Time To Punch In And Go To Work!

Went to the gym this morning. Thankfully, the parking lot wasn't too crazy with all the mall shoppers. I knew it was a few days since I was last at the gym. That could mean my body feels a bit rusty and slow from the time off, or it could mean I have a lot of built up energy that will get burned during the workout. I would let the body decide what it wanted to do.

WARM-UP

I got the treadmill up to the usual 1.0 incline and away I went. At about the .50 mile mark, I could tell it was going to be a good day on the treadmill. My legs felt fresh and wanted to keep moving. Who am I to complain with my legs, right? I still kept things under control and reminded myself this was still a warm-up. Patience.

I was sure I did the warm-up correctly. I was sweating so much it felt like somebody poured water over my head. Ah...the joys of training inside on a treadmill. I made sure to walk for a couple minutes and get some water to help keep things cool.

MAIN WORKOUT

I figured since the legs felt good, I was going to try for 4 miles. The way I sold my body on that idea was to divide the run up a bit. Run the first 2 miles at a nice pace, run the 3rd mile at a quicker pace and then kick it up a bit for the last mile. I've always found if I do these 'mental games' with my body it will make the overall distance not seem so long.

COOL DOWN

The start of the cool down felt really slow and sluggish. I know cool downs aren't supposed to be spectacular or fast, but my body was ready to be done with running for the day. I was able to talk my body through it and by the .50 mile mark, the cool down was feeling much better.

STRETCHING

I did a combination of stretch for 30 seconds, then sip some water, and then back to another stretch. I wanted to help cool the body's core down a bit and still be able to get the benefits of the stretching. I don't go overboard with the amount of stretching I do. I try to stick to a few basic stretches, switching it up a bit every now and then.

WEIGHTS

Today, I focused the strength training on my arms. I don't spend a lot of time with different exercises. I know so many of them, I could easily spend an hour just hitting the weights. I did a few basic sets to hit each part of my arms. Gotta have strong arms to help push you through when you're tired!

LAST MILE POWER SONG

Today's LMPS was Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard. The beat to the song is very hard and very constant. This helped push me to a fast last mile on my main workout.

GPS Watches For Runners

There are many brands and types of watches available on the market for today's savvy runners. One of the more popular brands out there is Garmin. Garmin designs a variety of specialty sport watches with a lot of different options to choose from. All Garmin watches have the basic feature of keeping track of your overall time, pace, speed, and distance. There are watches with more advanced options, but these are typically enough for most runners. The basic Garmin watch is the Forerunner 10. 

The Forerunner 10's slim design allows for people to wear them as an everyday watch. The battery will last about a day or so before needing to be charged. As with all Garmin watches, it has the option to sync your run online with Garmin Connect. Garmin Connect is an online way for you to keep track of all your runs.

If you're looking to get your first GPS watch, I highly recommend starting with the Forerunner 10.

First Time In Awhile For Back-To-Back Runs

In hopes of taking advantage of my gym membership, I went to the gym again today. I want to start hitting ~15 miles per week and doing more strength training. The only way to do that is to show up and do the work.

WARM-UP

Started out with the usual 1 mile warm-up at 1.0 incline. I didn't try to push the pace. All I had to do was get the body warmed up. This usually means a battle with the body. The body knows it's running and wants to go faster. The mind is the smart one and tells the body to simmer down, the fun will start after the warm-up.

After the warm-up, I walked for a couple minutes to regain focus of what I planned to do for the main workout. I was planning on only doing a couple miles. Figured this was a smart plan, especially as I haven't ran back-to-back days in a long time, and I don't need to go crazy with miles (yet).

Also, I was finally able to figure out how to get a picture of the workout summary!

MAIN WORKOUT

On to the fun! Because I knew I was only planning on 2 miles, I divided up the run into sections. I've always found if you're able to change how you think about the total distance you want to run, the easier it is. For this run, I told myself if I'm able to do the first mile at a good pace I will kick it up a notch and finish the last mile at a great pace. As usual, the body responded and I was able to do each mile as I hoped for.

COOL DOWN

It felt really good to get the cool-down mile in after having hit my target pace. I could tell my body was a bit on the tired side, but that's good. It wasn't so tired I had to force myself to finish my cool-down though. By the time my cool-down was done, I felt my breathing come back down to a regular pace.

