Want to increase your speed? Run hills better? Have more energy for the end of your run? Well then I've got the product for you.... Just kidding. There are, however, some training tips that I've been using, some from my high school cross country days, and some from my current running. You can just go out and run the same distance at around the same speed every time and that's great. But, if you want to increase that time, you can start throwing in some more training. Here are a few workouts you can try.
1. Hills: a) Find a large hill. Run it as fast as you can to the top, turn around and jog down. Repeat 10 times. b) Find a short steep hill and do the same with more reps. or c) Go on your usual run, each time you come to a hill, run it 5 times as fast as you can, then continue on your route.
2. Mile Intervals: I did not like these in high school, but understand how they help now. Mark off one mile. Run that mile as fast as you can. Rest for 2 minutes. Run the mile again, trying to beat your time. Rest for 3 minutes. Run the mile again, trying to beat your time. Depending on your training level, repeat as many times as you can.
3. Treadmill Training: This is something I've been doing, since I don't always get the opportunity to run outside. Start your run at a comfortable speed. Each quarter mile increase your speed by 2 tenths. For example if you started your run on a 6.0 speed, after your first quarter mile increase to a 6.2, then 6.4, then 6.6, 6.8, 7.0 and so on. What this is doing is helping you work on your endurance, so you can learn to kick harder toward the end of your run.
4. Misc. Intervals: You can also do other distance intervals. To work on your speed do some short distance, like 1/4 miles or less. To work on endurance, so some longer intervals, like 1.5 miles or 2 miles. Just make sure you record your time somewhere so you can track your progress and it will give you an idea of what pace you need to be running in the future.
Remember, you are going to have days where your body just won't cooperate. You won't be able to beat your time every time. Just push yourself the best you can. There is not much point to doing speed and endurance workouts if you aren't going to give it your all. Also, these are great workouts to do with a friend or two. It will really bring out the competitive drive in all of you and push you harder. Good luck!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
4 Weeks, No Kitchen!
After two years of dreaming about a new kitchen, it is finally happening. The kitchen I had was straight out of 1962 and had not been touched since then. I am a big fan of most things 60's, but the kitchen had to go. Demolition began two days ago and I'm already sick of eating out!!! And wow, I forgot how expensive eating out gets to be once it's all added up. So, I'm sitting down right now making a list of every healthy meal that I can make without a kitchen. I have a crock pot, a grill, and a wonderful friend of mine is letting me borrow her toaster oven and electric griddle. My goal is to try and keep the eating out down to once or twice a week. Hopefully we will be able to continue with our raw veggies and fruits, though it is a little tougher without my counter tops and knives being readily available. I also have to use our utility sink in the laundry (currently being bleached!!) as my dishwashing sink. So I'm trying not to use many dishes, paper and plastic all the way... sorry environment. New challenges ahead, you know I love a new challenge. If I can feed my family healthy food without a kitchen (and on a tighter budget thanks to the cost of the remodel) then anyone can eat healthy. Be watching for many crock pot and grill recipes to come. I'll keep you updated on the kitchen progress through pictures, for anyone interested. Wish me luck!
Cabinets and Drywall coming down
Drywall goes up!!
Drywall finished.
Floors are done!!!!!!!!!!
Cabinets are built.
Cabinets go in!
My wonderful husband installs the lights!!!!! Finally some light in this kitchen!
Appliances are put into place (but still not working yet) Hopefully this weekend.
So close...
Appliances go back in!!! And COUNTERTOPS!!! So exciting!
Only thing left is the details, trim, toe kick, etc.
My first prep day with my new kitchen. Before picture above. After picture below. Washed, cut, preserved and ready to go. Ready to get back into our all out healthy eating.
Before Pictures
Cabinets and Drywall coming down
Final pictures to come soon. Hopefully very soon.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
July Challenge
I was going to make this month's challenge about food since I have done so many workout ones lately. But here's the problem. We are just beginning our kitchen remodel, so therefore, no kitchen this month. I am going to have to come up with as many, raw, no-bake, healthy meals as possible and we are going to have to eat out more than we have in a long time. I guess I'm going to have to do a lot of research on healthy foods at restaurants. We have been eating out maybe once a week for a couple of months now, so this is going to be interesting. Anyways, so I decided to do yet another fitness challenge. One of my many goals is to be able to run a half marathon by the end of the year. So my challenge for this month is to work my way up to a 10 mile run. The last time I ran that distance was 13 years ago. Good old Saturday morning cross-country practices. Coach would send us out to run and say, don't come back for 2 hours. To be completely honest, there were times I didn't run the whole two hours which explains why I usually finished 4th or 5th on the varsity team instead of 1st or 2nd, but I had fun. It's weird, back then I actually was practicing for a race, but I feel like I am more motivated and dedicated now. I guess that's just what happens with old age.
