New Shoes, New Watch, New Rants!!!
Greetings!
Made a quick trip to Grand Forks, ND for some shopping today, mainly for some new shoes to get. Back when I was coaching cross-country, I really fell in love with the Nike Free 5.0 shoe, as it is geared towards low-mileage running workouts. Well, those shoes are well & gone in my life, and after buying a pair of Reebok's a while back in preparation for running this spring, I've seen that the Reebok's are just too stiff for my foot. I'm not trying to blame the shoe for any of my times, but when it comes to running in some kind of comfort when you're running uncomfortably hard, you need the right kind of shoe. For me, the Nike Free fits the bill perfectly. This shoe is very lightweight, very flexible and conforming. It isn't the perfect shoe for everybody, but a lot of runners I've chatted with who run with Nike Free's feel they have really found a great, great shoe to run in, especially for track workouts.
I also found a new fitness watch, on clearance at Wal-Mart, for just $25. It was a unique one-touch heart rate/fitness watch. Figured for $25 it was worth getting, even though I'm not big on going by heart rate zones in my workout strategies. It had a countdown timer, stopwatch, and the heart rate thing, so I figured it can't hurt to try it out & do a little review on it. (Its made by Sportline, by the way, I'm sure most Wal-Mart's have it in stock) Watch works fine, just gotta get used to all its little functions. There's even a calorie counter on there that is dependent on checking your HR now & then, to help estimate your calories burned. Don't know how it does it, but its information that's there if I want to get into it.
When I got back this afternoon, it only took me a couple hours to get geared up for my afternoon bout on the track. I decided to do the following workout, on a perfectly ideal day: hardly a breeze, temps around 60, sun shining like crazy. What a day to break in the Nike Free's...
Jog to track
Jog 400m
Then...the meat of the workout!
Jog 100, Sprint 100 at race-pace feel x 16 times
I was getting the 100 jog's in at around 30-35 seconds, and the 100 sprints at 20-22 seconds. All in all, I covered 2 miles worth in the 100 jog + 100 sprint intervals when it was all said & done, getting it in just over 14 minutes. Basically averaging a 7 minute mile pace there. If you added up the sprint intervals of 22 seconds as a max per 100m sprint interval, I was getting a sub 6 minute mile pace in there. 22.5 seconds/100m is a spot-on 6 minute, 1600m pace. This would roughly be a 5:52-53 1600m time within my total 2 miles worth of running.
My whole workout time total of being over 14 minutes means that about over 40% of my total time was spent at race-pace, with the other 60% being at a recovery jog pace. Can you start to see why short burst, high intensity interval training can get a lot more done for you? If I were to just jog out 2 miles, it would take me probably 15-17 minutes total. Today I got in 1 mile at under my current race-pace, and 1 mile at a jogging pace, in less than that total time. Which workout is going to be more productive? My money is on the 100/100 style workout...
Same distances covered, really, but its the intensity & speed changes that make the overall difference.
Put it this way: if one guy is going to be efficient at loading a truck full of stuff, and if he does it slowly, he'll get one truckload done in 20 minutes. However, if he does it quickly with short rest breaks and gets it done in 15 minutes, he saves 5 minutes over his other method of loading. Over the course of time, he's getting 4 loads/hour with his intermittent method, and only 3 per hour with his slower method.
Add up 8 hours a day, and you're getting 32 loads/day versus 24 loads a day. This guy has found a way to get it done...give him a raise!
Add it up even further to a full week, and now its 160 loads/week versus 120/week doing it slowly. Put this guy up for a promotion!
Do you see how this adds up for you in the aspect of running hard, short & fast?
You get more work done over time!
Take this example that's applied to running:
4 workouts/week @ 15 minutes/workout = 60 minutes/week
versus...
3 workouts/week @ 20 minutes/workout = 60 minutes/week
Time is the same here, but look at the number of workouts being done.
4 workouts of 2 miles a workout, HIIT style = 8 miles
3 workouts of 2 miles a workout, Slow style = 6 miles
8 miles/week vs 6 miles/week. Same times, different levels of production/volume.
32 miles/month vs 24 miles/month. Same month, different mileages.
96 miles/summer (3 mo.) vs 72 miles/summer. Same season, different mileages/total volume for each.
Who's getting more done? The 4 x 15 runner...over the course of time.
Can you see how you can benefit by getting in shorter workouts with more focus, versus the long & slow, plodding-away methods that so many teach & profess by?
This was the big wake-up call for me, years ago, when I started studying the training methods of running for not only fitness purposes, but for competitive purposes in coaching runners for track & cross-country.
The "paradigm shift" is happening, right here & now, in the exercise science field. Discoveries like this are re-shaping the way we look at traditional ways and make us start tossing out the not-so-good stuff and using smarter methods to train ourselves better.
It is things like my KettleBolics program & Endure! e-book that help others see what's shaking up the sports performance & fitness world. Check out the madness at http://KettleBolics.com for more insight on how interval training methods & GPS technology are helping many new & experienced runners use their time more wisely!
Start being more productive!
Run Strong, Run Fast....
Run So As To Win!