STRETCHING

My body wasn't feeling really tight or too tired after the run. I hit my basic stretches to help keep things loose and threw in a few extra types of stretches since I knew Tuesday was going to be an off-day. I hold each stretch for about 30 seconds. The entire stretching session usually only takes about 5 minutes.

WEIGHTS

Today, I focused the weights around my legs. I don't do too many different types of workouts for my legs. I hit a few of the major ones to help get the job done. I don't use heavy weight either. I focus more on control and wanting to finish each rep and set.

LAST MILE POWER SONG

Today's LMPS was Feels Good by Gorillaz Inc. It felt appropriate. It always reminds me of my high school track coach who would run with us. During the run he would shout out 'feels good' at random times and we would have to all respond with 'feels good'. Fun times!

Treadmills and Workout Fun

Today was the first day I used my new gym membership. I went to the gym almost kicking and screaming since it was really great running weather outside. I wanted to go to the gym so I could start getting a routine going and get familiar with the gym before too many weeks went by.

I started out my workout by hitting the treadmill. I figured it's a treadmill and is easy to figure out how to get it moving. I didn't want to be 'that guy' walking around looking at all the equipment then finally start using it. Treadmills are pretty basic and easy to figure out. I always go for the Quick Start option so I have control over my run. I don't care much for surprises during my run. The other thing I always do on the treadmill is set the incline to 1.0 or 1.5 depending on how I'm feeling. This makes the run a little bit closer to outside conditions.

As I do for all my runs, I started out with some dynamic stretches to get things loosened up a bit. After that, I got on the treadmill and got my mile warm-up in. Though some people are able to jump right into their run, I've learned my body responds better if I wake it up before hitting the gas.

Trying to figure out how to take a picture of my warm-up and time was a bit difficult. No I did not run 1 mile in 3 seconds. I hit pause on the treadmill and quickly took a picture. I'm sure there is an easier way to capture this. I'll get it figured out

I walked for a couple minutes, then started up with the meat and potatoes of my workout. Because it was my first time running on a treadmill in awhile, I figured 3 miles would be a good goal. I could tell the heat from running indoors was something I wasn't familiar with. I'm used to running outside where things are a bit cooler or there is a breeze. All in all, the 3 miles felt really good.

As I do with all my workouts, I do a cool-down mile. I like being able to slow things down, but still being able to push the body to do more (at an easy pace). The cool-down felt great. I was able to focus on having completed my goal of running 3 miles at a good pace on the treadmill. The cool-down almost felt like a victory lap.

After finishing up on the treadmill, I hit some weights. Nothing too crazy since I haven't lifted in awhile. I focused on my arms and core. I used mostly free weights as those help me focus on control on the up and down. For me, weight lifting is a really good way to help strengthen the muscles which will only help me on my long runs.

Last Mile Power Song - As with all my runs, the last mile of my 3 mile run I had a power song playing on my mp3 player. This time around, the song was Suffragate City by David Bowie. It helped me pick up the pace and push through to the end of the workout

Looks Like It's Gym Time

Winter weather brings cold, snow, slush, and ice. Most runners can find ways to run through all those. 

Running in cold weather is the easiest to deal with. It's pretty simple. Put on a compression long sleeve shirt or other articles of clothing and dress in layers. Before the snow, slush, and ice hit the ground, I'm able to to get out there and still get miles in. It might not be the easiest to get out the door and get miles in, but I find ways.

Running in snow, slush and ice are a different matter. In the past, I've pushed through and tried running in those elements. Those days were before I had microfracture knee surgery. I look at that experience as kind of a wake up call and I had to take a closer look at what I need to change to continue running. One of the things I decided had to go was running in snow, slush and icey conditions. I can't take the chance of having my feet slip or twist in a way that could re-injure my knee. I'm already going against my doc's recommendation to give up running.

In the past, the winter has been my off months. I'd try to patiently wait for those days where I knew the sidewalks on campus were cleared, or for warmer weather to come. With having signed up for a half-marathon in mid-May, I don't have the luxury of waiting for those 'good days' where sidewalks might be cleared.

Today I made the decision to get a membership at a gym to give me access to treadmills to run on. Though I still rather run outside, I need a way to keep up my fitness and maybe get a half-marathon time less than 2 hours. Who knows. I think it could be possible now that I found a way to keep running and training until the half-marathon. Now the fun begins of those dreaded long runs on a treadmill.....

