March 8th. Feel free to have your friends and family help you at the drive. It will be super FUN and family friendly!!
2. If you haven't turned in your Recommittment paperwork yet, please contact Rich B and get that turned in ASAP!! I want to make sure that we ALL cross that finish line together!
3. If you are still concerned about your FUNdraising please contact us and let us know what your concerns are and how we can help.We are all here for the long haul and will do what is needed to get you to your goals and beyond, so please utilize us :)
4. Don't forget that our TEAM goal is to raise $139,000!! Any one who has met their goal or is close to meeting their goal, now is NOT the time to slow down. Let's kick it into high gear and finish strong! Every dollar you raise puts us one step closer to finding a cure for blood cancers.

Here are some ideas to help everyone exceed their goals........

• Do you have friends who like to take risks, loves basketball and loves a competition??? Well March Madness is right around the corner, and this would be a great time to start a pool in your office or with your friends and family. Have them make their picks and it would be a $10 dollar donation to be admitted into the pool . Then at the end, $5 of the ten dollars they originally donated will go the winner and the other $5 will be donated to your FUNdraising account. Easy right??
• Do you work in a large company? Or even a moderate sized company?? You could organize a dress down day or a brown bag lunch day. For the dress down day you could have your coworkers donate $2-$5 and wear jeans on a Friday. Or you could even put a spin on it and have a themed day? Maybe a sports jersey day or Disco Tuesdays!! The possibilities are endless!
• A brown bag lunch day would be where you would have all your co-workers bring a bag lunch for the day and donate what they would have spent on lunch had they ate out. This is also very easy to arrange!!
• A pub crawl is another fun way to gets friends and family involved in your FUNdraising. You will find that a lot of the bars/taverns in your area are excited to have groups come in. All you would need to do is contact the bars, tell them why you are FUNdraising and ask what they would be willing to donate for the event. **I have done one in the past, and have some good pointers on where to go and how to make sure you get the maximum donations that night**
• Reach out to any organizations that you belong to, i.e churches, choirs, lodges and see what they would be willing to team up with you to do. It never hurts to ask!!

Please keep up the all the good work you are doing, and make sure that you are communicating to us and your coaches as the event dates draw closer. As always any questions you have, please don't hesitate to ask us! We are all here to help you and love it when you give us the chance to do so!!

GO TEAM!!!!!!!

Kristen Raetzloff
Team In Training FUNdraising Mentor/ Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Group Training and BC2 Concert

Group training was cancelled on 2/23 because of icy trail conditions, but that weather didn't stop the group from rockin' out at the BC2 concert on Saturday night!  The mentors did an awesome job!

Picture taken and formated by Run Coach Jeffrey

Mission Moment 2/22/13

 We are raising funds today so that cures happen faster. That’s a theme of the new LLS campaign, “Someday is Today.” Our goal is cures today, not someday in the future. This link provides access to two videos, one about our new campaign and the other about LLS’ success in speeding therapies to patients. These successes are due to your support.

Coach's Note from 2/21/13

Two Reminders

• Get a fuel belt or running water bottle - we are in long miles now and you need constant hydration. They are worth the $10 - $30, trust me

• Like RunCoachJeffrey on Facebook to see pics! And...post your stories to serve as motivators

If you'd like to hear more about a particular topic in the weekly Coach's Email then let me know and I'll put it in the next one.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

If you did not see on RunCoachJeffrey, I'm proud to announce the future baby boy in this Promnitz household! He is expected on 7/15/13!

This Week's Coach's Message: Mental Preparedness

As a coach, one of the most important things to do is look for trends by staying in contact with everyone. When more than one participant begins asking related questions it reveals important milestones of our training. Thankfully, this team does a great job of emailing me and responding to my contact.

Training for an endurance event is a journey. A journey is defined both as moving from one location to another and also as a move that accumulates memorable experience. It's easy to see why training is a journey. It takes us months to train and we're forced to endure a number of challenges: some positive and some setbacks, but both contribute to our experience.

The most common theme I've been fielding from you can be summed up as: "am I still training appropriately?". Some questions have been about treadmill versus road, taking an extra rest day, guilt for missing a day or reaching a plateau.

We are training appropriately because generally speaking we've encountered very limited injuries that would prevent us from training. So the answer to the question is: Yes, you are training appropriately by following the schedule. This then poses the follow up question of: why do you ask?.

If you are injury free, but not feeling as though you're doing well then this may be an indicator of a very important symptom of burnout or boredom. The number one cause of this symptom is the lack of variability in your training schedule. You have to keep your training fun!

