Posts Tagged ‘Running’

Finding the Fun in Fitness with Reebok

[Glow in the dark yoga!]

Last week I was invited to the 2013 Reebok Women’s Lifestyle and Fitness event here in New York City. Reebok, fitness, fun exercise workshops… You know I didn’t have to think twice about what my RSVP would be.

Reebok supplied us with sneakers, tanks, bras, tees, and tights and I got to spend two days trying out all of their gear while mingling with some of the most passionate and inspiring group of fitness writers, athletes, and bloggers. We all had a blast participating in yoga, running, CrossFit, and dance workouts together. In other words, it was two full days of bliss.

Hungry Running Recap: Every Day is a Vacation, And I’m Taking a Long One

[image via Someecards.com]

I’ll start with the bad news first. And don’t worry, when I say “I’m taking a long vacation,” I don’t mean from blogging. I mean from running. Not because I want to, but because I have to.

Unfortunately I’ve sustained myself another nice little injury. Last year it was my left hamstring. Now it’s my right hip flexor. It could be a labral tear (let’s pray not!), or it could just be a groin strain. Either way, I need to rest. Probably for at least three weeks. (Kill me now!)

The pain in my right hip started just after I ran the Fitness Magazine Half-Marathon. Three days after the race I went out for an 11-mile run and unfortunately that was just too much, too soon. After that I rested for about a week until I felt OK again. But even though I felt OK on my first run back, there were still some small twinges of pain, a sign that I wasn’t fully recovered. Stubbornly (just like last time), I chose to ignore that, simply because I love to run, and now, as a result, I can’t. Oh the irony.

April 2013 Running Playlist

I have done so much running this month. I randomly decided to run a half-marathon three weeks ago, and now I’m continuing to keep up with that level of training, because the weather is getting nice and nice why not just keep running, right? So, consequently I’ve been listening to a lot of music. Some really good music and some really bad music.

For example, Taylor Swift’s song, “22″ is so bad. That is a bad, bad song. Some might say it is an insult to music. But for running (and also general dancing around like a 5-year-old) it’s perfect. The same goes for any song performed by pre-pubescent Disney Channel stars. So, so bad, but extra, ultra motivating while running. Why is that? Someone do an experiment and reveal these secrets of the brain to me.

This month (like many previous month’s playlists) my playlist is a varying potpourri of artists and genres. The top 12 songs I’ve been running to over the past 30 days range from obscure, failed Disney stars all the way to the great Led Zeppelin. Do with it what you will. Hopefully you’ll press play and have a great run!

Why is fitness important to you? Win a $25 Target Gift Card! {Closed}

[Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Target.]

Why is fitness important to me?

No, really. I’m still sort of asking myself this question out loud right now. I’ve been asking it over and over again trying to figure out the answer. When I first started to think about it, I wasn’t sure. I was kind of like, “because it just is”. You know? Health is important. I want to be healthy. It’s as simple as that, right? Well, yeah I guess. This is all true. But that’s not a good enough answer for me. So, I kept thinking and I started to dig a little bit deeper.

Hungry Running Recap: More/ Fitness Magazine Half-Marathon

On Sunday I completed my third half-marathon. As I was training for my first half-marathon last year, I remember thinking, “This will probably be my first and only half-marathon.” I couldn’t imagine why I would ever want to put my body through all of that pain more than once in my life. But after just having completed my third, and with my eyes set on the 2014 NYC full, 26.2 mile marathon, now there’s no way anyone could ever stop me from racing. Again and again and again.

Cruise Control iPhone Running App Giveaway! {Closed}

Remember last month when I couldn’t stop raving about the new Cruise Control iPhone app that syncs your music to your pace while you run? Well, if not, here are a few snapshots from my Instagram to jog your memory.

Hungry Running Recap: So, I’m running a half marathon next weekend!

That’s right. Next weekend. Me. 13 miles. I decided last night that I wanted to do it. I’ve been debating about the More/Fitness Magazine Half-Marathon for months now. Every time I open the latest issue of Fitness Magazine and see the ad for it I’m like, “Yeah! I really want to do that!” but for some reason I just never signed up. Well, now I did! And I’m so ready to run.

This year is the race’s 10th anniversary, it takes place in Central Park, and it’s one of the largest all-women’s half-marathons in the country. Ummmm, sweet! Sounds like a good time to me.

So, crazy me. Signing up for 13-mile races two weeks before their start. Good thing I’ve been running a lot lately! In fact, I’ve been running so much that I’ve hardly had any time to write about it. I’ll make up for some of that now.

