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What an awesome morning for a run! Can’t believe it was actually 49˚ at 5:45am this morning.

Our planned group run was a 10+ miler that included 4.5-miles through the streets of Belle Meade and then the 5.8-mile loop in Percy Warner Park. My schedule from John called for 14 to 16 miles at easy pace with a few quicker miles in middle.

To keep from having to run all of the extra at the end I started a bit early and got in just over 1.5-miles before starting with the group. During this short warm up, and the group run through Belle Meade, I just never felt comfortable. My legs felt heavy and I couldn’t find a good rhythm. Once we got back to the entrance of Percy Warner we made a very brief fluid stop and then headed onto the 5.8.

Even though it is short, the 5.8 is quite challenging with well over 1,000 ft. of total elevation gain. Since I had not been feeling great up to this point I was a little apprehensive about how things would go during this section. However, once we started the first climb I started feeling a lot better.

Not hard to tell where we entered the park!

Since I was feeling better, and my schedule called for some quicker miles in the middle, I picked up the pace a bit beginning in mile 8. Prior to this point my average was somewhere around 8:50, but my splits dropped to 8:02, 8:36 (BIG Hill), 7:52, 7:51, and 7:43 for miles 8 through 12. Near the end of the 5.8-mile loop I took a bit of a detour to add a little extra mileage in the park so I wouldn’t have as much extra to do in Belle Meade after getting back to the main gates.

Once I got back into Belle Meade my legs were feeling heavy again so I decided not to try and push up to the top end of my scheduled range. At the gates I was just over 12-miles so I ran a couple of easy cool down miles in Belle Meade to finish with 14.3 total miles.

On a side note, we have a new guy named Rob that has been running with our group for the past few weeks and is obviously very fast. Today I got to spend some time talking to him and asked him about his lifetime PRs. His half marathon PR is 1:06, and his full marathon PR is 2:27 (Won Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville)!!! WOW! It is very cool to be able to run with someone of that caliber. He was very encouraging to me about my Quest for Boston, and even told me that thinks I’ve got the ability to go well below 3 hours. Not sure that I have that level of confidence in myself quite yet, but it is always nice to hear that type of encouragement.

Anyway, it was a good morning and a good run with the group!

Beast Mode….ON!

Those who have followed my blog for a while know that I’m a big Saucony fan. Earlier today Running Warehouse posted an entry on their blog about a new lightweight trainer coming from Saucony in early 2013, that will be called the Virrata. Per the post It will be …

(1) Zero drop from heel to toe with only 18mm of material in the outsole.  
(2) 6.5 oz for men’s size 9 
(3) Very flexible due to deep grooves in the outsole (think Nike Free)

Even though I’m pretty content with the Kinvara as my everyday, lightweight trainer, the Virrata is kind of intriguing to me. Since I’m trying to become more of a mid-foot striker, the zero-drop design is appealing. Also, it will be a full ounce lighter than the Kinvara, and actually looks a LOT more like the original Kinvara than the current Kinvara 3 (Notice the laces and the the upper). Doesn’t look like it will be able to match the Kinvara in the style department, but might be worth taking a look next spring.

What do you think?

Tonight’s track workout was long and TOUGH. With a storm front bearing down on Nashville, we started everything a few minutes early. Also, even though the temps were slightly lower than the 90 degrees we faced last week, the humidity was NASTY! Here’s a rundown of the night…

• 2-Mile Warmup
• 6 x 100m Stride Outs
• 800m f (300m Recovery)
• 2 x 400m g (200m / 400m Recovery)
• 600m f (300m Recovery)
• 2 x 400m g (200m / 400m Recovery)
• 800m f (300m Recovery)
• Two Laps of Straights & Curves
• 1/2-Mile Cool Down

After our first 800m interval, John broke us up into two groups with Nathan, Sue Anne, and I taking the lead. Both of them were just a hair faster than me tonight, but it was nice to have someone to run with after basically running solo last week. All three of us were struggling with the humidity, especially for me during the 600m interval and the final 800m were my heart rate went above 190.

Even though the humidity was awful, I still managed to crank out fairly consistent splits throughout. My beginning and ending 800m intervals were 2:57 and 2:55 respectively. My four 400m repeats were 1:24, 1:21, 1:21, and 1:21.