It's very simple to keep your training fun, think about these bullet points, but also think of some of your own:

·      Change your midweek routes. Map out new paths to keep the scenery fresh and your body guessing just a little on hills and terrain

·      Run with a friend, or don't. If you run alone, try running with a friend so you can chat or if you normally run with a friend then go by yourself. It's amazing how a solo run can be a meditative experience that will clear your mind of many stresses

·      Instead of running on Wednesday, ride a bike or crosstrain. Or, vice versa. Even a 30 minute stretching or yoga session will add significant variability to your experience

·      Unplug the headphones! Use your mind to think.

·      As the coaches on Saturday how to run a different path at the park instead of what you usually do

·      If you run in the morning, try running in the evening. Or, vice versa.

·      Incorporate a speed goal by talking to your coaches. If you're healthy and have been sticking to the schedule, then adding a new goal is quite interesting.

Team, I'm proud of you. More importantly, you're making a difference for our patients and families. You rock!

Go TEAM!

Run happy,

Jeffrey

Coach's Note from 2/15/13

Hello Heroes!!!

Thanks to all who made it to Saturday's group training at Forest Park last week. Everyone did a great job!!! Thankfully, the weather has been holding up pretty well so far.

Mission moment: So much progress has been made over the past 25 years since TNT's inception. Childhood cancer was considered a death sentence back then, but now, as many as 90% of these little darlings are living normal lives all because you sacrificed yourselves and gave them the gift of life. We're not done yet, but we're sure getting closer to a cure. Ask for every dollar you can. That last dollar you raise might just be the one to put researchers over the top. I'm attaching a link of a speech I gave at the 2010 San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon, just 4 months after my wife, Debbie's, diagnosis. We were chosen to be the national speakers at the inspiration dinner the night before the event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMpEt6g0UPI

OK, we're starting to climb into the higher miles. Many of you are hitting distances that you've never done before. It's a pretty amazing feeling, isn't it? Maybe now's the time to look back to when you started your training in Nov. You probably looked at the schedule and thought "what did I get myself into?" Now, fast-forward to today. The miles you're doing during the week used to be your long miles!! Pretty cool, huh? The coaches knew all along you could do it and we know that, going forward, you won't have any problems as we head into the next several weeks. Which leads me to this weeks topic - staying motivated. Training is not only physical but mental. You'll need mental toughness to finish those last few miles of your event. Now is the time to start thinking about what you can do to help yourself during your long miles and especially on event day. Some things to consider:

·         We know it's tough to get out sometimes, especially with the short days and colder weather, but it's essential to get your miles in during the week. You need the shorter miles to help you from one long run/walk to the next. No doubt there have been many times when you felt like saying "I don't feel like going out today, I'll wait until tomorrow". The hardest part is just getting out there. Once you start, you'll be glad you did. Sometimes you have to push past the negative thoughts and force yourself to go. Some of my best runs happened when I almost didn't go at all.

·         Mantra- create your own mantra when you hit a tough part of your run/walk. Something like "our HTM's can't quit, so I won't quit", or anything you want to say to yourself. It really helps.

·         Honored Teammates - Think of your HTM's. They are the ones you're doing this for. They should provide more than enough inspiration to get you through any run/walk. Think of their fight and what they're going through. We should all be looking at Barnes Hospital each time we pass that part of Forest Park. Many of the patients we're training for are receiving treatment in that facility.

·         Don't think of your long miles as one long run/walk. Break it into several 3-4 miles segments. Imagine one of your weekday workouts when you're doing 3-4 miles and picture that as you're doing your long run/walk.

·         Start your long run/walk about a minute or two slower than your normal pace. Mentally and physically, you’ll feel better at the end and you’ll finish stronger.

·         Pick out landmarks (trees, signs, intersections, etc.) along your course. Run/walk from one to the next. This will mentally help you set small goals that are reachable giving you more confidence to complete your workout stronger.

·         Put your favorite music in your Ipod and head out. Sometimes mixing up the music helps. Sometimes running with no music helps. Personally, I never run with any music. I love hearing everything around me. During your event, I highly recommend leaving your music behind. Hearing the crowd cheering you on is all you'll need to get through.

·         Find a partner to workout with. Coming to group training will increase the odds of finding a teammate who runs/walks at your same pace. The miles go by very quickly when you find someone to talk to. Plus it makes the overall TNT experience so much more fun.

