I gotta run!

I gotta run, or else I'm just a complete jackass.

Today, I probably should have rested after the ol' stomach virus, but I ran anyway. It was a treadmill run, because the snow that wasn't predicted continued to fall this morning...but I digress.

I read in my Oxygen Magazine about a running workout designed to increase your PR. It's called the 30-20-10 workout. What you do is jog for 30 seconds, then run at race pace for 20 seconds, then sprint for 10 seconds. You then repeat that 5 times...jog for two minutes, and do the sequence again...twice.

OK, looks easy enough.

But maybe too easy? I don't know why I do the things that I do. I continuously challenge myself. It could be good, or it could be bad...I don't know. But after I did that workout, I repeated it...but upped the speed so I finished faster than how I started. Kinda like a negative split. Let me tell you that the final 5 minute sequence kicked my butt. Now, it could be because I'm recovering from that illness, or it could be that it actually kicked my butt.

So, here is how the workout looked:

Elevation through entire workout 1.5%
Round 1
Warm-up walk 5 minutes at 4.0 mph
Jog 30 seconds at 7.0 mph
Run 20 seconds at 8.0 mph
Sprint 10 seconds at 9.0 mph
Repeat 5 times then

Jog 2 minutes at 6.8 mph
Repeat the entire sequence except I added a minute to my recovery jog
Repeat the entire sequence AGAIN except I made my recovery jog 5 minutes so that when I started round 2, I'd be starting at 30 minutes.

Round 2
Jog 30 seconds at 7.5 mph
Run 20 seconds at 8.5 mph
Sprint 10 seconds at 9.5 mph
Repeat 5 times then

Jog 2 minutes at 7.0 mph
Repeat the entire sequence except I added a minute to my recovery jog
Repeat the entire sequence AGAIN except I made my recovery jog 6.8 mph and 10 minutes so that when I finished round 2, I'd be ending at 60 minutes.

This was brutal. Completely refreshing but brutal. The milage turned out to be 7.33 with the cool down walk that the treadmill makes you do.

(I might also add that it meant having my eye on the controls for most of the run. This actually made it seem faster, but meant I couldn't concentrate on Chocolate Week on the Cooking Channel. This was rather disappointing.)

I immediately followed this up with a cool down stretch, a leg drain, and 1 scoop P90X Recovery Drink, 1 scoop Banana protein powder, 1 scoop Emerge Tart Wild Cherry, some rice milk and water and ice. Let me tell you, I'm glad I did. Right now, however, I'm ready for bed.

Tomorrow is P90X Legs and Back and I plan to do it with the hubster. A break from the run, and hopefully a chance to get outside on Saturday. I need to run a bit in the cold to get ready for New Year's Day and the Polar Dash. Hoping for clear roads this weekend after today's snow.

Me and my iRun mug