Class Review: Mile High Run Club
The Class: The Distance at Mile High Run Club Nomad
Location: Flatiron (See on map here)
Duration: 60 minutes
Instructor: Vinnie
Classpass: Yes
Being a former collegiate runner, I’m a bit biased judging this class. I believe running is a sport where you get out what you put in. This workout was one where you could coast and hold back on effort, leaving you with leftover energy by the end. Not always a bad thing though! I may have done this
The Studio
The facilities at MHRC Nomad’s location are top-notch. Four showers, towels, very nice large lockers, soap, shampoo, conditioner. No qualms about getting ready for your day or evening plans after taking a class here.
The Woodway treadmills at Mile High Run Club are some of the nicest I have used. You can run at a quick clip (6-minute mile pace or faster) and feel like you’re gliding.
Pro-tip: Re-fill your water bottle from the special electrolyte-infused water tap inside the studio. The taste is so delicious, it’s almost worth attending the class just for that.
The Class
The class format is super predictable, but if you sign up for a treadmill running class, that’s probably what you want. After a five-minute warm-up, we increased the pace to what Vinnie called “just below marathon pace.”
We did this for a couple rounds, followed by four minutes of hill inclines. One minute at 4.0 incline at a moderate intensity, and each minute we dropped 10% of our incline while increasing our pace. These felt really good, and it was fun to roll down the hill rather than climb up one.
Next, we did a different interval round of four minutes at the same incline, increasing our pace each minute. Between this set and the hill inclines we did four rounds (so 2 hill rounds and 2 increased pace rounds for a total of 16 minutes). Vinnie gave us 2 minutes rest between sets.
The last section of the class had three 3-minute rounds of the same incline, faster paced rounds. On the last ones of these, I finally felt like I was approaching a sprint. Cool down was walk/jog for about 3 or 4 minutes and then Vinnie led us through some simple stretching.
Class workout summary:
- 5-minute warm up
- 2 x 4 minutes of hill inclines starting at 4.0. Each minute drop incline 10% and increase
pace - 2 x 4 minutes increased pace intervals. Incline remains the same. Every minute, increase pace.
- 3 x 3 minutes increased pace intervals. Incline stays the same. Every minute, increase pace.
- 3 to 4 minute walk/jog cool down
Final Thoughts
This class provided the benefits of a great cardio workout, but it didn’t leave me feeling as energized or running-enthused as I expected. The music didn’t match the tempo of the class.
The Bottom Line: If you hate running on a treadmill, this class definitely reduces the mental pain. If the thought of running on a treadmill for an hour in a fun environment still sounds like torture, they do have shorter classes that range from 30-45 minutes of running and include strength-training after.