The total for the night was 7.2-miles completed with warmup and cool down, and 4.3-miles of this was the actual workout. This is a fairly long workout for our group, and I really felt it at times tonight. However, even though it was a hard one, it was a very good workout. At the end Nathan commented about how this was the type of workout where it would have been easy to quit if you were by yourself. It is really awesome to have the camaraderie and accountability that come from running with our awesome group!

Beast Mode…ON!*

*John said this to me tonight about halfway through the workout with a fist-bump, and I really needed it 🙂

The nasty storms last night left us with two things this morning (1) Cooler temperatures (2) A dense fog. While the fog was obviously a sign of high humidity, it was nice to run in temperatures around 60 degrees.

My schedule this morning called for 60-minutes easy with 6 x 100m stride outs. Nathan and I met in Percy Warner Park next to the Steeplechase course and ran a 2-mile loop through PW before heading over to Edwin Warner for miles 3 through 7. It was a good thing that Nathan wore his “ViZiPRO” colored Saucony Kinvara 2s this morning to help lead us through the fog 🙂

We took the first two miles very easy with splits of 9:16 and 8:55. Unlike yesterday, I was feeling quite a bit of soreness from P90X Legs and Back on Monday, so it took me a little longer to get everything loosened up. Beginning with mile three, we settled into a nice rhythm and cranked out splits of 7:46 (mostly downhill), 8:08, 8:08, and 8:08 for miles 3 through 6. These miles felt very comfortable and relaxed and it was cool to keep seeing 8:08 pop-up on my Garmin. Mile seven was mostly uphill so our time increased slightly to 8:31.

By the end of our 60 minutes we had completed just over seven miles and were back in Percy Warner Park. We finished our 6 x 100m stride outs at just under 6:30 pace, and my leg soreness was very noticeable when trying to run fast. However, my soreness always peaks two days after doing a P90X workout, so things should be much better by time for our track workout tomorrow night.

Anyway, our final total was 7.53-miles completed at 8:18 average pace. As always, it was another enjoyable run with Nathan.

Beast Mode…ON! 

I wasn’t able to get in my schedule 30-minute easy paced run before work this morning, so I decided to hit the streets of Bellevue for a run in my Saucony Hattoris after putting the kids to bed tonight. We had a pretty nasty storm move through Nashville shortly after 5:00pm, which cooled things off a bit into the low 70s, but cranked up the humidity to 11…

Even with the intense humidity, my legs still felt fantastic. No leftover fatigue from the tempo run yesterday, and very little residual soreness from P90X Legs and Back last night. For the thirty minutes I completed 3.83-miles at an average pace of 7:51 per mile. This is a little bit faster than most of my recent “easy” or “barefoot” Hattori runs, but it felt very comfortable. Each mile was progressively faster throughout the run.

Beast Mode…ON!

Was reminded today by my friend Miles Tate that registration for the 6th-Annual Murfreesboro “Middle Half” Marathon (www.themiddlehalf.com) opens this Friday, June 1st, @ 8:00 am CDT. For any of my followers who live in or near the Middle Tennessee area, this is one of the best races you will find.

The race itself will be held on October 13th. Make your plans now, and prepare to register early! Last years race sold out in only 11-days! Don’t be left out!!

I plan to participate for the 4th time, even though it is only 6-days after the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon! Come join me!

I have been wanting to ask you – are you a heel or mid/forefoot striker? And have you had any running injuries? I haven’t seen any since I’ve been following you. 🙂 Thanks for the gear update, I love seeing what others use. Might do my own!

Prior to running in the Saucony Hattoris, I was definitely a heel-striker. Since adding the “barefoot” running to my schedule I’ve slowly been trying to transition to more of a mid-foot/forefoot strike. In my Hattoris I always use a forefoot strike. For my normal runs I’ve been working on shortening my stride and trying to land more on my mid-foot. No doubt that I still land on my heel more often than midfoot, but I can tell a big change in the wear pattern on my shoes, so I know I’m making progress. The biggest thing holding me back from fully transitioning to a forefoot strike is my endurance while running at race pace.

