A lazy day and tons of challenges

Yesterday was the perfect day to have off for Veterans Day. Thanks to all the veterans who have served and are currently serving!

I spent my day off being a complete lazy bum. It was cold and rainy outside. I toyed with the idea of going to the gym, but instead spent the day curled up under the covers watching bad TV and reading. It wasn't productive, but it was relaxing and sometimes we all need a day like that.

Last night my roommate and I went to a really interesting discussion at the University of Maryland. Every year the journalism school hosts a sports journalism symposium where important people in the world of sports come together to discuss a variety of different topics. Last night's discussion mainly centered around whether NCAA football and basketball players should get paid (On average they spend 44+ hours each week on their sports, according to new survey results.)

It was so interesting to hear Scott Van Pelt, Michael Wilbon, Connie Chung, Gary Williams (UMD's basketball coach) and Stephon Heyer (a UMD-grad who currently plays for the Washington Redskins), among others talking about those issues.

I don't know where I stand on the pay athletes debate. I can see the merits to it, but then again, I can't. Do any of you have a clear opinion of where you fall on that issue?

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Challenges

There are so many challenges currently going on and about to start in blogland. Here's a quick run down of the ones I'm doing in case any of you want to join.

Pile on the Miles. I think it's probably too late to join this one. I wrote about it in the beginning of the month. The goal here is to run as many miles as possible between now and Thanksgiving. Piling on the piles, not the pounds. I'm doing OK...not great.

Holiday Bootie Buster. Amanda hosted this one last year and she's hosting it again this year. It kicks off right before Thanksgiving and your earn points based on the kinds of workouts you do. It's tons of fun and Amanda always has great prizes for the winners.

Whittle Your Middle. This one's hosted by Angela at Oh She Glows. The goal here is to rebuild core strength that was lost during a summer of training for races. Since I've sorely been neglected core work, I think this is a good one to jump on board with. It kicked off yesterday and runs through Dec. 10th.

How not to get hit by a car

With the time change, I'm stuck running in the dark no matter when I head out for my run. Running in the dark is one of my least favorite things to do, but sometimes I just can't stand the thought of getting on the treadmill. So, here's how I try to ensure that I won't get hit by a car on my dark runs.

Note: It was this dark when I left my house at 5:30 to go running last night. (Sorry it's a little blurry...the camera didn't kept trying to focus on the screen in my window)

It looks like it could be about 9:30 not 5:30.


How to not get hit by a car:

Wear obnoxiously bright/reflective clothes. Note my really bright pink top with reflective strips on it, topped with my super sexy reflective vest. Yea, maybe I look a little bit like a crossing guard, but hey, drivers tend to not plow crossing guards down, even the constantly angry, stressed-out-because-they're-stuck-in-rush-hour D.C. drivers.

Turn your jams down. Now I like rocking out to Lady Gaga on my runs just as much as the next person, but at night when I can only see a few steps in front of me, it's just better to turn the jams down so I can focus on hearing whether someone (like the boogey man...or another runner or biker) is coming up behind me. Plus, running with your music lower will let you hear if a car is about to slam on its breaks to avoid hitting you as you run through an intersection.

Carry ID and your cell phone with you. Yea it can be annoying to lug your cell phone along but when I run in the dark it's a must for me. If you trip and fall you can call someone for help and if you fall so bad that you get knocked out at least the hopefully nice person who stops to help you will be able to give your ID to the EMTs. This is actually a pretty good rule for running any time, not just at night, but I sometimes I slack on it in the summer when it's light outside and I'm less worried about falling or getting hit by a car.

So now here's the fun part of safety post. I want you to share what you all do to stay safe on the roads when you're running at night or in the early morning. Write a post about it, take a picture of yourself, make a video, whatever you want to do. Leave me a comment on this post with a link back to your post or email me the picture/video file at jmilcetich(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll compile them all into a big post with the pictures and links to ideas we can share. Deadline to submit is 5 p.m. Nov. 15th. I don't have a fun incentive for you now, but I'll see what I can do because I know you all love giveaways!

