6/7/11
6 miles with hill repeats / 58:32 / 9:45 avg pace
To go along with my “if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results” theme, I’m doing two things today that are new and one of them is outside my comfort zone.
Scary thing #1 – hill repeats
I’m alternating my speed work this cycle between track workouts one week and hill repeats the next week. In the past, my hill work simply consisted of running on a hilly course. To my surprise, it was very effective. Imagine what hill repeats can do! Today’s workout was pretty informal. I warmed-up for 1.5 miles and picked out 3 hills along my run. I did 5 repeats on the 1st hill, 3 repeats on the 2nd, and 4 repeats on the 3rd hill. I would run up the hill as fast as I could, and then jog back down. Not so scary at all. In fact, it beats a track workout any day.
Scary thing #2 – strength training class
Scary thing #2 hasn’t happened yet (12pm). But I’m putting it out there in the blog world so I can’t back out. My yoga studio has a whole body strength class that they offer a few times a week. I can’t tell you the last time I strength trained; it’s pretty sad actually. My focus has always been run, run, run. Strength training is crucial to making you a more balanced runner (literally and figuratively!). I’m taking the “all levels” class so I don’t make a fool out of myself. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow, provided I’m not too sore to type.
What have you done recently that was new or scary?
Great job on the hill repeats! I’ve been trying to mix it up lately too. I’m trying to do more cross training and strength training. Any sort of lifting is out of my comfort zone, but I get motivated to stick with it because I actually see that it makes a difference. So while I hate it when I’m actually doing it, I love the effects it has afterwards. I guess it’s kind of like speedwork in that way 🙂
I do hill repeats when the baby is cranky because I have a huge hill less than half a mile from my house and it’s easy to get home if she has a meltdown. Who said kids make it hard to get in shape? 🙂
I hate the hill repeats while I’m doing them, but feel so good after! I like your strategy of picking 3 hills – that would mix it up and seem less daunting that way!
The new classes I took at the gym last week were my most recent scary workout experience. Running hills always scare me and I should run them more often!!
Nice work mixing it up!
Two scary things I’ve done lately – water aerobics & lap swimming. I’m really intimidated by the pool, but at this point, I’m desperate. Both were reasonably enjoyable. 🙂
I’m so sorry you are injured 🙁 I’m intimidated by the pool too probably because I never had any sort of formal swim lessons. I can do a mean doggie paddle but that’s not so acceptable when people are trying to actually get in a good workout!