Quality Miles, Not Quantity

I've been slacking on running.  But improving on weight lifting!  I'm gonna be soooo strong.  And that is extremely sarcastic.  But I do want to have a much stronger core and upper body for the purpose of running faster.  I am pretty sure I slouch when I run and that is not good.  I did my weights 2 days last week and did them yesterday and plan to again on Wednesday and Friday.

My workouts last week:

Monday - weights

Tuesday - REST

Wednesday - weights

Thursday - REST

Friday -24 minute run in Denver

Saturday -4 hour hike

Sunday -  59 minute trail run

Total Mileage =17 miles

So that obviously wasn't as much running as I'd like.  I can't even blame it on the travel because the running I did do was while I was in Denver.  At least I can feel confident that it was quality training.  The combination of the altitude and the hills and terrain will whip you into shape fast! Quality of miles is more important than quantity of miles for half marathons I think. Full marathons might be the opposite.

 

My goal for last week was 30 miles.  And like usual, I came up short.  There are still 9 weeks left until the Phoenix Half Marathon.  I just need to learn how to motivate myself.  I haven't gotten up early to run before work on a weekday since at least June.  And it's so much harder to after work now that it's dark so early and it's so cold.  But I say that all the time.  Time to suck it up and deal with either the cold/darkness or the treadmill.

I'm getting better at taking pictures at least.  Maybe that was just because I was on vacation though.  I can do a sweet side braid in my hair.  Positive self talk!  I hope it works because I need to head out the door on my run now  :)

Here's what's hot in Chicago right now:

Christmas 24/7 on the radio!!  It's the most wonderful time of the year! (but not for running) Remember when I listened to Christmas music in August??

Also speaking of music, I'm desperately waiting for Katy Perry to announce her US tour dates.  She made it seem like she would do so yesterday, but only announced her UK dates. Up until I went to the Bon Jovi concert with Christina a few weeks ago, I had only ever been to country concerts but I would LOVE to see Katy Perry.

How do you manage negative thoughts if you don't meet your training goals?

Do you save Christmas music for after Thanksgiving or are you already listening?

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My Chicago Marathon Playlist

Here is my Chicago Marathon Playlist in the exact order that I listened to the songs.  I know this exact order because I did not have it on shuffle...which was fine at the beginning but when I ran into 8 straight Shania Twain songs during my hardest miles, I probably should've just switched to shuffle.  But I did not.  I think a lot of the time I wasn't even focused on the music anymore so I didn't notice as much.

Teenage Dream

The New Workout Plan

People Like Us

It's Time

Here's To Never Growing Up

I'mma Shine

Jai Ho

Yo Te Esperare

Roar

Wake Me Up

The Phoenix

Dynamite

Gangnam Style

Escape

The Bad Touch

Wired to the T

Club Can't Handle Me

American Girl

Cecilia

The Fox

At this point I was about 10 miles in, running through Old Town.
  

Sandstorm

Stacy's Mom

Hey Julie

The Middle

Sweetness

Bleed American

The Great Escape

Love Drunk

Eye of the Tiger

Hold On

Then came my Shania miles.  And Celine Dion.  Canada produces great singers.
 

Man! I Feel Like A Woman!

Any Man of Mine

That Don't Impress Me Much

Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under

Honey, I'm Home

Up!

Love Gets Me Every Time

Don't Be Stupid

It's All Coming Back to Me Now

I'm Alive

Ready to Run

Ready to Run

Yes, Ready to Run came on twice in a row...must have accidentally added it twice, and didn't bother to switch it.
 

The Rockafeller Skank

Footloose

Tubthumping

Shake It

Sk8ter Boi

YMCA

The YMCA was a great idea even though I was not gonna waste energy doing the arm motions while running.  I do regret the fact that the Macarena didn't make it on my playlist.
 

So What

Raise Your Glass

Hollaback Girl

4 My People

When I Grow Up

If I Had You

And then I finished.  I still had a few more songs on the playlist that I never got to:

Bottoms Up

That's My Kinda Night

Cruise

Aw Naw

See You Again

Five Minutes to Midnight

Hakuna Matada

It means no worries.
 

