Last night I had a hot date with the treadmill.

And when I saw hot, I do mean really, seriously hot.

It was a little bit stuffy in the gym when I got there, so I knew I would be a giant ball of sweat by the time I finished my run.

My plan was to do one hour of hill repeats. If that sounds like torture, it's because that's kind of what I was going for.

It had been way too long since I'd gotten in a run and I knew I wanted to do something that was super high intensity to make up for my slacking. (And to make up for all the guacamole I have been eating this week.)

Twenty-five minutes into my run, sweat was dripping in my eyes so badly I could barely see. I kept trying to wipe them on my shirt, but it was soaked through. By the time I was finished, I could have literally wrung the sweat out of my sports bra and shorts. 

I obviously looked super cute! (But no post-workout picture today. I was afraid the camera would slip out of my sweaty hands and break.)

The workout was intense and the hills were really killing me at the end, but honestly, nothing feels better than finishing a run and knowing you don't really have much more left to give. I love walking out of the gym knowing I actually worked hard and didn't just phone it in.

And it turns out that a good run was all I needed to clear my head of all the stress. I slept like a baby last night as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Chances are I won't have time to fit in another run until Friday, but I have softball to look forward to tomorrow night, which is at least some mild physical activity.

Do you follow up time off from running with super intense workouts, or do you ease back into things more slowly?