December 19th: Core and Interval Training

Well, I haven't packed it in for the holidays yet.

I wanted to change things up a bit today, and I wanted to get some core exercises in. I did a rotation of dumbbell crunches on the bosu ball, planks and kettlebell squats. That third plank was really tough. But as I've said many times, I think having a strong core will really help me as a runner.

From there, I got on the treadmill. I didn't want to keep repeating the same run, but I didn't have time for a long, either. So I decided to kick my own ass with some interval training. I settled on 5k (3.11 miles), with 1:30 intervals. The fast intervals were between 7.5 and 7.9 mph -- that's between a 7:25 and 8:00 pace. The slow intervals were at 5.8 -- a 10:20 pace. During the fast intervals, I also went at a 1.5 percent incline. I was at 2.85 miles when it was time to crank the treadmill back up, so I just did the remaining quarter mile at the fast pace with the incline. Finished the 5k in 27:40.

Somehow, I've managed to time things perfectly so that the nights/mornings that beer wins will be the warmest in December. Isn't that just the way? I'm going to have to try to hold back a bit one of the next few nights, because it would be completely awesome to get a long outdoor run in before Christmas. The other possible solution: lots and lots of Gatorade and some ibuprofen before bed. We'll see how it goes -- I'll keep ya posted.

Total miles since starting the blog: 169.9.