Since I started this blog, this has definitely been the longest I have gone without creating any content or posting. I started this towards the beginning of summer when things were less crazy. I want to say I may have had some content ready to go when we returned from the keys and jumped into a new school year and tax season which helped me keep up. We then got into the deep end of tax season, tax season ended and I feel like we have had a bit of a transition period settling into a post tax season routine.
Peter and I actually decided to start Crossfit after tax season so that has also changed things a bit since we do need time to commute and the workouts are longer than the at home ones I was doing. I mentioned in my previous post Morning Meltdown 100 Review that I was scared to get into a gym contract because I will not wear a mask to work out and I didn’t want to be stuck should mask mandates at gyms return, however, the owner of IMT Crossfit (the box we joined) assured me that this will not be an issue!
I’ve known for a few weeks now that I needed to come up with a plan to squeeze in some time for my blog! I was really enjoying exploring my creative side more, creating content and connecting with people over my posts! I came up with somewhat of plan so I am hoping that I will go back to being more consistent with my posts. Even though I was not writing and posting, the wheels in my head have been turning and coming up with ideas for content.
I will also admit that I had started this particular post weeks ago but did not finish it and to be honest, after weeks went by it seemed daunting to jump back into an unfinished post. Now that I’ve shared a little of what has been going on the past month or so, let me get to it!
I’ve had the idea for this post almost as soon as I started my blog! For those who don’t know, I ran a full marathon January of 2019. Most likely on the anniversary I will share about my experience with it but today I bring it up because I needed a killer playlist to run 26.2 miles! I know most probably do not want to take on that challenge, understandably, and I will explain at the end of this post my WHY for choosing to take on such a challenge, but I do think my tips for creating my playlist will be helpful for any kind of playlist whether it be for a smaller race like a 5K or 10K, just to go running, or for any other type of workout like cycling, weight lifting or HIIT. I have even referred to it while doing my at home workouts.
I’ll start with the most obvious-
Songs that pump you up NOW- This is obvious and I’m sure it’s everyone’s go to. If it’s pumping you up when you’re driving around, or taking a shower or doing something that isn’t remotely getting your heart rate up, it’s going to pump you up for your workout when you have that adrenaline going!
Songs that remind you of other times in your life: So here is where I am going to put myself out there. I don’t know how, where or why I got this idea but when I was creating my playlist for my marathon, I decided that I needed to include songs that reminded me of certain points in my life. There are a few in specific that really made up the playlist.
- Middle School Years: Middle school was HARD AF for me! I majorly lacked self confidence. I thought I was ugly, I thought I was fat, I thought I was a lot of things that I wasn’t. Ok fine, looking back at photos I definitely went through the awkward middle school phase but I was definitely never fat. I cared that maybe I wasn’t ‘popular’. I feel like if you know me now, you may not think that I was a straight A student and probably considered nerdy because I’m really far from that person today. I was shy. Yes shy. Even my husband, the person closest to me today, can’t imagine this version of me. For the record, I’m not saying I couldn’t be a straight A student today, but post kids that’s hard for me to wrap my head around! Kuddos to any parents who go to school post kids because I don’t know how you do it! That girl thought she may never get married because her confidence was so low. If that girl saw what her future husband was going to look like, she wouldn’t believe it. Maybe it’s because he’s my husband but I’d say he’s easy on the eyes! Haha That girl never thought she’d never feel confident in her body, especially not 30 lbs heavier! She never thought she’d be the type of person not to be nervous to talk to random people or introduce herself to people she doesn’t know. She was me, but I don’t know her anymore and to be honest, if my daughter goes through this phase I don’t know what I’ll say to her. I don’t know what anyone could have said to make me feel better and I’m just happy that I eventually outgrew the insecure part of her. On that end I will say that I miss parts of her because she did like writing short stories and I wish I’d kept that part of her. She was a HUGE *NSYNC fan…. I mean HUGE! And liked of course all the other music of the era- Britney, Backstreet Boys, all the things! I added songs from this point in my life to my playlist to remind myself of how far I’ve come from then. That girl DEFINIETLY NEVER thought she’d be able to say she ran a full marathon! Those songs reminded me of her and helped me push harder and run faster because I think she would be proud. Proud that she broke out of her shy shell, proud that she became social in so many ways, and proud that yes she did get married and has a beautiful family!
