5K weekend, a workout, and potential kidnapping scenarios

Hey hey!

Running and I go through phases and right now, I’m over running. When it got warm this spring and I could finally venture out without fear of a polar vortex ending me, I went on a running spree. Plus I did the Broad Street run in May, so I was trying to get in a decent amount of longer runs. I really have no clue how to train for long runs, I usually just sort of wing them. So when I was getting ready for Broad Street I probably went out for 7-9 miles three or four times beforehand, which worked fine! Anyone who’s not into distance running, I really recommend the Broad Street. It’s my favorite race ever. Any Jersey shore-ers may know the Sea Isle ten miler…that was brutal. Broad Street is an awesome, totally flat course that goes all through Philly and is lined by cheering people, high school marching bands, and all sorts of festivity that keeps you fully entertained and excited the whole time. Seriously, it’s so fun. And I am not one to say that about ten miles.

But anyway, nowadays you won’t usually find me out for more than three or four miles. Sometimes running is just wildly unappealing.  My point of that rant was a) Broad Street’s awesome, run it with me next year! and b) tell you I did two 5k’s this weekend (sort of) which was a shocker considering my current displeasure with running.

The first was Thursday night, which was part of the Chester County Summer Running Series (if you live around here, check it out, there’s a few more I think). My dear boyfriend joined me (we don’t always agree on pace/distance when running together so this is a fairly uncommon occurrence) for the Beethoven 5K in which we had to finish before some Beethoven symphony being played at the finish line did. Kind of cute idea, right? The first two miles were majorly hilly, which was ROUGH, but the end was flat. We did indeed beat the symphony and I was pretty pleased with our time! The second race was the Philly Color Run on Saturday, which I did with some of my best friends. Obviously, it was a good time (and we got free KIND bars), but I wasn’t real into the course. I did Philly’s Color Run last summer and it was actually around Philly…this one was literally laps around the Xfinity parking lot. Miles of laps. Maybe Philly just got tired of cleaning up the mess? Who knows.

At dinner with aforementioned friends, we were discussing how fast you could run if you were literally running for your life. I think we could all whip out some serious speed. Also: a thought provoking question: If you were being kidnapped by a person holding a butter knife, would you go with them? Our conversation escalated to being kidnapped by someone with a plastic spoon… one of my friends was still hypothetically going with the spoon-wielding kidnapper, which is concerning.

FUN TIP: For all the treadmill runners out there, run at an incline of 1.5. This mimics the forward motion of running outside, so you can more easily switch back and forth. In case anyone was treadmilling and finding the road much more difficult…this could help. There’re also hills outside, but what can you do.

 

I also wanted to share a workout! I did this the day before Thursday’s 5K. I wanted to run that one semi- for time, so I didn’t want to be sore or have tired legs going into it. I’m real into Crossfit-inspired workouts (Although I have never tried actual Crossfit, even though I think it’s awesome. It’s also a bit intimidating. Someday….)- and by that I mean short and to the point.

First: 15 minute easy run to warm up (any steady-state cardio works)

Second: 20 minutes AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of:

10 burpees

20 kettlebell swings

20 pushups

30 squats (I used lighter weights for a little extra resistance, but body weight works too. The point of these is that they aren’t heavy, so you can do the high reps)

50 second plank

A short cool down and you’re donzo! I was sweaty and panting afterwards, but my legs felt fine the next day. Let me know if you give it a try!

 

Hope everyone’s having a great week :))) HUMP DAAAY