Just in case you have nothing better to do, I thought I would give you some boring details about how I prepare for a six mile workout. First of all, I would want you to know that I consider myself a hybrid. Yes, you can call me Prius. I have discovered that the best way for me to train for a half marathon without sustaining any injuries (such as bone spurs or tendinitis) is to mix up the running with walking. My MO is to run the shorter distances during the week with maximum effort (read, run hard & about kill myself) and then walk the long distances on Saturdays. I start the walking on the six mile week. That was today. And when I say walk I mean that I keep a 13:30-14:00 minute mile. It's a quick pace.
The first thing to do to get ready is eat a good breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal & a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter & jelly. That's more than I would usually eat but you have to have some energy to burn! And I drank a glass of water, but not too much. I totally believe you can over-hydrate. It's no fun to be 3 miles out & need to go to the bathroom
Then I got dressed. I was excited that it was warm enough for me to leave my fleece in the closet. I got this really nice Nike jacket for Christmas this year & today was it's trial run. I loved it! And I love the bright blue - easy to see without being neon.
I also put on some fabulous socks. I know they don't look very cool, but support socks are a life saver for a girl like me. These actually look just like black tube socks & they do an incredible job of defeating foot/lower leg fatigue. I *heart* them. That's just how dorky I am.
And before I put my gloves on, I slime up with this stuff. My fingers do this horrible splitting & cracking thing during the winter. I have tried countless salves & lotions that kind of work. Mike found this stuff at Lowe's & it works so much better than anything else I have tried. My hands tend to swell on these long workouts in the cold so it's important to give them a quick layer of moisturizing protection before I head out.
The last step is something I have yet to figure out. I gotta have some tunes. It's cold so a headband for my ears would be great. I also can't stand the sun in my eyes. I haven't figured out how to get so much stuff in, around, & over my ears. I gave up & chose the tunes & the sunglasses. My ears were cold but I survived.
Then I laced on these beauties. These Mizuno running shoes were my Valentine's Day gift from my sweetie. I know that sounds like a terrible Valentine's gift but it was just what I wanted & needed. And when you consider how expensive they were, Mike was way more generous than he should have been! By the way, they are like running on a cloud. They are fabulous!
And before I put my gloves on, I slime up with this stuff. My fingers do this horrible splitting & cracking thing during the winter. I have tried countless salves & lotions that kind of work. Mike found this stuff at Lowe's & it works so much better than anything else I have tried. My hands tend to swell on these long workouts in the cold so it's important to give them a quick layer of moisturizing protection before I head out. 
The last step is something I have yet to figure out. I gotta have some tunes. It's cold so a headband for my ears would be great. I also can't stand the sun in my eyes. I haven't figured out how to get so much stuff in, around, & over my ears. I gave up & chose the tunes & the sunglasses. My ears were cold but I survived.
Six miles done & I'm still smiling!
After I got home I had to schedule in a little recovery time before I tackled my house cleaning & laundry To Do List. That means it was time for a little coffee & an Orange Cranberry Bran Muffin. A little snack & a little Bible reading later, I was ready to tackle the crazy mess that is our house.
After I got home I had to schedule in a little recovery time before I tackled my house cleaning & laundry To Do List. That means it was time for a little coffee & an Orange Cranberry Bran Muffin. A little snack & a little Bible reading later, I was ready to tackle the crazy mess that is our house. 
Not too shabby of a way to start my Saturday!
3 comments:
Looks like you had a stellar Saturday! We didn't even venture outside today -- sunny but ridiculously windy.
Thanks for sharing about your workout! Now that I have been exercising a lot more myself since the beginning of the year, it encourages me to hear about other people's workouts. :) I have a LONG way to go to come close to being as fit as you, but you are an inspiration to me!! Way to go!
One question, when you're working out on an elliptical, do you know approx. how long it takes you to do a mile? On our machine it takes me around 20 min. at a fairly good pace--the machine tells me I'm going about 3 mph and 60-80 rpms, so it seems right. My sister-in-law, however, has a different (fancier) brand of elliptical and runs at about the same pace (rpms), but her machine says she's going about twice as far as me in the same amount of time. It just seems weird that we would be so different--we're in about the same shape physically. Just curious if you had any thoughts on that? :)
Your new running shoes look great, too! Hope the rest of your weekend is wonderful!
Alicia, I would totally hide from the wind, too. It was really nice here or I wouldn't have ventured out :-)
Carrie, I would say that it takes me about 15 minutes to do a mile on the elliptical. My guess would be that perhaps you are on a different difficulty setting? The ellipticals at the gym have a resistance setting & an incline setting. That would be my only guess. Plus, I think that there can be a lot of variation between machines depending on how they have been moved, maintained, & calibrated. It sounds like you are really liking it - keep up the good work!
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