The Altitude In Colorado

Last week my girlfriend and I visited Madison, Wisconsin to see her family. The city is located on an isthmus (a chunk of land that is nearly surrounded by water, but is still connected to mainland) and is one of the more beautiful spots to be during the summer. The second day we were there we decided we would go for an early morning run around a piece of Lake Mendota, which itself is an awesome sight at dawn. At first I assumed that we would run around 3-4 miles since we hadn’t been running as frequently in the past couple weeks and would be a tad out of running shape. But what she and I had forgotten was that we were no longer running 1 mile above sea level. The outcome, was a run that lasted well over an hour and exceeded 9 miles! For us this was amazing because 9 miles was a distance we had never run in Colorado (neither of us are from Colorado originally), and to have done it without consistent training in the past few weeks seemed an amazing feat. But the reasons for the fantastic run were obvious. We had been training in Denver at an altitude of 5,280 feet where breathing and stamina is famously bad. The lack of “thin air” gave us the ability to run further than we ever thought we could, and for this we are grateful that we live in such a great state like Colorado.

What’s the point of this story? There actually really isn’t one other than to prove that altitude makes a big difference in training, so if you live on sea level and wonder how you should train for your next marathon, move to Colorado and download as many FitBeats as you can. If you can’t move to Colorado, then just use the magic of FitBeats. You’ll be guaranteed a better time. I promise

Go Outside!!!!!

Memorial Day has come and gone, which means that summer is finally upon us. If you are at all like me, this incredible season of warmth, fun, and sunshine still brings excitement into your heart, just as it did in elementary school. But like all else, a good summer is dependent on how you live it. A summer filled with work, television, and sleep is not going to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling associated with the season.

So is this you? If it is, you need to make a change this moment! Get outside. Live life the way it should be lived. Take weekends to travel. Run outdoors. Go hiking. Don’t waste away on your couch wondering why people love summer so much. This is a worthless way to live a life that has the potential to be endlessly enthralling.

Here are some ideas to get you off the couch this summer.

1. Go to an outdoor concert. There is nothing better than enjoying good music outside. Trust me.

2. Go for a bike ride. I guarantee there are bike trails close to where you live. Research and ride.

3. No bike? How bout a hike? Trails are found in every state throughout the US. You might not be hiking Everest where you live, but at least you’re outside.

4. Yard work. Yes, yard work. There is no reason you should be paying others to do it for you. If you are, you are taking away the beauty of owning a house. Mow the lawn yourself you couch potato!!

5. Picnics. Sounds corny? Well then you haven’t truly picnicked before.

6. Go jogging. Might not sound appealing to some, but you will begin to feel amazing after only a couple weeks. I promise. Start running a mile and work your way up. Or better yet…buy a FitBeats running program and train correctly. You’ll watch your cherished beer belly reduce its size right before your eyes!!

7. Join a sports league. Enough said.

8. Buy a dog. This will keep you outside, even at 4:30 a.m!

9. Toss the TV. Well, maybe not. Living with no TV is virtually impossible. But try to watch less and do more outside!

10. Train for a 10K with the FitBeats training program and watch your friends and family become envious. Feels good doesn’t it?

I’ll stop there. You get the point. Now get outside you lazy web surfer! You’re missing another beautiful day!!

Cheers,

Chris

A Beautiful Day [is it true?]

I am not sure if this is going to be such a great day or not? I was going to write about something related to fitness and the start of summer and write about the FitBeats Metro Mile and our vision for it. But Looking out the window of the HQ I see what seems to be the start of a beautiful day.

Which was what most days seem to start out as. As we know the weather here in CO has been uncooperative for those of us active types that like warm weather. Recently, in the mornings the weather is beautiful. I normally don't train in the morning but my coach added some spice and now I am running / swimming in the morning with all of the busy urban professionals. It is inpiring to see all of the people that actually roll out of bed to get some fitness into the beginning of their long day.