To accomplish this goal, I plan on adding a mile to my distance run each week. Last week I ran 7 miles on Saturday morning, so that is where I will start. 7, 8, 9, then 10. We will see if these old knees can hold up that long. It's been 10 years since all of the knee surgeries and they haven't really bothered me running so far, so hopefully they are strong enough now. In between each long run, I'll still do short runs and weight lifting. Most importantly, I'll be doing my best to eat right this month. "You lose weight in the kitchen, you get fit in the gym". I change that to , "You get healthy in the kitchen, You get fit in the gym". Challenge #5 is on.
#1- no cokes
#2- no eating out
#3- work out 5 hours a week
#4- run 10 miles a week
#5- run 10 miles at once
7/3/12
July is over and all I can say is "goal accomplished". It wasn't easy, but I got a 10 mile run in this month. I'd like to thank my sis-in-law for running 8 miles the day before to give me the motivation to beat her. Beat that Amber! I learned a lot of lessons with this challenge. Most important one is that I'm not 18 anymore. I can't just go out and run 10 miles on 4 hours of sleep, nothing to drink or eat that morning, and without having run 10 miles in 12 years. I felt great during the run. My legs got pretty sore by the end, but I wasn't really breathing hard. Even an hour after the run, I felt fine. My mom and nana were in town, so we decided to go out to breakfast. Waiting for our food, I started feeling bad. I barely made it to the bathroom before blacking out. I couldn't even see the door to open it, I had to feel for it. I sat down on the floor as soon as I got in the bathroom to keep from falling on my face. Apparently I looked pretty bad to the 3 ladies in the room because they were afraid to leave me in there. One went back and told the waitress about me, who brought some fresh squeezed orange juice to the bathroom for me to drink. Haha, you can imagine the looks on people's faces when they walked into the bathroom and saw me sitting on the floor drinking orange juice, white as a sheet. Embarassing! I survived it, went home, took a nap and ate breakfast. The important thing here is that I finished my challenge and learned my lesson. Sleep is important. Water is important. And eating at least something is important before a long run. I also learned that I like running long distance again and am ready to train for a half-marathon. I figured out that I burned about 1200 calories on that run. Felt like I could eat as much as I want that day. Good feeling!
To accomplish this goal, I plan on adding a mile to my distance run each week. Last week I ran 7 miles on Saturday morning, so that is where I will start. 7, 8, 9, then 10. We will see if these old knees can hold up that long. It's been 10 years since all of the knee surgeries and they haven't really bothered me running so far, so hopefully they are strong enough now. In between each long run, I'll still do short runs and weight lifting. Most importantly, I'll be doing my best to eat right this month. "You lose weight in the kitchen, you get fit in the gym". I change that to , "You get healthy in the kitchen, You get fit in the gym". Challenge #5 is on.
#1- no cokes
#2- no eating out
#3- work out 5 hours a week
#4- run 10 miles a week
#5- run 10 miles at once
7/3/12
July is over and all I can say is "goal accomplished". It wasn't easy, but I got a 10 mile run in this month. I'd like to thank my sis-in-law for running 8 miles the day before to give me the motivation to beat her. Beat that Amber! I learned a lot of lessons with this challenge. Most important one is that I'm not 18 anymore. I can't just go out and run 10 miles on 4 hours of sleep, nothing to drink or eat that morning, and without having run 10 miles in 12 years. I felt great during the run. My legs got pretty sore by the end, but I wasn't really breathing hard. Even an hour after the run, I felt fine. My mom and nana were in town, so we decided to go out to breakfast. Waiting for our food, I started feeling bad. I barely made it to the bathroom before blacking out. I couldn't even see the door to open it, I had to feel for it. I sat down on the floor as soon as I got in the bathroom to keep from falling on my face. Apparently I looked pretty bad to the 3 ladies in the room because they were afraid to leave me in there. One went back and told the waitress about me, who brought some fresh squeezed orange juice to the bathroom for me to drink. Haha, you can imagine the looks on people's faces when they walked into the bathroom and saw me sitting on the floor drinking orange juice, white as a sheet. Embarassing! I survived it, went home, took a nap and ate breakfast. The important thing here is that I finished my challenge and learned my lesson. Sleep is important. Water is important. And eating at least something is important before a long run. I also learned that I like running long distance again and am ready to train for a half-marathon. I figured out that I burned about 1200 calories on that run. Felt like I could eat as much as I want that day. Good feeling!
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