Training with Tim

Spring is less than three weeks away. Seriously. Here are five things to do, and consider to gear up for warm weather, none of which actually require you to go outside. Because, let’s face it, it’s still cold out there. 1) Become a Pacer Can you carry a sign while running a steady pace for 26.2 miles? Maybe you can be part of the NEW Lakefront Marathon pacing team. Race director Kristine Hinrichs announced the following on the official Lakefront Marathon blog: We will have pace teams spanning finish times from 3:20 to 5:00 hours. Details will be posted on…

The hardest part of the workout is getting started. The energy you expend during your workout is nothing compared to the energy it can take to convince yourself to begin. Here are some psychological tricks I’ve found to give me a kick in the rear when I lack the motivation to get my sweat on. 1. Put your workout clothes on. But don’t tell yourself you’re going to workout, yet. Just walk around the house. See what happens. 2. Do a shorter-than-usual workout. Once you get started you might want to keep going. And if not, something is still better…

A recent email from my friend Kyle presented an intriguing proposition: “Quit your job and walk across the U.S. with me in April to August 2010,” he wrote. “Just think about it for now.” I immediately knew it was that time of year again. The time when cabin fever reaches a boiling point. The time when we just want to chuck it all, head outdoors and do something truly epic. Sure, Kyle does live in sunny Los Angeles. But as a former Midwesterner, I’m sure he feels our annual February existential crisis on some level. It doesn’t really matter if…

Socks have long been the Rodney Dangerfield of athletic apparel. They get no respect. This is not the case anymore. If you’ve been inside a sports store recently, you’ve seen seamless toeboxes, high-grade wool, mid-foot arch wraps, deep stitched heel gores, and other new fancy, foot-friendly, features. Athletic socks are the new athletic shoes. So how do you decide which one to go with? I consulted with the Sock Geek, aka Steve Bernhardt of Appleton, owner of www.sockgeek.com. Here’s our conversation, which reveals everything you need to know about picking your next pair of socks: Do you have a favorite…

The parking lot of the State Fair Expo Center was packed this weekend for the first ever Great Lakes MultiSport and Running Expo. Granted, a majority of the vehicles were probably there for the adjacent Great Lakes Pet Expo. But give the triathlon a few more decades, and it might surpass puppies in popularity. The multisport community continues to see incredible growth, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The solution to our economic problems could be as simple as holding more triathlons. Each year, triathletes purchase more than $4 billion in gear — that’s billion with a B…

Again and again, I have blown our future kids’ non-existent college fund on a single trip to Whole Foods. It’s not for nothing that the place has earned the nickname Whole Paycheck. I’m usually fine with that. I don’t believe food, above all else, should be treated like a bargain bin commodity. I think healthy, organic, flavorful food is definitely worth the investment in the short term and the long run. At the same time, it’s sometimes hard to swallow some of the eye-popping prices. Especially in light of the current economic carnage. Then I found out that Autumn Faughn,…

Some people always have to try to find a magic pill. Here are some interesting recent attempts. Ear Stapling You’d think if there’s any orifice a dieter would want to staple, it would be the mouth. But, like most diets that would have a nasty side effect: Death, in this particular case. One of the rationales for this procedure say proponents is that the staple –which stays in place for 3-6 months — has a sort of acupuncture-like effect that suppresses hunger. I’m a big believer in acupuncture. But I’ve never had a needle sticking out of my ear for…

Seriously, have you tried navigating the sidewalks lately? It’s all ice, black ice and snow. You could easily pull a hammy, break a bone or end up looking like a dork slipping head over heels. So you have a few alternatives: You can put screws in your shoes, succumb to the dreaded treadmill, run in super slow motion or just nix the whole persuit, altogether. None of these options sound attractive to me. Enter: Yaktrax. The hottest item of the winter, they are essentially steel coils connected to a rubber backing that you strap on the bottom of your shoes…

You may know Nikol Hasler as the Milwaukee Magazine relationship columnist or host of the Midwest Teen Sex Show. She also knows about staying in shape. One MTSS episode deals with body image and gym class. If it’s true that high school never ends, we all relive the insecurities of gym class all the time. “While we’re all struggling to keep our bodies covered, there’s always that one hot girl strutting around – naked,” Nikol said in the episode. “I hated my body in high school,” she continued. “But if I had that body now, I’d strut around the locker…

This time of year you’re going to see the ubiquitous New Year’s resolution articles. How to set them, how to keep them, maybe even a token anti-New Year’s resolution story for novelty’s sake. See any previous New Year’s if you need an example. This is not one of those columns. And not just because I’m trying to be a rebel. Last time I checked there hasn’t been a groundbreaking finding since last New Year’s that discovered the one way to stay fit. Will somebody please alert me when that happens? But that’s not going to happen. There isn’t just one…