I have found that an early morning workout for me does several things:
1) I get to listen to my fitbeats music - I have some special new ones that I really love right now because it captures the essence of my being, feelings and motivation at this point in my life and the summer.
2) I get to squeeze 1 more real workout in to my day - it isn't easy though.
3) I put a smile on my face - I think of the things I want to do throughout the day, I think about how I want to make the most of it all, and I think of the abundance around me that I get to share with a few lucky people.

But...somehow the days change and the sun goes behind the clouds and soon the smile changes to a frown. This is where it gets tough. Riding, Walking. Swimming, Running in the cold wet rain isn't fun. Last night - I wrapped my Zune into a ziplock jumped on the bike and went for a little bike ride in the rain. I listened to a soundtrack by Ministry of Sound - and while I rode I listened to the lyrics in the clubbers guide to berlin - I was smiling again. The day was coming back to me and as the darkness set in I was happy to have pushed through a sunny day that turned rainy.

Today the sun is out and it could turn bad as time goes on but for now it is pretty awesome out there, and I know that sun, rain, or snow I can put a smile on my face, through the power of music [or a good joke]. Things can change quickly in Colorado !

Speaking of quick! Jocelyn Petrella took second in the Barkin Dog Duathlon and Jenni Keil took Second and qualified for Duathlon World Championships over the past weekend! Jeff Keil had a good show at the Du also and I will be racing as soon as the scabs heal on my new tattoo that I got last Saturday night in a fit of fun =[that's another good blog entry! - revenge is swift, and exacting:)]

Well it is back to working on the work. Till next week! -

9 News, Triathlete Magazine, ‘Fitting In’,The FitBeats Metro Mile and More

I have to admit that May is shaping up to be quite the month for progress. As promised, FitBeats has made its way into the media by way of numerous outlets, beginning with Denver’s own Channel 9 Local News with morning sports anchor Susie Wargin. Catch the segment tomorrow, May 22nd, during the 8 A.M. morning show.

In addition to 9News, make sure to pick up the August edition of Triathlete Magazine. We have been chosen to appear in the high tech gear guide section, and it is quite an honor to have been so (not to say that it wasn’t expected).

FitBeats is also thrilled to announce our participation on a terrific new television series called ‘Fitting In’. The series has been produced by Emmy Award Winner Stephanie Riggs in order to give new hope to solving the child obesity crisis in the U.S. Here’s the ‘Fitting In’ synopsis:

Fitting In takes a compassionate look at the nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity. In January, we held a casting call and invited children in Colorado who were tired of being overweight, feeling like they didn’t fit in and ready to make a change. Enough children showed up they could have formed a line around the block. (And Colorado is considered one of the fittest states in the union)

For the past 4 months and impressive team of life coaches (including Warren Miller athlete Chris Anthony) have been working with these kids who are serious about making healthy changes in their lives. These 7, 8, 9 and 10 year olds made the decision to get fit and the results are remarkable. Just watching a ski lesson with Chris brings tears to your eyes. Most of these kids are discovering a whole new world they never imagined they could experience.

We are building a website FittingInTVShow.com where kids from all over the world (Canada also has a childhood obesity epidemic - like America it’s one in seven kids) can watch the show and learn about fun ways to get in shape. Fitting In is scheduled to air in the summer on the Healthy Living Channel and the Beauty and Fashion Channel on Dish Net, DIRECTV and Time Warner Cable. (See attachment)

We plan on doing heavy promotion in The Rocky Mountain News (because they gave us headlines for our casting call – see attachment) and People Magazine. We have asked the children to keep journals and have taken lots of before and after photos (and lots of video of course) This has been a journey that will inspire other obese children to take action and help put an end to our nationwide epidemic. The sad fact is… this is the first generation not expected to live as long and Mom and Dad’s generation!

Lastly, plans for the ‘FitBeats Metro Mile’ are off the ground and running. We have teamed up with the City of Glendale to put on what we promise will be a day packed full of fitness, fun, and entertainment (and yes it is only one mile, so make sure to bring you’re A game).