To-do list Monday

When I have a to do list that's a mile long that's full of personal and professional responsibilities, I tend to stress out a little bit, but it also tends the be the atmosphere I thrive in. I think that little bit of stress makes me extra focused so I can just roll through the list.

That's kind of the week I'm looking at right now. I've got my work to do list broken down into what I plan to accomplish each day. My personal to do list isn't quite so organized, but I'll probably make it be that way.

Here's a look at the things I need to get done (sorry for the poor quality...it's a camera phone pic):

I find for me that when I make to do lists, I end up having more free time for myself at the end of the day than I thought possible. Something about zeroing in on what needs to get down and knocking it out, rather than procrastinating, saves me way more time than I thought possible.

So yes, I'm looking at a busy week ahead, but I have Wednesday off for Veterans' Day (yesss government employment!) where I plan to tackle the personal to do list.

And this week, workouts are going to have to be written down on the list, or else it will be too easy to skip them.

Do you write your workouts on your to do lists? Some weeks, I don't have to worry about them, but other times, if I don't write it down it doesn't happen.

BOTM update and the weekend

Sorry I've been MIA the past two days just had a lot of stuff going on. Back on Track Month is going alright. I'm doing well on the fruit and veggies front, which was the area I was really concerned about. The sleep front could still use a little work. I'm getting to bed at decent times, but then tossing and turning for ever, so I need to work on that so I'm actually sleeping for eight hours.

Running has just been same old, same old. Nothing too exciting to report. Things seem to be going well although during my run on Wed. my legs felt like bricks. No fun.

In fun exciting news, my cousin and her boyfriend registered for the Celtic Solstice Five Miler in December! I'm really excited to do a race with them!

I've got a sports heavy weekend coming up. Tonight is the last regular season soccer game at home, so I'm headed there after work for tailgating and other fun times. Then tomorrow I'm heading up to the University of Delaware to watch my friend from high school play. He's a redshirt senior and I haven't seen him play a game since we've graduated from HS so that should be a lot of fun. Then Sunday I will be a bum and watch the NFL. Sounds like a great weekend to me. (Also, I'm trying to inundate myself with other sports so I can forget the Phillies dismal performance in the playoffs.)

Happy Friday everyone! Hoping for a speedy workday!

Treadmill survival guide

As winter sets in, I have less and less of a chance to get my runs in outside during the daylight hours. I'm up super early to commute to work and by the time I get home it's dark out. Not only is it horribly depressing, it also means come winter time, I have to spend a lot of my running time on the treadmill.

I hate running on the treadmill. It's boring. There's no change of scenery. And I sweat like a pig because the gym is so warm.

But for safety reasons, like not wanting to get mugged or not wanting to trip over uneven sidewalk and sprain an ankle, the treadmill is a necessary evil.

I know some other runners out there are in the same situation so I thought I'd share my five tips for staying entertained on the treadmill.

1. Make sure you have your music. Listening to the drone of the treadmill will put you to sleep (and then you could potentially fall off the back and that's just embarrassing). If you don't like to run with music, try to find a treadmill in front of a TV and set it something you like.

2. Race the guy or girl next to you. Sometimes I don't have much of a choice when it comes to treadmill location, but when I do, I try to pick the one semi close to a guy who looks like he's sprinting and then I try to match him because there's nothing like chicking a guy, even if it's not in a real race and your just on the treadmill.

3. Use the default programs on the treadmill. One of my favorite ones is the auto-hill program on the treadmills in my gym. You set a workout time limit, then pick a level of difficulty between 1-20. (I tried 15 once and had to knock it down to 10 after about five minutes). Then the treadmill kicks out some killer hills raising and lowering itself at different intervals. It keeps you on your feet and since most climbs and descents only last a few minutes you can focus on that minute, rather than the 30 remaining in your workout, and next thing you know the workout is done.

