Do you ever feel stuck in a workout rut?
A friend of mine used to tell me my running was like “dog food,” because I ran the same path at the same pace at the same time every day. I always looked forward to the run, but there was never any variation – it was like dog food.
Now, there’s a lot to be said for consistency, but I have to admit that my friend (ok, now he’s my husband) had a great point. I would go on and on about how I wanted to run faster, but I wasn’t actually challenging myself ever to do it. I was content to coast.
The thing is, speed workouts aren’t for me. This sounds a little lazy, but I don’t find them to be fun, and when it’s not fun, it’s not happening before dawn breaks.
Flash forward about 10 years later to a time after our fearless founder and CEO, Adam, had created RockMyRun and pretty much banned dog food runs forever.
Here’s how I used RockMyRun to life hack a faster running time (and you can too!)
- I realized that I tend to run at about a 160 cadence when I’m comfortably chugging along
- I was about to do a post-work 5K and wanted to speed through it to meet some friends at the finish for a frosty beverage
- It was a Hip Hop kind of evening, so I had already Favorited G Mode by DJ Dennis J
- That’s when it hit me! Instead of having the music match my cadence as I ran, why not set it higher than my normal cadence and play a game of chase?
- For a person that’s not into speed workouts, this was a freaking rad way to make it happen
- And by it, I mean a big time PR. I smashed that 5K in 24 minutes flat
Those steps again
- Pick a station you love that is close (within 20 bpm of) your natural cadence
- Make sure you save it to your Favorites for easy access
- Before you start running, use MANUAL to set the BPM 5-10 points higher than your cadence
Dog food be gone!
Rock On!
I tried RockMyRun for the first time today on the “dreadmill” and loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed my run and was surprised when each new song began. The boredom never came and I ended up having a great workout! thank you!!