Adding a Little Spice to Your Run

Right now I am training for a 5K and it has been quite enjoyable so far. It has been really nice to work on gaining speed and building strength rather than endurance. I am still doing some longer runs but they are not my main focus right now.

I am far more interested in training for the Rock n' Roll USA Half Marathon in March, but I wanted to take the time I had after running the Baltimore Half Marathon to try some new things. I have been going to yoga twice a week, started doing Insanity again, got back in the pool, and started biking as means of cross training. 

But I also have been switching up the style of runs I do. I started doing speed work for the very first time and have been doing more tempo runs. 

Sometimes, though, a little creativity can really improve the quality and enjoyment of a run. One thing that I have been doing lately is incorporating stairs into my runs. Running stairs are a great way to bring in some interval training to a run and also work on increasing strength. 

My favorite stair workout to add to a run is:
2 x
sprinting, hops, and double stairs.

I have been working on adding another repeat each time I do stairs. I struggle the most with the hops. I find them very awkward and rather difficult, but I know that jumping really helps build strength and power in legs.

I find stairs to be the most beneficial and challenging thing to add to a run but I also have incorporated things such as push ups, crunches, planks, and jumping jacks. Adding these things to a run really adds some variety and can make a hard run seem like a totally different workout altogether.

What do you do to add some variety to your runs? Have you ever added stairs to your runs?