Marathon Thoughts.

Gets me laughing every time!

Follow the music

So I finally made a new playlist for my long run, which lately has been surpassing an hour (!!!) Its mostly rock and alternative, which I selected with the help of Jog.fm which shows you songs that would match whatever pace you run. I found a lot of songs that I am so stinkin' excited to break out for my next long run!

Here are a few of my favorites from the new playlist:

Viva la Vida - Coldplay

Rolling in the Deep- Adele (Man that gal can SING!)

Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

New Shoes- Paolo Nuntini

Here It Goes Again- Ok Go

Final Reel - Scythian ( Okay so I listen to this one ALL the time when I run, but these guys are awesome!)

Needle and Haystack Life - Switchfoot (These dudes make a frequent appearance on my playlists, they are very motivating)

Run the World (Girls) - Beyonce (My guilty pleasure, awesome beat!)

Anyway, I was needing something to mix things up as I approach my 7 mile long run next weekend, I hope to work up to a 10 miler in the coming months. Since I'm slowish (9:45 miles) they take a while.

Any favorite running songs? Share in the comments!

Born to Run

So I started reading Christopher McDougall's book Born To Run and I am so fascinated by the people the book is about, they're called the Tarahumara.

Check this out:

I've been interested in minimalist footwear and barefoot running for a little while, and I do wear minimalist shoes (zero drop heel, minimal cushioning) and from what I can tell I do land at least mid-foot, which is close to ideal (ball of the foot) There are no peer reviewed studies out yet, so most of the benefits of barefoot running are anecdotal or conjecture. There is a market now full of $100 dollar minimalist shoes, which I feel defeats the purpose, the Tarahumara shod their feet with old tires or nothing at all. As far as barefoot running is concerned, I feel like it is a good bet based on our evolutionary background. We are built to run, so why cushion the heck out of our feet?

Anyway, thats just my jumbled thought streamon the matter rambling along.

Zoinks...

Have I mentioned I hate strength training?

Its boring, you don't go anywhere, and it kills more than running ever has. I guess thats why I need to do it more? I was stuck inside due to extremely gusty winds and snow. Usually weather isn't a deterrent for me to run outside, but I made an exception for the 5 degree wind chill and 50 mph wind gusts.

I did circuits of step ups, lunge kicks, and squat jumps for legs, various ab exercise's totaling 112 reps (!!!) and for arms I did about 30 push-ups, 16 bench presses with 12 lb weights, and 24 triceps dips.

O_o

Woah, now that I actually added that all up no wonder my entire body was jelly when I was done. 

Anyway, tomorrow is a long run, maybe push up to 6.5 miles. We'll see if the weather is tolerable.

If at first you don't succeed...

Yet another post after a months long absence, no wonder no one reads this blog.

As far as my running is concerned, I am still upping my weekly mileage and lengthening my long runs. I have worked up to a 10k (6.2 miles) so I'm happy about that. I really need to work on my speed though, I feel like I am going slower during my runs than I have in the past, possibly related to the increased mileage?  I guess I'll just keep at it and do more speed work.

For this new year, I haven't really set any goals as far as fitness is concerned, here are a few off the top of my head:

Add more strength training to my weekly workouts.


Run a half marathon in the fall.


If I get pregnant between now and 2013, keep running anyway.


Don't stop running. Period.


Those seem like some reasonable goals, hopefully I can complete them all (well the pregnancy one is out of my hands. lol)


On a different note, lately I have become a running gear junky. I don't have copious amounts of cash to spend on a nice running jacket, or a cute technical tee, but adding them to my Amazon wishlist makes it seem like I could actually have them someday. Right now though I need to focus on replacing my shoes, as they are nearing their expiration date(6 months), which makes me sad. :( I really like the idea of getting new shoes, don't get me wrong, but these shoes are the ones I bought when I started running for real. I'll be running in them past their expiration date though, since I haven't racked up that much mileage in them anyway...

Hiatus.

Not from running, just blogging. I've never been too consistent making entries into the many blogs I have started, I was hoping this one would be the exception. Heh. Well, I'll keep trying anyway.

Just a quick update, I have started a new training plan, which incorporates speed workouts and distance runs sprinkled with regular length slow runs. I'm into the second week of a 8 week repeatable schedule, and I really like it so far. Yesterday I did a 40 minute "fartlek" run (Swedish for "speed play") and I really enjoyed it! I went farther than I have ever gone with non-stop running, about 4 miles. I like that I have been able to progress at a nice steady rate so far, I hope I can reach my goal of a half marathon by next year, unless I get pregnant between now and then of course. ;-) I'm totally going to run as much as I can when I'm pregnant though, I'm sure  future baby would enjoy the ride! I've noticed that my pace has picked up, being an average of 10/min per mile, which isn't too bad for someone who started running a few months ago. I hope to cut it down to a 9-8.30min/mile pace in the future.

I like how when I finish a goal, I automatically have a new one, it keeps things exciting.

Oh and I signed up for my first 5k race on October 8th.  O_O

I'm a runner!!!!

I finally did it! I ran 30 minutes without stopping! WOW! I ran with a good friend, and it was awesome! My family has also been in town for the last few days and coming with me for my runs. I realized I really enjoy running in groups or with another person, running solo isn't as much fun. Maybe I'll enjoy running solo sometimes, who knows. Anyway, I'm done with the program, and now I am going to start doing my own thing as far as running goes. I'm so psyched!