I Made It

Up All Night

I Want You

Chelsea Dagger

Who Let the Dogs Out

Human

All the Small Things

Sexy and I Know It

Rollout

Yeah

Ghostbusters

Born to Fly

Down

I'm a little upset I didn't get to listen to a few of these because some were specifically suggested to me and are great songs that would've been awesome. 

I tried to put Teenage Dream on again when I got to the last 300m but I couldn't quite get the buttons pressed anD decided just to finish with what was on.  And then I crossed the line, stopped my watch, put on Teenage Dream, and wished someone would dance with me.

But you live and you learn and now I know where I should improve my playlist for my next race.

How to Not be an Excuse Machine

Last night, I wasn't sure what kind of run I was going to do when I started.  I had a couple of ideas and figured I'd go on feel.  The two options I came up with were an 8-10 miles normal run around 8 minute pace or a shorter, slightly faster-than-normal paced run.  I started off towards the lake and took about a half mile to really get going, but by the time I got to the lake, I felt good.

The route I take to get to the lakefront path (which is basically just a direct route there from my apartment) is exactly a mile.  So once I got onto the path, I picked up the pace and wanted to hit 7:40/mile.  I decided I'd aim to do this for 4 miles, but I felt surprisingly good, so went for 5 and my splits were actually a bit faster than my goal pace of 7:40!  Then I ran the mile back home (in the dark...I'm turning into a night runner, it's weird) super relaxed and it felt wonderful.

8:11, 7:40, 7:29, 7:29,  7:32, 7:32, 8:15

I only have a few solid weeks of training left before tapering, but I'm going to try to do more of my runs at this pace (kind of in-between a tempo pace and a relaxed pace) to get used to the pace I'd like to run the marathon at.

(I love finding quotes on Pinterest - this one is on my running quotes board!)

Sometimes I am a straight-up excuse machine.  Last night I decided not to be one - even though this is a relatively small-scale example.  Once I cross over Lake Shore Drive to get back to my apartment, there are 2 paths I can take through the park - one goes around the softball fields and one cuts straight through the fields and therefore is a bit shorter.  So over the past couple weeks, tired Colleen on her way home from an evening run takes the path that is maybe .1 - .2 miles shorter.  I use the excuse that by this time it's dark out and this path is better lit with the lights from the soccer and softball fields and I don't want to get attacked in the dark in a park.  But really I think I probably just want to get home and done with the run ASAP.  In all actuality, the difference is only about a minute I bet, but I can gladly say I got in that extra minute last night.  Woohoo!

I came up with some tricks that I am going to try to use to not be such an excuse machine and wanted to share them to hopefully help others too:

• Remind yourself why you are training.  Think of your end goal.  Yesterday, I had to just think of the Chicago Marathon and my goals for it.  Even though the distance between those two paths in the park is minimal, taking the longer route like I should instead of cutting it short will help me more in the long run!
• Ask yourself if the excuse is really plausible.  My excuse was that I should take the shorter path because the longer path is not as well lit and I could be attacked since it's dark out.  While this is obviously possible and I should be careful, I probably have just watched one too many episodes of SVU.  People get attacked in broad daylight too, so should I always be afraid to go outside?
• Don't give yourself time to make an excuse.  Action precedes motivation.  As Nike says, JUST DO IT.  Motivation will follow.  Forget the excuse and just do what you need to do before you can over-think it anymore.
• Ask yourself who the excuse is benefiting.  YOU are most important.  One time I went for a run and was going to cut it about 2 miles short because I had to go to a speaker at 7pm (good excuse to do a shorter run).  I decided my options were (a) finish the 8 miles I wanted to run and show up to the presentation without showering,  (b) run 6 miles, get home and shower, and get to the presentation on time, or (c) run all 8 miles, get home and shower, and show up about 10 minutes late.  I had a breakthrough in my thinking.  Who is benefiting if I cut my run short to get to the presentation at exactly 7pm?  Not me.  All I would miss in the first 10 minutes is introductions and the like.  The speaker?  Sure I might get a few looks from people and from the speaker if I walk in a little late, but they'll forget about it after 2 minutes as long as I don't cause a huge scene.  The only person whose life is ultimately affected is my own.  Being 10 minutes late to a presentation would have no effect on those peoples' lives, but it would affect my own run.  Sometimes you just need to think of yourself first, which is hard for some people.

