Thursday, January 21, 2010

Running Through Lilly Land

In the past, it was not often that my life at Lilly and my life as a runner converged. I love my job and I love my hobby but I treat them as two separate animals. By day I was a true Lilly girl, I love doing my hair and makeup and my collection of brightly colored Lilly printed clothes. But when the clock hits 5 (and sometimes when workload is overflowing than when the clock hits 6 or 7) It's like I transform into someone completely different. A la Clark Kent whirling around in a phone booth I throw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and my inner athlete is freed. Of course one of the amazing benefits of my office is the little gym tucked away in a corner of the first floor.
On occasion some of my closer co-workers would ask me to help them in a workout. And there were about three or four regulars who would do their half hour on the treadmill or elliptical, a few dozen crunches and be on their way.
But with my decision to train through the winter, brought on the realization that I was about to get incredibly familiar with the Lilly Gym. On top of that the new year brought on another challenge and that was training Super Boss (SB) And so that is why today, I would be not only doing my own workout but playing the role of trainer too. I needed to make this work!

I was already ten minutes late as I rushed to pull together all my bags and gadgets from my desk and get downstairs to SB. I had a great workout planned and I was really excited but I took longer than expected wrapped up emails at the end of the day. Hands flew out grasping cell phone, camera, Bluetooth headset, coffee cup, handbag, jacket, lunch box and magazines. I raced into the gym to find SB diligently jogging along on the treadmill which made me happy and as soon as I was changed we would start working with the weights. Todays workout outfit made me feel like a real instructor, black cropped leggings, black sports bra and a turquoise (it is the hottest color right now!) ribbed tank and my trust Asics. Of course being the Lilly girl that I am I cannot go anywhere with out my pink Iron man sports watch and pink under amour headband. I grabbed my newest SHAPE magazine for our workout, my trusty resistance band and left the locker room. We went through a series of different moves working all parts of the body. I made sure to start out with light weights and check after each set to see if the moves were too easy, too hard, or just right. I must state right now, that as much as I adore working out, training other people makes me downright anxious. This is not to say I don't know what I am doing, but I am just not experienced enough with working with other people. Sometimes I wonder if they leave thinking I am too mean, or perhaps crazy for how much effort I expect people to put in.

Now done with workout #1 I get started on my own routine. Both treadmills are occupied so I opt for some hamstring strengthening moves because that is where I am the absolute weakest. I do one set each of side kicks to a back leg extension, squats with a side kick, and jump squats and by the time I am done there is a free treadmill! JOY! I hop on and start off at a 5.6 speed. I have no workout in mind just knowing that I need to run 3 miles total. This would be my first time running three times in a week and I didn't want to put my body into total shock, just semi shock! You may wonder what I do to keep entertained while on the treadmill for this much time. Well sometimes I wonder because I am starting to run out of ideas!
- First of all I have music ADD. I get sick of a song and/or playlist in a matter of days. This could end up being more expensive than my running shoes if I am not careful. Recently my 30g IPod classic was blessed with the adoption of a little sister, a 2g IPod Nano (donated by my youngest sister who luckily acquired an IPod touch). This has proved to be a wonderful 'running only' music storage device where I can compile only the most obnoxiously upbeat pop songs for my entertainment!
- Second our two wonderful treamils are placed facing a wall of mirror. This is fabulous for watching my stride and perfecting my form. oddly enough sometimes I look at myself and feel like I am watching two different people run at the same time. Much like the tv effect where they will show you two half screens with two halves of different people doing the same motion so they look like they are one? Well I guess you have to see it to understand. Well the main display conveniently cuts me off at the waist, and I can either focus on my legs or my arms, and sometimes I am in awe that they belong to the same body. My torso is lean and muscular with strong arms and shoulders from childhood years as a swimmer, where as my legs are a bit short and somewhat thick.
- And last but not least I spend a lot of time imagining myself running outside, be it on my favorite route along the river, finishing future race, or putting myself back into one of my old workouts where I really kicked butt and finished feeling like nothing could knock me down.

Treadmill runs aren't very fun to recount mile by mile - so I won't bother boring anyone with intervals of speed and incline. Hopefully the upcoming weeks will bring some mild and sunny weekend weather so I can finally test myself with a longer outdoor run.

xx Sara

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