Quitter. (Adventures in workouts.)

Back to the regularly scheduled programming.  Thanks for indulging me in talking about the Newtown tragedy.  I know I'm no Anderson Cooper (who is the new love of my life due to his late twitter exchange), but sometimes it's really nice to be able to talk about other things on this blog.  So yeah, you rock.

No one likes a quitter.  Especially me.  Especially when I'm the quitter.  That really sucks.

Like this morning, for example:

Because I'm trying to get into good half marathon shape, I've been trying to do some long intervals and tempos.  They've occurred mostly on the treadmill because I am lazy and don't like being bothered with setting my own pace.  That, and I think I can push myself harder there than on a road by myself.

So a 5 miler at 7:08 was scheduled this morning.  Except I figured I'd go at 7:12 because I'm still easing back into this "speed thing".

I was a little nervous about this run because I've been quitting tempos halfway through since this summer.  And everyone knows that once you start quitting things, it's hard to stop.  This would be a challenge given my current speed ability.

I ate some mango chunks and told myself "you won't quit this workout, you'll stick it through".  "Yes, I got this."  I stepped out the door to warm up into the 40 degree LA weather which if you didn't know, feels like -20 degrees to us.   I got back and stepped on the treadmill.  "You won't quit this time", I told myself.

I put the treadmill at 1.0% incline and 8.3 mph.  The first mile was easy.  I blasted some old techno song.  Crystal Castles I think.  Around two miles in, doubt started creeping into my mind again.  "How the hell am I going to run for three more miles?".

"I really feel tired".  "If I feel this tired now, how will I feel 15 minutes from now?"

And then that same stupid voice started coming into my head.  Like one of those cartoon devil versus angel over my shoulder.  "Just hit the stop button".  "You're tired".

And damnit, 2.75 miles into this stupid tempo run, I looked down at the stop button...tried to stop myself for a minute...but then as I have many times lately, I hit it.  The treadmill slowed down and within a couple seconds I was instantly pissed at myself.  How the hell am I going to improve if I just keep quitting these workouts?  This keeps happening.  

Then the cartoon angel (ok, more like a cartoon personal trainer) came back into the picture.  "Come on, Margot.  The least you can do is try to finish the tempo".

I decided to get right back on the treadmill and go another two miles (cutting off one quarter).  I cranked the inclined down to 0% which I guess is cheating but whatever, I need all the help I can get.

Somehow, the tempo didn't seem to mentally hard when I could think of it as two miles left without already having mileage down.  That, and the 60 second break helped.

I finished the two miles at 7:12 and got off the treadmill, still annoyed with myself.  And very sweaty.  But at least kind of happy that I tried to finish the workout.

There is no inspirational end to this blog post, because it hasn't happened yet.  How do you stick it out?  I've thought of some ideas...

1) Allow myself to take a 60 second breather during one more tempo, then cut it down to 45 seconds, then 30, and then it's so small I must be able to just keep going right?

2) Adjust the treadmill speed up and down every half mile to avoid boredom and get a sense of achievement every 3-4 minutes.

3) Get someone in there to workout with me.  I don't know about you, but I workout way better when there is someone there with me.  Essentially, I don't want them to think I'm a total loser and that is motivational enough.

4) Chop stop button off and build cage around treadmill so it is impossible to escape.

How do you get yourself to complete workouts?  Have you ever had the same dumb issue as me where you just stop because you don't feel like running any more? And it's easy to do because you're in a pattern of quitting?

I gotta find a way out of this pattern.  Or in the words of Daniel Bedingfield, I gotta get through this. 

 (Dance Party Time)

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....

Shoe Discount Hunting, Treadmill Tempos!

Hope you're having a good weekend!


My weekends always take the same emotional roller coaster when it comes to how they feel long at the beginning of the weekend and very short at the end!  It's hard to explain exactly so I made a graphic since a picture is worth 1000 words:  

Don't get me wrong...I actually really like my job, as jobs go.  I just like my weekends eveennn betterrrrr.  =).

Today I couldn't stomach going to the track for a workout, so instead, I headed to my apartment gym for a little tempo on the treadmill.

 The good thing about the treadmill?  It's really easy to run negative splits!  You just hit that down button....
Workout: 1 Mile Warmup, 4.5 Miles , .5 incline @ 7:24, 7:19, 7:12, 7:08, 7:03 (.5 miles), mile cool down.

Another good thing?  I can watch ABC family "That's so Raven" while running my heart out and sweating up a storm.  It's actually not bad, I swear!

The real OC...public library!

According to this Runners World Article, half marathon training tempos should be more like 6-8 miles and probably a little slower than I ran, unless I'm planning for a 7:15 pace half which would be heck of an awesome PR but is probably out of the question.

I felt ok about my workout performance though...even happy perhaps?

Treadmill speed can be deceiving for me though...sometimes I feel like it's a lot easier for me to click off fast miles on the 'mill' than outside.

The rest of my day included birthday present shopping, and getting my Orange County library card!  Dorks unite!

I also purchased another pair of Mizuno Inspires.  I've had my old pair for about 10 weeks and I'd like to have new ones to phase into the rotation soon.

Instead of going to my local running store, I went where any bargain hunter would go...Ebay!
I hit the jackpot! I bought the older model, but hey, that's cool with me.  I ran in them a year ago successfully so I'm sure they will be fine now.
$65 Dollar Mizuno Inspires!

The Inspire

These days, between Zappos, Endless.com, Ebay, etc, there are a million places to get running shoes if you know exactly what you want.  And they likely have a coupon code available.  

That said, I can't help but feel a little guilty.  I want to support the little guy running shops, but if I can get the same thing for considerably less....sigh.....

::suddenly feels responsible for the possible end of small cool independent running stores..::

So two questions:  

What is harder for you physically?  Running outside or on a treadmill?  
I can usually go faster with less effort on the treadmill


Do you buy your shoes from running stores?  Or are you a discount monger like me, selling out to the lowest price!? =)

Have a great Saturday Night / Sunday, y'all!