·         Don't get discouraged if you have a bad training day. We all have them. I always say that you don't want to have your best workout during training. You'll want it on event day.

·         Change your routes often to keep those weekly workouts fresh. Running/walking the same trail or streets can get stale. Try somewhere new to liven things up. New scenery will help keep your workouts from becoming mundane. Plus it's fun to explore!

OK, that's about it for this week. Hope these tips help. You'll see as the miles get longer, having a strong mental game in place will help you have a successful event day.

As always, the coaches, mentors and staff couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of you for all you’re doing. We realize it’s a sacrifice to train and fundraise with everything else you’ve got going on, but that’s what Heroes do. You are making a difference and we can’t thank you enough.


John 
Certified Marathon Coach
Team in Training
TOGETHER WE TRAIN TO BEAT CANCER

A Brief Hiatus

I've been working so hard on home renovation projects, I totally let the blog lapse a bit!  Sorry!  Back to updating it :-)

- Jen

Group Run in Forest Park

Despite the very chilly temps and the Mardi Gras happenings, we had a great turnout in Forest Park on Saturday!  Go Team!

Mentor Monday Message (posted here a bit late)

Good Afternoon Team,
This is going to be short and sweet.

We are close to re-commitment time which is a great time to follow up about fundraising. Ideally by this time you are well on your way to meeting the minimum and setting your next goal.  As you are aware there are countless number of ways to raise funds for your account which will then go towards research and saving live. Pretty cool if you think of the fundraising as saving lives instead of a chore!

•  If you haven't made a decision about the concert do it NOW and let any one of us know.
• If you are going start saving unopened bottles of liquor or wine to go in the liquor barrel
• Send pictures of the person/people you are honoring to Andrea. She is putting together an awesome power point for the concert and for our team.

Details about the main points: 

1. We have less than 60 tickets left and we want the TEAM to be there. ALL the coaches and mentors and staff have tickets, do you? You know how to get them, so do it :)
2. The honored teammate, "who we run for" slide show- regardless if you're able to come to the event- we'd like to include the people this team is pounding the pavement everyday. Include a picture, name- and if you'd like to include type of cancer and date diagnosed, remission date, lost their battle, etc. send them to Andrea via email.
3. Alcohol wheelbarrow. It'd be a great easy way for everyone to get their name in the pool by supporting the evening in someway. Bring one (or two or three or four) unopened liquor bottles for the wheelbarrow raffle. Your name will be entered in the pool. Try to make it appeasing items. A lot of us have unopened alcohol bottles in our cabinet of things we don't like that we got as a gift- donate that.
4. HAVE FUN

Hope everyone has a great day, remember the reason!

GO TEAM

-- Heather

Workout Wednesday for Week 10!

Welcome to Week Ten!

Next Training

• Saturday 2/9/13
• 7:45 am at Forest Park Visitor's Center Parking Lot (northwest corner)

Remember

• Like Run Coach Jeffrey on Facebook
• Post questions, success stories and photos (It's amazing how posting a success story or question helps more people than you may realize!)
• Keep in contact with me and the coaches so we can help you along this journey, especially if you're unable to make group training

Last night

• We held the Spring Season Injury Prevention and Technique Clinic
• It was very successful and had great participation from everyone that attended
• (and enjoyed some delicious food!)

Success!

• Everyone is training strongly, great job!
• We have very few reported injuries and of those they appear to be minor
• Remember that proper rest and sticking to, or adding extra, rest days are just as important as physical training

This week's Coach's Topic: Injury Prevention and Technique recap from the clinic

Last night we enjoyed a very solid clinic. The participation was great and many important questions were asked.

For this week's topic, I am attaching the presentation from last night.  (The link is on the right side of this blog).  Each slide is an overview of the topic at large and we discussed each one in deeper detail. If you were unable to make it last night then please review the slide deck and let me know what questions you have.

Running is very much an experiential sport, meaning that to really learn you have to experience it. Using the guidelines and topics we reviewed last night you should be certainly poised to have a solid foundation on how to focus more keenly on injury prevention and proper technique.

Here are three quick bullets that summarize well what we reviewed:

• Conscious thought of the specific muscles involved in your current activity - stretching or exercising - will help you to be more aware making right or wrong actions

• Proper nutrition is key to fueling your body for your workouts and healing afterwards

• Altering your natural form for any reason will lead to injury. You want to remain natural and support that as opposed to training to be unnatural

Finally, I continued to be very proud of the work you are doing, especially the fundraising. Remember that our training is a byproduct of our mission to cure cancer. It is a symbol of the struggles that our patients endure. When we remember the reason of why we do this we push ourselves at least one step further to more successful training. Never Forget: Remember the Reason.

