This week I am starting a new blog series: Fartlek Friday! Fartlek means “speed play” and we use this to describe unstructured running workouts that help us get faster at various speeds. These posts will be short, somewhat random, and hopefully helpful! Each Friday I will be sharing a quick running or fitness tip. If you have any tips you would like me to share in a future post, E-mail me at milebymileblog (at) gmail.com! Today’s tips is how to organize your running gear!
How To Organize Your Running Gear
When I say “running gear” I’m not really talking about clothes, but all those other little things that seem to go missing right when you need them. This includes your running watch, headphones, Road ID, gloves, Koala clip or running belt. etc.
I don’t know about you but it drives me crazy when I am trying to get out the door and I can’t find one of those things. So I put together a bin for these items that is near my door. If you have an outlet nearby, you can also create a charging station for your watch and headphones! (I have to charge mine up high so that my toddler can’t get to them, but once they are charged I put them in the bin.)
When I get back from a run I make sure to take all those things off right away and add them back to the bin so I know where they are. It saves me so much time when I don’t have to run around the house gathering everything up!
As you can see here I also have a bin with some winter running accessories that I keep near the door as well. This isn’t as well organized but there is a pretty good chance I will have at least one hat or pair of gloves in there!
How do you organize your running gear?
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I have a console, I guess you’d call it, in the living room. That has hats, gloves, gaiters, sunglasses — and now masks, too. I also have shelves with cubes in my Yoga room — that’s got some lesser used running stuff, like the stuff that’s off season (along with either little stuff I want to organize).
I still have times I’m searching for something for like 20 minutes . . . often because I’ve just reorganized, LOL!
Luckily I don’t have to worry about a toddler and Bandit *usually* doesn’t get into stuff — he definitely does have a lot stuff he could get at!
I think my problem before was that half my stuff was in the basement and half was upstairs around the house. At least now I know where everything should be, and I try to keep my extra stuff that I don’t use as much in the basement.
I have a shelf in the mudroom with all my running stuff. In the past year, though, I’ve started leaving through the front door, so my “stuff” has started piling up on the bench in the entry way. I should pretty that up with a bin or something…thanks for the inspiration!
It’s tough when you have 2 doors you leave from! And part of my problem is that some days when I run on the treadmill I leave my stuff down there. But since i mostly run outside I figured it made more sense to keep most of my stuff up by the door.
We have piece of furniture with cabinets and a drawer in our front entry — most of the gear in current use is in the drawer. I do charge things elsewhere — but charging nearby is a great idea.
I eventually want to get some shelves or furniture or something near our front door. Right now we just have a folding table there which works ok with some bins on it, but it just doesn’t look very nice:)
I keep my hats and gloves etc in a bin as well so I know where everything is. I do charge elsewhere but that’s a good idea to charge nearby them. My shoes are in a bin by the garage door so I just grab those on my way out
I have a hard time keeping all my shoes organized. Half end up in the basement when I run on the treadmill and the other half are in our upstairs closet.
Well since my stepsons moved out, I’ve taken over their rooms – closets, dressers, etc.
I do have cubes for things – hats, gloves, half zips, beanies, fuel, etc. And separate drawers for different running apparel items.
Who knew it’s takes so much for such a simple sport?
It sounds like you are pretty organized! I use the closet in our basement to store alot of stuff, but its a total mess and too far away for when I’m heading out the front door for my run.
When we added on a mudroom a couple of years ago one of my big “must-haves” was that there were plugs available just so I could charge any running gear. All of my other run gear and shoes are in there so it makes it super easy to grab and go.
Thanks for linking up!
That’s a great idea to have plugs in your mudroom! I wish we had a room like that but there is no where it would go in our house.
If I had to go looking for all of my gear before every run, I would never run at all! I keep all of my gear in our basement gym and we have a dedicated laundry hamper for workout clothes also in the basement.
Do you remember to wash your clothes from that hamper regularly? I think I would always forget! I keep alot of stuff in my basement gym but I’ve found its easier to have the stuff I run outside with every day closer to the door. Sometimes when I get back from a run I don’t go into the basement after.
The bin by the door is a great idea…. but we don’t have much space by the door to put a bin LOL (I do have two specific places, though where I charge my devices and where I put my other gear like running belt, buff, etc.
It’s definitely just all about finding a place that you can be consistent with! I think my problem before was I would keep half my stuff in the basement and half of it around the house, so when I couldn’t find something there were too many places to look lol.
I also have a bin where I store some of my running gear. However, the night before I have my clothes ready on the kitchen chair (my room is next to the kitchen) and I also put my watch, headphones, and keys on the table to have ready for the next day. Saves time in the morning!
That’s so smart! I set out my clothes in my closet so usually those are ready to go in the morning. There’s no way I could function enough to pick out my running outfit early in the morning!
This is great.
I have a section in my closet for fitness gear. Shirts hang up. Leggings folded on a shelf. Shorts in a wire drawer, and sports bras and socks in another drawer. I keep my gloves, sunnies, and headbands in a cabinet downstairs and fuel in a box in the pantry.
Thanks for joining us!
My running clothes are all in bins in my closet. Grayson dumps them out every single day so everything gets mixed up! But I do keep my sports bra and short in drawers which he hasn’t gotten to yet.
This is a great reminder that I. need to organise this stuff. at the moment I don’t even know where half of it is!! Right now it’s fine because I’m only running 2x a week if that, but definitely when spring is here and I’m running more (fingers crossed) I’ll need to not only locate my stuff but also organise it!!
looking forward to the fartlek friday series!! thanks for linking up with us!
It definitely helps to keep things organized as you’re running more! Good luck!