Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Treadmill Speed Game o' Death + Mariachis

I've been told that I have eccentric running habits.  

Stuff like avoiding runs over 7 miles, never following a training plan, wearing rabbit ears to the Boston marathon...ya know...the usual....

To keep the eccentricity going, here's a game I'd like to introduce to the blogging world...

THE TREADMILL SPEED GAME O' DEATH!!!

Ok fine...it's more like a tempo run...here are the rules:

After a mile warmup, you start your treadmill at goal half marathon pace.  Each mile, you increase speed .1 MPH.  The goal is to stay on the treadmill as long as possible (until you're 90% spent...I'm not trying to recommend overtraining here!).

So for example, if your GHMP is 8:30 it would be:
Uncombed hair o' death
Mile 1:  7.0--> Mile 2 --->7.1....etc etc. etc. 

I made it to 5.15 miles today starting at GHMP of 7:24 (8.1 mph) for mile 1.  And because I stupidly drank chocolate milk before the run, I was cramped up until mile 4.
Chocolate milk is so delicious though I'm pretty sure it was still worth it!

One thing...if you play the TSGOD, be prepared for bad hair.....or maybe that's just me...?


So after that informative training segment, I gotta tell you about the second half of my day.  

I work for REVOLVEClothing.com, a fashion retailer, and it was my brother's birthday today.  He's a co-owner of the company. This led to my intern asking me if it was true that people as old as me just stopped counting birthdays...(if you're reading this, Lyn, sorry ...I had to blog this...). 

For birthdays at work, we generally pass around a card and get cake.
But my brother is the much loved El Jefe so he got subdued celebration...you know...just a few things....a...












....MARIACHI BAND!
Cheering Crowds.....

LUNCH!!!
Dancing...


....And the most beautiful part of all.
All in all, I think he had a pretty fun day....=)

So....
What did you do last birthday?  Did you have a Mariachi Band?
I did very little last birthday...just went to eat with family...this year's going to be EPIC though!!

Does anyone want to try the treadmill speed workout o' death with me????
You know you want to....



14 comments:

  1. Hmmm I'm not sure it was a tempo run because my understanding is that those are done at a consistent pace but what do I know. It was more like an interval workout :D!

    I don't want to do that workout, no offense :p. I generally do runs at consistent challenging pace, not increase pace until I want to die. My current goal is that in races I maintain my goal pace, not run negative splits- that's challenge for another time.

    BTW your brother is so lucky and popular!!! Once someone had a cake at work for a birthday- Nigerian cake frosting- not so good :(.

    I CANNOT believe your intern said that to you!?!?!?!?!!?

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  2. Wow what a birthday celebration! My birthday was in February and I celebrated for a whole weekend! lol Dinner with friends and then dancing the next night! So fun!

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  3. Wow, your office sort of looks like the warehouse in The Office! I am pretty sure your bro had the best office birthday celebration ever! Usually my lunch buddies and I buy lunch for the birthday person and they get to pick where we go. I did get a cool card en espanol with superheros for my last birthday at work and some gifts from my lunch buddies :) I want a surprise party this year on possibly the Sat before my bday (hint, hint).

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  4. I just figured out where I'll be spending the next hour (on your company's website)!

    I definitely did NOT have a mariachi band at my birthday and now I'm feeling like I probably should have. Next year!

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  5. Love the treadmill challenge. I am always up for pushing myself (I'm a bit crazy) so I will definitely be giving it a whirl.

    Your brother is one lucky dude! Yowza that was quite the celebration. How fun.

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  6. I love the treadmill game! I pretty much do a similar thing when I run on the tread. I start at my usual warmup speed and each half mile I up it .1 or .2 I haven't tried to see how long I can stay on though. Treadmill workouts can be fun!!!

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  7. Ooh I like the sound of that run! I'm not a fan of organized silly training things, I run a lot because I like to, I'll do it how I feel.

    I'm going to try to do that banner thing too, thanks for sending the link.

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  8. Ok, my last birthday had no band and clearly I need to step up my game. Love this workout for the treadmill!
    :)

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  9. That's a good workout for the treadmill. I always play mind games with myself while on there so I might consider this for a future run. Thanks :)

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  10. You don't look old enough to have an intern!

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  11. How old is your intern? Twelve? You look too young to not be counting birthdays--I still count 'em and, well, you know how close to the big 4-0 I'm getting. Thanks for following my blog. I like yours too. Maybe your speed will rub off on me. :^)

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  12. @Terzah

    @ Terzah and Stacey - hi! thanks...I think? I'm 28 and this is my first real 'supervising role'...movin' on up!
    My lovely intern is in college...I'm having fun with her hilarious thought process that everyone over 25 was born in the dark ages...I'm gonna start making alanis morisette, milli vanilli, and full house references =).

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  13. I want to go to your company's parties! That looks fun! Last year I went wine tasting with friends. This year, I'm thinking either climbing a mountain near Lake Tahoe or having some big dinner/bar thing with friends. Depends how broke I am!

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  14. When will you post again ? Been looking forward to this !

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