Tag Archives: running

Aug 23 2012

Guest Post! Running Motivation

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Hello all! It’s not a typical day for me, I’m on my way to my best friend’s house to get last minute things ironed out for her wedding this weekend. So, in my place I have a fabulous guest post from one of my favorite bloggers. I hope you enjoy it … I definitely did.

Thanks girl!

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Hey there! I’m Heidi from over at Idlehide. I am a big fan of Yellow Haired Girl’s blog and am a faithful reader. I was so excited when she asked me to do a guest post for her.

I figured since YHG recently started running and I enjoy running, that I should talk about it. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to “just get out there and run”. Sometimes “getting out there and running” is easier said than done. I think it is human nature to sometimes not want to get out of your warm, cozy bed and hit the pavement for  __km’s or miles.

Motivation is where it’s at. There are certain things that really help me to get off my butt and run, or head to the gym…

Planning ahead. This helps me out SO much. I have to mentally prepare myself to do a long run. Usually a few days before I have a long run planned I start preparing myself for it. It’s my little way of motivating myself and it really works. It almost gets me excited for it to be over. By planning ahead I think about the mileage I am going to cover and gives me a chance to prepare for it by drinking lots of water and eating lots of protein. (I find carb-loading weighs me down and makes me feel groggy so protein works a little better for me) I do eat carbs the morning of a long run/race, but I don’t eat a ton of them leading up to it.

Getting your gear ready the night before. Your alarm goes off and your little running pile is all ready for you to put on. It sure beats digging through your workout clothes while you’re half asleep. I usually put my shorts, sports bra, running shirt, headband, socks, sneakers and Garmin all in a pile in my closet. I put it on before I realize what I’m doing and ta-da… I’m ready for my workout.

Just do it! I am stealing Nike’s motto, but it’s so true. Just step outside or just go to the gym. The hardest part is getting there (for the gym) or the first step out the door (for running). I find after 1 km I am feeling warmed up and already feeling better about myself for going for this run. After I walk in the gym and see other people working out I am instantly motivated and ready to just work out!

Remember why you run/workout. This often helps me out. I remember just why I workout. I workout and exercise to be healthy, to maintain my weight, to be able to enjoy eating food, and to feel good about myself. Oh yeah, and I want good legs and abs ;)

The post-workout feeling. Yep. You know what I’m talking about. Have you ever had a workout where you regretted it? Probably not. 99% of the time I feel awesome after my workout and am so happy that I worked through it.

Pinterest. I had to include this one! If I ever am having a really hard time getting motivated I just go on Pinterest and go under the Health and Fitness section. Nine times out of ten that does it for me. My favorite one is” You can either feel sore tomorrow or you can feel sorry tomorrow.” I would much rather feel that good sore muscle feeling than feeling guilty that I didn’t work out.

Now, all that being said. I strongly think that you should listen to your body. If you’re feeling sore, really tired, sick or anything else and you really feel like you need a rest day, please listen to your body. You know your body more than anyone else so don’t go beyond what you think you should. On the flip side though, don’t be a slacker;)

I hope some of these methods will help you next time you’re not really feeling your workout. Just remember why you workout/run/cycle/swim!

 Questions:

What is your biggest motivator?

Do you have a favorite motivational quote from Pinterest?

Aug 2 2012

Rooting For August

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It’s time to check in and see how I did on July’s goals.

*SPOILER ALERT: I did not do well.*

Here’s what I wanted to accomplish this last month …

1) Make more of an effort to do strength training for my back. Did I do this? Nope. I worked my upper body hard this month … but very rarely did I concentrate on my back. I could probably beat you in an arm wrestle, though.

2) Drink more water. Did I do this? Nope. Honestly … I probably drank less. I’ve been on the road a lot lately for work stuff, and forget to pack a water bottle 9/10 times. I more than failed this goal.

3) Run 7K on the treadmill. Did I do this? Nope. I did lots of short runs this month. My new thing is running a mile or two on an incline (around a level 3) before getting into my daily workout. It’s a great little cardio burst – my blood gets pumping!! But long runs? They didn’t happen in July.

