Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Need for Speed

Tonight I met a some friends for after work happy hour.  We decided to meet in an area that was in between the three of us called Wicker Park.  Finally, after 4 years of living in Chicago, I went to Big Star.  I had heard about it many times and have been wanting to go for a while now.  Big Star is a great Mexican restaurant and bar. We got there at 6:00 hoping for a table on the enormous patio (another gorgeous Chicago night).  No such luck!  There was already an hour wait for patio seats, so we opted for the bar inside.  We all got margaritas, chips, and caught up.


Unfortunately for me, if I had looked at the beer menu I would have seen this:


Lonestar beer! I happened to see the guy next to me drinking a Lonestar beer and immediately got drink envy.  It's not every day that you see a Texas beer in Chicago.

Before meeting my friends at the bar, I went to the gym for my Wednesday training run.  For me, Wednesdays are speed work days.  I always look forward to these runs because they provide a much needed break and change from my typical distance runs.  Speed work days involve one of two types of runs: tempo or HIIT.  Both help increase overall speed, but in different ways.

This is how fast I feel like I am running when I do my speed work training.

Tempo: The purpose of tempo runs are to build your anaerobic threshold, which in turn helps to increase your speed.  Tempos start with a 5-10 minute easy paced warm-up.  You then run for about 20 minutes (varies depending on particular workout for the day) at a pace that is "comfortably challenging".  You then end with a 5-10 minute easy paced cool down.

HIIT: HIIT stands for high intensity interval training.  These runs alternate high intensity, fast paced bursts and short, slow cool downs.  Similar to tempos, HIITs have a 5-10 minute warm up and cool down.  In between the warm up and cool down, there are usually 6-10 repetitions.  For example, my interval this week included 5 minutes of fast paced running with a minute cool down afterwards.  I repeated this 6 times.

Try adding one of these runs into your weekly work out to change things up!  Not only do they help improve your speed.  They also keep you body guessing by stepping away from your typical workout and burn more calories.

5 comments:

  1. omg big star margaritas kicked my ass the one time i went there and i have vowed never to go back because my willpower cannot withstand their deliciousness. i'm leaving for houston tomorrow - i'll make sure to drink a lonestar for you :)

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  2. I've wanted to go to Big Star for sooo long but the wait always scares me away! I'm glad you had fun though!

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    1. the line is crazy but its worth it! i think i'd go at a random time on the weekend and wait it out (especially on a pretty day when you can walk around and stall before getting a table)

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    2. yeah, lindsay it's definitely worth it! plus the food is really good too - awesome, creative tacos if i remember correctly. not sure how well that would work with your elimination diet, but they're really tasty!

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