Leg Warmers & Treadmill Games

Good Morning! I'm sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by my can't live without it morning java, tall glass of water and a Verve energy drink [if you'd like to try some, let me know and I'll get you hooked up]. The drink ROCKS!

I am wearing a Run In shirt I received from Robin in Mr. Q's weight loss challenge. AND.....a pair of leg warmers. Yes, I grew up in the 80's and had to take the plunge and buy another pair this weekend. Why? I don't really know why. Just because. I didn't go out of my way to find them. They found me. We were shopping at Urban Outfitters where I bought a fuschia fedora hat, [and yes I'm wearing it right now] in Omaha before the game on Saturday, mosied to the store next door, American Apparel, and there they were. I laughed all the way home! My legs are warm and I am having visions of Flashdance. Movin' on....

Tis the season to be spending quality time with a treadmill. It really seems to be the only alternative when it's nearly impossible to run outside because of the nasty degrees in cold we are currently experiencing. I'm 12 miles from an indoor track [Doane College], same distance I am from a treadmill, but I don't have access to running on the indoor track. I have two master's degrees from Doane, but I don't think that would count as my pass to use the track. ARGH! So, it's off to the YMCA to use a treadmill [until I get my own purchased, thanks for all your support in the Top 10 list].

Boredom is the only drawback I find to spending time with the treadmill. I'm fine for the first 3 miles ~ easy peasy ~ and then I have to TURN MY GAME ON! I'm talking mental games, not physical. Well, the mental becomes physical because I tend to make it speed play which is the best thing about a treadmill is you can force a pace. I love this.

Every opportunity on the treadmill creates a new game. So I can adhere to my training [sprints, hills, recovery, endurance, etc.] I save the games for the long runs like yesterday's 7-miler. Here is how I feed my self-diagnosed A.D.D. on the treadmill...[some of them are dorky, but it's a matter of believing and completing a run. your brain is oh so powerful, use it and you'd be amazed at what potentials/skills you will find within you]

One game is Visualizing [keep in mind, visualizing can make a difference in any experience. make sure when you visualize you picture color, smell, feel, movement. oh so powerful!]

• I'm running down the path and I'm passing one runner after another.
• I'm on the Olympic team and I'm training for a marathon and we are out for a team run.
• I'm running my goal race pace ~ 8:30/mile ~ I'm feeling great and not at max heart rate.
• I'm running to save lives with each mile equaling one life.
• I'm running down the beach.
• I'm racing all the other treadmill runners and the people on the ellipticals behind us are our fans.
• It's the end of a race, I look good, I feel good and no matter what I've got to run faster and faster to cross the finish line.

I do combine speed play with visualizing...[I do not do all of these in one run]

• I increase speed every quarter of a mile until I hit my goal race pace ~ 8:30/mile. I run that for 1 mile and then decrease speed backwards every quarter of a mile.
• Last half mile of a run I run at goal race pace ~ 8:30/mile. {I do this with every run}
• I increase the speed by one step every 1/10 of a mile until I'm in an all out dead sprint.
  
• I set a goal of running 1 mile of my run at an 8:00 min pace.
• I'll run one mile at 9:00/mile, one mile at 8:30/pace, one mile at 8:00/pace.

No matter what, once I set a goal, I take the challenge and won't decrease speed or quit just because I've pushed myself to the brink. I feel pushing myself to max limits will help me mentally sustain any obstacle during a good and a bad race. Every run is different and depending on how far I'm going will depend on how intense I push it. Obviously I want to finish my run and I don't want to stop placing one foot in front of the other.

Today's workout: 60 min spin, 3 mile run. Run on!