12 Minute Workout #15, with a Side of Running Wisdom

I had an interesting conversation with a girl at the gym last night. She is a long time runner who ran the Flying Pig half over the weekend, her 7th half marathon. She was quite excited to tell me she had cut her time by 45 seconds per mile -- not her total time by 45 seconds, but shaved her average mile pace by 45 seconds and beat her fastest half marathon time ever by about 10 minutes!!

I asked her what she thought contributed to her awesome results. She said in the past, she has always added speed work to her training during the last 4-6 weeks leading up to a race, but not this time. When preparing for this race, she didn't do any speed work at all. Instead, for the past 2 months, she focused on strength -- lifting weights religiously: at least twice a week, for an hour at a time, using heavy weights, and hitting all the major muscle groups. She also committed to better nutrition -- cutting out all fast food and most processed food, and adding tons of fruit and veggies (something she admits she wasn't very good about in the past). She is convinced the strength work and improved nutrition cut her time more than any amount of speed work could have.

Pretty cool.

Though me being me, I couldn't help but mention - what if, for her next race, she continued with strength training, optimal nutrition, and did speed work? She couldn't help but smile. She's gonna keep me posted, but I think we both know what the outcome will be. :)

Our bodies are pretty amazing. They only need the right nutrition and the right training. Make a goal. Then go get it.

Here's a quick 12 minute workout to help inch you toward that goal, whatever it might be.

12 minutes, 12 exercises: 50 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.

You get out what you put in.