Thursday, April 11, 2013

Favorite Workouts by Discipline



Over the years I have accumulated many miles swimming, cycling, and running.  Below are my favorite workouts from each discipline.

SWIM: For me, picking my favorite swim workout was pretty easy.  Growing up as a swimmer I have had the luxury of having many coaches with many different training philosophies which in turn provides many different workouts.  My favorite of all time is 10 x 200 on a given sendoff.  Back in my prime in high school I could hold a 2:20 interval, coming in between 2:05-2:10 for each 200, but as I aged and picked up 2 other sports to train for, my interval has gone up a little bit, but could probably still hold 2:40-2:45.  Maybe it’s time to give this workout a go!



BIKE: Biking is a hard discipline to pick a favorite workout because there are so many varieties of sets.  If I had to pick one it would have to be my frequent freshman year in college workout.  Get back from class, jump on the trainer, turn on the PlayStation and spin and play Madden.  It sounds tacky, but playing video games while biking on the trainer helped big time for me.  It kept me on the trainer longer than if I was just watching TV or listening to music.  Playing 2 games would have had me on the trainer for 90 minutes, which would feel like an ironman bike to me without the distraction of the game.  As funny as it sounds too, playing sports video games really has indirect intervals built into it!  Whenever the ball was snapped I would find myself with a higher cadence and power because I felt like I was in the game actually running the ball.  It seems outrageous, but these trainer video game sessions back in the day really kick started my cycling career!



RUN: Similar to biking (minus the video games) I have had a lot of coaches with lots of workouts to choose from, but there is nothing better in my mind than repeat miles at the track.  Anywhere from 3-7 of them with an 800 easy recovery jog between.  Repeat miles are grueling but so rewarding in my eyes.  Especially because I am constantly converting all my runs into my min/mile pace.  So what’s better than to see your true min/mile pace than run hard miles on the track.  Bring it on!



Enjoy, and let me know how these workouts rank on your all-time favorites!

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