That just about does it. Be on the look out for new music, new workouts, and new FitBeats sponsored athletes very, very soon. Other than that, keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Chris

Its 3:05 p.m. Do you know where your FitBeats are?

So what’s up? How you doing? Happy Monday to you. Feeling pretty good? That’s good. Me? Oh I’m good! Thanks for asking!

So, I was meaning to ask you….

Its 3:05 p.m. Do you know where your FitBeats are?

You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know? You don’t know where your own FitBeats are? What kind of dedicated athlete are you? This is appalling!

When is the last time you located your FitBeats? You can’t remember? Wow, this just keeps on getting worse and worse. I’m speechless!

Well? What are you doing? Don’t just sit there! Hit the back button! Download a FitBeats track right now!!! Quickly!! Are you trying to get me in trouble?

That is just shocking! I can’t believe that guy! What is this world coming to?

Oh hey! Whats up? How are ya? Happy Monday to you! How was the weekend? That’s good. Me? Oh I’m good! Thanks for asking!

So, I was meaning to ask you…

It’s 3:15 p.m. Do you know where your FitBeats are?

So Much to Say, So Little Time to Say it

I have to apologize for my absence in keeping the FitBeats blog up and running. My excuse is that with so much being done, it is hard to find time to keep a diary. Nonetheless it is unfair to all of you reading and following this to be left in the dark. So I am very sorry.

With that being said, let me fill you in.

FitBeats, as predicted, is quickly moving forward. You can expect to see local news coverage within the next two months, special summer promotions all season long, and an event in September that will knock your socks off (you’ll find out more about this in the next few weeks). We also have new additions to the FitBeats racing team who will start racing throughout the U.S. quite soon.

We are continuing our development and expansion, and I hope you are as excited as I am to see it all unfold.

With that I leave you with this quote to ponder:

"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."

- Bill Bradley

Happy Fitness! You’ll be hearing from me soon.

Chris

The News

Yeah, It's April. Chris mentioned a lot of new things happening. A couple of things that I can talk about are:
1) FitBeats will have a major Press Meeting regarding Denver's newest premier sporting event on April 16th.
2) Fitbeats for Brides and New Moms - will be released in April.
3) The FitBeats team starts racing throughout the country.
4) Our music producer Hans releases his second CD first in the USA at the end of April
5) Look for Karen Mellier Smith and Jocelyn Petrella in the new FitBeats infomercial.


As you can see Chris is brewing up some good stuff - look for us on the TV soon.

Spring Showers Bring May Flowers

It seems to me that winter came and passed abruptly without a hitch this year. Spring seemed to march in the moment March began. Perhaps this is an ominous sign of unbearable heat; an impending sign that global warming does exist. Or maybe this is mother-natures way of saying sorry about the agonizing winter she put us through. Nonetheless, it is clear that the leaves are budding, the grass is growing, and the flowers are sprouting. A wonderful time of the year isn’t it?

My thoughts on the changing season seem to go hand in hand with the imminent growth of FitBeats this year. The saying goes that spring showers bring May flowers. This is a definite truism that goes for more than just nature’s ecology. It has also become my motto for the ongoing expansion of FitBeats.

To put it plainly, FitBeats intends to use this spring to “water” and “nurture” its roots in order to prepare for a wild extravaganza of summer promotion and progression. So don’t be surprised if you start to see our brand “popping-up” everywhere very soon; because it is definitely raining folks, and there is plenty of “growth” in the upcoming forecast.

My own corniness amazes me.

Happy Fitness!!

- Chris

About 100 times!

I thought about it 100 times since I woke up at 6 am this morning.

It is the passion that drives me to compete, get off the couch, go the extra mile and push that little bit.

So when you ask how do you do 12 Ironman races here is how: you think about it 100 times be before 10am.

You become obsessed it has to be a the forefront of your mind.

This morning I listened to the voice in one of the 1/2 Marathon program - the voice is J Petrella
she happens to be my training partner - and I remember when we created these how we thought it was cheezy to have motivational terms - but this morning - "the it's gonna take guts!" stuck with me.

