It’s amazing how good a nice, easy, short workout can make you feel. Almost all my runs for the last few weeks have been so intense and at least 40 minutes. Today I had planned, and did, a 30 minute treadmill training mix. It was still tough.  It has some hill work and some speed work, which I took very seriously. But the absolute shortness of the workout was so refreshing.

Since it was so short, I wasn’t afraid to push it a little. The treadmill training workout starts out with 3 or so minutes of walking with some ‘warm-up’ movements, then 3 minutes of easy running. You use these 3 minutes to find a good base pace for the workout – one that is comfortable, but that you know you are still working.

Then starts the hill work. Without changing your speed, you do three different percent inclines (between 4 and 6 %) for 30 to 45 seconds each. After a 4 minute recovery from this you start speed work, my favorite part!

These are relatively short intervals – 50 seconds, 70 seconds, 90 seconds, and 50 seconds. The goal is to go as fast or faster every interval. The workout ends with 3 or 4 minutes of easy running to cool down.

I did my intervals today at paces of 8:20/mile, 8:00/mile, 7:40/mile, and 7:20/mile. How impressed with myself am I?

One thing that gets me about this workout (proudly produced by Nike+) is that the narrator keeps telling me to drink water. The workout is only 30 minutes – you want me to do to what? Usually I wouldn’t ever think of drinking water in a 30 minute workout, because I would expect it to bring a small side-cramp.

But I learned something recently from runnersworld.com. If you are drinking water/electrolytes/other while running, don’t sip the liquid. Gulp it. It actually does work to reduce the frequency of cramps from drinking. It helps your stomach absorb the liquid better.