- College Years: I’m not sure why I skipped the high school years here. It was where I broke out of the cocoon. By senior year of high school I was already far from the girl I was in middle school. By then I’d realized that popularity isn’t important. You will grow up and no one will care what you were labeled in school. You’ll go to college which is a whole other world. You can also count your REAL friends in one hand. I can probably do a whole blog post on friendships but lately I do feel blessed with the community we have with our kids school, dance studio and baseball and I want to say I have more REAL friends than I can count in one hand but by senior year I’d realized a handful of friends was something to be thankful for. I’d had a highschool sweetheart so I wasn’t totally undatable, and at some point I became a social butterfly who was talking to anyone and everyone! I’m not sure why I don’t have any songs that stick out from this period but I do from college! College was more where I became me! I also think maybe I had more time to workout then so there are songs that I remember working out to then that still pump me up because that was where my love affair with fitness started. For the record, I still got good grades- if you’ve taken accounting at FIU, I even pulled off an A in ACG 4101 which is unheard of. That class is set up to make you fail since it’s a weed out class. It was the time in my life though where I realized that girl in middle school who had no self confidence, who thought she was ugly, who thought she was fat, who cared what others thought of her was gone. For that reason- songs from that era needed to be on my playlist! At the time I was into Panic! At the Disco, Jimmy Eat World. The Killers and that kind of thing so it definitely made the playlist!
- Crossfit Days in 2012: My love affair with fitness started in college once I had more flexibility to workout but the addiction came in Spring of 2012. This is the year we got married and at the start of the year I decided to give CrossFit a shot. I joined CrossFit Kingdom which at the time was located close to my house. They later moved and i’m not sure if they are even still in operation but to get in shape for my wedding, this is what I did! This is the first time I can remember being addicted to working out. This is the first time I can remember not feeling well and feeling groggy all day if I didn’t make it to my morning workout. There is something about a group fitness class where you don’t need to think about what the workout is, you have a group of people holding you accountable, and the music is blasting while you workout. Crossfit is also an amazing workout where you will sweat and you are guaranteed endorphins. At the time I had started to get into Kaskade, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, Benny Benassi and that kind of thing. My Orange Theory Days was another time where I definitely had an addiction and it’s where I feel in love with running, however, I actually didn’t have any songs from that era that stuck out.
Ask people for recommendations: This is actually a REALLY cool one to consider if you are training for a race! Here is why- when any songs recommended by friends and family come on, you will think of them! It’s a really cool way to remember the people who were supportive of your goal even if it’s in a small way. I asked for recommendations on social media and I got a good amount of feedback! Some of it was from people I had not connected with in a while which was nice and I definitely thought of them during my race!
Songs that represent your WHY: This is likely the most important one. Ok, maybe not for a normal workout playlist but for a big goal like a marathon, this one is important! You do not make a decision to run a marathon simply to lose weight. There has to be something deeper. I don’t want to get into too much detail because I want this to have it’s own post in the future but I feel I need to touch upon it here. I was never a runner. I can’t even say running a full marathon was a bucket list item because it’s just not something I EVER in a million years thought I would do. EVER. Especially not after two kids given the amount of training it takes. I did this so that I would be able to tell my children- don’t EVER think there is something you cannot do! EVER! Even if you think it’s impossible or out there. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO!
On that note, I will close this post by saying if you are having a hard time meeting a goal, especially a fitness goal, I hope these tips help you come up with a playlist that will encourage you to get up and get going! Especially in these crazy times we are in, when it’s been proven that those who are active are most likely to not have complications due to COVID, I encourage you to make a small goal even if it’s just to take a walk around your neighborhood a few times a week. Everyone starts somewhere!
Thanks for visiting!
-Jenny