Mile Repeats!

I met up with a few people (Blake, Jacob, Tris, Amber and Katie) this morning at 5:45 for a warm up run before the downhill mile repeats. We ran a 15 minute warmup to the top of the MTC/Temple mile start.

My 1st one was 2 seconds faster than my 1st time doing them. I ran a 5:18 2 weeks ago and this morning ran a 5:16. I felt pretty good! The 2nd mile was a 5:14 (3 sec faster than 2 weeks ago) and the 3rd mile was 5:13 (7 sec faster). I felt really good on the 2nd one also but the 3rd my legs were shot. I thought about doing a 4th but as I was running the 3rd knew that that was it. I was so excited to have been able to finish off strong. We finished with a 3 mile cool down, 2 strides (fast sprint) and the 2 x 50 leg hops. I felt good at the end but my legs are tired. We ran about 10 1/2 miles this morning.

Downhill- There are a few reasons I like doing speed downhill. 1) Most races in Utah are downhill and people are usually ill prepared for those conditions because they don’t train under them. 2) Running downhill you can go faster than flat running with less effort. So you reap more neuromuscular benefits (i.e. Training your legs to move fast) than just running intervals on a track. 3) And it is psychologically beneficial running fast!

Hops- In most plyometric exercises, the goal is either to move the limb beyond its standard range used with running or to isolate and work on a specific aspect of running form. One legged hops help work on the stance and push off phase of the footstrike. Also it helps the neuromuscular aspect of cadence by training you to move your legs quickly.