Hey you guys, welcome back. It's coach Alicia here and today
we are rolling into a 30 minute treadmill run.
Focus on pacing by feel. I'm going to give you some
effort cues with RPE, rate of perceived exertion.
I'm also going to give you some heart rate zones and speeds both
in mph and kilometers. This is a treadmill workout.
However, if you do want to do this outside again, I'm going to
give you how it should feel. We aren't messing around with
incline. So if you are going outside
again, maybe try to find a nice flat course.
But before we get moving, I have something I'm genuinely excited
about, my brand new podcast, The Endurance Balance.
It's officially live and it's all about training with purpose
while keeping your life in balance.
So in case you haven't had enough of me, me and two other
of my fellow coaches, JW and Anne are going to be chit
chatting. This is more of a, again, three
coaches just getting together in a room and this is what we come
up with versus like how this is is where we do some controlled
workouts. All right, but with that, again,
make sure you check your surroundings, take a nice deep
breath, double knot those shoelaces, wiggle those fingers,
wiggle those toes, and I'm going to give you this little start
with the 4X. OK?
I do this every year right around January.
We are getting into the new year, fun, fitness, financial
and family. So while we're warming up, let's
get into it. I want you to just, we're going
to be here for about 5 minutes. I want you to keep it super
easy. RPE around A3 heart rate, low
zone 1-2 speed anywhere between 4:00 and 5:00 mph.
That's 6.4 to 8 kilometers per hour.
Let the body wake up, stay light on the feet, tall posture,
shoulders are relaxed. Take a deep breath.
All right, so you're like, what are these four FS?
You've heard me maybe talk about them in the past.
Fun, fitness, financial and family.
OK, if you can imagine it, I want you to write like make a
big square and make a quadrant. So there's four squares within
that square and you're going to label fun, fitness, financial
and family. Now, some of these goals might
go into each other's and that's kind of the fun part.
I I think family and fun kind of go hand in hand.
I'll, I'm going to talk to you about some of my goals, sharing
them out there. Sometimes it's like you got to
put it out into the world, right, For it to really be
absorbed and force yourself to take action.
And so, yeah, while you're warming up, just think about the
version of you that you are building towards.
I know it's still December here. It's cold.
Hence while I'm doing more and more treadmill runs, it's just
my reality, whether because it's just too dark and unsafe to get
outside or, you know, I sometimes I'm just, I'm starting
to like the treadmill more and more.
So maybe it's just a mindset. You just need to shift it.
One of my athletes calls it the Dreadmill.
Take a nice deep breath in through your nose, exhale out
your mouth, flutter those lips again.
This warm up is your entry point.
This is the fun part, The fun part of the FS, right?
No pressure, just movement. Now, again, I do want to mention
I'm going to be giving you some paces and some ranges.
But at the end of the day, I want you to go by how will you
feel? So what I say is not necessarily
you might need, might want to go faster or maybe go a little bit
slower. Just wanted to give you some
numbers and some paces to work with.
All right, so let's just check in with your breath.
Again, this should be very conversational.
We are working today. Sometimes I give you the the
brief view, the outcome today I'm going to just keep you on
your toes. Just trust me, OK?
That's all I ask is that you trust me.
The goal right now is just 0 tension in about one minute.
We are going to go into some striders.
So we have four of them coming up. 22nd striders.
I want you to work to about 6 or 7 mph, 9.6 to 11 kilometers per
hour, OK, in about one minute. Staying nice and relaxed.
So we're going again, we're going to go 20 seconds fast,
pull it back, back to this exact pace that we are at for 40
seconds nice and easy in between during these striders.
Again, our effort is going to be like ARPE 6, OK, just quick
confident strides. Not all out heart rate will come
into maybe zone 3, but nothing crazy.
All right, in 20 seconds, we're going to go into our first
strider again. That's anywhere between a six to
seven mph, 9.6 to 11.2 kilometers per hour.
We take off in 54321. Let's go get that treadmill
going. Hopefully you have a nice fast
one that can just hit that pace. For some it might be you're just
touching that pace and you're coming right back down.
That's perfectly OK. We're just trying to work on
that nice leg turnover, waking up the legs, waking up the body
for 321, pull it back, one down, 3 to go again.
We're just making sure that body is warmed up, easing it down in
through the nose, out through the mouth, so this next rider,
maybe you go .3 to .5 faster. Again, we're just easing into
it, knowing we get these 42nd breathers waking things up,
prepping your body for the main set.
