I'm Back!!!!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have really gotten into Zumba style fitness after my back injury last year. I have been religious in going to Zumba, taught by LaShawn, at Crunch Fitness (Fort Greene location, Tuesdays); but for some reason, I have missed four weeks of her class. Vacationing in Spain was one excuse. 

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I finally got that playlist:

Anyway, I finally made it back and I realized that really missed her class, because the dance moves are really energetic and the music is amazing. I was surprised that I did not forget the dance moves during my hiatus. The music is so amazing that I have been trying to find some of the songs to incorporate into my running playlists. I guess that I could have asked the instructor, but she is bombarded with the other Zumba participants after class. Maybe, I did not want to seem "uncool" or "square" because I did not know the more popular songs. Interestingly enough, the answer was under my nose or in my Entertainment folder on my iPhone. The answer was Shazam!!! I cannot believe that I could have used this app to find songs from her playlist ages ago! Also, Shazam has an auto feature where one can just leave it on and it will automatically detect the songs for you. Of course, the detected songs are  the ones that you can buy from iTunes.

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The play list was very good and I have added "Pass at Me", "Bouje", and "Sal a Bailar" to my normal playlist. If it is not obvious, I kind of have a thing for latin music (I'm still trying to get used to Reggaeton though). Unfortunately, not all of the songs in the class were "Shazamable", especially the one I really wanted. 

Cardio Work

Regarding the cardio aspect, I think that I had other things on my mind during class, because I did not kill it like I normal do

Fitbit Stats

In this particular class, I usually have a 1:1 ratio of time spent in my cardio and peak aerobic zones. I guess that I was  not "Zumba'ing" as hard as I thought I was. Again, I probably was thinking about some other personal issues, so I was not as focused as I normally am. 

Oh well, there's always another day to Zumba. 

Trying to Get There

QUICK POINTS:

1. Long Run #whatever

2. Cardio Recover

3. Musical Tastes

1. Long Run #whatever

As I continue to go the distance with my training for the Montreal Marathon in September (ACK!!!), I am beginning to explore more parts of my wonderful city via foot, because my distance is getting longer. I think going forward, I would like to run through a different part of the city for my long runs . . . granted that there is Crunch Fitness nearby, so I can stretch, shower, and change after the run. 

Since I had to work last weekend, I decided to do my long run near Cornell's medical campus and in the Yorkville portion of the Upper East Side. During the weekend, I had to do a Western blot and I had a two-hour transfer, which gave me plenty of time to complete a 10 mile (actually 9.3 miles) run through the Upper East Side and on Randall's Island.

After reading a couple of books, online articles, and random blogs, I decided do the long run at a slightly slower pace than which I am accustomed. Many sources say that one should do the long training run at a 1 - 1.5 minutes below your projected marathon pace, so that you do not burn out from training. This plan especially is important if you are doing speed work during the week, which I am  . . . sometimes.  

The run was pretty fun, since I ran slower than my normal time. I started the run around 6pm when the sun was setting and it was kind of cool running in the evening; however, running in the dark was not as fun. Not fun because it was a little hard to see potholes and uneven pavement in the street. I had a couple of close calls of almost falling.  

The route

Some pictures from the run - mostly of the East River and Randall's Island. 

2. Cardio Recovery

My training guide (as well as other resources) recommend doing a low intensity, non running cardio recovery workout a day after the long training run . . . if your legs and body are up to it. Since I could not motivate myself to do a non running cardio workout on my own, I decided to check out a Zumba class (it's much easier to have someone tell you what to do when you lack motivation). I never attended a Zumba class before but I know the they were quite the rage a few years ago. I went and had an absolute BLAST. Not to toot my own horn, I think that I did better (or was on par) with  many of the regular attendees. Even the instructor, Fabian, said that I did a good job and that I should come back. He could have been lying about the good job part; but hey, I will take a compliment when I can get one. I will say that his music selections were awesome, because  many of his songs were non-reggaeton latin songs (I really cannot stand reggaeton). 

The cool thing about this class was that it was low intensity, BUT I burned quite a bit of calories in the 60 minutes of the class. 

I think that I will incorporate this Zumba class into my weekly training regime . . . if I can get my act together on Sundays before 11am. 

3. Musical Selections

A big part of my running experience involves music; however, I am getting to the point where I am bored with much of my music that is on my iPhone. I am using a free subscription to Spotify to get some musical inspiration . . . of course I would have to buy the songs from iTunes if I like them. Do not get me wrong, it is not like I hate ALL of my music, I am just getting a little tired some of the more popular songs that are in constant rotation from my iTunes library. One would think  with over 1500 MP3s on my  iPhone that I would have enough musical selections to keep me inspired. I guess this is another case of "the paradox of choice: where more is less". 

Also, for my song of the run (seen below), I found that I am becoming a fan of show tunes during my long runs.

Song of the run. 

Many show tunes have a rapid "marching-type" cadence that matches the pace that I would like to run. I am thinking that for the marathon that I may run a portion of the marathon to a complete musical. A Broadway (or an Off-Broadway) musical typically is about 2 to 2.5 hours long, so I can complete half of the marathon without worrying about song selection and then complete the rest of the marathon with more up tempo/up beat song of my choosing. We'll see how this plan will go.