Giving Thanks

Over the years, I've wondered how I could get in contact with my high school coaches to let them know how much running has done for me. It may seem strange to most people. Over twenty years since those days of running in high school, why would I care about trying to reach out to them. There lies part of the problem - I've never been like most people.

My high school coaches were the ones who helped introduce me to running. They were able to help train me to run at the meets. Little did they know they were doing much more. I was able to find a sport I was relatively good at. I was able to become good friends with people on both the boys and girls teams. Some of those friends I'm still in good contact with today! Most of all, my coaches helped show me how running can be fun. We rarely won a meet, but we were able to have fun. Sometimes we had a bit too much fun and ended up having to do pushups on our coach's count. But, even as that was supposed to be punishment, we still bonded as a team over it.

Today, I was able to find contact info for my track coach who was the one suggesting I go out for track. I sent him a short email hoping he would remember who I was, and let him know I was thankful for helping introduce me to running.

It's good to remember how you get started doing the things you love. It's even better to let those who helped introduce you to it how much you appreciate what they've done.

Are Gym Memberships A Good Idea?

Gyms seem like they're everywhere. Most areas have a Planet Fitness, Powerhouse Gym, Snap Fitness, Anytime Fitness, or YMCA. People always talk about how they're going to the gym or had a great workout at the gym. Getting a gym membership seems like a good idea, right? Not necessarily. 

Gyms can be a good idea. All of the gyms offer free weights, weight machines, elipticals, and the runners favorite - treadmills. Some gyms even have pools too. These are things most people typically don't have at home. Having to take time to drive to the gym can be a good thing. Though the drive to the gym might not feel like the best drive (at times), once you're there you might feel like you want to make best use of your time and get a full workout in. There are usually other people there at the gym. This can help be a motivator. If you see other people working out, it might make you want to keep working out.

With that being said, gyms can also be a bad idea. Gyms have a cost. The membership cost of a gym is different from gym to gym. This could be a deal breaker. If you don't plan on going to the gym on a regular basis, it might not be worth the cost. Some gyms are really crowded and you constantly have to wait to for the machine or weights you want to use. The treadmills, elipticals and other machines might be in bad need of maintenance work, or these might be constantily 'out of order'. There's also the fun part of cancelling your membership if you don't need it or use it any more. Some gyms make this a tough process for some reason. It should be an easy process. You tell the gym you want to cancel your membership, your card is taken from you and your membership ends at that point.

If you do start thinking of joining a gym, make sure to do your research. There are some gyms that are better than others. You might be able to get a discount depending on what health insurance you have or the company you work at. Make sure getting a membership is something you can commit to, since it is something you will be paying money for.

Running Stickers On Cars

Putting stickers or magnets on cars isn't a new trend. This has been done for many years. Some people go to the extreme where you aren't able to see much of their car. The stickers usually fall into the music, political, business, or humor categories. It hasn't been until the past few years when people started putting running stuff on their cars.

There are people that say running stickers are obnoxious and a bit elitist. Some runners are included in saying that too.

Bah phooey to them! There's nothing wrong with putting a sticker on your car. Putting the 26.2 or 13.1 sticker on you car can be a sense of pride. It can help remind you of what you were able to accomplish. It can also help you find your car in a crowded parking lot!

If you do or don't decide to put running stickers on your car, make sure it's your decision and not influenced by anybody else (for it or against it). Keep in mind, it's your car and you are the one who is running.

My personal viewpoint - I am one of those who puts running stickers on my truck. I have a 26.2, 13.1, Pre Lives, Hansons Brooks Running Project and a Run D stickers on the back window of my truck. While it seems like a bit much, the 26.2 and 13.1 in particular are badges of honor for me. It wasn't easy to finish my first 13.1 and my first 26.2. Seeing those on my truck remind me of what I was able to accomplish and helps remind me 'I am a runner'.

To Run With Music, Or Not Run With Music

Running while listening to music. Definitely a hot subject among runners. There are arguments that say don't listen to music - it's good to listen to nature, listen to your body, and good to stay alert while running. Then there are those who say running with music isn't a bad thing - it can help keep you moving and it can help keep you company. Though it depends on the individual, here are my thoughts for each argument.

* Running without music can help you stay alert while running. This makes sense. If you don't have something covering your ears, the more likely you are to hear your surroundings. I also know if you don't have your headphones blasting at a high level, you should be able to hear your surroundings and still be able to hear your music.

