A Mental Holiday
In contrast to the way my old crinkled body was feeling at the beginning of the week, I did manage to find my way to the gym Saturday morning. It was kinda vital given the state of things.
If you have been following along you may have picked up on my being seduced by the dark side of Christmas Cookies. Yes, we’ve been having a torrid love affair since pre-Christmas. I am due for a few detoxifying runs over the weeks ahead.
I did a few quick rounds around my upper body circuit. I did what I could given my neck and back. I spent a few long minutes stretching and headed over to the treadmill.
If you want to click on the video below you can get a feel for the pace and intensity I try to muster when I hit the treadmill. My running workouts usually are at a fairly quick pace. Like another blogger put it, I’m a runner not a jogger. I usually try to knock out 400-450 calories over a 30-35 minute run.
But, since those cookies told me I need to burn considerably more calories then 450, running like somebody was chasing me on the treadmill was not what I needed. My actual goal was to drain 700-800 calories over an hour long Saturday run. So, you can kill the music on the above video. I need to switch gears a bit.
As you can imagine, trying to keep a decent pace for over an hour takes a bit of willpower; or a good running Ipod. Since I can’t muster the willpower of OneFitMomma or Fitness 43 anymore, I needed a different plan. I felt like a good run on the beach instead, despite the fact that a typhoon type storm was hitting our fair city.
I pulled out my vacation Ipod, filled with the same images I dreamed of on my back in Jamaica and Curacao.
Do you feel like a mental Holiday? Click on the video below of some coastal background music and. let it play while you read on, and see if it works for you. Hopefully you can get a good visual of the beach, sounds of Caribbean drums, feeling the warm sun on your face, and a gentle tropical breeze in your hair. Maybe you too can slip away to the beach for a run; or whatever. If you are stuck inside, with some ‘weather’ going on outside, you may need this…”a great beach tune with a magic kind of medicine that no Doctor could prescribe”.
If the video has the feel of a small beach party on the banks of a tiny tropical island that’s because that’s where its at. ~Let the imagery begin!
Yes, these Jimmy Buffet songs had me running on the beach last Saturday, bronzing in a lounge chair, or sailing on a summer breeze; skipping over the ocean…like a stone. Like him or not, Mr Buffet is a genius at painting coastal images via words, melodies, or Caribbean drums.
The songs I went running down the beach with Saturday were the same ones I listened too on those tropical trips before. I pictured myself running on the beach, running all the insulation off my 6 pack.
I heard this next song about cabin fever that made me think of my family up north and friends north of our border as he sings “I want to go where its warm!”….
Speaking of cabin fever, if you have been cooped up this weekend and you want to get up and move, here is a song that may do it for you….on the beach
‘Fins‘ is one of my girls’ favorite Buffett songs. They do “Fins to the left, Fins to the right” in the car while we are driving. Yep, she’s doing it behind me now…practically moving the curtains with the fun she has acting this one out. It may be the closest Buffett ever gets to physical fitness!
If I haven’t lost you and you still want to continue on this mental Holiday, here are few songs you know that he covers in his tropical way. I think they illustrate, again, how Jimmy can take any song and turn it into a care-free, salt on your lips, sun in your eyes casual getaway.
Brown Eyed Girl:
Take the Weather With You:
So that’s how I went for a run on the beach Saturday, to some place warm, where I’ve been before. I did run off 725 calories on the run. I hope I can take another long run on the beach next weekend too! Come on along!
What songs do you have that take you some place far?
OUR LIFE IN 3D 
Yes those girl scouts can be real bad influences! Avoid at all costs! Yea,I have 4 Rob Zombie songs on my Running Ipod. The intensity gets me through. Thanks for dropping by Ms. Pop Tart..
I kicked the Christmas cookies, but then came the Girl Scout cookies. Damn, Samoas.
Love Rob Zombie!
Summer Songs….i have a handful of those. When ever they come on they remid you of summer. Maybe even close to the year that you first them? Beware the cookies! They really have a dark side….addicting sugar in bite-size easy to swallow doses. I hope you are thawing out up there Derek. Thanks for stopping by!
It has been a while since I have run. Conversely, I have eaten cookies in recent days. I am not sure what that means, but it has been noted. As far as music that takes me places — I guess anything that sounds like summer. I don’t even know how to explain that right now, but there are songs that just go with summer.
Karen, I got everything but the tan! I hope you too are staying warm where you are at. Thanks for dropping by!
Nice way to get yourself to where you want to be, Andy! Keep on, keep’n on!
lol…running vicariously through me? I hope you don’t vicariously pick up my gimpy knees too. Not even to the bathroom? …when you see those twins heading there ahead of you? Thanks for dropping by Leeanne.
I don’t even run to catch the bus. Or to the bathroom. Or on a dreadmill.
I will live vicariously.
i love billy joel, he’s one of my favorites. i teach college freshmen! it’s a fun time. : )
Beware, once you open that door to the cookie side it is hard to turn back! I had that same trouble with the bite size stuff…4 or 5 just hop in my mouth before I ralize what has happened. In all honesty, I do think about you and all you have accomplished while I am runinng too; mostly about running down to a tummy like yours. It may never, ok WILL never happen, but that is what I am running towards and I think about that mostly when I want to stop running. So add me to another person that you inspire. You can’t ge there without a little work! This is more a sampling of my running tunes (vs beach tunes) for when I am running. I try to match the pace. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5D9F5C142FD6814C&feature=view_all Thanks for dropping by!
Sounds like a music class with notning but the Classics! I think Billy Joel was pretty genius at what he did too, especially in his early stuff. What grades do you teach?
i teach music theory. : ) and jimmy buffett gets mixed up amongst mozart and beethoven to keep it lively haha – billy joel, too!
WOW Andy! I knew you were an animal on the treamill, but with your brief nod to metal I respect you even more! I also LOVE the Buffetman and have wonderful memories tacked to some of those songs you’ve got there. Glad you found a way to keep yourself moving. I could have used that down in the hollows of my basement today. Thanks for the kind mention, but I want you to know I ate TWO handfuls of animal crackers yesterday. They leapt out of the big plastic bear container, right into my palm. I thought of you : )
Me too! And someplace dry. I hope some of these helped. Thanks for looking in Di and stay warm!
You mixed me up with that…phrase structure and aural theory. What do you do? English professor? Margaritaville was my daughters first fav song. She called it ‘Salt’ cause of the way the crowd yells, Salt in concert. Keep up your great work Jenn! If you want to go for a run let me know.
And maybe, “Growing older but not up”, “Fruitcakes” the list goes on. So you like him too, huh? I never would have guessed. Yes, every time we go on vacation I pack my Ipod with his songs. If you have never seen his live DVD it currently appears on youtube, all 90 minutes of it where you can see some more of these favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR8FvDDhBv0. Thanks for dropping by mermaid girl! 🙂
LOVE jimmy buffett! i actually use “margaritaville” as an example for the phrase structure unit in my aural theory class. always nice to mix things up. : )
But I really just want to actually go somewhere warm!!
Jimmy Buffett is one of my personal favourites too! Especially ‘we are the people our parents warned us about’ and ‘The Asshole song’
It always gets me laughing! 😀