March 2013 Running Playlist

First things first. If you’re wondering what the heck happened to my February 2013 running playlist, last month, I shared it exclusively to my Tumblr page. But rest assured that I did not skip a month of new running music. It exists. You can find it, subscribe, and listen to your hearts content by clicking the link above.

Now, February is long gone and somehow we’re through with March as well. Another month, another slew of really fun songs to run to! My March running playlist is listed below as well as a link where you can subscribe and listen via Spotify. Happy running!

Next to Me – Emili Sande
Mirrors – Justin Timberlake
Stubborn Love- The Lumineers
Gold- Britt Nicole
Battle Scars- Lupe Fiasco
Alive- Krewella
On to the Next One- Jay-Z
Stupid Grin- Dragonette
I’m Not Your Toy- La Roux
Drinking From the Bottle- Calvin Harris
Pompeii- Bastille
X You- Avicci

Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

What songs have you been listening to while you run or workout? Let me know in the comments below!

Become a Better Runner: 4 Ways ‘Cruise Control’ Can Help you Run Farther and Faster

Most runners can agree, the best kinds of workouts are the unplanned ones. The workouts where you just gear up and go. No hopes or expectations. No mileage requirements or goal paces. Just a free run. Exercise in its most basic form.

That’s my favorite way to run anyway. Which is a major reason why I’ve totally become addicted to a new running app called Cruise Control that syncs the beat of your music to your pace.

I shared a little sneak preview of the app a few weeks back when I recapped my first run back after recovering from a cold. But even a few weeks and plenty of workouts later, what this app is capable of still totally blows my mind.

It has revived my love for really rocking out to my music while I run (one of the reasons I originally fell in love with the sport), and taught me that there’s more to good running music than crazy, upbeat, bubblegum pop. (Who knew?!) But even beyond reconnecting a runner to the idea of running for the love of it, I’ve found that the app’s four different features actually have the potential to help everyone become a better runner.

1. Running Free

The app’s “Free Run” setting is the feature of the app that will sync your music to the rhythm of your pace. It’s beneficial for a few reasons. First, it really forces you to pay attention to your pace. For example maybe Bob Marley’s Red, Red Wine is playing but it sounds super sped up. If you had meant for your workout to be a more laid back run, it could be a hint that you’re taking it a bit too fast. A subtle reminder to slow it down a little. It’s the perfect way to make sure you’re paying attention to your body and cadence, while still being able to keep your earphones in. Second, it makes almost any song appropriate for any type of workout. So you can just hit play and go. No worrying about what song might come up next or pressing the next button seventy times before you finally find that one perfect running song. (A distraction I am quite often plagued by.)

2. Pacing

The pace feature of the app allows you to pick a goal pace that you aim to stick to throughout your run, and all you need to do to make sure you’re hitting that pace is match your steps to the beat of the music. Again, this is such a ground-breaking way to use music and technology for learning how to pay more attention to your body while you run. Not only will this help you run faster by keeping you on pace (I know it sounds almost crazy that a song can keep you on pace but I tried it and it really, works), but there’s a good chance that it could also help prevent injury by keeping you in tune with your body and the way that it’s moving while you run.

3. Target Heart Rates

This feature reminds me of that Selena Gomez song. “To the beat of my… To the beat of my… To the beat of my heart.” Oh wait, sorry. That was Hilary Duff. Not the same, because Hilary Duff is so much cooler. Except for the fact that she recorded that song. Anyway, this feature allows you to pick a target heart rate and according to the Cruise Control, “as long as you match your steps to the rhythm of the music, the music will drive you to your heart rate goal.” This is such a cool concept to me. However the only downside to this feature is that you need a heart rate monitor that can connect with your iPhone. My heart rate monitor, the Polar FT60, is not iPhone compatible, so I have not tested this feature first hand. For those with the means to use the feature, it not only has the potential to help you run faster, but to also improve your overall fitness because learning to train within specific heart rate zones will increase your body’s ability to efficiently deliver oxygen and fuel to your muscles during aerobic exercises like, running.

4. Cadence & Tempo

Put simply, your cadence is the number of times that your feet hit the ground over a period of one minute while running. If you’re a super serious runner and know, for example, that for a certain workout you’d like to train at 180 SPM (steps per minute), you can use Cruise Control to pick a target stride rate and the app will adjust all of your songs to play at the same tempo. This is cool for all you math lovers out there who would really enjoy figuring out where their SPM would need to be in order to keep a certain pace and another neat tool for workouts aimed at increasing speed.

Aside from syncing your music, the app also uses your phone’s GPS to record your distance and route. When the workout is completed you can review a map of your route, your average pace, your overall distance, and your total time.

