Growing On Me

I'm sure if you've followed me on Daily Mile for any period of time you would know that I used to HATE running on the treadmill.  I'm pretty sure every run that was on a treadmill included one or more of the following words: "dreadmill, hate, slow" and others.  However, since the marathon I have been spending ALOT more time at my gym and kind of growing to like the treadmill...we aren't in love yet but we are getting along really well right now!

The fact that I actually look forward to jumping on the treadmill after a weight routine is kind of crazy to me but last week I did a couple of really challenging, sweat pouring workouts on the treadmill I thought I would share.

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One-Minute Intervals
1. 5-10 minute warm-up at a slow jog
2. 1 minute fast interval
3. Rest for 1.5 minutes at a slow jog
4. Repeat steps 3-4 until desired distance goal
5. Cool-down

I did the above steps 1 and 3 between 5.0-5.5 and my intervals were at 7.5mph which is an 8:00 pace.  I felt pretty out of breathe by the end of each interval but the 1.5 minute rest gave me just enough time to prepare for the next one.  I ran these with a 3 mile overall goal and did 9 intervals in that time including a few minute cool-down.

400 Meter Intervals
1. 1 mile slow jog warmup
2. 400 meter (1/2 mile) interval
3. 200 meter (1/4 mile) rest at fast walk to slow jog
4. Repeat 2-3 until desired distance or number of intervals
5. Cool-down

I had a goal of 4 repeats and I wanted to complete them at half marathon goal pace so I ran each at 6.7 mph (about 9:00 miles).  The intervals wiped me out so the rest were between 3.5-5.0 mph.  I ended up running a total of 4 miles.

Let's review last week shall we!

Week of January 9-5, 2012:
Monday: Leg day! - CHECK!
Tuesday: Back, Arms, Abs + 3 mile run - CHECK did 1 minute interval workout above
Wednesday: Chest, Shoulders, Abs + 6 mile run with friend  weather was nasty so I did 30 minutes on the elliptical instead
Thursday: Back, Biceps, Abs + sprints - CHECK did the 400 meter repeats above instead of the prescribed sprints
Friday: Shoulder, Triceps, Calves - CHECK plus added 30 minutes of elliptical
Saturday: REST - CHECK!
Sunday: REST or Yoga - YOGA...I did it!  I tried a yoga episode on hulu.com that was great except for the commercial breaks in the middle of poses!

More reasons to love Hulu Plus - they have about a million yoga programs! Only 7 bucks a month!

I'm now on the last two weeks of the LiveFit program and they consist of doing high reps in a circuit like fashion and it's completely different then anything I've ever done at the gym so it should be interesting.  And I NEED to get a long run in this week, that is my number one goal.

January 16-21, 2012
Monday: Back, Abs and Cardio (cardio = 4.0 mile run on treadmill)
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Chest, Calves and Cardio
Thursday: Arms, Abs and Cardio
Friday: REST - I'm hosting a dinner party that evening and have to cook cook cook!
Saturday: Cardio - the program has an hour of cardio on one day so I have NO excuse not to run 6-7 miles
Sunday: Shoulder and Cardio - might forgo the cardio for some yoga

Question: Any crazies out there ever do a long run on a treadmill?  Like I said above I'm liking a treadmill more not loving it and the most I've ever gone was 6 miles on one and it was pure torture!