Saturday Should-Haves

I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other and come to the same conclusion I did; I run because it takes me where I want to go.

  
3 weeks from today I will be toeing the line in Louisville, KY! Prepare for lots of blog posts coming your way!! Long run tomorrow so here are my Saturday Should-Haves for your running life!!

1. What’s on my iPod?

– X Ambassadors – “Unsteady” and “Gorgeous”
– Chris Young – my current artist that I am obsessed with … “Heartbeat”,
“Goodbye” , and “Sober Saturday Night” are definitely good ones!
– Twenty One Pilots – “Fairly Local”
– Thomas Rhett – “Learned It From the Radio” /anything from this album

2. Podcast Spotlight!

• Attention women, listen to Jillian Michaels Show Podcast!! I am to the point where
  sometimes music is not enough! Exploring podcasts have saved many runs! She
  always has three segments per show that include current events, fitness related
  topic, and lastly she plays love doctor/lifestyle guru/doctors call in and give
  their advice!! I cannot recommend this podcast enough! I always learn something
  new because I think she is brilliant.  Most importantly, I forget that I just
  ran 6 miles during her podcast.

3. Garmin Vivoactive!!!

  
I have been researching and researching (literally for months) on a new running watch.   Also, all my cool runner friends…yes I know I am late to the Garmin party!
When my Nike+ (which I loved) wouldn’t connect to my shoe pod, took a good 15
minutes to connect to GPS, and was literally hanging together by some wires…I
knew it was time for a new watch.  (While researching, I dealt with this every
day. Terrible.)
Let me just say, you have SO many running watches to choose from.  I will tell
you the reasons I chose the Garmin Vivoactive:

•  loads GPS so super-fast and very accurate (highest in importance)
• customizable for display to show the elapsed time, distance, and pace per
  mile all on the screen instead of just showing one of those
• it vibrates every mile (which I customized) and tells me my mile time! I didn’t have this feature before.
• VERY slim and I forget I have it on vs. others are too big, bulky, and heavy
• long battery life! (a marathon requires a lot of GPS usage)
• the software with Garmin is amazing and my information syncs right with my
  phone as soon as I step inside (no more going through the trouble of plugging in
  my device and letting it upload)
• tracks my cadence (which every runner should know is awesome to improve)
• monitors my sleep (cool added feature that I like to see how much deep sleep I
  am getting vs. how my runs feel)
• acts as an activity tracker (counting steps and also basically yells at you
  to “move”)
• price …this is a bit expensive but so are all running watches. I had coupons
  on coupons and they are going on sale right now at a few stores.  For all the capabilities this watch turned out reasonably priced
• last but not least you can order pink interchangeable bands and I even customized it to have a pink clock.I think this is one of the biggest investments right along with shoes for me.
  I wear this thing every single day and I wanted something reliable, accurate,
  and comfortable.  I scored so BIG on this!! I definitely recommend.

 

4. ‘Believe’ Training Journal

 I can’t believe I haven’t written about this!! Someone asked me the other day how I track my miles and workouts and I can not RAVE about this book enough!! It has enough room for daily runs, weekly reflections, and goals.  There is more inspiration in this book than any other that I have found.  It has quizzes for you to become more in tune with the mental side of your running and charts for race recaps, preparations, and goals. A MUST HAVE Journal in my eyes!!

5. Running4ThoseWhoCant

  
If you follow me on IG (@audd13) you might have noticed that I am obsessed with the brand Running4ThoseWhoCant.  They stand behind the sole reason why I run and that is to never take for granted this gift that I have.  To run because there are those who can’t.  All of their hats are freaking amazing and next on my list is to start racking up their clothing.  I love brands that have such a strong meaning behind them and this is the perfect example.  Let me know if you are interested in their apparel or hats and I will get you hooked up with the man behind it all!