And I decided to pick a song of the day - People Like Us by Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson is probably one of my favorite non-country singers (even though I think she is somewhat trying to be country?).  I had a minor freak-out during my run last night about 3 miles into it and then this song came on and I guess it kind of calmed me down.  In the past, if I had a "freak-out" in the middle of the run, I would just stop and walk and call it a day.  Today I was able to run through it and re-frame my thoughts (mostly some negative thinking on the upcoming marathon and general over-thinking about things) and finish my run as planned.

In other pop culture "news," I watched The Hunger Games last night on Netflix.  The 2nd movie comes out at Thanksgiving, so I think I'll have to read all of the books again in the next couple months.

I saw the professional photos from the Chicago Half Marathon this past weekend and obviously have a few things to comment on my own running form/style, so get pumped for that tomorrow!

Do you make up excuses or are you able to talk yourself out of taking the easy way out?

What is your song of the day?

I Ran 19+ Miles Last Night

Yesterday afternoon, I made the executive decision to try doing my long run after work.  Why?

• I'm going to a lake house in Michigan this weekend with Angela and her family!  Angela and Olivia are training for the Chicago Marathon too so I'm sure we will get in some awesome runs up there together.  However, I know that alcohol will be involved this weekend, so I really don't trust myself to be 100% sure that I'd get in a run as long as I want to while I'm up there.
• I considered doing the long run Saturday morning, but I figured if I get it done during the week I could leave earlier for the lake house.
• What better way is there to spend a Wednesday night?  It was actually cooler out than it has been the past few days...definitely still hot though.

I figured I would start going and if I felt terrible I could always stop and just make it a regular distance or slightly longer mid-week run.  I probably shouldn't even give myself options like that and just do what I'm supposed to.  But, I ended up making it through all of my 18 planned miles, plus some!

First of all, here's what I had as a little pre-run meal:

(There was more Smart Start in there before I took the picture...)

I also updated my running playlist with a few new songs before I left.  Some of the songs that were really great during this run were:

Come on Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
Kokomo - The Beach Boys
Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
That's My Kinda Night - Luke Bryan
Rollout - Ludacris
I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet A Woman - Britney Spears
Get Big - Dorrough
Alive - Krewella
Runnin's Out of Moonlight - Randy Houser

Normally I would just let you assume that Teenage Dream would always be on this list, but want to know something? I didn't listen to it at all during this run.  2 hours and 34 of my playlist on shuffle and it never came on.  I thought about putting it on near the end of my run, but then I was finished before I knew it!

It is about a mile from my apartment to the lakefront path.  I ran north just about as far as the path went and then turned back to head south.  I did not stop a single time during the whole first 1 hour and 30 minutes of my run.  When I got to North Ave Beach, I took my Gu and a bathroom break and then continued on my merry way further south all the way to Navy Pier.  By the way, the "Chocolate Outrage" flavored Gu tastes just like chocolate frosting.  It's like dessert combined with running!

I had to take a little 30 second break to get this picture in.  I also probably stopped each mile from miles 13-16 for a quick water break since there are fountains along the path.  The last half of my run was completely in the dark.  It was a little scary at times, but I made it home safely...obviously, or I would not be writing this.  I ran all the way to the end of Navy Pier and then back onto the lakefront path to head back home.  I was almost done!!  Once I got on North Avenue and had only 10 minutes left to run until I reached what I figured was about 18 miles (I didn't have the Garmin so I was just going off of time), I decided I felt awesome and was going to go for 20.  I kept adding on, just around the city streets.  This made me more nervous because of cracks/uneven sidewalks and I couldn't really see, so I was afraid I was going to trip!

