Day 2, Week 8: Running is as boring as you make it.

This morning I woke up pretty stiff from my long run yesterday.  My Achilles tendons were particularly cranky this morning, but a bit of stumbling about the house in search of coffee loosened those suckers right up. 

As I was having my coffee, I was told that it was time to get my arse out of the recliner and get to lifting the heavy weights.

Hyooman. Get out of my chair.

So I did.  I was going to do Total Body Tri Sets from Cathe's Low Impact Series, but I was a tad short on time so I did Ramped Up Upper Body again from her Strong and Sweaty Series and skipped all of the exercises she does with the resistance bands except all those crazy shoulder circles during the shoulder segment.  (You always have time for a workout! Make the time you have work for you!) Since the dogs were asleep upstairs with the hubbs, the male cat was in charge of supervising the workout.  And that was fine with me, seeing as he kicked me out of the chair to begin with.

"Hyooman.  I sees you.  No slacking."

You know what's funny about lifting weights?  I never ever hear anyone talk about how boring they think it is.  I always, however, hear people talk about how boring running is.  "How can you run for hours and hours and not be bored???"  Well, first of all, I believe running is as boring as you make it.  Second, you gotta find what keeps your mind as well as your legs moving, and don't be afraid to switch it up because, you know, variety and all.  Here are some things I do to make my runs less boring:

1) Listen to the right music.  And by "right" I mean "whatever is right for you."  What's right for me is upbeat senseless pop music and driving full-force techno.  Two of my fave finish line songs?  Katy Perry's E.T.  and Temple by BlasterJaxx.  Some might call this weird...I like to think of my musical tastes as highly diversified.

2) Podcasts!  I have recently come to the love that is podcasts, and while political podcasts are generally my go-to listening pleasure, there are two others that I love: Criminal with Phoebe Judge and this one to which I am currently binge-listening at every opportunity because who doesn't like creepy stories that are based on truth?

3) Unplug once in a while, will ya?  I run in the country all by my lonesome, where usually I just have cows, a few horses, and the random farm dog that chases me down the road for company.  On the more gorgeous days, sometimes I turn off whatever it is I'm listening to and just listen to the world around me, taking in the gorgeousness and peacefulness.

Well, I unplug until a car almost hits me or a dog starts chasing me, anyway.  Then I definitely need some auditory therapy.

4) Get chased by goats.


Oh the learnings:

• How can you be bored by running when there is always a chance you can get chased by farm animals?
• No matter how crazily I dress to be seen, a car will always not see me and almost hit me.
• Lore freaking rocks.  Go listen to this ear crack NOW.
• Don't judge my musical tastes.  I see you over there, Judgy McJudgerson.
• Have you figured out yet that I do only Cathe workouts?  If not, I just let the cat out of the bag for you.

Tomorrow's workout: Speed, baby.  A 4 x 1200m workout.  I'm hoping for no side-stitches--fingers crossed!