Coach Rick Karboviak
http://1MileNation.com
http://ASAPWorkouts.com
Made a quick trip to Grand Forks, ND for some shopping today, mainly for some new shoes to get. Back when I was coaching cross-country, I really fell in love with the Nike Free 5.0 shoe, as it is geared towards low-mileage running workouts. Well, those shoes are well & gone in my life, and after buying a pair of Reebok's a while back in preparation for running this spring, I've seen that the Reebok's are just too stiff for my foot. I'm not trying to blame the shoe for any of my times, but when it comes to running in some kind of comfort when you're running uncomfortably hard, you need the right kind of shoe. For me, the Nike Free fits the bill perfectly. This shoe is very lightweight, very flexible and conforming. It isn't the perfect shoe for everybody, but a lot of runners I've chatted with who run with Nike Free's feel they have really found a great, great shoe to run in, especially for track workouts.
I also found a new fitness watch, on clearance at Wal-Mart, for just $25. It was a unique one-touch heart rate/fitness watch. Figured for $25 it was worth getting, even though I'm not big on going by heart rate zones in my workout strategies. It had a countdown timer, stopwatch, and the heart rate thing, so I figured it can't hurt to try it out & do a little review on it. (Its made by Sportline, by the way, I'm sure most Wal-Mart's have it in stock) Watch works fine, just gotta get used to all its little functions. There's even a calorie counter on there that is dependent on checking your HR now & then, to help estimate your calories burned. Don't know how it does it, but its information that's there if I want to get into it.
When I got back this afternoon, it only took me a couple hours to get geared up for my afternoon bout on the track. I decided to do the following workout, on a perfectly ideal day: hardly a breeze, temps around 60, sun shining like crazy. What a day to break in the Nike Free's...
Jog to track
Jog 400m
Then...the meat of the workout!
Jog 100, Sprint 100 at race-pace feel x 16 times
I was getting the 100 jog's in at around 30-35 seconds, and the 100 sprints at 20-22 seconds. All in all, I covered 2 miles worth in the 100 jog + 100 sprint intervals when it was all said & done, getting it in just over 14 minutes. Basically averaging a 7 minute mile pace there. If you added up the sprint intervals of 22 seconds as a max per 100m sprint interval, I was getting a sub 6 minute mile pace in there. 22.5 seconds/100m is a spot-on 6 minute, 1600m pace. This would roughly be a 5:52-53 1600m time within my total 2 miles worth of running.
My whole workout time total of being over 14 minutes means that about over 40% of my total time was spent at race-pace, with the other 60% being at a recovery jog pace. Can you start to see why short burst, high intensity interval training can get a lot more done for you? If I were to just jog out 2 miles, it would take me probably 15-17 minutes total. Today I got in 1 mile at under my current race-pace, and 1 mile at a jogging pace, in less than that total time. Which workout is going to be more productive? My money is on the 100/100 style workout...
Same distances covered, really, but its the intensity & speed changes that make the overall difference.
Put it this way: if one guy is going to be efficient at loading a truck full of stuff, and if he does it slowly, he'll get one truckload done in 20 minutes. However, if he does it quickly with short rest breaks and gets it done in 15 minutes, he saves 5 minutes over his other method of loading. Over the course of time, he's getting 4 loads/hour with his intermittent method, and only 3 per hour with his slower method.
Add up 8 hours a day, and you're getting 32 loads/day versus 24 loads a day. This guy has found a way to get it done...give him a raise!
Add it up even further to a full week, and now its 160 loads/week versus 120/week doing it slowly. Put this guy up for a promotion!
Do you see how this adds up for you in the aspect of running hard, short & fast?
You get more work done over time!
Take this example that's applied to running:
4 workouts/week @ 15 minutes/workout = 60 minutes/week
versus...
3 workouts/week @ 20 minutes/workout = 60 minutes/week
Time is the same here, but look at the number of workouts being done.
4 workouts of 2 miles a workout, HIIT style = 8 miles
3 workouts of 2 miles a workout, Slow style = 6 miles
8 miles/week vs 6 miles/week. Same times, different levels of production/volume.
32 miles/month vs 24 miles/month. Same month, different mileages.
96 miles/summer (3 mo.) vs 72 miles/summer. Same season, different mileages/total volume for each.
Who's getting more done? The 4 x 15 runner...over the course of time.
Can you see how you can benefit by getting in shorter workouts with more focus, versus the long & slow, plodding-away methods that so many teach & profess by?
This was the big wake-up call for me, years ago, when I started studying the training methods of running for not only fitness purposes, but for competitive purposes in coaching runners for track & cross-country.
The "paradigm shift" is happening, right here & now, in the exercise science field. Discoveries like this are re-shaping the way we look at traditional ways and make us start tossing out the not-so-good stuff and using smarter methods to train ourselves better.
It is things like my KettleBolics program & Endure! e-book that help others see what's shaking up the sports performance & fitness world. Check out the madness at http://KettleBolics.com for more insight on how interval training methods & GPS technology are helping many new & experienced runners use their time more wisely!
Start being more productive!
Run Strong, Run Fast....
Run So As To Win!
Coach Rick Karboviak
http://1MileNation.com
http://ASAPWorkouts.com
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