cold weather

Treadmill workouts

Hi!

Though my family isn’t sending out any Christmas cards this year, Hannah and I decided to take some festive pictures Sunday morning. . .

A picture with the lovely Lola

A picture with the family cat, Callie. She is 16.

We would have done a picture with each of the pets (dorks?) but we had to leave for church. I was sitting in church and noticed I had cat and dog fur all over myself and I laughed because it was fun to take goofy pictures.

*

Has anyone tried this coffee?! It is more like adult hot chocolate to me… so delicious!
I got it from Walgreens for like $2.99 and I may have to go back for more soon 😀

*

Want to hear something crazy? My last 5 runs have been on a treadmill… by choice. I’m not sure why, but I have been loving the dreadmill lately.

I even managed to do a long run (11 miles) on the dread on Friday last week. Strange.

Since it is getting cold outside, I thought I would share some treadmill workouts that I like. I usually do treadmill runs to music. It makes the time pass faster.

Workout #1: Intervals- Warm up for 5-10 minutes at a comfortable pace. Run 1 minute  at your 5k pace (or faster if you choose!) and then 1 minute and 30 seconds at half marathon pace. Repeat for 20 minutes and then warm down for 5-10 minutes.

Workout #2: Fartlek- This is the perfect workout to do to music. Fartlek means “speed play” in Swedish and that is just what you do. Play with your speed (and incline) throughout the run. If a fast/upbeat song comes on, run as fast as you can during the chorus. If a slow song comes on, I put the incline to 5%.

Workout #3: Hills- Complete an easy 10 minute warm up. Set the speed to your half marathon pace and raise the incline each half mile until you reach 45 minutes. (Or however long you want to run for.) Warm down for 10 minutes on 0% incline-yay!

Workout #4: Long run- Fill your iPod with music, grab a magazine, get a treadmill with a TV, bring snacks + water, and run slow and long. Try not to lose your sanity ;). Also, try you keep your stride similar to running outdoors so you don’t injure yourself.

*

Sometime in the future I’ll post some p90x workouts for all of my weightlifting buddies (if anyone is interested!).

Hope everyone has a great day!

❤

Interval workout and sister

I can’t believe how fast this week has gone by. Wow. Only a week of classes and a few finals until Christmas break, but I’m not going to wish time away. I’m going to enjoy the last week of learning and pretend to enjoy cramming for finals.

Maybe this week went by so quickly because I was really busy again with school stuff and adjusting to the temperature drop in Pittsburgh? It was like 60 degrees on Monday and 29 degrees on Thursday. 

Needless to say, I didn’t run outside. I spent some time with my friend the dreadmill. I also went to a spin class, did P90X on Monday (STILL sore… ow), and swam. Working out relieves a lot of stress-I read that on a sign in the girls bathroom on campus. Just thought I’d share… 🙂

I’d have to say my favorite workout this week was an interval run on the dreadmill. I hadn’t done speed work since cross country camp at Seton Hill. I needed to push myself a little bit! From my Daily Mile:

*

This weekend I’m not 100% sure what I’m doing besides going to an ornament exchange with my momma on Saturday at our church. I’ve never been to one, but we have to each bring a Christmas ornament and I suppose we somehow exchange them with the other people that come. I’m excited!

*

Before I peace out, I thought I’d share 2 pictures of me and Hannah taken on Monday night.

No one believes we are 6 years apart. Ugh. :p

I’m on the left and Hannah is on the right.

I love her. Even if she outgrows me in height in a few months.

*

Have a great weekend!