This is only a 30 minute run, so why not go all in?
OK, we do have 5 blocks of work. This is still part of the warm
up, you guys. All right, And 321, let's go.
Take off. Pick up that pace a little bit
faster. Turn those legs over.
Tuck those hips under. Relax the shoulders.
Elbows are soft. You got this.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 4321, breathe.
Bring it back down. Not until we walk again.
Just settle back into that easy pace, into the nose, out to the
mouth. If all you did today was
striders, you would be improving.
OK, Striders are amazing. I love doing striders as part of
my warm up and as like a finisher.
So a hint why you see them built into the workout so often in 10
seconds. We're taking off for our third
set. Number three of four in 432 one,
let's go #3 a little bit faster, maybe the same stuff to you,
depending how you're feeling. Get it, get it, get it, get it,
come on, another 10 seconds. You're halfway there.
Make it look easy. Make it look graceful for 321
and pull it back these into it. Try not to touch the sides of
the treadmill. We're just getting warmed up and
it's normal for this to feel harder.
OK? I promise you will settle in.
And because you're doing this, it's going to make going into
the builds that much more productive.
All right, in 20 seconds, we have our final block, our final
strider. Keep it up in 5432 One, let's go
last one. Prove yourself right.
Have fun with this one knowing you get a 42nd breather before
we go into our first block of work. 10 more seconds.
Let's go 3, two and one. Recover.
Let that heart come back down. All right, so while we're at
this pace, we're into black one, OK?
We should be at an RPE of five. We're going to do a controlled
build for building towards tempo over the next 4 minutes, OK?
So every minute we're going to get a little bit faster, but
nothing crazy, OK? I want your heart rate to climb
to a high zone 3. So if you are at say 5 point O,
let's go to 5.5. Let's add .5 to our speed.
OK, if you're at 8.8, let's move that up again and we are going
to work to 6 1/2 mile further. That's 10.4 kilometers per hour.
So again, settling into a rhythm here, Tempo's that sweet spot
where we're working, but it's still in control.
Think of this as your first rung of the endurance ladder.
We're just slowly building, but still kind of settling from
those striders. All right, let's bump that pace
up here again, Point 5.3 a little bit faster than where we
were. Keep it going.
Nice drive, you guys 2 minutes in, over 2 minutes, less than
two minutes to go. And again, we're just building,
just building, still staying aerobic, knowing we have four
more blocks of work. But again, we are already like
over 10 minutes into this run. You guys are doing amazing.
You feel good, you feel great. Keeping those shoulders nice and
relaxed. Chin is neutral, looking ahead,
relaxing your jaw, engaging the core, driving those knees
forward. I was running next to another
athlete at the gym and she knows I'm a running coach and she's
like, I love it when you're next to me because we constantly can
give me little tips. And I was like, OK, good.
I'm knowing that, you know, I'm never going to correct somebody
if they don't want to be corrected.
All right, let's pick up that pace a little bit more.
Nothing crazy, just a little bit more because you can let that
treadmill do the run for you. And I was just, she was super
tensed in her shoulders and I see it a lot.
And she runs with her upper body real strong.
And I was like, just relax, make it look easy.
So that's your cue as well. OK, Relax that upper body, make
it look easy. Let those hips do the work.
Engage those glutes, keep that core engaged.
If you are training at a gym or you have a mirror in front of
you, use those mirrors OK? I also always encourage you to
record yourself and if you do record yourself, please send me
some video. I would love to give you some
tip, tip, feedback and tidbits to improve your running.
But from here, Are you ready for the next bit?
OK, I want you to push that speed from to about 6.7 to 7.3
mph, a little bit faster. That's 10.8 to 11.7 kilometers
per hour, AKA and RP of seven K, our heart rate.
We are right around a zone 3, maybe tapping into that
threshold. We're going to be here for 3
minutes. You're welcome.
We're going to get, we're going to work for three minutes.
We're going to settle for one minute.
We're going to pull back that feed.
So now we are again. Now we're we're tapping into
that threshold. This is uncomfortable and you
might not like me very much, but you will in about two minutes,
OK? Just know that you are strong,
you're steady. This is that moment where you
need to remind yourself why you're training.
OK, Maybe if you don't have anything on the calendar, you're
training for fun. OK, you're training because you
are fit, you're doing the things, you're getting out of
your comfort zone. Keep going.
