Run for Your Life!

I've enjoyed the couple of late starts and early releases we've had from school due to snow, but I'm really glad that winter is on its way out. The weather has been great lately, and even though I know there will be some wintry intrusions, the cold is giving way to spring and summer warmth.

That means more time outside and some morning exercises that I haven't been doing. Its time to start readying myself for am runs outside. I've not run since the late fall when I changed my work schedule and chose not to go to the fitness center in the afternoons after school. So, I'm in the same boat with a lot of other people who need to get back into running.

First, measure a course. Get in your car and drive the course you plan to run or find some other means of measuring. Remember, three miles is approximately five kilometers. If you can do that much, go for it. If it needs to be less, set it, but make sure you're doing that much on a regular basis.

Then begin getting out on your course and walking or running. Expect to be sore at some point. Muscles are going work harder than they have. Start off slow. Either a very slow jog or even walking could be best. Do that for one to two weeks daily. Then it is time to pick up the pace. This is a "make myself do it" decision. Heart rate needs to be well elevated and breathing should be hard enough to make more than monosyllabic conversation difficult. Keep this up for a week if it doesn't make you sore, or until the soreness passes. Be careful here: even though you are trying to push your performance, don't over do it. You should not be gasping for air with this level of intensity. Run hard enough to make conversation difficult.

Once you've acclimated to that stage (it may be as long as a month after starting) you're reading to start HIITs: high intensity interval training.  The concept here is that for short periods of time you will push yourself to your limits. Then slow down, but don't stop. Just get down to a recovery level. For example, after warming up with a slow steady run  for five minutes or so, start speeding up. Push yourself harder for a 30 seconds to a minute. After that, slow down to your original jog speed or even a little faster, and catch your breath. This should only be a minute or so. Once you've regained your rest level, push your speed up again. Do it faster this time. The repeat the process of dropping back to a resting level to get your breath back. When you stop the push, the high speed interval, you should be gasping for air. You should have reached your physical limit.

The advantage of this process is that is has been shown to improve cardio vascular response and to burn belly fat. The routine will improve slow and fast twitch muscle fibers (because you're utilizing both). And it will increase your overall speed.

If you plan on participating in 5K runs, spend at least one of these exercise days during your week to just keep up a sustained hard run. Push yourself to maintain a high speed. The HIITs will help you build this sustained speed as well. You've already determined your course, so keep a record of how long it takes you to run the course. Chart your progress. From time to time,  follow the course in reverse. This will help you avoid certain injuries to your legs or hips.

Before you know it, you'll be back into shape and keeping up your runs. Run every other day, about three times per week. If you run more often, make sure you intersperse some very light duty runs into your regimine.  Certainly take at least one day off from running to give your body some recovery time. And the older you are, the longer recovery can take. Be wise.

Well, that's how I plan to do it. I'll be getting up early in the morning and putting in a couple of miles running around my neighborhood. My June, I should be ready for some 5K runs. Let's get going and start running for our lives.