As for injuries I have been very fortunate. I missed quite a bit of training time (including a half marathon) at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, with ITBS. I also missed a couple of weeks with shin splints in mid-2009. I missed another two weeks at the end of 2010 with an arch strain in my left foot. Other than that I’ve just had a lot of minor little things that haven’t caused me to miss too much time. Some of those minor things were in my feet, but those have all but disappeared since I started running in my Hattoris.

I have chronic patellar tendonitis in my left knee that I’ve just learned to live with. By far my worst injuries over the past two years have come from falls rather than simply running. I sprained my right lat during a trail run that caused me some difficulty breathing.

Last Updated October 12, 2012

Running Shoes – All Saucony, All The Time (Find Your Strong!)

Training Shoe – Saucony Kinvara 3

Considering how much I LOVED the Saucony Kinvara 2, I was extremely nervous about all of the changes in the Kinvara 3. However I now think that the K3 is even more perfect for me than the K2. The new features I like best in the 3 include:

• Single layer upper. The 3-layer upper in the K2 sometimes would catch against my big toe, and was not a comfortable.
• Larger toe-box – It is only a touch wider than the K2, but feels much better.
• Sock-like fit is very cozy

Minimal Shoe – Saucony Hattori LC

About a year ago I started running one day per week in the very minimal, original Saucony Hattori (4.4 oz) with the goal of strengthening my feet and lower legs. Since adding these “barefoot” type runs to my schedule I have been able to get rid of all my orthotics and have moved from the bulky Nike Vomero to the Saucony Kinvara as my day-to-day training shoe. Now I usually run one or two days per week in them. The Hattori LC improves on the original with the addition of laces and a little more reinforcement on top of the toe (which was a problem for me in the original).

Trail Shoe – Saucony Peregrine

The Peregrine is made on the same last as the Kinvara, so this seemed like the perfect trail shoe for me when it came out last spring. Just like the “barefoot” runs mentioned above I also try to get in at least one trail run per week to help with lower body strength and balance. The only problem I have with the Peregrine is keeping the laces tied (I need to change them out), but otherwise love this shoe. Great traction and stability, even on rough terrain. Even though the Peregrine 2 came about this spring I probably will not need another trail shoe until next season. I’m curious about the Kinvara TR, but I wonder if it will be substantial enough to handle the trails at Percy and Edwin Warner Parks.

Apparel

Shorts, Tops, & Tights – Pearl Izumi & Lululemon

While I wear lots of different brands while running, by far my two favorite are Pearl Izumi and Lululemon. If I had to pick between the two I’d probably choose Pearl Izumi for two reasons (1) They have lots of colors for men (2) Their fabric tends to be a little lighter and dry faster. As much as I love Lululemon, it baffles me why they don’t have more colors for men. Most everything is only available in various shades of gray.

Socks – RRS DryMax Dry-As-A-Bone Medium Low

I LOVE these socks. Have been running in them almost since the beginning and have NEVER had a blister while wearing them. One pair tends to last me for about two seasons as long as I have several pair in the rotation.

Accessories

Sunglasses – Tifosi Tyrant

I switched from Oakley to Tifosi last year for three reasons (1) They are super lightweight and do not slip (2) The red lenses work well in lots of different light conditions, even when running trails under a tree canopy. They are also fototec lenses that get darker as the conditions are brighter. (3) There is a slit at the top of each lens which helps to prevent fogging up.

GPS Watch – Garmin 405

I have a love/hate relationship with this watch. The “touch bezel” is just horrible. It will not work when it is wet so I’m forced to keep the bezel locked while running. If I don’t lock it, it will just start doing random things as my arms move. Over time I’ve learned to manage the bezel, though it is frustrating to not be able to manually change screens during a run. Other than the bezel, it has a nice feature set, and does just about everything I need a running watch to do. It is much more comfortable and lightweight than my previous Garmin 305. At one point I was having trouble with the battery life, but corrected this by charging it only when it is fully drained. Note….The 410 corrects the bezel problem.

Just like last monday, my schedule today called for 70-minutes total running, which included a 20-minute warmup, 30-minutes at 7:15 pace, and a 20-minute cool down. The temperatures at 6am this morning were in the low 70s with ridiculous humidity.

Nathan and I met in the parking lot of the Forest Home Church on Old Natchez Trace in Franklin. Old Natchez is one of my favorite places to run in the area, but we try to avoid it on weekdays during the school year because of traffic. We completed our 20-minute warmup on a loop, which included Old Natchez, Montpier Dr, and Natchez Dr. with an average pace around 8:30 per mile. This loop actually took us 21-minutes to complete, so we just took one minute off of the cool down run at the end.

