It was a rather haphazard run on the treadmill. Instead of doing fartleks with my virtual running friend, Aneta, we decided we would give the hills a go this week to change it up a little.
It was not easy! My legs were a little tofu-like after the second mile - which goes to show there's room for improvement.
I am totally clueless about doing the hills. Aside from the help/explanation that Aneta gave me via e-mail, I decided to just whack it out myself and adjust accordingly. So, this was what I did.
I did 0.5 mile intervals (hill-rest-hill-rest-hill-rest), starting at 0% (which is my recovery portion), and then at 2%, 3%, 4% inclines. The speed was set to somewhere between 11:30ish to 10:00ish/mile and I sprinted at about 8ish-9ish min/mile on my last 0.5 mile at 0% incline. I walked for less than a minute at some point just to catch my breath and find my legs. I think I left them at the bottom of the hill.
So, all in all, 3 miles done, in about 30 minutes (+/-) because I am such a klutz and erased all the information when I hit the "stop" button on the treadmill twice.
My thoughts:
1) Doing hills isn't easy. but I need to do it to get faster and stronger.
2) Having a buddy doing it with you (or virtually) helps to keep you accountable.
3) I need to have a better game plan. That means, I need to plan the intervals properly and I need it on a sticky note affixed to the front of the treadmill when I run so I don't have time or opportunity to weasel out of it.
4) Thank goodness I am through with running today.
Question of the day:
What do you do to help you be more organized when you do hills on the treadmill? Is there a plan you follow?
Have a happy Wednesday!
