Tunes to move to

Hi!! Happy weekend!! I’m especially chipper coming off my own weekend. I only have three days of work ahead of me until my next “weekend.” Wacky schedules sometimes suck, but sometimes, they’re also awesome :)

Chris and I are both mega proud of ourselves today. If you missed it in my last post’s comments, he got up early for a two hour bike ride to beat the rain. Similarly, I hopped out the door at 7 am on my day off to go for a run. We both outsmarted mother nature and had awesome workouts to boot! My stats:

Duration: 40 minutes
Distance: 4.2 miles
Avg pace: 9:30
Avg HR: 159
Max HR: 171

This was supposed to be my “long run.” My plan is to do one 3-mile maintenance run a week, and then one long run a week based on time and not distance. Every week, I’m going to increase the time by 5 minutes. May not seem like a lot, but I rather take it slow and not get injured. I attribute my now-healed hip injury to three things:

1) Old running shoes
2) Doing too much too fast
3) Doing too much too fast after a period of inactivity (sitting on my butt studying for exams)

So hopefully keeping those three things in mind will prevent it from happening again!

I also have to add how shocked I am by today’s pace. Who knew not running for two months would take a minute off my average pace? Clearly, it’s because of the cross-training I’ve been doing. Just goes to show you don’t have to run every day to improve at it :)

Post-run breakfast:

Soooo muuuuch fruit!!! I loved it! Those are two Nature’s Path maple cinnamon waffles with cashew almond butter, yogurt and berries. This is definitely my favourite breakfast of the summer.

My lunch featured some more crazy delicious Mediterranean cottage cheese.

I put the cottage cheese on a pita with turkey slices, heritage tomatoes and lettuce. I will definitely be stocking up on this stuff again!!

My afternoon snack featured this:

Ha, just joking! I actually did laundry today and this lovely vending machine is in my laundry room. Back in the day I was known to leave with a bag of peanut M&Ms, but now not so much. Instead, I snacked on this:

Parfait a la K/A/J. It’s not nearly as pretty. The VitaMuffin crumbled everywhere. To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the rich-chocolate/yogurt combo. The texture of the muffin in yogurt was amazing though, I bet it would be good with a different flavour (and Greek yogurt, if my city ever joins the 21st century and starts stocking it).

I also picked up a package from Amy!

The wonderful and fellow triathlete answered my lunchtime woes and sent me a thermal purse along with some homemade cloth bags. They’re fabulous! The lunch bag is fashionable enough to wear as a regular purse, and just small enough to fit in my larger work bag.

Insulated to keep my yogurt cold!! (and zipped to keep the tuna smell in…) Thank you so much Amy!!! You are the bestestestest :D

Chris and I went out for an early dinner tonight at our favourite restaurant in town – Isaac’s Way. Ever since my first hamburger, Chris has been telling me I need to try the one at Isaac’s Way. Who am I to argue with the expert?

“The Big Isaac beef burger is piled high with onion rings, grilled mushrooms, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, and pesto mayo on a Kaiser bun. How big is your bite? Served with your choice of side.”

I ordered it without the cheese and mayo, but couldn’t say no to the onion ring. It was mouth-watering good! Ohmy. I may not be a steak girl, but I’m definitely a burger gal!

Chris also had an anti-cow meal.

But he really prefers to drink his cycling calories back.

I almost finished mine, but decided it wasn’t worth the tummy pains to cram in those last few delicious bites.

I finished with a ginger peach tea.

The boy had more beer ;) Overall a delicious meal! I love that I can eat things like this now without suffering from food guilt. One ginormous hamburger once in a while isn’t going to make me re-gain all my weight. One a day however may have different effects…

 

Now onto even more fun things… Workout Tunes.

I was reading in Canadian Running Magazine the other day that songs with the right beat and rhythm could increase athletic performance by 20%, by taking our attention away from discomfort and fatigue. That’s pretty impressive! I spent much of this past year without an iPod, and found working out without one to be pretty gruelling at times. Especially running.

There are some fun websites out there that get science-y about it. You can download a BPM analyzer to pick songs that will match your heart rate. Run2Rhythm has all types of running playlists available for download. Of course, there’s also a slew of podcasts out there designed for any activity you can think of.

This is great and all. But really, I just like to move to tunes I enjoy! Music is up there on my list of passions, and these days, my workouts are the only chance I get to indulge in it. Sometimes a song will come on my iPod, and I’ll just zone out. It’s amazing the effect good music can have on your mind and body.

So, without further ado, here is my current Top Ten List of Songs to Work Out To:

1. Mass Romantic – The New Pornographers
2. 3’s & 7’s – Queens of the Stone Age
3. Windsurfing Nation – Broken Social Scene
4. Blue Orchid – White Stripes
5. Don’t Lose Your Head – INXS
6. Dvno – Justice
7. Easy – The Beta Band
8. Fit But You Know It – The Streets
9. Wow – Snow Patrol
10. Sweet Ones – Sarah Slean

Some days, knowing I get to listen to my favourite music is motivation enough to get me moving :)

So what are some of your favourite songs to work out to?