Run happy,

Jeffrey

Saturday Recap

On Saturday, dripping springs wasn't dripping so much.

It was great seeing everyone who braved the cold wind to come out and run on Saturday!  See you guys next Saturday for a great run around Forest Park!

-- Jen

Mentor Monday Message - 2/4

Hey Team!!!
Saturday we started the morning off with a FREEZING run with our fearless leader Jen!

Then, some of our awesome staff and coaches lead some of our new teammates at the Kick-off event! Let me tell ya, we had a GREAT kick off meeting and are SO lucky to have some awesome new teammates who are so eager to start running with us!

One thing that I was reminded of at the kick-off meeting is what we are doing DOES impact people on a daily basis. We have someone on staff at the LLS office that stood up at the kick-off and discussed her job as the patient services coordinator. Did you know that we send a check for $100 to patients battling blood cancers quarterly? This quarter we sent a check out to 570 patients. That $100 will help these patients with gas money to their chemo treatments, or co-pays, or various other costs they incur.  She read a thank you letter from one of the patients to us, which was heartfelt and touching and reminded us all why we go out and train every day for this! To find a cure, to support the research for blood cancers, and to support these patients and their families.

So remember, we can go out and run, and raise a little money and it means the world to the people battling these blood cancers!

We wanted to remind you all of a statistic… 80% of the money raised with Team in Training is raised through emails/letters sent to friends, families, area businesses, etc. SEND OUT YOUR LETTERS. The mentors will help you draft a letter, we will help you figure out who to send them to, we will help you post them to facebook, personalize your fundraising website and LLS will pay for postage. To not send out letters, regardless if you are an alumni, or a brand new teammate is silly! We understand asking people for money feels uncomfortable at first, but that is why we are here to help!! It is the easiest way to raise the money! Janet Johnson is our top fundraiser this season, she has raised over $11,000 already, and she will tell you that the biggest secret is the emailing and letters! She said she has over 100 different donors.

This week! BEAD DRIVE Group Training is at Forest Park--- After Group Training we will be meeting to go to the Mardi Gras Parade to hand out beads for donations. We plan to go to the parade portion only. We will meet at the visitors center at Forest Park and then car pool down. Make sure you dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. You will need a canister to collect your money in and decorate it in TNT colors, and bare our logo. If you don’t have the supplies let Kristen know and she will get you all of the stuff you need. She will also have beads, but if you would like to buy them yourself you can get them at American Carnival Mart off of Lindbergh (We have found the most reasonable prices there).

BC Squared—The Tri-Teams have officially supported the event more than the Go! Team… Not to get too competitive… but they bought A LOT of tickets at the kick-off! GET YOUR TICKETS ASAP! They aren't done buying yet either!  Check your email for the Official BC Squared Flyer.  We have about 75 tickets left… (if that many).  As a reminder:  

