Every now and then, something happens that opens my eyes. Yesterday’s recurring theme was speed-work. Half-athoner mentioned it in a blog posting I read and responded too. My friend Jeremy (he doesn’t have a blog) and I talked about it on Facebook.
My feet at 9 mph.
After a while (and in re-reading the Curvy RoadRunners Treadmill Workout From Hell), it occurred to me that I didn’t have any speedwork going on. Bad enough I am being lazy cautious and keeping my speed down, and only increasing it by .1 mph a week – but no speed work? How is that going to make me any faster? As I thought about it, I also realized that with this workout, I can’t watch TV – so I don’t have to worry about the fact that I haven’t made a choice on a new show to watch while running.
So, off I went. I figured I’d start slower to let my legs get warmed up.
- 1 minute – 5 mph (ahhh.. isn’t this nice?)
- 1 minute – 5.5 mph (hmm.. could do this all day)
- 1 minute – 6 mph (seems about normal..)
- 2 minute – 6.5 mph (ok, not too different than normal.. 2 minutes because I stopped watching the clock)
- 1 minute – 7 mph (I bet I could keep this up for a while.. Wonder if I have been running to slowly.)
- 1 minute – 7.5 mph (Definitely faster than I am used to)
- 1 minute – 8 mph (Hey! this would be a 22 minute 5k! That was my goal last this year before my P.F…. Seems fast now.)
- 1 minute – 8.5 mph (LOOK AT MY LEGS GO!!!!!)
- 1 minute – 9 mph (Holy Crap! Don’t fall! Legs KEEP MOVING!!! OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP)
- 1 minute 8 mph (huh.. This almost seems manageable after that 9 mph)
- 1 minute 7.5 mph (still a bit quick. but nicer)
- 1 minute at 7 mph (seems harder than on the way up)
- 1 minute at 6.5 mph (ahhhhhh……)
- 1 minute at 6 mph (phew! Made it.. Wait.. What do you mean I have to do it again?)
- Then I went back up to 8.5 mph, and back down to 6.
It was a nice workout, and to be honest – I am surprised at how sore I am NOT today. I would have expected a noticeable amount of pain. I am going to dedicate one workout a week to some form of speed-work. This is going to be th most popular for now – since I am treadmill running.. Anyone have any other treadmill speed workouts they use?
And on another note –
As any of you that have read for a while know – I have tried various “Video Game” exercise programs as well. I figure it’s always worth trying – as I like Video Games, and I like (some) exercise. Well the latest attempt was with the Self-Defense Training Camp game on the XBox 360.
I may be too stupid to use a n Xbox 360 with a Kinect. That is the only conclusion I can come too. This is my first try at using it and it was NOT succesful. It just kept telling me to move back, or didn’t belive I was actually moving despite its little man-image showing me lifting my leg.
I am going to try to figure this thing out.. So this isn’t an official “product review”
I think I was better off running. So I did.
I run, because I am a runner. Having realized that I have always "been a runner" - even when I went years with out running, I am learning how it has integrated itself in all aspects of my life. When I started running in highschool, my perspective on life changed. Funny that I didn't realize how much it had affected it until just recently.
Once and Future Runner 
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