You have two more minutes. Hang on to this feeling.
Trust the process. You're doing amazing while your
oxygen maybe not be coming into your brain.
We need to think about those 4 ox again.
Fun, fitness, financial and family, these are the anchors
that are going to keep you grounded when life gets a little
chaotic again. After these 3 minutes, we are
going to settle it down to five mph.
That's 8 kilometers per hour for one minute.
So know that you're going to get a breather.
However, we're not getting, we're not walking, OK?
Trust me. Do you trust me?
You can do this. You got this, You got this.
You were strong. We have one more minute to go
before we get that little little breather In through the nose,
out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through
the mouth. Come on, you got this. 45
seconds. Hang on to it.
So thinking about the four FS, I will share some of mine with you
once you once we get into that recovery, once you get into that
cooldown or just, you know, give you some ideas.
Obviously mine might be very different being that I'm a run
coach, fitness coach, but I think we can both agree that
running is very much a part of us now.
We live for it. We are better humans for it.
So having some kind of fitness goal, maybe it that also aligns
with your fun goal, right? 10 more seconds, you guys, you
can do this. Come on, all the way through,
you can hit that five point O button.
That eight point O button in 321.
Awesome work. OK, so we're back to that warm
up pace. We're not walking.
Trust that that heart rate's going to fall.
Don't fully disengage right here.
Recover, but stay in it. At one point in my running
career, this would be. I'd be walking, OK.
I'd be like, Nope, I'm done. I I I went too hard and now I
can't recover. I went over above and beyond.
But that wasn't you. Not today.
You're enjoying this moment. OK, The heart rate's settling.
You got this. Got this.
All right, Next up, we got some switch UPS.
We're going 60 seconds fast, 60 seconds moderate.
Five times in 10 seconds. When I say fast, I want faster
than you have gone all day. That could be .1 faster.
That could be .2 faster in 321. Let's go fast anywhere between 7
point O to 8 point O, 11 to 13 kilometers.
Let's get there. We are in it RPE 7 1/2 heart
rate. We're at that threshold mid zone
4. We're working AKA one minute on
and then we're going to bring it back to that moderate speed,
anywhere between 5 to 6 miles an hour, 8 to 10 kilometers, OK, 30
seconds. We're cruising.
I know she's crazy today. It's because I care.
It's because I love you and I know you'll be so happy when
it's done and over with. We're being efficient.
We're being incredible. Everybody.
If you're at the gym, they are like, wow, she's amazing, He's
amazing. What is in their ears that's
getting them to do these kind of paces and they're unbelievable
For 4321, settle in, but don't disengage.
Pull that speed back. Keep the jog, keep it a nice
slow jog, whatever it is. I know, I know, I know.
Again, we're not sprinting on these hard intervals, but we're
working. OK.
You got it. That was one down, only four to
go. Love you.
You're doing amazing. You're crushing it.
Enjoy each minute for what they are.
And then when I were, when in doubt, don't think, just do.
OK? The good news about this
interval is we're doing the exact same paces that we did
prior, OK? Nothing faster, nothing slower.
In 10 seconds, we go back to that RPE of seven and a half,
find that threshold in 321. Let's get there one minute.
Again. This could be anywhere between 7
to 8 mile per hour, 11 to 13 kilometers, maybe faster, maybe
slower. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, somebody commented on my one of my episodes and they
said you say, yeah, yeah, yeah, too much.
And I was like, Dang, I keep doing it, so I'm going to work
on it. Maybe you guys like it. 30
seconds. Let's go find that rhythm.
I want you to think of this work as as like waves.
You're pushing, you're settling. You're pushing, you're settling,
just like in life, OK, We have bursts of intensity followed by
some nice grounding moments. Settle in in 10 seconds.
We get to pull back. Keep it up you guys in through
the nose, out through the mouth and make it look easy for 54321,
settle back again. We're not slow dog find
recovery, but we're still we're still running.
We're still running. We're settling in through the
nose, out to the mouth. We got one more to go, one more
to go, one more to go. Maybe I've said five, one more.
That's it. That's all I want from you.
We're moving into Block 4 coming up.
It's only one minute. Don't worry about it yet because
in 30 seconds we're going back to that same pace we just did
for one minute. Push and go, push and go.
Just knowing I told you this was a ladder.
We're nearing the top of that ladder and we're going to get
ready to come down in 10 seconds.
