I can think of lots of sports that require athleticism. Soccer. Baseball. Football. Swimming. Gymnastics. The list goes on and on. But kickball? Kickball ... is not so much on that list. But judging my my soreness today after playing 5 games yesterday, I might have to reconsider that outlook. It's not enough to keep my out of the gym, thankfully, but it's definitely more than zero. And I don't even have a trophy to show for it!
A treadmill workout of my own devising today. After 3 minutes of warmup, the first 20 minutes is composed of minute-long intervals at one of three speeds [walk, jog, fast run]. It roughly follows a 'walk, run, sprint, run, sprint, run, walk' format [low, med, high, med, high, med, low]. The next 10 minutes is one minute of shuffling on each side, followed by a minute of running backwards. Yes, I get weird looks for this at the gym. I'm over it. Mostly. Finally it's a minute break, then around a minute to get the treadmill up to ~10mph (these things don't happen instantly you know), and 5 minutes of 20/10 sprint/rest intervals. Then a 3 minute cool down and I'm on my merry way.
It might seem a little complicated, and it kind of is, but I get bored Very Easily, so having to punch numbers all the time helps keep me focused. Plus, I can do anything for one minute, right? 60 measly seconds. I could withstand the Spanish Inquisition for 60 seconds (probably...). No excuses.
Pre
Energy Level [1-5]: 4
Sore Areas: Hip Flexors, Lower Back
Yesterday: No Alcohol, Does Kickball count as Exercise?
Environment: indoors - cool
Workout
Equipment: Treadmill
Work Time: 40 min.
Program: Manual
Incline: 2.0-3.0
| Minutes | Intensity: MPH [time] | Incline: ° | Total Distance (mi.)* |
| 0:00-3:00 | 6.5 | 3.0 | .32 |
| 3:01-9:00 | 9.5 [1:00]
6.2 [1:00]
repeat x3 | 3.0 [2:00]
2.5 [2:00]
2.0 [2:00] | 1.10 |
| 9:01-10:00 | 3.8 | 3.0 | ~1.16 |
| 10:01-15:00 | 6.2 [1:00]
9.5 [1:00]
repeat x2.5 | 3.0 [1:00]
2.5 [2:00]
2.0 [2:00] | 1.78 |
| 15:01-16:00 | 3.8 | 3.0 | ~1.85 |
| 16:01-20:00 | 6.2 [1:00]
9.5 [1:00]
repeat x2 | 3.0 [2:00]
2.5 [2:00] | 2.38 |
| 20:01-21:00 | 3.8 | 2.0 | ~2.44 |
| 21:01-23:00 | 4.0
side shuffle [R -1:00]
side shuffle [L - 1:00] | 2.0 | ~2.57 |
| 23:01-26:00 | 4.5
backwards [1:00]
side shuffle [R -1:00]
side shuffle [L - 1:00] | 2.0 | ~2.80 |
| 26:01-29:00 | 5.0
backwards [1:00]
side shuffle [R -1:00]
side shuffle [L - 1:00] | 2.0 | ~3.05 |
| 30:01-32:00 | 5.0
backwards | 3.0 | 3.12 |
| 30:01-31:30 | 3.8 | 3.0 | ~3.21 |
| 31:30-32:00 | 3.8 -> 10.0 | 2.0 | 3.23 |
| 32:01-37:00 | 10.0 [:20]
0.0 [:10]
repeat x10 | 3.0 [2:00]
2.5 [3:00] | 4.12 |
| 37:01-40:00 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 4.43 |
*Note: 'Total Distance' is distance read off the treadmill, values
starting with '~' are calculated post-workout based on speed, values without were
recorded in real time.
Post
Energy Level [1-5]: 4
Stretch Time: 10:00
Total Time: 60:00
Day After
Sore Level [1-5]: 3
Sore Areas: Quads, Upper/Lower Back
Comments
So I made it 4.43 miles in 40 minutes, except for 2 of those minutes I was standing on the side rails while the treadmill either got up to or hummed merrily along at a 10mph clip. That roughly works out to .3 miles, so *I* physically ran 4.13 miles in 40 minutes. Works out to an average pace of 9:41... not great, but considering I spent around 12 minutes at sub 6.0mph, I'll take it.
At the same time, I covered 2.38 miles in the the first 20 minutes, which is a respectable 8:24 clip. I consider that a better indicator of the overall pace, as the shuffling around is more of a toning exercise, and the 20/10 intervals are purely for fat burning purposes. Ideally this is the pace that will transfer to outdoor distance running.
This is probably one of my favorite workouts, as I've been known to do it up to once a week (especially during the winter). I'm vaguely aware of progress in that I didn't feel nearly as much like death today that I recall feeling in, say, February, and I've been sporadically bumping up the 'jogging' pace and mucking around with the incline to make it harder. Now that I'm actually tracking pace/incline, I expect to see some quantifiable progress!
In the interest of full disclosure, I took a 5 second rail-break after the 4th, 5th, and 6th 9.5mph 'sprints'. Running is hard!
