Wordless - one more run for the road

Wordless - Running on the beach

Wordless - sunrise run

Wordless - Shopping

Wordless - In between rain drops

Wordless - rain.

How to stay motivated - experienced runners

I had a post a few days ago about how new runners can stick with the habit, but things are way different for people who've been running a while.  We already know how to run, we feel okay at the gym and we even know how to use the equipment without risking injury.  But it's the middle of January, near record cold, there's ice everywhere and I just want to stay in bed.  I can take a break from running.  Right?  Here's a couple things that have kept me going this month.

Money - My plan for the year is $1,000 for 1,000 miles.  I was reading this post not so long ago.  I knew that plan wouldn't work for me because of the hefty amount of saving it would require for the last several paychecks of the year.  But I was all "I want to run 1,000 miles this year; I should just pay myself $1.00 for every mile I run."  So I started a new savings account; it has about $70.00 in it right now.  It's definitely been a motivator to go out and run, even the mile per day runs add to the total here.  There's some other things I might try, like giving myself an extra reward for making all of my workouts for the week, or running more miles than I'd planned whenever that actually happens. 

Race - I mean sign up for a race that costs money - going along with the "money" theme, I find once I'm financially invested in a race, I'm much more likely to put in the work for it.   Once I'm signed up for a race, then I can design my training plan.  These races are expensive and I want to get my money's worth.   (On a related note, I just signed up for the Flying Pig 3-Way Challenge, so I have training plans through May.)  Just paying the race fee wasn't quite enough to hold myself accountable for my first marathon, so I raised money for charity too.  There were points in training for my first marathon I thought "all these people donated money so now I really have to do this".  I actually ran a second marathon that way too.  Both raised money for Bolder Options which is a mentoring program and one of my favorite charities around.

Exercise Tracking Websites and Gadgets - and they are everywhere.  Sometimes just having the feeling of "I don't want Nike to tell me I missed a day of working out" or "I can subtract more calories if I run further which means junk food tonight" is enough to make me haul my butt out the door.

• Nike+ is the tracking site I've used the longest.  It works with the Nike+ iPod kit, Nike+ GPS on a GPS enabled device, and there's about a billion other apps and gadgets there too.  The site keeps track of my runs, my pacing during the runs, even the weather and the shoe I was wearing. I've used this site forever and am honestly kind of reluctant to switch until I reach the "platinum" runner level with is another 1,200 miles away.  It's the highest level there is.
• Endomondo is another awesome workout tracking app.  I love it because I can switch between running and walking and biking and about fifteen other sports.  The app works on any GPS enabled device.  The website has some great information too.  It can show the fastest segments of my workout, and some pretty specific pace data which I've found helpful.
• LoseIt is a weight loss app.  It helped me to lose weight through exercise because it assigns calorie values to tons of different workouts and intensities.  Run faster: burns more calories.

Rewards Websites -like the sites that track exercise, there's some that go a step further and reward me for my work. I've only used the first site, Earndit.  I did some research for this post and found these other ones as well.

• EarndIt is the only one of these sits I've used.  I've reviewed it before a well.  EarndIt definitely makes me want to track my workouts more.  I think it also makes me chose running over other types of workouts becuase I get more points for running than other types of workouts.  The site has a rewards preview page so you can see the rewards available before signing up that's more rare than you think. More importantly, EarndIt works with vendors and nonprofits.  If I don't see any coupons that appeal to me, I can donate some of my points to charity. Charities are also listed on the Preview page. They seem to change over time. 
• Nexercise is an app that rewards workouts with discounts on merchandise (like EarndIt), and can track weight loss.  I looked on the GooglePlay store and their website to see if I could tell what vendors they work with for discounts but I could not.  Boo.
• Gym Pact is another popular app where you commit to a number of workouts but putting money in the pot and saying you'll do them.  People who do the work get paid and those who slack off pay up.  Requires a phone with GPS and an account with RunKeeper for checking in.
• CharityMiles is a great twist on the exercise rewards game.  Participants earn money for their charities by walking, running or biking.  I checked their webiste and did find a scroll of graphics for the charities they work with but nothing that just had a list.  (I'd write more about your site if the information was easier to find.)  It's basically national charities which may be appealing.

