Yesterday I had one of the best cardio sessions in months. I felt like a rock star! I was doing my intervals at all out levels and I was actually smiling at times while doing them. Sounds crazy but it’s true. And I’m looking forward to another run. Weird I know. So what brought about the change you ask? How did I go from feeling utterly ho-hum to absolutely bad ass? In one word, Pink.
Now normally when I go running I’ll tune into ESPN radio, I’m a junkie. I love sports and now that baseball is back, I’ll tune in everyday and always when I’m in my car. (I may have a sports addiction, we’re still looking into that. I know more about sports than my husband!) Anyway, I digress. So normally I’ll go and plug myself into ESPN and zone out (and in case there are other sports junkies out there, there’s a free ESPN radio app you can download. Sweet right? Brady, my 1-year-old, gets Michael Kay in his ear every day when he’s having lunch. See… addicted!) And lately I’ve not been working out at my highest levels. I’ll feel a cramp coming on, or I’ll just feel tiredness in my legs so I won’t push myself too hard. So yesterday I decided to try to shake things up a bit and download new songs and take them to the streets with me, and if I find that I miss ESPN, well then I can easily plug myself back in. (You all think I’m weird don’t you? It’s ok, I’m a little off ;))
So there I am, out on my run and a funny thing happened. Immediately, I felt awesome. I’m not kidding, it was like Pink infused my soul and turned me into one bad ass Boop. (Boop being my nickname I’ve had in my family since I was a child – don’t ask the origins, no one seems to know where it came from!) For 35 minutes I was a rock star. I was upping my levels and running faster than I had in months. Something happened in my brain when that music started playing, I actually became more focused and determined to push myself. I wasn’t just going through the motions anymore, looking around at other people, seeing how fast other runners were going, who cared! I was feeling goooood and I was pumped! The music made all the difference and I loved every minute of it. My brain was on such a high that my whole body followed. I didn’t feel tiredness in my legs and for the first time in about 4 weeks I didn’t feel that usual cramp in my side. I was paying attention to the music and how it made me feel mentally. I was amazed. I felt so effin good after that I’m officially saving ESPN radio for car rides and mealtimes ONLY (I don’t want to disappoint Brady ;))
Now I know some of you are probably like, helllooooo, I always listen to my music when I work out. What’s so new about this ya weirdo? I think the point I’m trying to make here is that sometimes you need to change-up the routine, spice it up a bit. Mix and match your playlists so you’re not always listening to the same songs when working out. And have fun with it, listen to stuff you normally wouldn’t listen to. I’m an old soul at times because I love classic blues and Sunday nights on WFUV when they play music from the 1940′s and earlier. I love it! But I can tell you, that stuff isn’t going to get a me fist pumping and high fixing other runners (not that I do that, I’m not a total freak when in society, but you get the idea!) Pink, Fergie, Rihanna, these are the ones who can get you going. They’ll help to get those feel-good endorphins tingling in your brain and there will be no stopping you! So dig through your songs, find some new ones to download and get your rock star on, you’ll be so bad ass you’re husband and kids won’t recognize you!