* Running without music can help you listen to nature. I think this all depends on opinion. Not everybody likes the sounds of nature, nor are able to run in areas where they want to hear the surroundings. If the routes you run have a lot of loud noises, say running safely on the sidewalk but near busy streets, you probably don't want to hear the noise from cars on the road.

* Running without music can help you listen to your body. If you have music blasting at a high volume, I can see where you wouldn't be able to listen to your body. If you have the music at a low enough level, chances are you'll still be able to listen to your body and still hear the music.

* Running with music can help keep you moving. Some people find songs with high BPM (beats per minute) help keep them moving. I think it could be songs of high or low BPM that can help keep you moving. You can't always keep running at a fast pace. It's good to have a good mix to keep you running fast when you need it and running at a smooth pace when you need it.

* Running with music can help keep you company. There are some people who don't run with others, out of choice or because they don't know anybody to run with. Running with music can help give those people something to listen to, instead of running in silence. If you run with music to help keep you company, you might want to consider listening to podcasts. There are a TON of podcasts out there on all different subjects. Take a look online and I'm sure you'll find a podcast that you would find intresting to listen to.

Though everything I've mentioned above show why it's ok to run with music, it really is all about personal choice. When you go out to buy running shoes, it's all about how those shoes fit and work for you. When it comes to running with music, give it a try. See if it works for you.

Lack of Daylight and Cold Weather

With the end of the year quickly approaching, that usually means less daylight hours and colder weather. Though these two things might keep most people indoors and not want to exercise, it doesn't have to be that way if you prepare for it.

Let's take a look at the lack of daylight issue. Throughout the year, there are people who run when the sun isn't up. They're able to do this because they prepare for it. This might mean looking for a new running route. I recommend finding a route that has streetlights or neighborhood that has house lights on to help light up your path. Another alternative is to get a headlamp to run with. This will help light things up in front of you. Something to keep in mind with running when it's dark out - you have to watch where you are running AND make sure other people can see you. Having all black clothes on with no reflective material isn't the best option.

Onward to the cold weather issue. This one can be a bit more tricky to handle. There are some diehard runners who will run outside in any temperature. There are also some who draw the line when the temperature hits freezing. How cold it is outside shouldn't steer you away from hitting the road. All you need to do is dress appropriately. This is the same thing when running outside in the middle of summer. With running when it's cold outside, you need to dress in layers. I recommend staying away from cotton, at least as your base layer. I'd go with a compression shirt as your base layer. These are relatively cheap and easy to find at most stores (~$20). For your outer layer, I'd go with a wind breaker to help prevent the wind from hitting your core. The in-between layers, that can be anything you feel is necessary to help keep you warm. Depending on how cold it is outside, don't forget to wear a hat and gloves too. If you get too hot, you can always take these off during your run.

There is a lot more that can be said about running in the dark and cold weather. Hopefully this will at least help show you that it is still possible to get out on the road and get some miles in.

Running Conferences

Earlier this month, I attended a conference for teachers and other people in the education world who use technology in their classroom. The conference was a full day and had hour long sessions. These sessions were presented by teachers, with the content of the session spanning across all different topics ranging from 'How to effectively use videos in the classroom' to 'Here are some applications you might find useful.'

Being at that conference and seeing how all the presenters had an interest and passion for what they were presenting was awesome. There wasn't a 'please buy this product' or 'please sign up for...'. This was just people helping share information.

That got me thinking about the running world. I have been running for over 20 years, and the only thing I've seen that comes close to this are expos at races. Even then, most (if not all booths) are trying to sell you a product. It's great expos exisit, but it's not really a good time for people to learn something.

There are ways to take the same basic concept of the conference I went to and make it relevant to runners. Though running is pretty simple - put one foot in front of the other; repeat. There are so many different parts of running people know a lot about, or people would like to know a lot about.

Things like:

* What technology do you use for running?

* What are good things to use or have for night running?

* What to look for in running shoes?

* How to prepare for a first race?

* How to run with dogs?

* Why training journals a good thing to have?

Some topics like the ones above could easily be turned into a 30-60 minute discussion. I'm sure there are other topics too. The main concept of the topics would be 'I know a lot about...' or 'I found it very helpful to...'

This was just a thought that came across my mind last night. I'm always trying to think of ways of getting people together of all running levels together and share information.