Now that that is out of the way, let’s carry on with the types of sponsorships that are available out there.

• Partial Sponsorship:  These are sponsorships that will allow for discounted prices on items that you need.  These will also be the type of sponsorships that have little or no recognition for advertising space on your car or racing suit.
• Half Sponsorship:  These are nice to have because this is where you get product for free.  However, you may be in an agreement where at the end of a season you return the product so the sponsor can analyze the product for future development and evolving the product.  This isn’t always the case.  The purpose here is mostly for the advertising at events that you participate in.
• Full Sponsorship:  This is where you get product for free and you get additional benefits such as being paid, getting funds to get into events and getting help with any other event costs like shipping.  These sponsors will have the loudest form of advertising and take up the most space on a car or racing suit.  Full Sponsorships will also most likely entail a contract of some sort and may require a lawyer on your part to look over all the details.

Now on to how to obtain a sponsorship.  Unless you are talented enough to where companies are contacting you to represent their product, you are more than likely going to have to do some footwork yourself.  The key important piece here is that you will have to sell your talents.  You will need to think about this process in reverse to make this work for you and for them.  The final answer and the first thing to think about is, “How is this going to benefit you [the sponsor] and why you should consider me to represent your product?”  You will need to come up with a list of things that you will be doing in the benefit of the sponsor.  Consider this partial list when looking at sponsors:

• list of events you’ll be attending
• list of past performances relative to the area sponsorship interests
• How the sponsor will be represented/advertised
• Give updates on recent events and prepare a full season review in a professional portfolio as a gift
• List the ways you plan to promote the product(s) outside events

The list can go on but these are some of the more important and common things.  Work with your sponsor to come up with a plan and ideas on how to make it worth their time and effort for your sponsorship.  Remember that you will need to do a majority of the footwork though because they are also trying to run a business and would rather not waste the time and energy on something that they will have some initial costs.   Also be loyal to your sponsor.  There is nothing worse for your reputation than taking another competitive sponsor after having spent so much time with your current sponsor.

Communication is key with any relationship and in the end will be beneficial to the overall objective.  I hope that this will help you with the start of some ideas on how to get sponsorships and help you establish a relationship that could last for many, many seasons.

As of late though, I’ve found that I need to start to listen to my own words. I tell people how to workout but then I haven’t been following my own advice for my own personal workouts. Then when I get injured or frustrated, I think to myself, why can’t I follow my own advice?!?!

The other day, I decided that I’ve lost enough weight that I could go for a run. However, I made a promise to myself that I needed to run slow and my goal for the workout was just to relax and work into my run. My goal was to do 10-minutes per mile pace. However; when I looked down at my heart-rate-monitor, I was running 8:30-minutes per mile pace! Oddly enough though, I felt relaxed and I was enjoying my run. My point was that my mind was thinking that the 10-min/mile was going to be relaxing for me but my body was telling me otherwise. I went by how I felt and it reminds me of how many times I’ve told people to go by how you feel. Everyone’s pace will be different according to feeling. That was one of the best runs I’ve had in a long time and it reminded me how much I enjoyed running.

The problem with workouts that I have now a days is that I think that every workout has to be “hard” when in fact that’s quite the opposite. Workouts need to be efficient but effective to an overall goal. Most of the racing season is now over and it’s time to put the body into a different mode. Workouts should not be as intense but they should have a purpose… a goal. So if you’re going for a long run or ride, keep the heart rate lower and there’s no need to be training at “race pace”. So set your daily goals (if you have any) and remember to “enjoy” your workouts versus “laboring” over them.

Tuesday:  Easy

Wednesday:  Medium:  Today is a fun-run for you.  Do your most favorite workout.  The only stipulation is that you need to run for the duration listed below.  Good luck and have fun.  Oh… if you have to walk for a little bit out there, go ahead, but don’t overdue the walk though.  Pace should be around 6.5/10 effort.  So as far as pace, it should be easy, but not at conversational pace.

Beginner:  Warm-up; 40 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate:  Warm-up; 40 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance:  Warm-up; 60 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite:  Warm-up; 40 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternate:  Bike – 10 minute warmup; spin for 60 minutes; cool down for 10 minutes; stretch

Thursday:  Easy

Friday:  Hard

Saturday:  Easy

Sunday:  Medium

Tuesday:  Easy

Beginner:  Warm-up; 20 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate:  Warm-up; 20 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance:  Warm-up; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite:  Warm-up; 20 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternate:  Bike – 10 minute warmup; spin for 20 minutes; cool down for 5 minutes; stretch

Wednesday:  Medium

Thursday:  Easy

Friday:  Hard

Saturday:  Easy

Sunday:  Medium

Beginner:  Warm-up; 30 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate:  Warm-up; 35 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance:  Warm-up; 40minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite:  Warm-up; 35 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternate:  Bike – 10 minute warmup; spin for 60 minutes; cool down for 10 minutes; stretch

Tuesday:  Easy

Wednesday:  Medium: 

Thursday:  Easy

Friday:  Hard

Saturday:  Easy

Sunday:  Medium

Tuesday – Easy

Wednesday – Medium

Thursday – Medium

Friday – Easy:  Conversational pace.  Be sure to do your strides.  The purpose of the strides are to help with flexibility and strength.  Your stride should be longer than your normal stride and should be at race pace.

Beginner:  Warmup; 20 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate:  Warmup; 20 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance:  Warmup; 30 minute run; cool down; stretch
Elite:  Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative:  Spin on the bike for 30 minutes with a 10 minute warmup

Saturday – Hard

Sunday – Easy

Tuesday – Easy

Wednesday – Medium

Thursday – Medium:  Similar to yesterday, but today will be a negative split.  So for the first half of the workout, run at conversational pace.  For the second half of the run, run at tempo pace or just a tad faster or at race pace.

Beginner:  Warmup; 25 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate:  Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance:  Warmup; 35 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite:  Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative:  Spin on the bike for 30 minutes with a 10 minute warmup

Friday – Easy

Saturday – Hard

Sunday – Easy

Tuesday – Easy: Today’s run should be at conversational pace.  By now you should know what that means.  Go out and enjoy the day, rain, sun shine, snow, windy, etc.

Beginner:  Warmup; 25 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate:  Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance:  Warmup; 35 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite:  Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative:  Spin on the bike for 30 minutes with a 10 minute warmup

Wednesday – Medium

Thursday – Medium

Friday – Easy

Saturday – Hard

Sunday – Easy