Running Tunes

Happy Rainy Hump Day to my fellow Texans...and wherever else it might be raining out there!

First off, I wanted to start out by saying a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been reading my blog and for all of the encouraging feedback I've been receiving. It's been exactly one week since I've started this blog and I'm proud to share that I've had over 630 views! That's amazing y'all! Thanks again and I hope you continue to keep reading and sharing my blog with whomever else might be interested in keeping up with my goal. 

Today I'm going to share some of my favorite running tunes. Listening to music while running pumps me up and gives me some much needed motivation to keep going the extra mile...pun intended :) 

My top 6 favorite current songs on my running playlist:

1. We Run the Night - Havana Brown & Pitbull

2. Turn Up the Music - Chris Brown

3. Let Me Love You - Ne-Yo

4. Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding

5. Catch My Breath - Kelly Clarkson

6. As Long As You Love Me - Justin Bieber....sorry guys, but it has a good beat!

My top 6 favorite songs of all time on my playlist:

1. Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson

2. Monster - Kanye West & Jay-Z

3. We Found Love - Rihanna

4. Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

5. Too Little Too Late - JoJo....Yes, I can run to somewhat slow songs...especially ones that I know all of the words to and always want to belt them out at the top of my lungs. Hey, that might be a great breathing technique! 

6. Get Me Bodied and Single Ladies - Beyonce (it's hard to pick just one of her songs!)

Of course there are many more on my playlist, but my go-to's are always Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Drake, Katy Perry, Paramore, and old school Usher...basically anything I can sing along to in my head.  

What are some of your favorite running/work out songs? I'd love to try out some new music at some point and see if it makes a difference in my runs. 

01/09/2013: Miles run - 19.5 of 1000. Miles remaining - 980.5 of 1000

Yoga for Runners

Ahhhh the healing power of yoga! I've never been much of a "mind, body, and spirit" type of girl and I never counted what I considered "intense stretching" as a workout...until now. 

From my previous post about running while sore, you can tell that it was hard for me to walk yesterday after the intense Boot Camp class I took Saturday and the 6 mile run I completed on Sunday. Yesterday was a much needed rest and stretch day. Thankfully, my cable provider has a channel called "Sportskool" with a yoga for runners category...perfect! And I can do it without having to leave my apartment. I've done this 30 minute video a few times in the past when I was too lazy to go to the gym, but last night it healed me. Seriously. It hurt so good. I knew it was working and stretching me out so that I'd be able to run again today. 

There are many benefits yoga can provide other than just a good stretch:

- A good warm-up before any kind of activity or exercise
- Develop strong muscles - Especially in your legs. This is going to enhance your runs and build endurance. 
- Increase flexibility and improve your range of motion 
- Practice a peaceful mind - This will help your mental game during long runs so that you have the mental strength to keep going. There is no such thing as mind over body. Mind and body must work as a team.
- Improve posture - This is a big one for me because I have had back problems since I was a kid. I really need to work on this (for many reasons other than running), but mainly because when you're hunched over, you lose 30% of your lung capacity so it's harder for air to flow to your lungs during a run. 
- Better breathing - A big focus in yoga is breathing, which is equally as important while running so that you can continue to receive fresh oxygen to your muscles and your brain. "Runners think about training their heart and legs, but they rarely think about training their lungs."
- Speed up recovery time - This is exactly what I used yoga for this time, but I was still able to reap all of the benefits list above at the same time. I was unable to even sit down yesterday, but once I completed my quick yoga session, I now feel comfortable enough to run 4 miles this evening.
- A GOOD EXCUSE TO WEAR COMFY YOGA PANTS! 
Source

01/08/2013: Miles run - 15 of 1000. Miles remaining - 985 of 1000

Running While Sore

Good morning! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Weekend recap - This weekend was fairly low-key for me. I did some preparation for my move to Austin this coming Saturday, did some yoga, completed 7 more miles towards my goal of 1,000 this year, and planned to take a Zumba class with my friend Kristen. The Zumba instructor was apparently still on vacation (lucky...why can't I be?) and never showed up. We were fortunate enough that our efforts to wake up early and go to the gym weren't wasted and the front desk employee filled in to instruct a Boot Camp class for us. OUCH! It was such a good work out, but I have definitely been feeling it in my muscles the past 2 days. My entire body is so sore! I thought this would put a damper on my long run for Sunday, but after some intense stretching, I was good to go and ran my fastest 6 miles ever, with a time of 53:48 (8:57 mile). 

Since I was worried I wasn't going to be able to complete my long run I had planned to do, I decided to research (aka GOOGLE) if running on sore muscles was a good or bad idea. The results were somewhat mixed, but I really wanted to do something active and make a dent in my mileage. So I went with the results I wanted (go figure...) that sided with the idea that some light activity can be good for loosening up your tight muscles and releasing lactic acid. (When oxygen is limited during a strenuous workout, such as Boot Camp, the body temporarily creates lactate, which allows glucose breakdown--and thus energy production--to continue. Source)

Everyone's definition of "light activity" is different. In my mind, I was only planning on running 3 or 4 miles. But once I stepped outside to perfect weather and got moving, I didn't want to stop. I went on a new trail and was excited to see where it would take me. I wound up running to the end of it (3 miles) and I had to get back home somehow! So I ran another 3 miles back and walked the last mile home. I wasn't feeling sore at all during the run, but once I stopped running and transitioned to a fast walk, BOY was I hurting! 

