Tag Archives: Classes

I went to bed last night at 8:30. 8-frickin’-30. This morning, I overslept my run and woke up feeling dizzy, nauseous and more exhausted than normal. No, I’m not pregnant (sheesh!), but I don’t know what’s wrong. Thus, forgive me if there are any blatant spelling and grammar errors in this morning’s post – my head isn’t screwed on straight today.

The Equinox in SF is in an old bank!

A couple of weeks ago, Joanna from the SF marathon invited me to try out a “Shreadmill” class at Equinox in the city. A free, new class at a chic gym in SF? Count me in! Plus, anything with a name like “Shreadmill” has to be good!

The gym had reserved a set of treadmills for the class and when you arrived, you were greeted with a nifty little pace chart to fill in. As you can see, it consists of the following fields to complete:

1. Distance Pace (DP): The pace per mile that you run your long runs
2. Goal Pace (GP): 30 sec. faster than your distance pace
3. Interval Pace (IP): 30 sec. faster than your goal pace
4. 5k Pace (5p): 30 sec. faster than your interval pace

This sheet was super helpful throughout the workout as the instructor would constantly be calling out the pace changes.

The workout consisted of four sets of ladders (my times may be off as I was just listening to her instructions, but you can get the point):

Working your way up the ladder:

45 sec. – 1 min. at DP

45 sec. – 1 min. at GP

45 sec. – 1 min. at IP

45 sec. – 1 min. at 5P

45 sec. – 1 min. at two bumps up from your 5P

Working your way down the ladder:

45 sec. – 1 min. at 5P

45 sec. – 1 min. at IP

45 sec. – 1 min. at GP

45 sec. – 1 min. at DP

Repeat this ladder four or five times.

The workout was fantastic because as you continue to do these ladders, getting back down to your IP was a breath of fresh air and you realize that so much of running is mental. If you started a workout at 6:40 pace you would be exasperated, but instead, running at 6:40 became a welcome treat. Plus, the instructor was going around and helping correct form and provide encouragement, which was great for me! I never knew that I was a mid-foot striker on my left foot, but a heel-striker on my right foot. Thus, throughout the workout I was able to work on form as well. Added bonus, during the last ladder the instructor motivated us to really push it and I saw a 5:xx pace there for a moment. That moment definitely made my day.

Overall, the class was great and I would highly recommend trying this workout on your own treadmill than reporting back on how it went. What type of interval work do you do on a treadmill?

Thanks again for the invite, Joanna, and happy running!

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Day 63: 5 miles at the Shreadmill class
Day 64: TBD