i love running. i love the feeling of finally meeting a goal, the simultaneous euphoria and exhaustion after a long distance run, the exhilaration of finishing a race. yeah, running is good exercise and all, but it's more than that for me. it's stress relief, a pick-me-up on a bad day, a way to enjoy the lovely weather, a feeling of power.
when it comes to actual training, however, i tend to drop the ball. i would much rather run for 45 minutes to an hour outside on wooded trails and have to do a bit of walking than run sprints or get on a treadmill. this is especially the case in winter. it's too cold for me to run outside {because apparently i'm a wimp *EDIT: as pointed out by the lovely sarah, i am not a wimp. i am just southern through and through.}, but i just can't handle treadmills for very long. i know that i need to work on speed if i want to actually become a better runner {faster, better endurance and all}, but i just don't enjoy it.
the girl's on the run, originally uploaded by Kelly Angard - kreativekell
enter in the wisdom {read: persistent reminding} of husband. he swore to me that running sprints in the morning last summer greatly increased his speed and endurance on longer trail runs. he's also been doing them on and off over the past two months in this dreadfully cold weather. i'm not going to say that i didn't believe him, because i could tell that he'd gotten better, but i didn't really want to believe him.
imagine my surprise when he absolutely smoked me on our trail run last weekend. neither of us have really run distance since october, so i expected him to be just as slow as i was. um, no. not the case.
so guess what my new workout regimen includes? you got it, sprints. i have to say that it's really not as bad as i expected. on the bright side, you're done after like ten minutes. i will let you know how it affects my distance running, but i have a feeling it will be a positive change.
what do you do to train/workout/stay fit during the winter?
xoxo
{click here for the sprint workouts i am doing.}
copyright Hiking in Stilettos
5 comments:
I haven't been to the gym in three weeks. I don't want to talk about it.
Getting back to it next week. Avoiding morning traffic has now become the biggest motivator.
I love this post - how you described why you enjoy running. I feel very much the same way. Also, I WILL NOT run if it is under 50 degrees outside, unless it is like last Saturday...a race day. I think it comes from being born in the south (a nice way to say I'm a wimp too).
Anyhow, in the winter I use the treadmill plus a good weekly spin class. It's hard for me to run inside as well but with music and a magazine I can do it for three miles or so. I vary the incline to make it more interesting. I have heard that you should always use at least a 1% grade so that it's not easier than running outside, so I start with that and turn it up and down between 1 and 5 in order to change my stride.
Treadmill aside, I check the waether every day throughout the winter and if it's ever above 50 I get out there for a run, even in the rain.
Thanks for this great post!
as i just blogged, i do absolutely nothing, but it looks like cycling is in my future. sad times. but i'm using your excuse from now on: i'm a southerner!
fantastic! i think i might just try it!!
ok so i kinda wish i hadn't read that 'cause now I feel "found out" and convicted.
I had promised to run so many races this year and now they are so close and i have run once in the past 3 months. once.
but going to the beach for a week tomorrow so maybe some inspiration there? i always feel like i can run forever barefoot on the beach. I don't know why.
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