Treadmill Time: Mantras and Music

Spoiler alert: I’m a huge fan of 80’s music!

Today’s workout was a really good one. I was a little disappointed (I’m starting to feel like I say that A LOT on here, and I hope nobody thinks I’m a whiny baby!), because it was SO nice and warm here today – a balmy 63 degrees – but I missed my chance to run outside because I had to finish some errands in the morning and by the time I got home, it was raining out. We did, at least, manage to take the dogs for a mile-long walk this morning, which was nice.

Today I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I’m not gonna lie, it was TOUGH, but I finished, and was pretty happy with my workout, nonetheless. Here’s the breakdown:

5 miles @ 52:23
Mile 1 – 5.5 mph
Mile 2 – 5.5 mph
Mile 3 – 6 mph
Mile 4 – 6 mph
Mile 4.25 – 5.5 mph
Mile 4.5 – 6 mph
Mile 4.75 (to mile 5) – 6.5 mph

I usually track everything as minutes per mile, but the treadmill does it in miles per hour, and because I was switching back and forth a lot, I’m feeling kinda lazy to do the conversions. I made the mistake of not bringing a water bottle with me (luckily I was just down in the basement!), so at 2.86 miles I had to pause to go grab one. I HATE having to stop to go get something in the middle of a run (sometimes I’m afraid I might not want to get back on!), but my throat was getting a little sore and I knew if I didn’t get a water bottle I probably wouldn’t be able to finish.

But finish I did! I was getting ready to give up at 4.25 miles because my husband was getting a little antsy (I often ask him to come downstairs with me and play video games or watch a movie and talk to me to help distract me) because he was getting a little hungry, and I was getting tired.I knew I had to slow it down a little when I hit 4 miles; I was feeling a little winded, probably from my cold that I’m still battling just a little bit, but by the time I got to 4.5 miles I just wanted to finish. So I upped my pace back up to 6 mph at 4.5 miles, and then upped it again to 6.5 mph when I hit 4.75 miles, and finished strong! I was tired and relieved to be done, but really glad that I finished and didn’t give up. There are plenty of times that I think to myself “why are you doing this to yourself?” but then I just tell myself that I’m almost done, and if I’ve run 13.1 miles I can certainly do it again, or run 10 miles, or run 5 miles, which should seem like nothing compared to that!

Everyone has a running mantra. Or something they say to themselves during a race, or workout. Sometimes people use the same mantra, sometimes it’s something different every time, to keep them going. When I’m on the treadmill, mine is often the same, and it’s kind of silly. I usually start listening to the even pace of my feet landing on the treadmill, and start counting, “One, two, three, four; two, two, three, four; three, two, three, four…” And so on. I usually try and see how long I can do this for until I look at the clock again. This is broken up by me talking to (or attempting to) JP while he plays video games or watches TV to help distract me.

When hubby isn’t around to help distract me during a treadmill run, I try to listen to music. Although I wasn’t actually listening to music today, I did have “Angels We Have Heard on High” stuck in my head, which helped me get through my run. I don’t know the lyrics too well, with the exception of the “Gloria” part, but that’s the part that helped me the most! In my head, the song went perfectly with my footfalls.

So to end my droning on about my random running mantras and music, I’m going to list my five favorite songs that I never get sick of running to:
1. Simply Irresistible – Robert Palmer
2. Sexy Back – Justin Timberlake
3. Heat of the Moment – Asia
4. Feel This Moment – Pitbull, featuring Christina Aguilera
5. Just Give Me a Reason – Pink, featuring Nate Ruess)

Now it’s your turn to talk!
What’s your running mantra?
What’s your favorite song to run to?

Advertisement