That that don't kill me, can only make me stronger. I need you to hurry up now, cause I can't wait much longer. Kanye West, Stronger

Monday, September 8, 2008

Rock Your Body Challenge: 3s and 5s treadmill challenge

I made up this workout last night and did it this morning. I was planning to post it tomorrow, but I was so excited that I decided to share it tonight. I mentioned I was a huge dork right? (As if it's not apparent.)

So my goal for the workout was four-fold:

1.) Easy to remember-I hate when magazine workouts are just all over the place, with times and speeds. This is a series of 3 minute and five minute sets.

2.) Hard-I thought it was pretty hard, you should need the recovery intervals, but I have options for make it harder, easier or quicker at the end. Of course, the faster you run, the harder it is!

3.) Not boring-you never have to do the same thing for more than 5 minutes, MAX!

4.) A combo of intervals and tempo runs-calorie killers and fat blasters, respectively!

So here is:

I listed my speeds in mph in parentheses--I get faster as my body warms up. But you should be sprinting at your personal sprint level, tempo running at a comfortably hard pace, and recovering at a slow enough pace to resume normal breathing in 3 minutes.

45 minutes total

Warm up: 3 minutes easy walk or jog (4 mph) Take this time to get psyched. Tell yourself how great your workout is going to be. You are going to get through it and rock it! Tough love version: You took the time to get on the treadmill, so make the most of every minute, otherwise you are wasting your time.

1st Set

3 minute tempo run (6.5 )
3 minute sprint interval (sprint 1 minute , jog 1 minute, sprint 1 minute) (7.5, 6, 7.5)
3 minute tempo run (6.7)

Recovery: 3 minute walk or jog (4)

2nd Set

5 minute tempo run (6.7)
5 minute sprint interval (sprint 1 min., jog 1 min, sprint 1 min., jog 1 min., sprint 1 min.)
(7.5, 6, 7.5, 6, 7.5)
5 minute tempo run (7) You are more than half way WOO-HOO!

Recovery: 3 minute walk or jog (4)

3rd Set

3 minute tempo run (7)
3 minute sprint interval (sprint 1 minute, jog 1 minute, sprint 1 minute) (8, 6, 8)
3 minute tempo run (7)

Cool down:

3 minute walk or jog (4)
Take this time to congratulate yourself for all your effort, the hardest part of your day is behind you! Calories torched, energy up, and the lovely glow radiating from your cheeks!

Make it harder:

-add incline (even just to the recovery intervals)
-run faster
-cut out recovery segments or run them

Make it easier/and or quicker:

-Do jog, sprint, jogs for the intervals
-Cut out second tempo run after each sprint interval (saves 11 minutes)
-Run slower

This was great with 5 minutes of stretching and 10 minutes of ab work this morning. I think next time I will jog the recovery intervals or add a steep incline.
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