Embrace the Treadmill

Today was one of those days. It was blustery, cold and dreary this morning and I couldn’t bear with one more long run wearing my winter running gear. I just couldn’t do it.

Thats where the treadmill comes in…

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Chris and I went to the gym this morning to get our run in. Since there are only four weeks away until the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, we needed to run! No skipping this one. We’re both signed up for the half, and Chris just started training.

10 miles on a treadmill seems like a daunting task, but it wasn’t all that bad.

Pros of running your long run on the treadmill

• You can adjust your speed if you get tired, or if you get a boost of energy
• You can take a drink of water whenever you want!
• You can hop off and use the bathroom if you need to
• You don’t have to pay attention to cars
• You can watch TV, listen to your ipod, or people watch
• You can break your run up into different parts if you have to
• You don’t have to run in the cold/snow/rain/sleet/wind

The treadmill I was on stopped and re-set itself after I ran for 60 minutes (lame), so I had to restart and figure out where I was (at mile 6.5) so I knew I had to finish 3.5 miles to get to 10. I have no idea what my time is since I wasn’t paying attention to the screen when it stopped–I know it took me a little over 30 minutes to run the last 3.5 miles, so I’m guessing I ran 10 miles in 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Obviously, I always prefer running outside when I can, but today I just felt like running on the treadmill because it was just easier!

My post-run lunch was a scrambled egg and cheese sandwich that I made at Chris’. It was quick and easy, because I had somewhere to be at 1:00.

Yoga class!!!

Heartspace Yoga in Albany was having a free open house today. I was so excited when I saw this, so I planned my long run this morning just so I could get to yoga class after my run to stretch out my sore legs.

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The class I went to was Vinyasa, just what I wanted! The class was a bit challenging, especially some of the warrior and chair poses. My legs couldn’t handle them after running 10 miles. But all the other stretches felt really great, and I worked up a pretty good sweat. The normal vinyasa class is held on monday nights, but sadly I can never go because I have class on Mondays. This summer that will change, so I hope to make it a few of these classes.

I was pretty wiped out by the end of class, so I came home and made this.

A delicious purple smoothie!! In the mix:

• 1/2 cup of strawberry greek yogurt
• 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 1 banana, sliced and frozen
• frozen mixed berries

It was so good, the yogurt definitely made it a lot more creamier than normal. I don’t usually put yogurt in my smoothies, but it made it a lot tastier. Yum!