Wordless. Water.

Wordless - Feet in the pool

Running Music - And Where to Find It

In running, there seem to be those who cannot move without music blasting in their ears and those who do not understand.   If you run frequently, those five songs with a good beat can get old quick.  Where to find more music?   (My current answer is "Zumba Class" which may be the opposite of helpful.)  Here's some better suggestions:

InTheGym is my favorite place to get new music.  They do a great job of having all kinds of different genres and gearing it to different sports or workout goals as well.  The site isn't updated frequently or with great regularity which makes me sad.  I keep them in my RSS feeds and I always smile when a new playlist is out. 
 
Pandora is my second favorite, and has several exercise stations.  They're not exactly easy to find on the website.  If you're like me and can't remember where this awesomeness is hidden, do this: Click "New Station" (next to the search bar on the left), and when the menu comes down click "browse genres", then click "workout".  There's several different genres and some divided by sports and activities like dancing.  My favorite is the Latin Workout station, although I've never been in a position to listen to it on a run.  Those of you with a smartphone and unlimited data, let me know what you think.  

GymDJ lists individual songs and has 30-60 minute mixes, again divided by sport and genre.  The mixes tend to be free for download, while some of the individual songs seem to be 30 second samples (to comply with copyright laws I think?).  I haven't been on this site too long.  The RSS feeds are updated regularly and seem to work right (which is a bigger deal than you'd think).  I've never run with a mix but I understand they're quite appealing because there's no song skipping or silence.

JogTunes is a search engine where you can search by genre, artist, who the tempo of the song, or sport.  I'm not clear on how specifically songs wind up in their search engine (would a FAQ be too much?) but they seem to have many genres and a health dose of indie artists.

RunHundred is also new to me but I haven't been wowed so far.  They also reliably update the site with new music.  Sadly, it's all 30 second samples.  The site also doesn't share the "100 list" without providing your email and more information than I want to share, so I can only see the daily song updates.  The constant pop-ups and advertisements on the site are what really does me in.  Somebody with better ad blocking software (or patience) might really enjoy this site. 

Spotify - Can someone please explain this site to me?  (Do I still need someone to invite me?)  I can't say for sure, but have heard it's an excellent place to find new music.  Let me know.

BeeMp3 is just an Mp3 search engine.  It will not help you find new music.  But if you find a great song on one of these other sites and have trouble finding it for download or purchase, there's a good chance it will be here.  I have a don't ask don't judge policy on using this website.

Wordless: dogs

Favorite Running Songs

It's been a while since I've told you about some of my favorite songs for running and working out. I usually opt for a good beat and lyrics that are either uplifting or relevant to my life in some way. (Suddenly this list is like a personality test.)
 
Sweedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child.
Young the Giant - My Body
Nelly - Warrior
Flo Rida ft RedFoo - Run.  I wanna run to you!
Maroon 5 - One More Night Try to tell you no...
Wish Y Yandel Ft Jennifer Lopez - Follow the Leader.  Ole ole!
Kat DeLuna - Drop It Low.  
Nicki Minaj - Starships  I never want to watch this video again.
Raw Jaws - Throw'm Up.  Don't ever listen to a remix of this song.  Found that out the hard way.

For an hilarious look back at some of my other favorite running songs, here's a look at 2010, Flying Pig 2011 and November 2011, and one from 2012.  2012 also helped me discover an entirely different kind of running playlist.   Enjoy.

I didn't track my workout - I feel like I need to do it over again so I know it really happened

I had the busiest day in the world, starting with an hilarious tragedy.  I grabbed a banana and some chocolate chips, gulped them down and headed out.  I definitely should've eaten more.  I spent most of the rest of the day recovering from low blood sugar. 

