It’s rare for me to be rendered basically speechless, except in the presence of a really hot guy, but yesterday a workout did just that to me.
I had the opportunity to try the Mile High Run Club class yesterday, and DAMN. When I walked (stumbled? hobbled?) out of the studio, one of the staff members asked what I thought, and all I could say was “oh good lord.”
Finish Line was kind enough to invite me and a few colleagues to a class they were hosting with Mile High Run Club, and I showed up yesterday frankly a little terrified of what to expect. Would it be as hard as Barry’s? (Which, though I’m not really a fan of, it’s definitely a good workout.)
Photo: Mile High Run Club
I walked in to a mood-lit studio with about 20-30 Woodway treadmills with little kettlebell stations near each bank of treadmills.
Photo: Mile High Run Club
The 45-minute class started with a dynamic warm-up for 4 minutes: jumping jacks, star stretches (right hand to left foot and vice versa) and  high knees and maybe something else I don’t remember.
From there, we moved on to the meat of the class: the running. Yikes. I haven’t done speedwork in months, though I need to get back on that bandwagon. What’s cool about MHRC is that there’s two distinct levels, and ranges of speed within them. On the treadmill, there’s two pace card/charts: one for beginner/intermediate, and one for advanced/elite (that was also called “racers.”) I wanted to consider myself not on the beginner spectrum and am someone who races herself, so I wanted to follow the advanced card, just out of sheer stubbornness, but I think I ended up falling somewhere in between.
There’s 4 zones: 1 being a jog, 2 being a bit more like a tempo, 3 being about 85% effort, and 4 being all-freaking-out. I typically jog on a treadmill around 6.0, so I was tempted to start there, but when I realized that was just the base, I started at 5.0.
We jogged for about 3-4 minutes before starting the hard work: 2 3-minute hills. For the first hill, we ran at a 6% incline, then an 8% incline for the second hill. Hot damn.
After that, we came back down to 1% (where we stayed for the rest of the class), took a (not long enough!) bit to recover, and then did two 4-minute chunks of speed. I don’t remember exactly what the first one was, but for the second one, we started at jogging speed, and added 1 point every minute. I should have worked up to 9mph for the last minute, but I was a strugglebus and only made it to 8.5. You get a short recovery where I walked for a bit, and then you do strength.
WELL, I’M WARMED UP! We did kettlebells, some bodyweight work and then ended with a little core work with planks. Planks are never easy, but they were pretty much excruciating after 40-something minutes of hard work. AND THEN WE GOT TO STRETCH. THE BEST PART.
It is a really freaking hard workout and serious ass-kicking, so I think I’d definitely try it again though I’m not sure how regularly. There’s a number of treadmill classes popping up around town, and I want to try those, too. Treadmills suck, and this workout was harder than I’d ever push myself on the belt of doom, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Have you ever taken a treadmill class?
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Sounds neat - kind of like Orange Theory which i love!
woah! that sounds so intense. i love fitness classes because they put me in more pain that i'm willing to inflict on myself. i'd love someone to do this to me with running.
This actually sounds really cool! I think it would be so much easier to motivate myself to get on a treadmill if it was with a bunch of other people. Plus even if everyone goes different speeds you're still running together! I doubt there's anywhere near me with a class like this but I'll be investigating for sure.
One of the triathletes in the area has a spin/run class that I did on Black Friday....So its been almost a year, but I really enjoyed it! If he didn't start at 5 am (which requires me leaving the house at 4:10) I would probably go more often.
I went today to Mile High and really liked it! It was a small class with Matt. He really pushed you to try harder, which was great for me (I tend to be lazy on the treadmill). This would be a perfect class for winter, when it's too cold to run outdoors. Pricey but worth it. Thanks for giving us the heads up on Mile High, I never would have heard about it if not for your blog.
I have never taken a class like this before. It sounds crazy, but like a good workout!
Sounds like a great, fun workout! I've never done a TM class, but I think it would probably push me more than I push myself!
This sounds almost identical to the Barrys treadmill portions and is exactly why I love Barrys so much. I'd never run like that on my own! Glad you liked it :)
I have never taken a treadmill class but I think it sounds awesome! Definitely beats the routine winter treadmill boredom if you can't get outside.
LOL "belt of doom"! I love it! That class sounds awesome and I'd love to try one sometime!