Even though running on sore muscles worked out fine for me, everyone's definition of  soreness is different and you need to listen to what your body is telling you to gauge the next day's level of activity. There is a big difference between pain and soreness. General soreness is typically okay and a perfectly normal body response when you push yourself harder than usual. However, if you find one specific part of your body to be more sore than another, you should probably rest it (i.e. a muscle pain in one leg and not in the other). My run was a great detox for me and I never felt any kind of specific pain. However, I think today will be a perfect rest day...or maybe some light yoga to stretch these puppies out!

Verdict on the Elliptical Debate - In regards to my previous post about the elliptical counting towards my miles, I have come to this conclusion: If the elliptical is the only machine available (and I have no choice but to use it), then the miles count. If a treadmill is available and I CHOOSE to use an elliptical to get a different kind of workout, then the miles don't count. Fair enough, right? But like I said in that post, this is only the case for the next 5 days before my move...which, I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT!

01/07/2013: Miles run - 15 of 1000. Miles remaining - 985 of 1000

Should the Elliptical Count?

This is a question I've been mulling over for the past few days. Should miles completed on the elliptical count towards my goal of running 1,000 miles this year? There's no right or wrong answer per se, but technically this workout isn't running. The motion on the elliptical is somewhat similar to walking and running (depending on how fast you're going), but it's just not quite the same for me. In my mind, I'd feel as if I was "cheating" on my goal if I counted these miles. 

The reason I'm even asking this question is due to the fact that I live at an apartment complex with a gym in our clubhouse. We have 2 treadmills and 2 ellipticals there, and that's it for the cardio equipment! Last night when I went to run, both treadmills were taken. Not wanting to just STAND there, look awkward and lazy and wait, I hopped on the elliptical and did 1 mile before a treadmill was free. Usually, I would have chosen to just run outside instead, but it was freezing and already dark out. I'll be writing about treadmills vs. terrain running another day. 

With all this debate going back in forth in my head, by this time next week this question won't matter in my situation and I won't even have access to this clubhouse gym and the ellipticals. I am moving back home to Austin, where my parents have a treadmill at home and I will never have to wait my turn to use it. HALLELUJAH! Running at my convenience. What could be better?

I welcome your opinions on what you think is a good response to this question. There are many pros and cons to both treadmill and elliptical usage and both of them provide a great workout! 

To name a few....

Treadmill Pros:

• Versatility - speed, incline, built in training programs
• Natural movements - walking, jogging, sprinting
• High work output - Propelling your body weight requires substantial effort

Treadmill Cons:

• Tough on joints  
• Safety issues - don't fall off! I'm always secretly worried this will happen to me and I'll bust my face and chip a tooth. 
• Posture problems - must have the correct form
• Can get boring and repetitive

Elliptical Pros: 

• Non-Impact conditioning - better on joints
• Exercises upper and lower body with use of handles
• Reverse Stride - work different muscle groups

Elliptical Cons:

• Momentum - usage of the machines momentum vs. your own
• Less weight-bearing effect 

Source: http://www.builtlean.com/2012/04/20/elliptical-vs-treadmill/

I did end up counting yesterday's 1 mile on the elliptical until I make an educated decision on this. Let me know your thoughts! Your feedback is welcome to help me decide. 

01/04/2013: Miles run - 8 of 1000. Miles remaining - 992 of 1000

Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions: The majority of us make them, even though we don't always like to admit it. Some are kept private, while others are shared. I've decided to share mine.

Welcome to my blog! Coincidentally, my New Year's resolution was not to start a blog, but rather to run 1,000 miles in a year. I'd like to document my journey, and I've also wanted to start a blog for quite some time now, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to do just that. 

Here I will track certain important running milestones within my goal, talk about cool running gear I try out, tips and tricks for running long(ish) distances, great running tunes, food to fuel me, and many other topics that come up throughout this time that will affect my goal. 

To break it down for everyone:
1,000 miles divided by 52 weeks in a year = 19.23 miles a week
19.23 miles divided by 7 days in a week = 2.75 miles a day 

Now, of course there will be days when I don't run (or days when I run more or less than others), so it'll be easier to go by the weekly mileage rather than daily . 

I'm almost obsessed with this goal because I like when goals follow the SMART model.
S - Specific - you can't get any more specific than an exact number of miles and 365 days in a year!
M - Measurable - see above calculations
A - Attainable - This might seem like an ambitious goal to some (especially if they don't run very much). But to me, it seems very achievable, as I do run 15-16 miles a week already. 
R - Relevant/Realistic - I run anyways as my normal workout, so this is very realistic and relevant for my lifestyle
T - Timely - I have a deadline of December 31, 2013. 

As a mentioned above, I do usually run 3-5 days out of the week. I've been a somewhat "avid" runner since my sophomore year in college at Baylor. After that Freshman 15 hit, I knew I needed to start exercising more. I would casually run the 2 mile trail around our campus, go for long walks and light jogs with my dog, and I even took a running class as my PE credit senior year. While taking that class, my professor motivated me to sign up for a half marathon on campus. I trained and trained and was so excited for that day to prove to myself that I could run 13.1 miles...but when I woke up that morning there was an intense thunderstorm and I knew I wasn't going to be able to run that far in wet, soggy socks...so I didn't end up completing it. However, since then, I have done multiple 5k's and 10k's and have enjoyed every single one of them. 

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and following me on my quest to 1,000 miles!

01/03/2013: Miles run - 4 of 1000. Miles remaining - 996 of 1000

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