Sunday Runday

Thanks to my procrastination to get out the door for my run this morning, I managed to dodge some awful weather.

This is what my backyard looked like for part of the day… the part before the tornado sirens started going off. So, I decided to nix my whole, run outside to build mental toughness plan, and headed to the gym. The great thing about going to the gym on a Sunday, when tornados sirens are sounding, is the huge selection of equipment that is open! This is great for me because I tend to fling my sweat up to three machines away, especially during my more challenging workouts. I know there are many purist runners who abhor treadmill running but I welcome the chance to do some indoor speed work occasionally.

I call today’s run a “broken ladder” workout. Ladders usually indicate increases or decreases in distance, but in today’s workout the distance stayed the same and I varied the speed at which I ran the distance. The first half of my run: 5 X 1 mile descending times 8:45, 8:30, 8:15, 8:00, 7:45. After the first 5 miles I took a break from running to work my abs. I did all floor work for abs with no machines, and did 25-30 reps of each exercise moving quickly between each exercise. Then I hopped back on the treadmill and repeated my 5 X 1 mile run backwards 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30, 8:45. This put me at a total of 10 miles for today.

I do runs like this for a couple of reasons. First, if I am on a treadmill I will get bored after awhile so I need to vary my speed. Some days I run more of an interval style workout but today I wanted to progressively increase my speed. Second, I break to do my abs in the middle of the workout because sometimes I just won’t do the exercises if I wait until the end of the long run. Last, it is important for me to progressively slow my pace to focus on form at slower speeds when I am tired. I also like to force myself to slow down slowly sometimes rather than ping-pong between fast and slow speeds.

This was an awesome run for me today and it felt great! I was totally drenched by the end of my workout and earned my long hot shower!

True to Wisconsin weather, the sky was a beautiful blue and it was about 55 degrees when I left the gym.

Happy Training, Run Happy!