I just have to get the picture of guts vs. balls joke out of my head. And the responses I got back.

March Fun and Fitness

For many it is hard to believe March is here already. For me I can't wait for July. Actually, This year is moving really quickly. Seems like just last month Chris and I were simply talking about filling in the gaps I have been missing. Now we are talking about promotions, cross marketing and building the FitBeats Brand. I am very excited to start the expansion of the FitBeats Espanol Brand. Look for all of the products to be expanded into Spanish soon.

We have a number of cross promotions in the works also. Look for our FitBeats for Brides to come out this month and we plan to do a big promotion with a major wedding publication to be announced before April. I was also reminded that FitBeats New Zealand will be launching very soon and headed by our very own Dave White. Lastly, DJ Hans Von Dubendorf is mixing up some new flavors for the next expansion of the FitBeats products.

While all of this is going on I am training for another Ironman, just be prepared to see more of Chris as he becomes more and more the communicator for FitBeats. I spent some serious heart rate training this weekend in training and on Saturday I was laughing at what could be considered training for some. I am thinking of doing an experiment and wearing my HR monitor for the next entire month to actually tell you what is work and what isn't. No I won't post the results and my coach won't get them either.

That is all I have for today - I will get some real meat here this week.

Tanner

Winter and All Its Shame

Those of you who take pleasure in outdoor fitness probably become agitated by this part of the year. Sure, the season of winter isn’t all bad. There’s plenty of snow sport to keep you active on the weekends, and cozying up by a fire with hot cocoa is one of the more relaxing things to do in life. But if you are at all like me you can only take the repetitiveness of cold, snowy weather for a couple months before seasonal depression sets itself in and that extra 10 pounds you gained in December stares you in the face to say “ha-ha, you’re overweight again”.

Ah yes, our dear old friend winter. It is a season of immeasurable discomfort, aggravation, alcoholism, and boredom. A season to say “I’d go for a jog after work today, but it just snowed 25 inches this morning so I’ll stick to the couch instead. Oh right, there is nothing to watch on television either”.

My question to all of you is: what do you do about it? How do you get through the unbearable monotony of 4 hours of daylight mixed with a negative 195 degree wind-chill factor? How do you bear with blizzard conditions and 200 dollar heating bills? Do you pretend spring is only a few weeks away? Do you go into a mental hibernation and come out of it on March 21st? Maybe you are one of the very few people who enjoy shoveling, adding layers, and cold hands. Maybe you are a reincarnated penguin. I don’t know. What I do know is that I am far too ready for winter to come to its conclusion for it to be the second day of Denver’s snowiest month of the year: March.

But let us not fret. Spring can no longer be considered a useless apparition during the month of March. Leprechauns will be celebrated on March 17th; the first day of spring is only three weeks away, and March Madness will help to lessen the immense boredom set by a lack of exciting sport to watch on T.V.

That, my friend, is the good news. The bad news? We are all shamelessly out of shape because of a lack of healthy outdoor fitness. My recommendation: download FitBeats and get going. There’s only three months left until we show off our goods, and that, as we all know, is not a good thing.

I’ll save that cry session for another day.

Happy Fitness!

Chris

My Story and Why I'm Here

Denver is not an easy place to land a job. Let me rephrase that; Denver is not an easy place to land a job when searching for any job in particular. Since graduating college two years ago I’ve found myself in many random jobs. I’ve worked for a nutritionist, a non-profit organization, a fitness club, and a tax negotiation firm. The problem with these occupations was not that they were terrible places. In fact I procured much needed sales, customer, and employee experience through each of them. The dilemma I had was simply that each place bored me relentlessly. Each job entailed that I worked in a field that I didn’t enjoy, and that, as we all know, is a recipe for disaster.

A few months ago I changed my tactics. I decided that I would no longer land a job to have a job. I decided to land a job to want that job. Yes my friend, it is that easy. Land a job to want that job. “What does that mean?” you may ask yourself. Well I asked the very same question those few months ago when I began my search. To me the answer to this question meant finding a job that I knew I would learn, grow, and succeed within. It meant finding more than an occupation. It meant finding a career.