For the tempo portion we ran 15-minutes out and back on Old Natchez Trace, Old Hillsboro Road, and Del Rio Pike. We didn’t start off together because Nathan wanted to run a progressive tempo, while I was looking for even splits. When we did this workout last week, I felt really good, but today I felt even better. I tried to focus on staying smooth with my stride and keeping my breathing under control. As a result my average heart rate for the tempo section was 160 today versus 164 last week, even with the higher temps, nasty humidity, and slightly more undulating terrain.

Just like last week the only thing I really had to fight was the urge to run faster than 7:15. My time for the first 2-miles was 14:29, which was 1-second ahead of pace. After making the turn around I felt a little less comfortable during the third mile, which was strange since it was slightly downhill. However, things felt great during the fourth mile. Nathan was in front of me for the second half of the tempo, and I never gained an inch on him. As a matter of fact he gained a little on me. Nathan has been looking really strong the past two weeks.

For the 30-minutes I completed just over 4-miles, and my Garmin showed an average pace of 7:14 (a fraction too fast overall). Nathan also had a good effort with an identical 7:14 average pace. 

After grabbing a quick drink, we finished with a 19-minute cool down using some of the same roads we did during our warmup. As we were talking about the tempo portion, Nathan said that near the end he caught him self singing “Frosty the Snowman,” which seemed to fit his stride perfectly. I said that this must be a subconscience longing for cooler temperatures, and then told a story about how Kate used to sing it as “Kroty the Knowman” before she could pronounce “F” and “S” properly.

Our final total was just under 9-miles completed at 7:55-min pace with warmup and cool down. Great run, and great way to start off Memorial Day!

Beast Mode…ON!

After a great day with the family, which included family pictures in Percy Warner Park and a fabulous dinner at Mere Bulles, Kate is now laying in the bed, pitiful, and shivering with a 102 degree fever. Get well soon my little Kater Bug!

Our group run this morning was a planned 10-mile trail run on the white, red, and candy cane trails in Percy and Edwin Warner parks. My schedule called for 12 to 14 miles at easy pace, so I got to the park a little early for two additional miles before the group run started.

Once the group arrived we ran up the main drive in Percy Warner for about 3/4 of a mile and then connected with the white trail. From the start of the trail run we essentially broke up into two groups, with Nathan, Bob, Kelly, and I taking the lead. About 5 minutes after starting on the white trail I tripped over a root or rock and started going down. Fortunately I had a handheld fluid bottle in my right hand, which I immediately stuck out to absorb the fall. I landed squarely on the bottle and my hand rolled over the top of it slightly scraping some of my knuckles. Other than this I just got really dirty, which was not a big deal.

Other than the fall I was feeling fantastic, even on the steep climbs. When we came to the red trail, we decided to run backwards to meet up with the rest of the group. Once we found them I ran with Paul for a little bit and showed him the “souvenirs” on my knuckles from the fall. He said “wow, so you went down? Down goes Frazier!” This famous quote from Howard Cosell led to an argument between Paul and Grady about which opponent had knocked down Frazier when the Cosell line was uttered. They went back-and-forth between Norton, Ali, and Foreman.

George Foreman knocks down Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973.

They finally agreed it was George Foreman and then launched into another back-and-forth of Howard Cosell impersonations. At this point Nathan and I again broke away from the main group and were soon followed by Bob and Kelly. The four of us continued together on the red trail and then took the candy-cane connector over to the Edwin Warner nature center for a water stop. I was still feeling great all the way to the stop, but it was nice to get a break and some water.

At the Nature Center, the main group again caught back up with us after a few minutes. Paul came up to me and said something to the effect of “Tim, you look like Salazar out there” followed by a description of how my form mirrored that of Salazar. He then said “you look like a real runner.” Before I had a chance to soak in the compliment, Marc came up and said “Tim, he doesn’t mean the famous runner Alberto Salazar, but just an Italian guy he knows named Sal Azar.” Without missing a beat, Paul added that his friend “Sal” runs a “metal emporium.” We had a good laugh! I love my group.

