Plyos 'til you Cry-os

I haven't really been feeling my best this week with the aftermath of THON and intermittent fevers, so I didn't really run this week. However, I did some plyometrics as a sort of cross-training and conditioning excercise. Plyometrics is a type of workout designed to produce fast and powerful movements. THe exercises are quick, painful, and really tiring. Plyos are generally purposeful for any sport, but they come in handy especially with track and field because it is designed to improve the functions of your nervous and respiratory systems. In other words, it makes you faster and gives you more endurance. Some good plyos workouts include burpees, mountain climbers, squats, lunges, push ups, crunches, lemon drops, plank, and running in place. It looks more daunting than it actually is. It is a really good workout in my opinion. Though not your standard workout full of dynamic stretching drills and things of that nature, this is a good ‘fake’ plyo workout that focuses on all aspects. It focuses around upperbody strength especially. It also has a decent amount of leg strength training with the amount of burpees, squats and lunge jumps involved. Ab exercises of both active and isometric variety are represented through out. Personally, I have noticed a difference in my running as of late from doing this workout, the leg strength is most noticed here.

Week 4: Tempo

Since THON is only a day away now, I figured a good tempo workout would be useful to build up some endurance for the upcoming 46 hours! For months now my Rules and Regulations captain has stressed the importance of the amount of exercise you should do before THON weekend, and I think one workout in particular that I did this week is a testament to that suggestion. I did three series of ‘tempo’ runs, all in different intervals. A tempo run is running at a heightened, quickened pace than you normally would for a certain period of time. This week, I ran two tempo paces in the middle of two six-mile runs. During the first one, I actually did two tempo runs over the course of the entire workout because the length of the tempo was kind of short. What’s important about a tempo run is the warm up (actually, this is important for every workout in general).  You should do a warm up before each run you do, especially a tempo run because it forces you to conserve that energy you will waste while running at a faster pace later. This way, you’ll be able to exert more energy effectively during your workout. Usually your warm up should be about eight to ten minutes long. After the warm up, time yourself for a run at 80% near or around your normal race pace. This should be about twelve minutes long. The longer you keep a consecutive, even pace, the more you’ll get out of the workout. In a race, you’ll be used to going that fast for around that long time lapse. After the tempo is over, do a twenty to thirty minute cool down.

Week 3: A Little Circuit Workout Never Hurt Anyone

So, I could really only do one challenging workout this week because my hamstring is still injured. Oh, and incase you couldn't tell, the title for this week's post is a joke; circuit workouts suck. Circuit training is one of the best ways to make a resistance and strength-training workout that is also challenging for your heart and lungs. This workout is designed to take around 35 to 40 minutes and should ideally be done on a track. It entails ten repetitions of 300 meter sprints, all being timed around 40 seconds. In between each sprint, various plyometric exercises are done. These are put in between each sprint to keep your body from getting used to resting after sprinting. Pushing yourself to new limits carries over to racing, where there’s no time to rest in the middle of a race. This workout strengthens your lungs and heart by restricting your body’s resting time. After the first 300, do squats for approximately one minute, and then go directly into mountain climbers for another minute. Jog for about 25 seconds before doing another 300. After this one, do lunges on each leg for one minute each. Then, jog for another 25 seconds and do another 300. You should be seeing a pattern now: sprint a 300, two minutes of a plyos workout, jog for 25 seconds, and repeat. For the plyos portion in between each sprint, there are a variety of options. I recommend push ups, wall sits, lemon drops, holding your feet six inches above the ground with flutter kicks, bicycle kicks, etc. The most rewarding ploys workouts in this particular circuit exercise are mountain climbers, jump lunges, and a 3 step, zero-rest rountine of 100 crunches, 20 lemon drops, and 10 flutter kicks. This workout sucks, but it gets you that much stronger! Enjoy!

Week 2= Fail

So, I was initially planning on writing about some great workouts I did this week...but then i pulled my hamstring right as I started a speed workout! What I was PLANNING on doing were four different workouts, all with different intervals and different time goals. I started off with one 300 meter sprint (this is where I pulled my hamstring) at 42 seconds. This is challenging and should really test your endurance, but finishing strong always pays off. After each interval is completed, slowly jog for three minutes. This slow jog is called an active recovery, where you force your body to keep moving instead of stopping to walk and therefore completely shutting your body down to the hard work you just accomplished. This jog  does get aggravating at times where all you want to do is walk, but it makes you that much stronger by the end. After those three minutes are up, a 250 meter sprint at 35 seconds is next. Since this is obviously a shorter distance than the 300 meter, more effort is required in the sprint in order for you to get anything beneficial out of it. In general, the shorter the distance, the more effort you put in. But that shouldn't mean to walk a whole mile when faced with long distance races. After this sprint, slowly jog for three minutes again. This jog can be at any pace you like, so long as it isn't too fast or you're not walking either. Next up after this is a 200 meter sprint at 32 seconds. This is where the workout starts to hurt. At this point, you've already exerted that much energy to get you halfway through the workout, so you kind of feel like dying right now. BUT, these are the sprints that count the most. When you're tired and forced to sprint again, keeping your body going strengthens you and builds up your endurance. In short, the harder you work as the more tired you become, the better results you will see when it comes to race day. So, once again, after this exhausting sprint, jog slowly for three minutes. Now is the last sprint: a 200 meter at 28 seconds. Frankly, this sprint will suck too, but it will pay off in the long run (no pun intended). Once again, jog slowly for three minutes, then do a ten minute cool down to wind down after the speed workout. Enjoy!