Run!  I got up for a 730am run with Running Beth around the Ford Lake Loop.  I turned on my Nike app to track the run and learned an important lesson.  Pausing the music also pauses the tracking.  Now this picture is the only proof I have of the run.  I spent most of the day chasing Beth.

Gym and Zumba After the run I headed over to the gym.  I got there early so I got on the bike for a while to keep my legs moving.  I also had a Gu because I knew I'd be starving.  Why is Gu so good when I'm working out and so gross any other time?  Then I headed to Zumba.  Our teacher was a sub.  Subs are always interesting in Zumba.  They play different music which is usually good, but they all have different styles which is usually an adventure. This girl was wild.

Lunch The Qat Lady and I headed over to Pho 79 for lunch.  I badly wanted soup after all my working out in the morning.  I also hadn't given the Qat Lady her birthday presents. In honor of our Colorado trip, I ordered some things from Akinz which is a Colorado company.  I got her a beanie for winter and a shirt for summer.  Predictably the hat went on right away. 

 
Shopping - Round 1 - The Qat Lady and I headed over to pick up my Pooky Bear (our Pooky Bear?) and did some shopping and hanging out.  I needed to pick up a sort of funny Thank You gift for an aunt, and wound up getting myself some dish rags that are cleaned in the dishwasher.  I run my dishwasher every day yes, even though I live alone so these should hopefully be the best things ever.  We also had coffee.  No one was brave enough to go to Target with me.

 
Shopping - Round 2 - I pulled into the Target parking lot and was immediately reminded why I don't come here on a Saturday afternoon.  The store was super crowded, but I knew exactly what I wanted so I made quick work of the trip.  Every checkout lane seemed to be open, so even though it looked daunting, I gout out pretty quick too.

 
Laundry and Cleaning - I spent the rest of the afternoon on my feet doing laundry and cleaning the place up a bit.  I don't have any pictures of that, but I do have an hilarious exchange from Siri and myself. 

Winter Running Workouts: Track, Treadmills and Ellipticals.

Who likes going to the gym in January?  If you raised your hand, seem professional help.  Some people say February is a little better but we have this odd effect in Minnesota of the cold weather keeping gym numbers artificially high that month too.  The other hard part of working out inside is knowing how to design a good running workout indoors.  Please, I don't care that the windchill is -19*, just let me go outside for a run.  Here's what I've learned so far.

 
The Track is for speed workouts.  By 'speed' I mean "it's really fast for me" and I walk in between running laps.  (Most track workouts will have a "rest" period, I just walk because stopping on a busy indoor track isn't always the best option.)  I tend to do workouts where I can count laps instead of worrying about distance or time. Workouts in 1/2 mile or mile increments, or ladder workouts all work well on this track..
Workouts that are done in times (run 2:00, walk 0:30, spring 1:00) don't work so well on the track for a few reasons.  There's a couple spots on the track where I can't see a clock.   Anything that's not a specific distance gives me a hard time counting my total miles.  (I need to know!)  And, I don't like to stop and start at odd places on the track because I don't like people running into me. 
The track is not for running long distances, at least for me.  It's fine for me to spend a long time on the track, just not continuously running in circles. There's a reason I call it the pit of despair.  

The Treadmill is good for pacing workouts because the machine does the thinking for me on the pace.  The treadmill is known to give me panic attacks so I don't get on it very much.  When I do, it's usually because "I want to know what it feels like to run at such and such a pace".  Like the track, I tend to do speed or interval workouts on the treadmill because the only thing that stops the panic attacks is knowing I'm going to get to slow down soon.
For other oddball human beings, the Treadmill is for long runs in the winter.  I've never met one of these people in real life, but I know they exist because I read this one girl's blog...
Treadmills should typically be set to a 1% incline to mimic the friction and resistance of running on concrete.  Also, don't try to stop or stand on the treadmill, it will only lead to comedy and error. 

