Coffee - thats my theory 2/22/2010

Hubs has been on the road a lot recently so I have been making my trek to LA (pronounced "la", in my own personal language) fitness all alone...insert sad face and big sigh here. Even though I have been going on my own I've been proud of myself for not slacking. I have been running farther, not so much faster but farther and not really complaining too too much - at least for me, thats the standard right?

Well hubs was back in town and we went to work out on Saturday. Turns out I was having an off day, even more off than my usually off-ness, and just down right quit running a mile before planned - I just could not go any more. Breathing? Not so much. Lead legs? absolutely. So when I quit something and feel like I got beat by the always athletic hubs my natural reaction is to be upset, ok fine angry, I was angry.

So he quits with me and we decide to do an arms workout as well. I have partially accomplished the p90x workouts enough to know the arms video by heart. During my arms workout I get a cramp in my left hamstring, shoot fire did that hurt! My angry instantly turns to being pissed off and what do you know cramp in the right hamstring! Now I am pissed off and basically paralyzed. I told always athletic hubs that I was basically paralyzed and he didn't believe me and the he laughed - other athletic hubs out there take it from me, that. is. a. bad. move. So I am even more pissed but I need his athletic knowledge to make me feel better so I gave him the angry eyes, he got the picture and told me to walk it out. We went to get some water and then jumped back into the arms workout that I suffered through.

So now bringing it back to the title. I have a theory on why my body revolted: Hubs made me go get coffee before we worked out. And by "made" I mean "suggested" and I complied, but made is my choice of word so there you have it - he made me. Then yesterday at dinner with the athletic friends who also run hubs trys to tell me that Lance Armstrong drinks coffee before bike rides on Saturdays...Wow, thats a great comparison - Me and Lance, we probably have a lot in common including our physical makeup and overall in shape-ness.

Coffee is the culprit and I swear to never give in to the hubs saturday morning coffee coercion before a workout again.

Listen Up You 2/09/2010

Dear LA Fitness,

I love your workout facilities, I love that there are no-frills, I love that I don't have to fight huge crowds of Highland Park moms for a treadmill, but please please stop sending your trainers over to give me a sales pitch while I am working out. I am sure I look like the perfect candidate - a well-meaning girl who is working hard but obviously getting no where, but I have decided to get no where on my own instead of pay you to make me feel worse about my stagnant athletic ability. I am bad at telling people no so know that you are making me feel awkward. Do you not recognize me when I come in? Or do you think, "There's that girl who works hard but isn't getting any better and doesn't want our help, maybe if I ask her again she will change her mind." I am not going to change my mind.

It is especially annoying when you walk over and give me your cheesiest joke ( usually, "You know you could smile when you work out if you wanted, hahahhaha....not funny) when I am 25 minutes into my run and struggling to breath let alone politely deal with your lameness.

Thank you,

That one girl you continually ask to pay for training lessons

How to pick a treadmill 2/05/2010

I am totally picky about which treadmill I use when I go to the gym. Why? Because lots of people can see me...yup...lots. Which is also why I go to the gym and pick a treadmill at not so busy times, like 8:30 pm. So in order of importance....

1) Scope out what's behind the treadmill - Is it more treadmills? Stay away, those will likely fill up and possibly with people who know what they are doing. Elliptical? Bingo, people come and go and they usually are fake working out, either they don't know what they are doing so they aren't really judging me or they are there for the show and will done in a few minutes (if you go to the gym and use an elliptical I retract all previous statements, I am sure you are working hard).

2) Find something closer to an end but not the last one in a line - My observations have proven that people walk in and automatically scope out the middle of the pack, no reason to start their workout with a laugh. Also, the person at the end is usually observed for multiple minutes by anyone who is waiting for a treadmill to open up. You get that "I know someone is watching me feeling" and if you are like me you can't deal with the pressure and start looking all shifty eyed and probably run a little to far to the right a couple of times and step on the part of the treadmill that isn't actually moving...problems. If you aren't in the center and aren't the one on the end you just blend in...perfect.

3) Find the best t.v. - Sports are crucial for me. These people are most definitely working much harder than me for a substantially longer time period so I am motivated to be at least 1/100th the athlete they are. While I prefer basketball this is applicable with all sports, recently I have been watching the Winter X games an have been surprised by the motivation snow sleds and snowboarders bring.

In summary, Who is forced to look at your rear-end? Am I making it easy for someone to observe my workout? and What am I looking at?

These questions will not make you run faster or for longer but if thats what you are looking for you aren't reading the right running blog...see blog name.

Even The Treadmill Knows 2/02/2010

I knew that the "man that was a good run" feeling wouldn't last for long.

Last night I laced up, feeling like maybe it was going to be a good night. I got to the gym waited for just the right treadmill (tips on how to pick a treadmill soon...it's an art really) and started my warm up walk/jog. The treadmill picked up and a good 5 minutes into my run I was hurting, bad, like side stitch that makes breathing difficult kind of bad. This made me mad so I made the treadmill go faster, obvious response right? I figure I can run through it and be better for it later...wrong. The treadmill must have known I was over-doing it and 12 minutes into my run it stopped, not a "Hey, I'm slowing down you should start walking because I'm going to stop" kind of way but a "I'm done. I quit. You suck at this and I refuse to help you in this useless endeavor" complete halt kind of way. Result: I ran directly into the neat little bar that can tell you your heart rate - which in turn shocked me. Audible laughter from the folks behind me. Error message on the treadmill screen. FML.

Seething, I spotted another treadmill and tried to pick up where I left off. I set my top speed super high so it wouldn't make me walk for two or three minutes before I started running, this turned out to be a major fail. During my run I could not change my max speed only the current speed so every minute and twenty seconds or so I was sprinting to a 8.5 speed trying to slow that sucker down to something manageable. When it was finally over I left the gym defeated.

Today I will be doing an arms workout.

Hear Ye Hear Ye! 2/01/2010

Disclaimer: This type of post will not happen often.

I rocked my Friday run. "What?? You ran on a Friday?" is probably your first reaction. I agree! What the heck was I thinking? Good thing I went for it though. I upped my speed and therefore my distance and I was sure I could have run more....but why waste it right? I decided to end on a good note feeling tired but not defeated. It was almost as glorious as not running at all...almost.

Maybe it was because I gave into my need for top 40 pop music disguised as hip-hop (I am not ashamed, you do it too...at least sometimes...right?). I went with a Chris Brown pandora station and it was awesome. Started off with Mr. Brown himself with Kiss Kiss and ended on Ray J "Sexy Can I" - who is probably better known for being Brandy's brother but I enjoyed the soundtrack.

Let it be known that in my month of running I have enjoyed it once! Maybe I can double that in February.