Bonjour!
I hope you all had a good start to your week! The weather has been a bit… dreary here in Chicago recently, which Molly can attest to:
Since snow and ice have kept me away from the lakefront (a few other reasons as well), I’ve been doing almost all of my runs on the treadmill. I actually LOVE doing short runs on the treadmill because I can mess with the speed and make it more fun. Last week I put together this HIIT run for you all!
Why would you want to do an HIIT run versus a steady state run? Well, according to Shape, there are 7 main benefits to HIIT running:
1. Efficiency – You can easily shave 5 – 10 minutes off a run by adding in sprints to your regular “easy” pace, depending on the distance of the run.
2. Burn more fat – HIIT running increases your after burn, so you’re burning more fat for a longer period of time after the run.
3. Healthier heart – adding sprints into your routine increases your anaerobic capabilities, which helps your heart health.
4. No equipment necessary – you can do all kinds of cardio HIIT workouts (think burpees, jump squats, etc) with out equipment. To make it easy for running, alternate between jogging and sprinting for a certain time period or distance.
5. Lose weight, but not muscle – research shows that HIIT cardio exercises don’t cause you to lose muscle, which steady state can do.
6. Increase metabolism – HIIT cardio increases the production of Human Growth Hormone in your body after your workout. HGH is responsible for both increased caloric burn.
7. You can do it anywhere – HIIT running just requires somewhere to run, but if you do other cardio moves for an HIIT workout, you can do it anywhere from your apartment to a hotel room, or outside in a park! Great workout for traveling.
So now you know you should incorporate HIIT workouts into your routine, but how should you do it? Check out my 3 Mile HIIT Run!
This workout was performed on a treadmill, but if you’re outside and without a garmin, just base your speeds of off effort. You can also spring/jog for certain time intervals, or distances. When I do HIIT running in the city, I’ll sprint a block, jog a block, and so on. If you’re not a runner or you’re injured, you can also turn this into an elliptical or bike workout!
Do you incorporate HIIT runs into your workout routine?
Anyone else been experiencing some dreary weather that makes you want to hide inside?
Cute graphic! I try to do some form of HIIT at least once a week, and it’s nice for days when I don’t have a full hour to work out.
I agree – it’s so nice to get my workout done quickly!
I do incorporate HIIT into my workout routine — especially during my shorter runs! However, I think I overdid it last week and I’m having some shin pain again :(. I’m still breaking in some new shoes, and until they’re broken in, I should probably stick to taking it easy!
It’s always hard with new shoes – I usually wear them on shorter, easy runs for the first couple of weeks and wear my old shoes on more intense runs.
Love HIIT workouts! I generally do mine less with running right now (althought I do love them that way) and more with circuits like tabatas or other power intervals. Either way, they’re great!
I did them all the time on the elliptical the last time I did your bootcamp since I couldn’t run, it made the time fly!
I’m mainly doing HIIT for my cardio right now. It’s quick and effective, which needs to be the case if I’m on a treadmill. I hate running in the cold (I basically will not step outside in running shoes from October – April) and too long on the treadmill drives me crazy.
it definitely distracts me on the treadmill, so necessary!
I hear you on the weather! It was nice yesterday and a tease, because now it’s totally dreary which just makes me want to cuddle inside with a blanket, coffee, and a book!
So cloudy and dreary! I just want to hide in my apartment!
I just can’t get into workouts like that…but then again I don’t really follow directions very well…
lol I make them up as I go and then write them down for everyone else. I never follow ones that other people make up.
I love HIIT workouts! I find that I can push myself much farther when I use this. I also sometimes like starting with a HIIT tabata that just takes 4 minutes before I start my run (so instead of running for the tabata, I’ll do burpees, jumping jacks, jump rope, high jumps, etc). I always end up feeling PUMPED after a short HIIT circuit, and ready for my run! 🙂
That’s a great idea for a warm up!!
I’m tired of the gloom and doom of these grey Chicago days. Yuck. Let’s move on to spring!!!
Molly agrees!
oh man that looks killer! great workout.
It was a fun one!
I’ve never formally done a “HIIT” workout but I guess a lot of training runs that incorporate strides or x amount of miles at 5k pace are fairly similar to HIIT. They’re tough but the feeling afterward is great!
Strides are pretty similar! Although I feel like my HIIT runs are more like fartlek, I just go for it based on how I’m feeling!
Great work-out! I definitely incorporate HITT into all my classes. No dreary weather for me. 80 & sunny is the LA marathon forecast. That will be HOT!
Oh geez, that is really hot! Good luck and drink TONS of water this week!
I never really did anything like HIIT until these past two rounds of Best Body Bootcamp. I’m sure there are a lot of factors that have gone into why my past few races have been so fast (30 and 40 degree temps compared to 80 and 90 degree temps, for starters), but part of me wonders if I’ve gotten faster as a result of all the HIIT I’ve done through Best Body Bootcamp. I’m sure it hasn’t hurt, at the very least!
They definitely help with speed! If you don’t do speed work or HIIT runs, then you never really run faster!
I love adding speed intervals into runs, it just makes it so much more interesting!
It definitely keeps my mind occupied!
We’ve had snow here in the UK which is a bit crazy for March! I hope the sun shines for us all soon!
Agreed!
I LOVE HIIT work!!! This is how GRIT is & it’s so fantastic. It’s such efficient & delivers results. Plus it’s fun & the time flyyyyyyys by.
p.s. LOVE the graphic you made
Thanks! Haha I spent way too much time making that graphic!
I’ve recently been trying to incorporate one HIIT workout a week. My favorite is in the park behind my apartment complex where I’ll do 20-30 second sprints followed by 45-60 second fast walk or light jog for 2 to 3 miles. It lets me set my pace and leaves my legs nice and tired by the end! I’ll have to try your treadmill workout as it’s been ugly and rainy lately here in Florida too :-/
That sounds like a great way to get in a few miles and your heart rate going!
SUCH a cute pup 😀
She says thanks 🙂
I live HIIT! I incorporate it as much as I can;more bang for your buck! 🙂 the cold dreary weather definitely makes me want to hang under the covers. Molly knows what’s up!
Haha Molly is pretty much a life guru.
HIIT workouts are the best! that is the only way we can do runs 🙂
It’s so hard for me to do easy runs because I love HIIT so much!
Thanks for posting all of the reasons why HIIT training is beneficial. I have started to think about trying to incorporate it into my runs to help increase my base running speed, extra fat burn can’t hurt either!
It definitely has helped me with my speed!
Dreary weather – definitely getting our fair share of that around these parts. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining seeing as I just got back from beautiful and sunny Hawaii, but I’m more than ready for spring and summer!
Your dog is adorable!!! And YES today was so dreary! I literally had no desire to run outside with no sun so I went on the elliptical instead! Hoping for sunshine soon!
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[…] attention to your intervals makes time fly. Try using a workout that you find online, like my 3 Mile HIIT running workout, or just start messing around with speed on your own. Go back and forth between high and low speed […]
[…] attention to your intervals makes time fly. Try using a workout that you find online, like my 3 Mile HIIT running workout, or just start messing around with speed on your own. Go back and forth between high and low speed […]