We're going back up to that little burst and 54321 take off.
Get to that speed. Own it.
Own it because you can, because you are strong, because you are
capable. January 1st is not here.
Right now we're focusing on consistency, on showing up and
having fun, being grounded and doing hard things.
Keep it up you guys, you're halfway there.
Keep it up. Tuck those hips under, drive
those knees, stay on that midfoot.
If you if you do have access to your cadence or you have a
metronome set up, hey, I want to that number over 170, 10
seconds, we get to pull back, 321, pull back.
There we go. OK, breathe, breathe, breathe.
This next block, I'm calling it your commitment minute.
It's one minute. I want you to commit.
This is the fastest minute we are going to do.
You are going to be at for the day and then we are descending
down. One minute out.
PE is going to be 8 heart rate. We are in zone 4.
We are working. So speeds anywhere between 7 1/2
to 8 1/2 + 12 to 14 plus kilometers.
One minute, though. OK.
And then we are going to gradually descend and cool it
down. All right?
Can you do this? I know you can.
One minute to prove that you are strong, you are well warmed up.
Put that big smile on your face. We take off in three.
In two. One.
Let's work. Let's work.
I feel like I'm being really kind to you.
Yesterday I was doing some intervals and I was hitting some
12 point. I was on the treadmill, OK.
I don't even know what that is in kilometers, but I was running
fast and I felt good and it was fun.
And people are asking me what are you training for?
And I was like life. That's what I want to see from
you because you are strong. Have some fun, but do it with
control. Get out of your comfort zone.
I know it's been over 22 minutes that you've been running.
Keep running. That's nothing in the in the
grand scheme of things and what your vision is for 2026.
You're strong, you're consistent, you're balanced.
Run towards the unknown. Keep it up.
Let's go. Come on, let's 432 one.
Awesome, awesome, awesome, beautiful.
Now we get to bring things down with intention.
OK, let's drop that pace down to six mph, less than 10, maybe 9.5
kilometers. We are still jogging, OK, we are
still running. Let's be honest.
And we are going to work over the next 3-4 minutes, bringing
our pace down to about 4.5 to 7.24 point, 5 miles an hour, 7.2
kilometers. OK, right now we're hanging
around A6. We're going to every minute
bring it down a little bit slower and descend this ladder.
Let your body release that effort.
You've done the work. Easy to just want to walk and
recover right now. But this still kind of hurts,
right? Nah, you got this.
You got this. All right, take off another half
.5 speed, slowing it down to an RPE 5, letting that heart rate
drop. But we're still working.
You're welcome. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shoot, I said it again. It's my, like, nervous.
It's just my cheerleader. I mean, let your breath settle,
feel your heart rate dropping. This is where the training sinks
in. Just kind of reflect how well,
how did that feel? Could you have gotten more for
my paces that I told you too easy on you?
Did you go too hard? You get a little too
uncomfortable? Did you have to walk at all
today? Now that we are bracing for that
cool down, the recovery, the calm, let that confidence come
back no matter what happened today.
And then over these last 25 minutes, be proud of yourself.
I hope you can feel the sweat driven.
I hope you have a water bottle, some electrolytes in front of
you and a towel. But like I said in the in the in
the warm up, I want you to go and check out our new podcast,
the endurance balance. We actually even have it on
YouTube, which I don't know how I feel about video yet, but it's
it coincides with everything I feel about this workout.
Again, If you're ever just out on your long run or you just
want some more voices in your head to tell you to do hard
things, go check it out. Every episode is designed to
help you train hard without losing the balance in life that
actually makes you feel whole time.
It's the same energy that you've brought into this run today,
intentional, grounded, and focusful.
I'm so proud of you. So going back to those 4S, Are
you ready for me to share some of my goals with you?
Some of my personal fun goals? So a lot of a lot of times and I
it's this is going to be a hard one actually.
I'm not going to lie, I really want to run a race purely for
joy. No time, no watch, maybe a
watch, we'll see, but do something maybe like a trail
half or travel on a vacation and do a 10K or maybe do a themed
race. Just again, I'm spitting things
out. I'm writing these down as I go,
creating a play day where one day in my training again, I do,
just not structured training for once.
All right, maybe, maybe I do a video recording while I'm on the
treadmill running with you and, and who knows, there we go
again, speaking things out loud while you guys are again bring
that pace down a little bit more, slowing it down.