The app is available in the Apple iTunes store for $4.99 and, I think, well worth the money. Especially if you’re like me, and really enjoy running along to your favorite songs and playlist.

What’s a song that you love running to, that others might not typically consider a “good” running song?

Hungry Running Recap: 6.5 miles on ‘Cruise Control’ with Bob, Steve, and… Lil’ Bow Wow?

Oh it is good to be back!

Last week I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I took a few days off from running. I was itching to lace up and get outside the entire time, but I knew that if I didn’t give my body the rest that it needed to recover I’d be down for the count even longer, which was not something I’m sure my brain could handle. So, I rested, and then I rested some more.

Now, I’ve been sidelined from running before, and luckily, without going too crazy, found ways to ‘deal with it.’

[image source]

But, I say that I’m not sure that my brain could handle more than a week off right now because, over the past week (the week of no running) I noticed something about myself. I was starting to turn into a real life April Ludgate.

Unamused by all and ever-so-apathetic. Everything was annoying and nothing was beautiful. OK, I’m exaggerating a lot, which I tend to do often in my writing (especially since I’ve been reading a lot of Hunter S. Thompson lately), but the main point is this:

Running= Feel like Leslie Knope

[source]

No Running= Feel like April Ludgate

[image source]

Which, don’t get me wrong, April Ludgate is one of my favorite TV characters and a personal hero of mine, but I imagine that being so cynical and disinterested in everything all of the time would get quite exhausting. Although, I guess constantly having as much energy and enthusiasm as Leslie Knope would be equally as exhausting, so maybe I’ll try to find a nice balance between the two. But if I had to choose, I’d rather have Leslie’s No One Can Stop Me attitude and eat waffles topped with whipped cream every day. Just saying.

Anyyyyyyway. What this run really was about is a new iPhone app called Cruise Control that I finally got to try out for the very first time. To put it simply, the app syncs the speed of the music that you listen to while running with your cadence. In other words, no matter what the song, the app will adjust the rhythm of your music to match your pace.

I was THE MOST excited runner when Cruise Control got in touch with me and offered to let me try their app, because one of my favorite things about running is moving along to a favorite song and feeling the music as fuel. When I first started running and every workout was a painful struggle, it was music that got me through. (OMG, is that so corny?) I really can’t imagine having done it without my earphones and a carefully crafted playlist. It’s part of the reason why I share my workout playlists with you all every month.

Of course, there’s also a time and place for running without music, but personally, and I think this holds true for many runners, some of my best running memories include just me, my headphones, and a long playlist of my favorite running songs.

So is this app magic or something? A huge highlight of this run includes the fact that I set a 6 mile personal record which, I do account some of my speediness to the fact that a) my muscles were extremely well-rested and b) I was wearing a brand new pair of already broken-in Brooks. But I’m convinced that it also had to do with the music. Which leads me to the moment you’ve probably been waiting a really long time for, an explanation of this post’s title. (I know, what the heck, right?)

-My new pretty, purple babies.-

So, when I choose my favorite running songs, I tend to gravitate towards obnoxious, bubblegum pop. And while you’ll find the occasional hip-hop, indie, or classic rock track in some of my playlists, for the most part I always felt like I needed really up-beat, super-catchy, annoying pop music to really get me going. However, Cruise Control showed me that is not entirely the case. No, it is not entirely the case at all.

During this run I rocked out to some much more mellow songs. Like Bob Marley’s “Red, Red, Wine, ” Mumford and Sons’ “White Blank Page,” and Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.” When Bob first started playing, my first reaction was to reach and change the song to something faster, but then, I don’t know, something told me to just go with the flow and enjoy the music, something that is typically really hard for me to do while I run because I’m usually skipping through to find that one upbeat pop song that I just can’t get enough of.

And then after Bob, Steve came on and I was totally feeling him too. And all of sudden I was like, “Whoa! I never knew that I can totally do this mellow music thing while I run.” Running revelation! Thank you, Cruise Control.

Then, after that, Lil’ Bow Wow came on and ruined the moment with one of The Worst Songs Ever, which I somehow still deem totally acceptable to keep on my iPhone and listen to while working out because… Well, I can’t even give you a good reason why other than the fact that it’s really catchy. (Side note: I just realized, through catching a glimpse of the music video, that Chris Brown is featured in this song. So let’s kill it with fire. Yes? OK, deal.)

And since it’s SO important to refuel your body after working out, proceeding this unplanned, almost-7-mile run (I swear I totally did not even mean to run that far, it just happened) I came home and made myself a nice, big bowl of whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, chick peas, and tomato-basil sauce topped with Parmesan and feta cheese. YUM!

Do you prefer running with or without music? What type of music is your favorite for working out?