4. Bored with the defaults? Then create your own program. Increase and decrease speed every minute or every 30 seconds. Set the speed at a comfortable pace and then see how fast you can push it before backing off again. You can do the same thing with the incline. Play around with all those buttons and time will pass more quickly.

5. Mix it up and do the occasional run outside. It's really hard to do every winter run on the treadmill. Try it find a time once a week or once every two weeks when you can get outside. The fresh air will do you good and it will give you something to look forward to as you pound out more and more miles on the treadmill.

Hope those help all the indoor runners survive winter without massive amounts of boredom.

Back on Track, Pile on the Miles, NYC and More

Back on Track Month:
Caitlin has dubbed November Back on Track Month and I'm jumping right in on the fun. Basically the idea behind BOTM is to get back to good healthy habits that we may have been slipping on lately. When I read her post about it, I knew I was going to be playing along too because while my running has been really solid through the month of October, healthy habits have been slipping in other areas. I've been eating pretty crappily, which I can chalk up to lots of sweets and bad tailgate food. Plus I've been getting not nearly enough sleep (thank you Phillies. P.S. Note to the team, stop sucking, thanks!)

So here are my goals for back on track month:

• Run at least three times per week, with the goal of trying to start up morning workouts now that we changed the clocks and it's dark by the time I leave the office.
• Eat three to five servings of fruits and veggies per day.
• Sleep seven to eight hours each night.
• Limit sweets to a maximum of once per day. (Note to self: Stay away from the work candy dish!)

They're all pretty attainable and easily measurable, which is important so that I don't set up myself up for a major failure.

Feel free to take the idea and play along too if you need to get back on track.

Pile on the Miles Challenge:
Going almost hand in hand with BOTM is POTM (wow so many acronyms in one post). The Pile on the Miles Challenge is being hosted by Bobbi and Caitlin and from now until Thanksgiving the goal is to increase your running or walking mileage to pile on the miles, not the pounds as we head into the holiday season. Since running three times a week is one of my goals for BOTM, I think I should be able to accumulate a decent amount of mileage for this challenge.

NYC Marathon:
I spent yesterday morning sitting in front of my computer watching the NYC Marathon. I was so excited that Meb won. He's the first American to win the race in my lifetime. (Last time an American won was in 1982). I was bummed when I saw Ryan Hall drop out of the lead pack. I was really hoping he'd be able to win, what with Runner's World dubbing him America's Hope and all. But still a fourth place finish is solid.

Congrats to everyone else who ran NYC, especially Lindsay who kicked some serious booty (and sent me a sweet pic of Ryan Hall signing autographs at the Expo!)

Family Time:
I spent yesterday afternoon hanging out with my family at my cousin, Laura's, new apartment. She invited the BF and I over for lunch with my aunt, and her brother and sister and everyone's respective significant others. Laura made some of the best baked ziti the BF and I have ever eaten and she graciously emailed me the recipe this morning. I'm sure I'll be trying it out some time soon.

Also congrats to my cousin Amy who ran her first 10K this weekend!

Laura and her boyfriend are thinking about running the Celtic Solstice Five Miler with me in December. Maybe this bit of friendly peer pressure will encourage them to register! :)

Happy Monday!

Just popping in

Just popping in right quick to wish all the NYC Marathoner's the best of luck this weekend! I'll be following along cheering hard for all of you and of course, Ryan Hall!

I'm so badly in need of the weekend. It's been a long week, plus I have fun plans! Soccer senior night is tomorrow and since my good friend plays I'll be there and at the tailgate before hand. And then Sunday I'm going to lunch at my cousin's new apartment. I can't wait to see it and see her and the rest of the fam!

I'll be back next week with a post about my treadmill running, including how I keep myself entertained and why I submit myself to that boring machine.

Hope all your weekends rock! Happy Halloween!