Karrie and I showing off the massive hill
When you put as many miles on the road (and in the water) as my workout friends and I do, sometimes you just have to shake things up a bit to keep things interesting. That is why I make sure and schedule fun races every couple months and why we continually try to find new and exciting ways to keep it fresh. Lately, on the weekends, I have been running some long miles with friends who are training for full marathons. I won't be doing my first full until January, but when you are running 18+ miles it is nice to have company. So, I have been trying to support them by running at least 10 miles of their mileage along side them.
A couple weeks ago we had an interesting adventure. Now before I share this story I need to point out something that is important to understanding our perspective on training. My friend Karrie puts it best when she says, "There are 'competers' and then there are 'completers'...we are completers." So while we take completing our miles pretty seriously, and we push ourselves to get faster, we don't always stress if our times are not perfect. We realize that it is more important to enjoy what we are doing, or we might be apt to quit doing it altogether.
A couple weeks ago we had an interesting adventure. Now before I share this story I need to point out something that is important to understanding our perspective on training. My friend Karrie puts it best when she says, "There are 'competers' and then there are 'completers'...we are completers." So while we take completing our miles pretty seriously, and we push ourselves to get faster, we don't always stress if our times are not perfect. We realize that it is more important to enjoy what we are doing, or we might be apt to quit doing it altogether.
Karrie and Leslie having too much fun in the sprinklers
So back to my story. A few weeks ago we were running 13 miles on the back road hills in Temecula. Joe and Darcy are pretty quick so after about 5 miles Karrie, Leslie, and I lost sight of them. Truthfully we were not that far behind, but because it was over 90 degrees, Karrie and Leslie decided to make a short stop at a park along the way to run through the sprinklers. We weren't there more than a few minutes, but it gave us that energy needed, and cooled us down enough, that we were ready to tackle the rest of our miles. Karrie was pretty sure she knew the route to catch up with the others, so when we came to a dead end, we decided to go straight into this new development and explore a little while we ran. It ended up that the road had not yet been completed, but instead of going back where we started, we thought it would be fun to run up the hill you see in the picture at the top of my blog. It was so steep that near the top we had to grab onto the ground a little, as it was almost perpendicular to the bottom where we started. When Joe and Darcy called to find out where we were, they were surprised to see that we were high above their heads on a adjacent hillside. Like I said, sometimes the running is so much more fun when you do something unexpected. Sometimes, it is important to get off the beaten path.
Kay, Emily, and I after our Thursday creek bed run
We have been lucky enough the last few weeks to have Kay feeling well enough, despite her recent cancer diagnosis, to run with us. Behind my house there is this amazing creek bed that leads up into the local nature preserve. We have spent much of the last year exploring as much of this area as possible. But on Thursday, Emily took us on a route we had never been before. We headed down a familiar road but then turned toward a spot that was brand new to us. We ended up running down a leaf blanketed hill through some thick brush, and then up a steep incline where we then emerged into our familiar creek bed. We had so much fun that we ended up doing almost 6 miles without realizing we had gone that far. Doing novel routes a few times a month ensures that we are never bored.
Believe it or not, our costumes were boring compared to others
I have shared in the past that one way I keep myself accountable to my training is that I schedule races every month or so. In addition, I try to pick novel races I have never done before--my philosophy is that if I am paying money I want to try new routes as well as new experiences. That is why I do anything from mud runs and the Tough Mudder, to triathlons, as well as half-marathons in varied places like North Carolina, Arizona, and Oregon. So when I saw an 80's inspired race in my hometown of Pasadena, I knew this was just the race for me. And while it was one of the most poorly organized races I have ever run (not enough water stops for the over 90 degree weather and then they ran out of water), I had a great time. There was 80's music blasting from various spots along the route, people were dressed in bright, neon colors, and the costumes were unbelievable. I got very lucky to find a person who was my pace to keep me going despite the heat and lack of water. Cindy (dressed in the Candyland costume) and I spent the first 3 miles of the race running past each other at different points, and at about mile 4 we decided to finish strong together. We kept reminding ourselves that the sooner we finished, the sooner we could both get water. So we pushed it up the last hill, through the finish line, and straight to our cassette tape shaped medals--the cool bling is also a motivator, don't judge me.
I ran this race for the cassette tape bling
One final example of how getting off the beaten path makes exercising more enjoyable took place today. Karrie and I had the opportunity to ride through the Temecula vineyards with some of the most beautiful cloud formations I have seen in years. In addition, there were tons of hot air balloons floating through the sky to make it look even more spectacular. It could not have been more beautiful for my inaugural ride on my new racing bike (yes, I finally got it paid off and brought it home). We did 36 miles up and down some pretty intense hills, but when you have so much to look at, and such good company, those thirty plus miles go pretty quickly. And while I know that when my Ironman training has me biking three days a week at high mileage I will be forced to do some spinning classes indoors, I will still find time to get outside and enjoy the gorgeous landscapes around me.
My inspiration for this week's blog was my wish to share how you, too, can get your exercise in and still have fun. I have had two friends share with me in the last few weeks that when they start new exercise, within three months they are already bored and are giving up on that form of exercise. What you can see from what I do is that I am constantly trying to mix things up so that it is never boring. I have been consistently exercising for almost three years now and I have never felt the need to quit--I am having too much fun! So mix it up, find new places to move, and you will find it is a lot easier to stick with your fitness plans.
My inspiration for this week's blog was my wish to share how you, too, can get your exercise in and still have fun. I have had two friends share with me in the last few weeks that when they start new exercise, within three months they are already bored and are giving up on that form of exercise. What you can see from what I do is that I am constantly trying to mix things up so that it is never boring. I have been consistently exercising for almost three years now and I have never felt the need to quit--I am having too much fun! So mix it up, find new places to move, and you will find it is a lot easier to stick with your fitness plans.
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