I made it back home at 2 hours and 34 minutes, which I knew wouldn't be quite 20, but figured it'd at least be 19.  I mapped it out to 19.25 miles!!  That averages out to exactly 8 minute pace, which I am really happy with.  And I actually think I maintained that pace the entire time.  When I stopped at North Ave Beach, I was at 11.25 in 1:30, which is also exactly 8 minute pace.  So, no majorly slowing down at the end!  During the whole first half I felt like I was really cruising and doing very well.  Miles 12-16 were a bit tougher, but then I felt great again at the end.  I think this was the strongest I've ever felt on such on a long run!

After the run, however, I did not feel so hot.  I felt like I was going to pass out and needed to sit.  It was hard to prioritize between stretching, showering, and just laying to rest for a few minutes.  Erin came to pick me up to take me to Walgreens for some essentials.  She was a savior!  I needed chocolate milk and I needed sugar (not pure sugar, I mean in candy form).  I also considered getting ice to take an ice bath, but decided to hold off on that.  This was my post-run meal:

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep, so I got out of bed and watched an episode of Desperate Housewives and made pasta at 3am.  I was so hungry.  There was some cool stuff that I saw or thought about during this long run that I was going to write about, but this is long enough already and since I'm taking today off of running, I can just write about that fun stuff tomorrow!

Have you ever done a really long run or workout on a weeknight after work?

Do you like running at night/in the dark?

What do you like to eat before or after a run?

Christmas Music in the Summer?

Since I had a guest post yesterday instead of giving you my usual run-down (pun intended...I crack myself up), here's the scoop on the runs I did this weekend and a few other noteworthy activities.

Yesterday morning I ran 13 miles at an average 7:56 pace.  My fastest mile was 7:42 and slowest was 8:05.  The rest were all fairly consistent at right under 8 minute pace.  Since I've been doing my last couple long runs on my own, I decided to meet up with the Coach Brendan Running group at 6am.  It was still dark out when I woke up.  That shouldn't happen on the weekends.  I actually ended up running by myself the whole time instead of with anyone from the group, so I was glad I brought my iPod.

I made a new running mix that has quite the variety of songs.  Life is a little weird when you go from a rap song straight into a church song.  I'm a fan of everything.  Here were some of the songs I recall particularly enjoying on the run:

• You Make My Dreams - Daryl Hall - Thanks to Grace for sending me this song recently.  If you don't have Spotify, you need it.  And then you need to send me some of your favorite songs.
• Kanye's New Workout Plan - Kanye West
• Drunk Last Night - Eli Young Band - I think this is my favorite song right now.
• Wired to the T - Dorrough - If this song doesn't just get you pumped while running (or whenever), I don't know what would.
• Hell on the Heart - Eric Church
• You Are Holy - Michael W. Smith
• Red - Taylor Swift

I'd like to thank my friend Carly for inspiring me to listen to rap while running.  It really does work nicely.  Carly is also training for the Chicago Marathon and always posts on Facebook with her motivating running song of the day...and it's almost always rap, so I decided to go for it.

And since we are already talking about music, I have to disclose that I listened to Christmas music last week.  Catherine made me a CD for my birthday, which included some Christmas songs because she knows I love them.  I will say though that I only listened to a few songs one day because I don't want to get Christmas music burnout before the Christmas season and I obviously had to listen to the CD she made me.  It'd be rude not to.  It is fun to be driving down the highway and know that all the other drivers have no idea I'm listening to Christmas music right now in August.  But now that I got that little bit in, I'll wait another few weeks before listening again.

Also related to music, here's a little tidbit I got from a Dove chocolate yesterday:

I always am, Dove, I always am.

After yesterday's long run, I went to Jim and Christina's new apartment.  They have a pool at their building, so Christina and I laid out there for a few hours.  I wore sunscreen this time, but I had my head turned to the side the whole time as we talked, so half of my neck got a little red.  Jim was doing manly handyman tasks around the apartment, but he was kind enough to take a break and bring us some Lime-A-Ritas (and UD coozies).

