January 25, 2012

Track Workouts Are Back!

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

12 comments

Early yesterday morning before the sun had come up to join us, Elle and I made our return to the UNC track!

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We’re both training for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon, and it was time to get back on track (literally) with speed workouts!

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Obligatory sweaty/tired un-cute photo

We had a great workout! Here’s what we did:

  • Warm up jog (2 laps — 0.5 miles)
  • 2 laps of sprint the straights, jog the curves (0.5 miles)
  • Boot camp move— Star Squats! These are hard but fun — basically squat down, then jump up and widen your legs and arms. See photo demonstration below (animation made via gickr) — I didn’t get a picture of myself fully extended but you get the idea. 🙂

[gickr.com]_13f06baa-f6be-4344-4929-a45379a72c07[4]

  • 2 laps of sprint the straights, jog the curves (0.5 miles)
  • Boot camp move — pushups with alternating mountain climbers & alternating leg hops
  • 2 laps of sprint the straights, jog the curves (0.5 miles)
  • Boot camp move — triceps dip & balancing leg lifts (Elle demonstrating below!)elle
  • 1 final lap of sprint the straights, jog the curves (0.25 miles)
  • Cool down jog (2 laps — 0.5 miles)

Great workout! We ended up covering 2.75 miles total for the run portion and left feeling like we got a sufficient whooping.

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I need to buckle down and get some serious homework done today. Happy Wednesday, friends!

Do you incorporate track/speed workouts into your training?

- anne

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12 comments
  • I still find UNC's baby blue track totally shocking. I used to hate track workouts, but now I really like the variety. Plus it's nice to do something besides just go out and run at the same pace, even though speed and tempo tend to hurt (in the best way possible). :)
    Reply
    • I think by shocking you mean awesome. ;)
      Reply
  • I was doing speed work last night, I think my plyo and my spin help me the most. I don't like running on a track a ton though. It makes me dizzy.
    Reply
  • I always do speed work when I have to run on a treadmill. It is the only way I can stand to run on the treadmill, but I usually don't do speed work outside.
    Reply
  • Good for you for making it happen and kudos for posting less than perfect photos! Gutsy!
    Reply
    • Haha working out = not glamorous. Whatev! :)
      Reply
  • This looks like a great workout! LOVE the picture! :)
    Reply
  • Hi from Chicago :)
    Reply
    • Yay! Hope all is going well there so far! :)
      Reply
  • Congratulations! I love morning workouts....although it looks like it was pretty cold!
    Reply