Grrrr

I hate it when the day gets away from me and I don't get a chance to work out. I had such great intentions too. I've increased my runs to two miles now and my last run was under 19 minutes so I was actually looking forward to running today. Since my schedule can be a little erratic, I told myself that if I can work out at least 3 times in the last seven days, I'll be good. Hopefully, I'll fit it in another time this week.

It's all about the music

April is our month to blog about music! On March 17 I ran the St. Patty's Day 5K on-base. More than 200 people turned out to run the event--the biggest crowd they'd had to date. Right before the run we were told that we couldn't use Ipods since we were running on the streets and it was a safety concern. There was a HUGE rumbling among the crowd. It goes to show how much music motivates us in our workouts. I've talked to people that coordinate their ipods and music to match a certain pace for their runs...12 mins worth of music can help ensure a 12 min run time...pretty smart.

I have different music for different moods. For races I load up on Pink, KeSha, AC/DC, All American Rejects, JLo, Shakira, Lady Gaga and some good dance beat music. For my 'slower days' I like Train, and some old-school 80s music like Africa, U2, Bon Jovi and Tesla (Love Song is just eery when you run!) I actually award myself by buying new music for my Ipod-- KeSha's Blow is my next purchase!

If you're looking for some new music check out some of the fitness magazines that provide 5-10 good song recommendations. Also do a Google search for 'workout music' --and ask friends. Music can inspire and motivate -- let it help you increase your intensity or just let it take your mind off what you're doing -- either way, add it and enjoy it!

Progress!

I ran my first mile and a half today! It took me 14:06 minutes which already gets me 52.8 points on the chart. Wahoo! Two week ago I was TDY in northern VA for a week where I ran twice and lifted once. The hills out there were killer and the loop was only 1.3 miles. Last week I didn’t work out at all so I decided to get back on the wagon this UTA. My plans to run Saturday were derailed so I had to get out today and I was only planning on running a mile and then go workout. It could have been the nice weather or the fact that the track was flat but I felt pretty good at the mile point. So I kept on going and before I knew it, I ran by the mile and a half marker. To celebrate I did 10 pushups - still need to work on those. But I’m glad to be able to share this!

Had an interesting talk with Chief Parris about nutrition this weekend too. He had met with a nutritionist at the HAWC. After keeping a food diary, he found out that he wasn’t getting enough calories which was why he felt tired in the afternoons which was when he worked out. She suggested eating a little more substantial snack to get more energy to go run. Makes sense to me.

I’ve also decided the fitness test is like a spelling test. To study for a spelling test, you have to study the words which might mean you write them over and over again on the board. Same thing with the fitness test – you need to run , do sit ups, and pushups in the same format as the test. Doing extra workouts (spin class, the elliptical trainer, bench press, etc) is fine but you have to practice the test in order to do well on the test. A month before your test, see how many pushups you can do in a minute. If you aren’t where you want to be, you know what to do. Enjoy this Spring weather and hope your workouts are going well!