Alberto Salazar leads Dick Beardsley in the famous “Duel in the Sun” – Boston 1982

For the second half of the trail run we headed back down the candy-cane connector to the other half of the red and white trail. For most of this half, Nathan and I ran by ourselves, but were occasionally joined by Bob and Kelly. I told Nathan later that this was as good as I’ve ever felt on a long(ish) trail run in the heat and humidity. My legs felt strong until the last big climb on the white trail coming back when my quads began to scream “UNCLE!”  The total elevation gain for this route was 2,182.5 ft!!

Now THIS is a trail run…2,182.5 ft of elevation gain!

Final total for me was just a hair over 12-miles with an average pace of 10:04 per mile. Nathan’s Garmin showed an average pace of just under 10:00, but I joked with him that this difference was because he failed to pause my watch for me when I fell. He said that next time he would dive into the dirt beside me 🙂 

Overall this was a great run. I love running trails and I felt fantastic today. Nathan also looked strong and it was good to run with him as always.

Beast Mode….ON!

Wow, it was hot at track tonight! 90 degrees at 6pm!! Here’s the rundown on the workout:

• Warmup – 2 Miles Easy
• 6 x 100m Stride Outs
• 3 Sets of 1000m f (200m recovery) / 400m f+ (400m recovery)
• Cool Down – .75 Miles Easy

I felt sluggish all during the warmup as my body was trying to adjust to the warmer conditions. It was quite a shock to my system after a couple of morning runs this week with temps in the 50s and low 60s. By the time we got to the stride outs I started feeling a little bit better, and tried to push the pace a bit to get my body ready for the workout.

John, our coach, was not at the track tonight so we were on our own to complete the workout. Once the first set started I was essentially running by myself (there were two guys who were faster than me, and the rest were behind me). When I finished the first interval and recovery I decided to just go straight into the second interval by myself instead of waiting around for others to join me.

As for the workout, my legs still felt sluggish during the first 1000m but this improved greatly with each set. However, unlike my legs, my breathing and heart rate were really feeling the effects of the heat throughout the workout. In spite of this I was very happy with the consistency of my splits, and came out of the workout with a big confidence boost.

My 1000m splits for the three sets were 3:49, 3:51, 3:49. My 400m splits were 1:24, 1:22, 1:24. The 400m intervals were especially tough tonight since there was only a 200m recovery after the 1000m. This didn’t allow much time at all to bring your heart rate down before starting the 400m interval.

Even though it was very hard in the heat, I thoroughly enjoyed doing the workout with the JSRC (as usual). My final total with warmup and cool down was just over 7-miles completed. After the workout, Olivia and the girls met our group at the Dog of Nashville for an enjoyable dinner. Great night!

Beast Mode…ON!

Whats the Green Team?

David….Kate’s school can get funding from external companies (like Disney) and other organizations by implementing and maintaining certain environmental programs within the school (like recycling). Two students are selected from each class and given the opportunity to be on the “Green Team” which helps with these programs. Kate was one of the two selected for this year from her class, and I believe she has already been invited to be on the team next year as well.

Hey speedy, what’s your 1 mile time? Just for reference… 🙂

I think it is 5:54, though I don’t have a great way to look this up in my log. The only time I really pay attention to my mile time is when we do 4 x 1-mile repeats at track on Thursday nights. Two years ago I had two sub 6-minute miles during mile repeats within the same summer, and I believe they were 5:57 and 5:54. As a point of reference, my best mile before joining this track group was closer to 7:25.

The weather for today’s run was very nice. Finally a spring morning that actually felt like Spring! Temps were in the mid 50s, and the humidity was not too bad at all. The schedule today was for 60 minutes at easy pace followed by 6 x 100m stride outs.

After two really easy miles over 9:00min pace, the average pace for the remaining miles was around 8:40 pace. I tried to keep everything very chill and focus on a short stride with good form. Overall the run felt great except for the lingering soreness from P90X Legs and Back on Monday. I increased my weight slightly for P90X, and today I’m pretty sore. This didn’t really affect my stride, but it was slightly uncomfortable until I got good and loose about halfway through.

I really noticed the soreness again on the stride outs at the end. For the these my pace was around 6:30, which is slightly slower than usual. This had to do with the soreness and also being on a slight incline for all six. My final total with strides was just over 7 miles completed at 8:46 average pace.