This morning I met up with my friend Christopher who I had not seen since I left my old job in May, so it was great to catch up!  We had been talking for like a year about running on this dirt trail that goes through Wicker Park and we finally did it.  It was basically old train tracks that are no longer in use and have overgrown with dirt and grass...a little sketchy though, so probably not somewhere I'd run alone.  But in the middle of the day with a friend was a great time to try it!

What are some of your favorite running songs or genres?

Have you ever listened to Christmas music not during the Christmas season?

Do you like to go explore new places to run?

Sweet 16 Miles: A Poem

To tell you about my long run today, I decided to write a little poem.

Sweet Sixteen Miles

I woke up so early that it wasn't even light out,

To do a long run on a somewhat planned route.

I took off from the house at exactly 6,

With my Garmin, iPod, and sweet running kicks.

The first few miles felt relaxed and easy,

And luckily the weather was a little breezy.

I ran all through Des Plaines to Maine West,

And as much as I wanted to, I didn't stop (yet) to rest.

Cath and I ran cross country camp there in high school,

Talking about iPods and how Kenny Chesney was so cool.

Then I did a loop around a small lake,

And stopped to take this pic and a short stretch break.

A few miles later I stopped in a McDonald's for some H2O,

And took half of my Gu so my legs wouldn't slow.

By this time I was really starting to tire, 

But I knew I felt better than on my long run 2 weeks prior.

I stopped at the YMCA for water break number 2,

To get ready for the last few miles and take the rest of my Gu.

I once again finished at the house at exactly 16 miles,

And came inside to breakfast and smiles.

So there you have it, in poetic form. But I'll give you a few more details too.

My plan was to do 18 today, but I was happy enough with the 16 today. I definitely felt a lot better (both during and after) than I did during the 16 mile run I did 2 weeks ago. Didn't necessarily feel great, but at least better. Most splits were right on 7:55-8:00 with a few faster and a few right over 8 minutes.

Some jams that were really getting the job done today:

- I Be Goin Hard

- Counting Stars

- Safe and Sound

- Teenage Dream (as always)

- Snap Yo Fingers

So when I said I came home to breakfast and smiles, I unfortunately did not eat any of the breakfast. As delicious as it looked, I was not hungry right after I ran and we had to get on the road to Green Lake, WI. So here's the breakfast I had in the car.

We are about 2 hours into the trip now with this guy behind the wheel. Dad insisted that we take the back roads through Wisconsin to make sure we take in all the scenery.

He was a tad happier then than he is right now after a few unexpected detours and A LOT of group text messages among all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. But I'm sure we will be all smiles again once we get to the lake. :)

16 Miles and Learning to Play Piano

This morning I did my longest run so far in this round of marathon training!  It was actually my longest run since the Chicago Marathon in 2011.  On Coach Brendan's schedule for today was a 16 mile "cascading" run of 9 miles at long slow distance pace, 6 miles at 10 seconds faster per mile, and 1 mile cool down.

I did not meet the running group this morning, but set out to do it on my own.  I brought the Garmin so I could track my distance and speed.  Total time was 2:09:10, which is an average of 8:04 pace.  Mile splits were: 7:53, 7:50, 8:08, 8:15, 8:08, 8:14, 8:07, 8:19, 8:05, 7:56, 7:40, 7:53, 8:21, 8:16, 8:05, 7:50.

I should go treat myself to a manicure this afternoon I guess...

So I did the first 2 miles a little faster than I intended to, but then slowed myself down.  I did miles 9, 10, and 11 under 8 minute pace again, but then wasn't feeling super so I slowed back down and then pushed the last mile.  So technically I did do 6 miles at an under-8 minute pace, just not all in a row.

