Running Program?!? Jon?!?

Started my new running program today.

No, pigs are not flying and I haven’t completely lost my mind.

I still firmly believe that long, slow, steady state cardio training is a colossal waste of time. I will never try the fad called “jogging”. I believe it’s “jogging” or “yogging” it might be a soft “J” – apparently you just run…for an extended period of time…

OK, sorry – I’m done quoting movies for now but I’ve made my point: Even Ron Burgundy can see it’s stupid and is only doing it because he’s trying to impress a good looking woman.

But, as I’ve said before, I do believe firmly in sprinting as a tool for conditioning and fat loss, as I believe in interval training as a tool for conditioning and fat loss as well.

But why start today?

Because, as I’ve said before, when you live in NJ, there’s only about an 8 week stretch where it’s feasible to exercise outside. It’s too cold November through February, too wet March through June, too hot June through September. But the stretch of early September through October is coming up where it’s usually beautiful around here. Warm during the day, cool at night with less than average precipitation.

And even though the weather today is disgustingly humid, I decided to hit the ground running…literally.

So here’s what I did to incorporate my positive feelings on sprinting and interval training into a quick and effective workout for me and for anyone who’s left reading this post at this point:

A quick (approximately 15 minutes), heart pounding interval timed running workout. Bold face, italicized, underlined RUNNING – NOT “yogging” – big difference. All you need is a timer, IPOD, and running sneakers. My recommendations and free plugs: the Gymboss timer, Shinedown on the IPOD and Adidas.

After a light warmup consisting of some body weight movements, the workout is in two parts as follows:

Sprint portion: 10 seconds of sprinting, 60 seconds of rest. Repeat this 10 times.

After this, rest just long enough to reset your timer to the new intervals. Then move on to the interval portion. The interval portion is done in “Tabata” style: 20 seconds of running followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times.

Interval portion: Run hard for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this sequence 8 times.

Notes:

· During the sprint portion, you’ll feel the 1st few rounds are easy. I actually started thinking maybe it was too easy. By rounds 5, 6, and 7 that changes drastically – those 60 second rest periods go by very quickly.

· Remember sprinting is a relative term. What’s a sprint for you, me, Usain Bolt and an old lady are all different things. For the sake of this workout, sprinting is defined as simply running fast.

· During the “Tabata” portion of the workout, you’re going to need to push yourself. That 20 seconds of hard running at this point is not pleasant, but it’s only 20 seconds – you can make it. And don’t take advantage of the rest period by extending the 10 seconds. 10 seconds is 10 seconds – don’t stretch it to 11, 12, etc.

On a personal note, it wasn’t pleasant when I was doing it, but it only took about 15 minutes and I seriously jacked up my metabolism in a brief period of time. All smart ass jokes aside, I’m probably burning more calories right now typing this a half an hour later than if I were to simply jog for 45 minutes. And even though the weather was sh!tty today, over the next 8 weeks or so, more likely than not, the weather is going to be great, providing a great excuse to get out, do something healthy and do something different.

Give it a try and tell me how you made out!