A Fun Lunch Run with a Twist

Happy Friday! This weekend is going to be a nice break after so much travel the past few months. Since the weather is supposed to be sunny and unseasonably warm, a few of us are heading to the Saleve for a hike during the day tomorrow. The rest of the weekend includes some baking, curling up with my book and catching up on a few of my favorite television shows. There are certain shows that Bo and I watch together but when he’s out of town, I tend to watch my guilty pleasures, aka the shows he doesn’t like.

• Scandal
• Nashville
• Revenge

But, before I can focus anymore on the weekend,  I have to share today’s workout with you all! It was a tough one but so much fun! As many of you all know, Renaud is my most athletic friend. Always up for an adventure, when he invited me to join he and a few other co-workers for their lunchtime workout, a run with a twist.  I gladly accepted!  I love getting out of the office during lunch to enjoy some fresh air and clear my mind before starting the second part of the day. I realize just how lucky I am to have this opportunity and therefore feel the need to take full advantage of it as often as possible!

The workout was described to me as a mix of running and strength. Since I’m trying to get back into my running groove and am always trying to find new ways to squeeze in strength training, it sounded perfect! In fact, it reminded me a lot of the running boot camp workouts Anne features on her blog.

We ran, or I should say I followed behind as quickly as possible, just under 2 miles to a large park and sports area, Les Evaux. This park is HUGE and has sports fields, ropes courses, playgrounds galore, and running trails! Today we spent time on the “yellow trail” which is not only a nice, wooded path, but it also features workout stations where you can do everything from pull-ups to dips!

We continued our workout with one loop of the path that was a mile in distance, following the yellow arrows. Renaud pointed out each of our workout stations, giving me directions and tips as we ran past them.

After the first loop, our second loop included stopping at each station and doing the exercise 3x as a group. The guys motivated me to push just a bit harder or do one more rep. I don’t have pictures of each station but these are the ones I remember: hanging ring leg lifts, parallel bar dips, balance beam, push-up station, dip station, incline pull-up station, agility drill station, jump station,  and step up station.

After completing each of the stations, we would run to the next station until we finished the loop again. By this point, we’d been working out for an hour and all I wanted was a bus to pass by, ready to give me a lift back to the office. Nope, unfortunately, we had another 2 mile run back to the office!

This running boot camp was such an efficient workout, combining a 5.5 mile run with lots of strength work. The loop with the strength exercises was challenging but provided a welcome change versus another mile of running. We did our best to sprint between the stations, though, after a few of them, such as the step ups, running wasn’t exactly easy. Many of the exercises  were ones that I have never done before nor would even think about incorporating into my training, such as the balance and agility work! Even though I was in the back of the group, I hope to join the guys again next week. Practice makes perfect, right?

If you could do only one strength exercise, what would it be? Mine would probably be dips push-ups!