I got my morning started moving to the tune of this glorious sunrise! It’s that time of year down in Texas when the mornings are nice and cool, right before the summer heat wave hits us. Soon we are going to be in struggle mode with the summer heat and humidity. Part of me is low key excited about an early morning summer run! All the sweating and detoxing. Bring it on.
Lately I’ve been back to reading some of my favorite blogs and one of them brought up the topic of “joy snacks”. What is that, you ask? It’s the practice of infusing some joy/bliss/happy into your every day routine. And those of you who are runners and/or avid fitness peeps know that routine can get a little…DRAB. But do not fret! There are ways you can drop a daily dose of zest into your miles and or workout of the day. Let’s get right into what you should do.
-Change up the time of day you run and or workout. As a die hard early morning person there are times when I change up not only the time but the type of workout that I do. You can do this my swapping your lift/run days or do a spin class on a Friday morning when you typically loop the lake. Something just as simple as that is sure to put some pep in your step and guarantees that your routine doesn’t grow stale. SHOCK your body a bit and you just may be impressed with the results.
-Location, location, location! Since I have a free membership at the gym I teach at, I like to hit up different gyms on days when I am NOT working. You can do this by going to a new location, ClassPass or “dropping in” new studios. This for me is fun…I like to say that it guarantees that I am not working out where I work. Because really, who wants to do that? Let’s keep some things sacred and separate haha. It’s also cool to take other instructors classes, see how they teach and also how they engage with members! I’ve grabbed little nuggets of things that instructors say/do and have used them in my classes to keep folks on their toes.
-ADD SPEED….rinse and repeat. Incorporating speedy intervals into your Saturday long run is always fun. This is also good practice and will help you when it comes to race day. You can do the same thing on the spin bike or whatever other cardio workout that you do.
-Go on an impromptu RACE-cation! Lately I’ve just been finding some fun/shorter races to work on my conditioning and just running them for fun. Ultramarathoners, you do NOT have to run 100 milers because some rule book that does not exist tells you to do so. Humble yourself and RUN something shorter. It will give your body a chance to recover faster and ensure that you don’t get burned out. Then you can work your way back to the longer stuff. And then you will find that you enjoy it so much more, because you gave your body what it needed and scaled back! What a concept.
Runners/fitness instructors/gym rats…how do you infuse more “joy snacks” into your daily routine?
thedancingrunner 
I guess my “joy snacks” are the brief chats I have with neighbors when I’m out for my neighborhood runs.
We don’t have front porches on my street and sometimes I see the same people even when I’m a few streets away. They kind of recognize me from seeing me out sop often.
It’s a fun no pressure way to be slightly social.
Love that!! 🙂 I love me some friendly morning runners/workout peeps and the neighbors who see us on the sidelines!