Beast Mode…ON!

Not only is today my daughter Sara’s birthday, but it is also the birthday of my dear friend Nathan (@inthewright). Today Nathan and I did a short, but enjoyable trail run on the Blue, Orange, and Yellow trails in Edwin Warner Park.

My scheduled called for 40-minutes easy, so I decided that would be perfect for a nice little jaunt on the trails. Overall the weather was much better than yesterday’s sauna, with temps around 60 degrees and overcast skies.

As we started off on the flat part of the blue trail, we came across a very small, vividly blue bird that hopped down the trail in front of us for a little bit. I made a comment about the color of the bird and Nathan responded with something like “Based upon my research of looking at the hastily crafted bird chart on the back of the bathroom stall in the Nature Center, I would say that is an Indigo Bunting.” I knew exactly what “document” he was talking about and (1) found this funny (2) was amazed that he could remember obscure bird names simply from looking at a chart for a couple of minutes.

Anyway, the Blue trail has one challenging climb (see elevation chart above), but was otherwise perfect for a nice recovery run. My legs felt very good this morning, even on the big climb. This was nice after the tempo effort yesterday and P90X Legs and Back with Olivia last night. Our final total was just under 4-miles at 10:53 average pace. Great way to start the day.

Beast Mode….ON!  ….And Happy Birthday Nathan!

Why Every Runner Should Have An ID Band (Competitor.com) By Cielestia Calbay / featuring yours truly & family

Caballo Blanco’s Last Run: The Micah True Story (New York Times) by Barry Bearak

After two weeks of easy training runs it was nice to get back to a little tempo work this morning. My schedule called for 70-minutes total running, which included a 20-minute warmup, 30-minutes at 7:15 pace, and a 20-minute cool down. The temperatures this morning were in the high 60s, which was fairly nice, but the humidity was somewhat stifling.

Nathan and I met at the Edwin Warner Park Nature Center and completed our 20-minute warmup on the Harpeth River Greenway and through the park at around an 8:30 average. For the tempo portion we ran 15-minutes out and back on the greenway, but didn’t stay together because we were running at a slightly different goal pace.

Everything felt really good throughout this section, and the only thing I had to fight was the urge to run faster than 7:15. The humidity felt uncomfortable but did not seem to have much effect on my legs or breathing. I completed just over 4-miles and nailed the 7:15 average. Nathan also had a good tempo effort with a 7:17 average pace.

After grabbing a quick drink, we finished with a 20-minute cooldown on the greenway and my legs still felt good all the way to the end. Our final total was 9.2-miles completed at just under 8:00-min pace with warmup and cool down.

Beast Mode…ON!

Friday

After a pretty hard track workout last night I was surprised at how good I felt on the run this morning. The schedule called for 50 minutes at easy pace, and I ran in my Saucony Hattoris through the streets of Bellevue with Nathan and Paxton. We kept the pace very chill with the first 3 miles in the low 9:00s, and the final 2.5 miles in the high 8:00s.

Even with the easy run, the humidity was high enough that I was in a full sweat by the end of the first mile. We mixed the route up a bit with a loop around the mostly empty Bellevue Center Mall. Overall another good run with the Bellevue Trio.

Saturday

Today’s group run was through the streets of Belle Meade and incorporated the infamous “Zig Zag” route introduced to us by Edward. Note the “Zig Zag” pattern during miles 2 through 4 in the map below…

We started at Bread and Company on Hwy 100 and I was a bit unsure how many total miles the planned route would include. My schedule called for 12 to 14 miles at an easy pace, and I was hoping to not have to run extra at the end.

The entire group ran together for the first 7 miles, and kept the pace very easy (9:40s to 8:30s). After 7-miles some who only wanted 10-miles total headed back to Bread and Company where we started. The rest of us kept going down Tyne Boulevard to add a few extra miles. After the 8th mile I decided to pick up the pace a little bit and ended up running most of the rest of the route by myself. 

For the next 3-miles I dropped the pace a little below 8:00, and then decided to back off a bit for the final two as a cool down (8:20s). Even though it was fairly warm throughout, I felt really good during the run, and especially during the final 5-miles. Total for today was 13.1-miles at 8:41 average pace.

Beast Mode…ON!