What to Do When You Only Have 20 Minutes to Run

Sometimes in our crazy lives as parents, we only have a short amount of time to squeeze in a run. If you’re like me, you sometimes wonder if it’s worth it to head out if you only have 20 minutes to run. It is! Believe it or not, you can actually get in a decent little workout in that amount of time, and you will feel much better for having done it!

Here are a couple of workouts to do if you never find yourself with 20 minutes to spare for a workout. I have broken down each workout into a warm-up period (5 minutes), workout (12 minutes) and cool down (3 minutes):

1. Tempo Run— Warm up for 5 minutes at an easy pace and then do 12 minutes at tempo pace before cooling down for the last 3 minutes (easy pace).
2. Hill Repeats— Warm up for 5 minutes. Find a decent hill and run up the hill and then jog down. Repeat for the next 12 minutes and then cool down with an easy 3 minute jog.
3. Intervals— Hit the track and warm up for one or two laps and then do alternating 400m (one lap) repeats. Continue until 12 minutes is up and then run a cool down lap.
4. Progression Run— Warm up and then increase the pace every two minutes and run your last two-minute segment as fast as you can before you cool down.
5. Fartlek Run— Similar to the interval run, warm up and then speed up for various intervals over your 12 minute workout period. Many people like to use telephone poles as markers, i.e. run faster for two telephone poles. Fartlek is informal, so choose how many and how long you would like your speed intervals to be!

So, there you go, NO EXCUSES! The next time you find yourself with only 20 minutes to run, lace up the kicks and head out for one of the above workouts! If you found this article useful, please share it on Facebook by clicking HERE.