Keep the Beat Up, Let's Drop the Beat Down

Using the treadmill as part of my overall fitness program is working very well. Currently I am mixing the HIIT training g with 5K training. That combination has pushed me to intensify my running much more quickly than I would have with the HIITs alone.

Coming to the conclusion that HIIT may not be the best term to describe all my slow/fast routines. When being faithful to the math of my runs, they tend to be very HIIT like. However, when I'm being less stringent with counting phases of speed bursts during the run, the proper term is probably "fartlek". No, the boys in math class didn't come up with that one, although it is kind of fun the way it rolls off the tongue. It is actually Swedish for "speed play" according to Wikipedia. That really is the idea. In a pure fartlek the runner selects a short term goal, like a visual marker in order to push himself harder while running until reaching that marker and then slowing down for awhile. The process repeats itself throughout the run. The goal is, like doing a HIIT, to go through cycles of exhaustion and recovery during a single run.

Since I'm doing fartlek on a treadmill, a visual goal in the distance isn't possible. I use the songs I listen to on my iPhone to vary my speed: fast riff, run fast; ballad, slow down. I'm using the music to motivate my running speed. I love doing this. A song with great electric guitar riffs/solos makes a great running song for me. Sometimes other styles/genres of music qualify on the basis of their individual uniqueness. There’s nothing like hitting the top speeds on a treadmill while listening to something like T.S.O.’s “Figaro” by Mozart. No, don’t picture powdered wigs and harpsichords. Nothing like that at all after Trans Siberian Orchestra gets a hold of a piece of music.

Oops, sorry. This is supposed to be about fitness and running, not music appreciation.

Anyway, it works. Fartlek running on a treadmill while listening to  good rock music. Helps you get a better burn.

Later folks.