Maybe you are into a walk. Totally cool building an annual
or quarterly adventure day. So doing like going on a hike or
a long run and I call it a destination run somewhere where
I haven't run before a movement day purely because it just fills
your cup. I, I just, we recently just got
back from Tennessee and we went and hiked some waterfalls and
it's just such a treat to get out of your normal, you know,
location, get out of New Jersey. For me, say yes to new
experiences that mix both movement and creative
creativity. So for me, it might be hosting a
live run class, maybe a group treadmill event or a podcast and
a workout collab. I don't know.
But just having some fun building running.
This is I want to build like some heart rate intelligence and
balance some fitness goals. OK, so I I want to run a strong
aerobic race. You guys, I have high rocks set
on on my 2026 calendar. I think a few podcasts ago I
said I would never do 1 and here I am.
I've officially gotten my certification.
I'm coaching it at the gym, some alpha conditioning classes.
You I've ever taken one highly recommend it.
But I've been such the I keep my strength, my strength, my run,
my runs. And here I am merging, doing
conditioning work and it's hard and I am sore.
And this is me telling you to do things that are out of your
comfort zone. I love me some good structured
training blocks, keeping those going.
I want to have a good zone toothpaste that I'm proud of.
All right, so I look back, my gosh, 10 years ago, my Zone
toothpaste was so slow. And now I, I mean, I mean, I
should be proud of my zone toothpaste for now, but now I'm
in this, I want to push and in order to make your zone
toothpaste faster while keeping your heart rate low, right?
It's all about your heart rate. You need to train faster.
We need to work those VO2 works. We need to do that speed work.
We need to do that interval, we need to do that long distance
work. And that's where speed work
comes in and that's where the treadmill is.
Treadmill can be awesome for that, along with my uphill,
uphill climbs. Keeping strength sessions
minimum 2 * a week. All right, some financial stuff.
You guys really want to know what my financial goals are.
I don't know. So again, to increase my podcast
views, OK, I love I love the fact if I can get more
listeners, that means I have more people falling in love with
running and I'm and more people are getting healthier.
All right, so finding more people to this podcast is a huge
goal of mine. I would love, love, love to put
out one episode a week and I've been doing every other week.
So again, I think you guys all really love that one sneak
saying stuff out loud, right? Potentially launching a
treadmill audio program, a run series.
Again, I think I in the beginning I had like a Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe I actually put out like some
programming for you guys. What do you think about that?
I'm doing some just treadmill guides, some digital courses,
things that just bring me joy. All right, going on to family.
Oh gosh, you guys, you know me. I'm a Mama for we are pretty
tight for knit family. But I will say I can get real.
You know, when I'm checking in on athletes, I could get really
deep on our scrolling. I'm sure we're all guilty of
that kind of stuff, but your energy is best when your people
feel supported and when you give yourself room to be both athlete
and human. OK, so making sure I fill my own
cup, but I would love to just have, you know, Sunday
breakfast, our evening walks, taking the dog, no phone dinner
night, things like that. Dedicated, just no technology
days once a month. No, you know all the things and
we're just playing, moving, having conversations, reading a
book. Gosh, you guys, that's one thing
I will say I don't know about you guys, but have you listened
to read the fourth winged 4th winged?
Is that what it's called? We had a 13 hour.
If you guys are not in your walk right now, you should be.
We are cooling down. This is a little extended bonus
episode, right? Your bonus bonus content right
here. I'm just I'm just spew in right
now. So if you want to end this
workout, you're more than welcome to.
But if you have listened to the 4th wing now I'm on iron fire,
iron iron. I can't remember the book 2 of
the three book series. My best when I tell people about
this book, it's a combination. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones.
How do you think? How did I how did I describe
that? That book got me through driving
13 hours to Tennessee this past week.
So highly recommend you again, just read a book, listen to a
book, do something that's just brings you joy.
I I just can't put it down. I just want to keep listening to
it. But having just good healthy
band boundaries, we actually do a pretty decent job of that.
But we can sometimes you just need to be re, you know, re
round round up planning more family trips.
All right, I love me some good hikes, some destination run,
some going to the zoo. That's that's great one right
there. All right, so with that.
All right, you guys slow it down even more.
You crushed it over 30 minutes of movement today.
You moved your bodies. You are amazing and I cannot
wait to see you. Until next time, have a great
rest of your day. Evening.
Morning. Cheers to you.
I love you and I mean it.