• Saturday, February 23, 2013
• This event will be held at The Loft at Sky Music Lounge from 7 pm to 1 am
• Tickets will be $40 per ticket and will include draft beer and wine for the entire evening. Mixed drinks will be available at the bar for an additional cost to the customer.
• We will do a 50/50 raffle
• Qdoba has generously donated chips, salsa and queso to us for the evening. We need additional donations of food from area restaurants. If you have a personal connection to get food donated, please let us know as soon as possible. Call Kristen, Heather or Andrea  **We are concerned about providing unlimited wine/beer for the evening and little food.
• We are also doing a raffle throughout the evening: So far we have gotten donated:
• A 3D/4D UltraSound from OB-GYN Dr. Holly Kodner of Balanced Care for Women (a $200 Value)
• A Hair Product Basket from Pam Lee's Hair Salon
• $30 Waxing Gift Card and Free Product from European Wax Center in Chesterfield
• $100 PreLoaded Reward Card at Qdoba
• $30 Gift Card to Flip Flops Cantina
• $350 VIP Party at Sky Music Lounge
• 6 Sky Zone Tickets a $78 Value
• $100 Gift Certificate to Install a Rain Barrel
• $70 New Dog Package
•  2-4 Dozen Chocolate Truffles/Goodies from a Pastry Chef
• Beer Goodies Basket
•  Wine Goodies Basket
• Portrait Package Valued at $8,000 with a nights stay in Palm Beach at Ritz Carlton with famous photographer
• Basket with a BBQ theme including a cuisinart portable gas grill
• Customized Bike from Meza
• ......LOTS More to come!!!
• **Also we have gotten a few door prizes from Qdoba (3- $10 Preloaded rewards cards).... LOTS more to come
• We have awesome bands for the evening:
• 6:45-7:30 Jamie Lee and friends... Acoustic Covers
• 7:45-9:30 B Sides Band-- Blues/ Rock
• 9:45-11:45 Sh-Boom-- Rock N Roll / Oldies Band
• 12:00-1:00 Reeling Gilly
• We have Michael K from WDLJ, 97.5 The Rock in Breese, IL emceeing the night for us!
• Three survivors standing up and telling their stories
• *Honorary Teammates Slide Show
• *Red Carpet Photo Opp
• It is going to be an awesome night! If you are interested in getting tickets…. NOW is your chance. Email, Call, Text Kristen, Heather or Andrea this week. You can make arrangements for payment at Group Training or throughout the week, but there are not enough tickets left to wait on this.  I have sold 21 Tickets! Your Coach John Gray has sold 15! You had some Tri-Teammates sell 6 at the kick-off!  This is the place to be guys!
• As an easy payment guide:
• Check: Write to Janet Johnson $ 40.00 per ticket, we will make arrangements to get your check from you and get your tickets to you!
• Credit: Call/Text Heather Barcroft: (940) 395-0779: $42.00 per ticket ($2.00 processing fee is incurred by the credit card company)
• Cash: $40 a ticket- Give to Janet Johnson or Andrea Lee (or any mentor)—We will make arrangements to get your cash from you and get your tickets to you!

Tuesday, February 5, 2012 You have two TNT Options

1. McAlister’s Night 4:00-9:00 -- Supporting Teammate Laura Wende.  This is at the Fenton Location.  Please bring the flyer linked under the fundraiser tab of this blog.
2.  Injury/Nutrition Clinic with Coaches Jeffrey Promnitz and Jeffrey Gray at the LLS Office

 ** Please choose one if you can make them.

February 10, 2012- California Pizza Kitchen NightWe are going to have a day of Fun with the team! California Pizza Kitchen in Chesterfield is donating 15% of proceeds with the attached flyer to our team! 11:00-7:00.  You MUST bring the flyer. I repeat you MUST bring the flyer. Please pass out to all of you friends. All of the proceeds that you bring in will be donated to your personal fundraising accounts. If you are going to e-mail out or handout the flyer, make sure you put your name on it, so that we ensure the proceeds go into the correct fundraising account! Please come and support your team!!

Recommitment was announced as February 15, 2013. However, we had a lot of people sign up later. Please check with Rich Buckley individually on your recommitment date. His plans of sending out paperwork will be detailed individually. If you have concerns of not hitting your fundraising commitment, PLEASE reach out to your mentor—if you are unsure of who your mentor is at this point, reach out to ANY of us, and we are all more than willing to help you.
GO TEAM! You are all doing something REMARKABLE! Please remember that!

--Andrea

Mission Moment and Kickoff

Hello Runners and Walkers:

What a busy week, but first I wanted to let you know of an opportunity to learn more about how LLS advocates for blood cancer patients:

There are two opportunities to get together tomorrow (February 2):

1. Group Training at 7:45 at Creve Coeur Park. See Coach Jeffrey’s email from Wednesday.
2. Our second kickoff, particularly for those who joined the team after December 1. That will be held at 10 am tomorrow at The Heights, 8001 Dale Drive, Richmond Heights. You all are welcome to come. We’ll be joined by members of the TriZou and Innsbrook triathlon teams. I know some of you are running some long miles tomorrow, but if you’re in a shorter phase, please stop by.

Recruiting: We have more than 40 runners and walkers doing either GO! St. Louis of the Taste of TNT. What if each of you brought one friend or relative to join the team. We could double our fun and double (or more) the impact we make in the battle against cancer. Let’s go for it as we would welcome more runners for the half marathon and 5K series, or triathletes.

Fundraising: Remember the big Blood Cancer Benefit Concert scheduled for February 23. As Andrea, Kristen, and Heather have said, $27 of each $40 ticket you sell will directly benefit your fundraising totals. The tickets are moving fast so contact your mentor to arrange to get yours to sell.

Hope to see many of you tomorrow at the Kickoff at The Heights.

GO TEAM!

-- Rich