So … I did freaking terrible not so great this month.

But hey. These things happen! I’m going to accomplish these three same goals this month. Mark my words. Come on August!

Are you making goals for this month?

Jun 25 2012

I Did It

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Happy Monday! Now, I don’t ever usually go into Monday with a cheerful attitude …

but I’m still smiling after accomplishing one of my June goals this weekend.

I ran 5K on the treadmill!

It wasn’t that fast, but getting this done was a big deal for me. I’ve never really enjoyed running. Give me a stationary bike and I’ll pedal until the cows come home … but running? Gross.

But now, ladies and gentleman, I think I’ve found something I like. Love, even :)

I can’t wait to do another one!

Jun 7 2012

I’m Gonna Do It

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There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m going to accomplish my goals for the month.

Do you want to know why I’m so determined? Well, Tuesday night … I RAN THREE MILES.

All you runners out there know that’s not a huge distance. But for someone like me, who is just learning to enjoy running, that was huge! I was so proud of myself. I tweeted, I texted my mom, I texted my best friend. I was on top of the world.

I had skipped my workout Tuesday morning. My arms were ridiculously sore from my upper body workout on Monday … and an extra hour and a half of sleep sounded like the best thing in the world when Gavin DeGraw starting singing Tuesday morning (his song “Soldier” is my alarm clock sound). So I decided that it was going to be an unscheduled rest day.

That was until I got home from work. I was feeling anxious after putting some serious time into my new responsibility at work, and felt the need to move. I was too much in my head and needed a release. Plus, I haven’t been sleeping great and thought doing some physical activity could wear me out enough to put me to sleep. Initially, I was going to go spin (another one of my goals) with a friend. She bailed. I didn’t reallllly feel like going alone. I could have, but I wasn’t feeling it. I decided I wanted to run. Just … go. I wanted to see how far I could go.

I walked the first .10 of a mile … and then ran a full one (at a speed of 6.0). Then walked another .10 of a mile … and then ran another full one (same speed). I was feeling pretty ragged after that, but I pushed through. It felt good. One more .10 of a mile walk … and then I ran another full mile (again, at 6.0).

One of my goals is to run 5K by the end of the month. I think I’ve got this in the bag :)

I will tell you that I don’t know if I’ve ever sweated like that in my entire life. Usually I get a little red in the face (except for at spin … I turn into a weird little blonde haired tomato), and my face glistens a bit. But I know I’ve still worked hard.

After my run Tuesday night (it feels SO COOL to say “my run”), you could have wrung my shirt out. I didn’t … because that would have been disgusting. But I could have. I came straight home, took a cold shower, and then did this:

I sat on the floor, in the dark, in front of one of my favorite electronics. Mister Fan. There was an enormous thunderstorm going on (and tornado watches in the area!), so I sat behind the screen of my open balcony door and let the rain smell waft in while I cooled back down to normal person temperature. Ahhhhh…..

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Yesterday, it was Camp Day at Tim Horton’s. It’s usually quite a big deal. The lines are always long, people are dishing out cash to donate or buying sandwiches and XL double doubles to send kids to camp who may not otherwise be able to go.

Source

With my job in the media, I had the opportunity to work behind the counter for an hour yesterday morning as a volunteer. My coworkers (who joined me) and I thought it would be a great thing to help out, and then we were able to get some coverage of it for our show.

HOLY COW. It may have been the most high pressure thing ever. They gave me a couple of duties, and I felt so bad because I sucked. I was supposed to be dishing out soups and delivering sandwiches to all of the tills … and really wasn’t good.  At all. I did it all with a smile on my face, because the employees and customers were truly awesome to be around and I was having a fun. But my pearly whites were really all I could offer – I think I made the process slower ;) I admire people in the fast food industry. Based on my experience yesterday, I don’t think I’d last long!

Have you ever worked in a fast food restaurant? Was it crazy?!