I ran past the J. Smith's house and Ryan was playing baseball in the yard, so I stopped to say hi to him and Aunt Mary Jayne for a few minutes.  Then I continued on and stopped at the Colmone's house where Katie and Kelly were waiting for me to arrive with water so I could take my Gu.  It was my first time trying the Tri-Berry flavor.  I think I'll add that to flavors I like, now joining Strawberry Banana and Chocolate in that category.

After the run, I was NOT feeling good.  But after a shower, quick stretch, and a lot of water, I felt a little better.  Then I got to have lunch with Aunt Bernadette, Katie, and Kelly at Panera because Katie is home for 2 weeks!!!

Since I had to get to bed at a decent time last night to do the long run this morning and wasn't planning to go out, I had to come up with something to occupy myself.  I decided to use YouTube to try to teach myself some songs on the piano.  At the suggestion of a friend, I started with Mad World but it was kind of hard and I decided to go with a more fun song that I could get into - Teenage Dream.  I just tried to upload a video of my skills (VERY loose term), but the upload failed.  I'll have to play around with that more later because I am proud of what I have learned...although it may not seem like much yet.  I can't seem to get down playing with 2 hands at once...way too much coordination involved in that.

Another awesome thing: Angela is coming to Chicago next weekend!!  So we will get to do a long run together - I'm thinking 18 miles!  That should be perfect to have her to run with after doing today's long run alone.

Have you ever tried to learn something new on a whim?

What is the best part of your weekend?

How do you treat yourself after a long run or hard workout?

Fast 400s and Random Thoughts of the Day

I met Mac at the track tonight to get in a speed workout.  He came up with a few things for us to do, but for the most part we made it up as we went.  Here's what we did:

1 mile normal
1 mile of striding the straight-aways and jogging the curves
4 x 400m fast
.25 walk, .25 jog cool-down

This workout seemed short, but it was tough.  We did the 400m repeats as a partner workout so the "rest" was doing a plank while the other person ran their 400.  My times were 1:22, 1:28, 1:31, 1:32 so obviously I started a little fast.  I haven't done this type of speedwork in FOREVER so I really am not a good judge of my pace.  Even though the total mileage of the workout was short, I was happy with it because it felt like we really worked hard.

Teenage Dream was on the radio this morning.  In case you (a) don't know me well enough to know how much I love this song and (b) didn't read my post on Monday which once again reiterated how much I love this song, now you know.  It makes me the happiest when I hear it on the radio because that means that probably about 415,603 people in the Chicago-land area are listening to it at the same time as me.  But those people probably aren't having as much fun dancing in their car as me and sending 10 second videos of myself dancing in my car to my friends.  Thanks to snap chat for being such an enabler of weirdness and how to pass time while at red lights.

My mom left for Disney World tonight.  She is going with Aunt Sonja, Hanna, and Jane, for what seems like a fun little girls trip.  I went with them a few summers ago and we had fun and I got my fill of Disney theme parks for the next couple years at least.  I know it's the happiest place on Earth, but I think it can be a little too much to handle.  I would rather have a relaxing vacation.  I would like to do the Disney Marathon Weekend again though!!

 

Something else I really love is matching outfits.  In a journal last week, I started a list called "Things I Love."  One of the items on the list is matching outfits.  Hanna and I have matching outfits sort of in that first picture with our stripped shirts, green shorts, and awesome 3D glasses.  I don't think we even planned that out.  But we are cousins and able to do cool things like that.  And now I want to share other things that are on my list of "Things I Love" and I know everyone is just dying to know but I will hold off for now and highlight those in future posts.  I'll probably talk about matching outfits again too because obviously Angela and I plan to have matching outfits for the marathon!

My Current Running Playlist - July 2013

I updated my running playlist recently and wanted to share it with you.  Also, I would really really love any suggestions anyone has for good workout/running songs!  I can usually be all over the place with my music depending on what kind of mood I'm in, but in general these are the songs that are always work for me while I run.

