Quick 30 Minute Workouts

I know it can get crazy this holiday season trying to fit in your workouts, but Runner's World has a few great suggestions.

30-30-60: Run easy for five minutes to warm up, then accelerate for 30 seconds, reduce the pace for 30 seconds, then run fast again for 60 seconds. This last segment should be faster than the first acceleration, but not a sprint; gradually increase your pace until you're running about as fast as you'd want to in your next race. The middle segment is not a jog; simply ease up your pace to give yourself a short reprieve before the faster push. Do this 30-30-60 cycle four times, separating each with two minutes of walking or jogging. Finish with two 30-second accelerations (with 60 seconds rest) at the pace of the last fast segment. Add or subtract a 30-30-60 cycle for longer or shorter workouts.

Speed Loop: Find a traffic-free loop that takes you three to five minutes to run at an easy pace. Warm up, then run a loop, noting your time. On the second loop, try to beat your time by five to 10 seconds. Walk or jog for one minute, then go around again, trimming another five to 10 seconds. Do three to five more loops, taking another five to 10 seconds off each. Cool down.

Happy New Year!

christmas was good to me...

Okay, so Ryan was good to me...yay!

2009, here we come!

Jona and I are officially signed up for our Spring 2009 races.

March 22 - The Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA. This course is going to be flat, flat, flat. And hopefully fast, fast, fast. :) Jonathan's running the full, while I'll be running the half. We're both hoping for some serious PRs.
April 5 - The Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in Washington, DC. This race came highly recommend by The Nixons and we are so dang excited to run it with some our friends from Cary. And yes, I am a DC virgin, so I'm excited to experience the city for a few days, too.

What's on your 2009 agenda? Anything yet?

A Must See

Thanks to Kaylynn for reminding me to watch this on NBC Sports tomorrow. Check your local listings. You will never be the same after watching this documentary. At least I wasn't.

Secretly I have a dream of completing an Ironman one day. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run. A girl can dream, right?

Winter

In my humble opinion, winter sucks for running. There's less light during the day, it's freezing outside, and the holidays appear with a to-do list a mile long. Despite all of that, my cute hubby has started training for the Shamrock Marathon in the spring, resulting in me me feeling all sorts of guilty, so I just might join him. We'll decide soon.

So in the meantime, I've been trying to hit the gym and bulk up for the 2009 running season. Ha. Bulk up. I have found that I really enjoy this cross training season, but I miss running dearly. Nothing replaces breathing in fresh air and pounding the pavement.

So what do you do during the dreary winter months? I know some of you are fighting snow and severe temps, so I won't complain too much. But I'd love to hear your strategies.