We headed to the Y this morning — my goal was to get there in enough time to get a run in before 9:45 yoga. I kind of wanted to redeem myself from that missed 20 minute tempo last week, but am really just rolling with everything based on how I’m feeling right now.
One would think it wouldn’t be difficult to get there at 8:45am. That’s not particularly early. The boys slept in until 7:45. Not complaining about that- I had some wonderful quiet time this morning….  but to then get out of the house by 8:30, it’s kind of a hustle. I was teed up and ready to go with like 10 minutes to spare and somehow didn’t get out of the house until 8:45 and my gas tank was below empty. Below. So because running is important, I’m an idiot, I rolled the dice on running out of gas and booked it to the Y. We made it whohoo!
I met Amy at the treadmills at 9:05am- 40 minutes to squeeze a run in! She was finishing up her 7th 800 repeat and running hard when I started my warm up. I was only slightly jealous that she was DONE with a great workout. I warmed up 10 minutes and felt pretty darn great, so decided I’d conquer that 20 minute tempo. There are days when 20 minutes of hard running sounds really difficult- especially when you are just getting back in shape and the swing of running fast.
Today, I didn’t seem daunting at all once I started going. I think I could have stretched it out to 30-35 minutes of tempoing if I wanted to. But I stuck to the pan of 20, because I’m smarter than that and it feels good to finish a workout feeling like you could have done more. I ran 10 minutes at 7:09, 5 minutes at 7:04, and then cut the last 5 minutes down to 6:40. It felt fairly effortless considering the pace and where I am right now. And it’s funny because last week that run would have destroyed me mentally and physically which is why I didn’t even try it when an 8:30 mile felt hard. When I cranked it up to 7:04 pace, the thought of running a half marathon that fast- let alone a full marathon was laughable. You gots to do the work to get there though right? Baby steps.
I finished up at 9:42, ran downstairs, grabbed my spot in the yoga room, changed real quick and made the yoga happen. I think the old me would have been focused on running longer and skipped the yoga, but I’m smart enough now to know that the difference between 4.5 and 6.5 miles didn’t matter- I got the workout in and yoga was going to benefit me more emotionally and physically than running 25 more minutes.
Beyond my little workout today- the purpose of this post in the first place was I want to share with you a video that goes over some pre and post run stretches Glenn and I recommend for all runners and stay true to ourselves. After a few weeks, we like tos start adding in some more post run stretch/strength, but if you are new to running- or new to incorporating anything like this into your running/walking routine – this video is a great place to start. Unless I’m in a major time crunch—- like today for instance, you won’t find me heading out for a run without doing my lunge matrix first. I made this with my friend Chris Thornberry – Chris has all sorts of information videos on his you tube channel Inside Endurance Sports and this is the most recent video posted. We have plans to make more women’s running/mother runner focused videos soon!
Now, you might know that I work part time in marketing and events for the best run/walk specialty store in Indianapolis – Athletic Annex. That’s right, I claimed it it’s the best. Are you following us on Instagram? You’ll often see cameo’s of myself and the boys on their feed- I have a lot of fun with it.
Athletic Annex recently launched our spring training program– training for the 500 festival mini marathon. We kicked off the program two weeks ago with St. Vincent Sport Performance. St. Vincent’s Jon Grant and our owner Bob Kennedy put together a simple video of 5 strength exercises all runners should be doing. I think it kind of goes hand in and with the pre and post run stretches so I wanted to share this as well. Jon is an Athletic Trainer and has been working with runners for years- and Bob ran in the Olympics, so there’s that.
So here are the 5 exercises Jon & Bob suggest you stay committed to throughout your training. Trust them. They’re way smarter than me:
Alright, go get strong guys. And don’t let a failed workout kill your confidence, because you’re likely just having an off day and will kill it next week if you try again.Â