Colleen's July 2013 Running Playlist

Yo Te Esperare - Cali Y El Dandee

Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

Cruise - Florida Georgia Line

Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna

It's Time - Imagine Dragons

Wagon Wheel - Darius Rucker

22 - Taylor Swift

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

What's My Age Again - Blink 182

 We'll Be Coming Back - Calvin Harris

I Love It - Icona Pop

The Other Side - Jason Derulo

Clarity - Zedd

Jai Ho - Pussycat Dolls

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

Up - Shania Twain

Uprising - Muse

Alive - Krewella

I Drive Your Truck - Lee Brice

Two Pink Lines - Eric Church

Runnin' Out of Moonlight - Randy Houser

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Cups - Anna Kendrick

Crash My Party - Luke Bryan

Red - Taylor Swift

Safe and Sound - Capital Cities

 

Right now it seems like my playlist is a lot of the current pop-y/top 40-ish songs.  Sometimes I get into other phases like boy bands or rap (which is exceptionally good for running in a bad mood) or other random genres.

Yo Te Esperare has been on my running playlist for about a year and a half.  Last spring (of 2012), Mariel introduced this amazing Spanish song to me.  It was #1 on the charts in Spain and for as many times I listened to it during that busy season at work on repeat, I was unsuccessful in single-handedly making it big in the US.

Teenage Dream will always be on my running playlist and every playlist I ever make for anything.  If there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I love this song and it will never ever get old to me no matter how many times I listen to it.

I Drive Your Truck is kind of a weird song to have on a running playlist since it is slow, but I really like the song so it is on there.  Same with Crash My Party.

I really like when my socks match my shoes. Ignore the small hole in the toes... I did about a 7 mile run today. I didn't want to bring a watch so not sure on the time but I think I was going a slower-ish pace which I'm fine with since I didn't run last week. I did the 7.7 mile forest preserve loop and the first 4 or so miles were continuous but then the last half of the loop I had to stop for a bathroom and then took 2 short walking breaks. It was so hot, especially at this time of evening! I'm supposed to do a track workout tomorrow so hopefully that will get me feeling stronger again.

What is your favorite genre to run to?  Or some of your best workout songs?

Do you have a song that you will never get sick of?

Do you take walking breaks on your runs sometimes?

Working Out @ Work

I'd much rather run outside than on the treadmill, especially when the weather is decent like today.  But I had a tempo run planned and I don't really trust myself to know proper pacing/distance when I'm running outside by myself.  I'll give it a whirl next week though to test out how I do.  Today I couldn't seem to get up early because I didn't sleep well last night and work is really slow right now, so I figured I could take a longer lunch break and use the work gym to get this tempo run done.

I'm pretty sure no matter how hard you try, if you have to pack a bag to work out either after work or during work, you will forget something.  For me today, it was a hair brush and deodorant.  I should probably just buy another deodorant to keep in a gym bag and also throw in my travel hair brush.  The hair brush wasn't a huge deal because I can just throw it up in a bun per usual without it looking too terrible.

I got on a treadmill all ready to go and couldn't seem to figure out how to turn it on.  So I was looking all around and pressing buttons and then just moved over to the one next to it.  The same thing happened, so I figured I just didn't know how to turn the darn treadmill on.  Eventually, I asked the guy that was a few treadmills over and he said "those 2 don't work."  Gee, thanks for telling me while you clearly saw me trying to turn them on.  He wasn't even listening to music or running that fast, so it couldn't have interrupted his workout that much to just tell me before I wasted 5 minutes.

So anyways, here's the run-down of my workout.  I did a 2 mile warm-up @ 8:00 pace, which felt nice and easy.  Then I picked it up to 7:13 pace for 1.5 songs (Footloose and Teenage Dream),  7:08 for 2 songs (I Love It and The Other Side), 7:03 for 2 songs (Jai Ho and Thunderstruck), then to 6:57 for 1 song (Alive).  This got me to 3.25 miles at tempo pace and I needed to stop.  Plan was to do 4 miles at tempo, but it just wasn't going to happen today.  I did a 5 minute cool-down on the elliptical then so I could get back to work.

What do you usually forget when you have to pack a bag to work out?

What is your favorite song to run to right now?