A career is quite a different experience than having an occupation. An occupation “occupies” your day. You do it to waste time. A career, on the other hand, is a lifelong journey through the ups and downs of success. There is no “wasting time” in a career. You do not form a career to “occupy” your day. You instead form a career to grow and learn. To get better at what you already love to do. You form a career in order to utilize and cultivate upon the attributes, passions, and talents that you have slowly developed over time.

My lifelong goal is to form and succeed within a career in public relations. In addition to this, I hope to maintain that career path within a sector of business that I enjoy far too much: fitness and music. I came to FitBeats with a passion for what it is designed to do and it is my ambition to influence its growth publicly. So come along for the ride, and see why my passion for PR, music, and fitness will help to build FitBeats into something even more extraordinary than it already is.

Chris

FitBeats: An Answer to the Innate Lazy Button

Like many of you, fitness is a key component of my otherwise unhealthy lifestyle. Everyday, I make sure to provide useful regiments for myself in order to keep the gut and love handles to a minimum. Unfortunately this is not always the easiest task to uphold, and I often find myself thinking about the television instead of the treadmill. Temptation, in this sense, comes terribly easy. We are apt to go for the happy meal over the cooked meal because it is quick and cheap. The same thought process acts as our buffer for other life choices such as the couch over the treadmill decision. It is as if we all have a “lazy button”.

This supposed “lazy button” has been ingrained into our daily routine since youth and has become the root of all our fitness problems. Fortunately, for you and I my friend, this “lazy button” has an off switch. It comes in the form of an MP3, and it incorporates instructional voice over energizing music. Download it to your MP3 player and SHAZAAM!, this innate, lazy feature of the mind can be turned into a motivational personal trainer. So be the FitBeats mantra.

I have come to FitBeats to help all of you find the off switch to your lazy button. FitBeats is a great way to leave the monotony of the daily workout behind, and because of this I completely advocate its use. My job now is to familiarize the public with who we are and what we are doing. Shouldn’t be too hard right? It all starts with you my friend.
CHRIS

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STARTUP

Since I last wrote there were tons and tons of questions about the business of starting up, getting a business in order and trying to stay on top of everything. After reviewing the comments and questions I am focusing the Blog on the start up of a new concept like this.

As a young company, we are just reaching the 15 month mark. We have experienced tremendous positive feedback and now we have two business partners and a few affiliates throughout the world. I attribute the good experience to a lot of things but the things that were key: building and utilizing my personal relationships with other business owners and businesses, staying the course on building a brand without spending the farm, a lot of sleepless nights.

What is next for FitBeats? We are now doing strong national push and we are working hard on developing the Spanish and German markets. I get asked who we want to be like all of the time. That’s a tough question when there aren’t that many people like us leading the way for us to follow. Hence, The Fitness MP3 Leader – term.

Or PR guy Dave is now in New Zealand working the southern hemisphere for us and Micah is now in Texas. In Denver, Chris is working diligently on capitalizing on our stealth project for video and working the national brand push. So the team is growing slowly and we have exposure in direct markets besides only Denver.

This summer should prove to be an exciting growth phase for us.

CHRIS THONIS

As the Managing Partner, CEO and member of different companies, my time is very limited to finding talented people to help with my endeavors. Here is a success story.

I always tell people that I think can work for me to email me a resume or call me. It is rare that anyone really follows up. I am not sure what the reasons are but I have a suspicion that they are all pretty lame.

In December, I received an email from a young man named Chris Thonis, inquiring about a job. I replied back to him immediately. Why? 1. He took initiative to get a job that he thought he could get. 2. The email was well written. 3. He had an angle as to why he was good.

Chris and I finally met at Duffy Rolls Café and over a Hot Chocolate we decided that he would be a good fit at FitBeats. He is now working the Communications and Public Relations for FitBeats. He is a great person to talk with and has amazing energy. Someday you will read about him in a magazine – I am sure of it.

Welcome Chris and now stop reading this and go back to work. 