CDR Training Week 3: Quad Strengthening

First of all let me get this out of the way,

'Holy Crap running backwards on a treadmill is not easy', then add a incline to the equation and wow you've got a killer workout for your quads. I have done this treadmill workout twice now this week and it definitely takes you a bit to get used to it. I first got on at a 3.5 mile speed and almost flew right off the back, I can tell you that was a little embarrassing with every

treadmill in use at the time. I can imagine what some of the others were thinking, "What is that idiot with no shoes doing, doesn't he know you are suppose to face the other way?" But as stubborn as I am, I got right back on the horse (or treadmill), slowed the speed down to 2.5 miles an hour and held onto the side bars until I got the rhythm down. I kind of felt like this:

It took me a couple of minutes to get the swing of this new motion, it was hard to gauge the speed I needed to go to ensure proper positioning on the treadmill, a little to quick and I was hitting the front of the machine, a little slow and I was teetering on the edge. Music for this is very important to me, it gives me that extra bit of focus and drowns out the surrounding noises that sometimes grab my attention. After about five minutes, I was feeling confident enough to start completely letting go of the side rails, up till then I was loosely hanging on. This was when the quads starting activating and I really felt it, even though I was barely holding on before, apparently this still allowed me to take quite a bit of the stress of my legs. What a difference, it took about 30 seconds for the burn to start, a good burn but a burn none the less. This workout was going to be a good one to add to the regime that was for sure. I carried on for a complete run of 10 minutes at 2.5 miles per hour at a incline of starting at 8 and maxing out at 12. I was quite happy with that.

With the success of my first adventure into backwards treadmill running, I got a little cocky (hmmm, how did that happen, well I am male and that is just what we do). Wednesday night after a morning core workout session with Carolyn which included some, yeah you guessed it quad work, I went back to the Y for some more running. This of course would include some backwards running, because now that I have mastered over 10 minutes of it, I should be able to deem myself an expert now right? So after some warmups of 20 minutes of running, I slowed the treadmill down to 2.8 miles an hour and cranked the incline right up to the max. I was confident that the experience would be similar to the previous night, a slow burn but nothing to significant, oh how over confidence can kick you in the ass. Things were good for the first minute or so, then the wheels feel off very quickly, it was kind of funny my overconfidence did me in. I increased the speed to quickly as well as the incline, and I paid for it for the two days following as my quads felt like they were beat with a stick over and over, or I had just finished riding a horse for 24 hours straight (not that I would know what that feels like but I can imagine). Must build up slowly, must resist the temptation to do the stupid thing and do to much to soon.