The Elliptical is for long steady workouts.  At least for me.  I typically select a pre-programmed routine that looks fun, set the goal time to 60:00 and turn the music up loud. At my gym the ellipticals also face some televisions for an added distraction. 
Ellipticals tend to come in a few flavors.  Some work arms and legs, some work just the legs but the incline of the elliptical can be adjusted to simulate hills, and some of the newer ones have an adjustable incline and still work arms and legs. Ellipticals also have a lot of flexibility in how much resistance they offer.  Too much resistance is hard on the muscles (and you will pay for it).  Too little resistance and I feel like I'm going to hyper extend my knees.  The up and down arrows were invented for a reason.  Use them to find the right setting.  I use a higher setting for shorter workouts and a lower resistance for longer workouts.

Why does running in the snow hurt my ankles?

This post could also be titled "why does running in the show shred my legs" and "why the hell was I running in that much snow to begin with?".   I had something of a wild hair last night obviously.  I got up this morning at 6am ask me the last time that happened and headed out for a run.  I knew it snowed more than an inch last night but I was all "I just want to see what it will be like to run in this much snow". 

The answer is Slow.  It will be Slow to run in this much snow.  No one really had their sidewalks shoveled except for a couple intrepid homeowners who were up earlier than me.  Even the parks for the most part didn't have anything plowed.  The exceptions were about 200 yards of trail around Lake Hiawatha and all of Lake Nokomis.  Not even the parkway had been cleared yet.

It was an atypically slow run, even for me.  I felt like I was going to slip when I was running uphill, even with my yak trax on, so I walked in some places.  I got caught at the light every single time I tried to cross Cedar Ave, and that was several times.  My legs feel shredded from running in the snow so much work and my ankles are crazy sore.  They never get sore.  I noticed I was running with much more of a flat foot strike in the deep snow because I needed as much of my foot touching the ground as possible for traction.  I'm assuming that's why my ankles are feeling like they do.

I saw one of the most Minnesota things ever on the way home: a guy shoveling his roof.  If you live here you just understand.  I totally stopped and took a picture.  By the time I got home, I'd done 7 miles.  Long run: accomplished.  I love the part of training where 7 miles is a long run!  Also another win for the Yak Trax and the reflective vest.

  

Superbowl Sunday - How to run on Snow and ice

I felt like garbage most of the weekend.  Today I knew I needed to do a little work and frankly, I was too lazy to scrape off my car and go to the gym.  Also, I felt like crap and didn't want to go to the gym.  The moment it started to snow this afternoon, I knew I had a decision to make.  I put the extra effort in, and laced up the shoes and yak trax and headed out for a quick run.  As predicted, the moment I was moving I felt much better, and went for two miles instead of one.  Some sidewalks had been cleaned from the previous days snow, but some had not.  (City of Minneapolis - I'm looking at your not cleaned sidewalks.) 

At the end of my run, I saw a cyclist out and I thought he totally deserved a picture too.  (Those aren't even snow tires.)  I do live on a 'greenway' but it doesn't get plowed like they really expect bikes to use it all year.  Perhaps similar unplowed sidewalks.  Sigh. 

I came inside and did a quick "finisher' for the workout, since I was feeling so good.  20 knee repeaters on the left, 20 knee repeaters on the right, 20 squats, 20 tricep kickbacks, followed by 19 of each, 18... all the way down to 1.  That's a total of 210 of each.  It took me 17 minutes and I think I did 18 twice.  It's hard to keep track.

When I was done working out, I put on every pair of long underwear that I own and headed out the door to dinner and a movie.  Bonnie cooked.  I love it when Bonnie cooks for me. We saw "Silver Lining Playbook".  It was either a flawed movie or a flawed ending.  Personally, I think the movie was awesome and the ending was flawed but predictable.  My favorite part (not a spoiler) was when two of the characters ask each other "what drugs are you on?" and then compare notes on things like effexor, abilify and trazadone.  So damn funny.  Also, we were the only people in the theater.