Wednesday, January 22, 2014

New Year - New Goals

The New Year tends to bring a sense of purpose to exercise, after the excesses of the Holidays. It could be a couple of extra pounds around the middle, it could be a warning from a Doctor, or it could be a specific goal that you have in mind. In my case, the Long Branch Half-Marathon, held this year on April 27th, is the carrot I need to stay focused with my running. Summer and Fall, I love my six-mile runs outdoors, and I feel I push myself at about an 80% capacity. In December, I send in my annual entry to the Long Branch Half, and I begin my cherished and dreaded interval workouts on the treadmill. Today I just completed one of my favorites: 5 x 1 mi. on the "mill." The first I do at a relatively pedestrian 8.0 mph, but start at level three. Every quarter, I bring up the grade 1%, so I finish that mile at a challenging grade six. The next I start at 8.5, grade two, and, again, bring it up every quarter. Each interval starts .5 faster, but at one grade lower. The final one, I keep at grade zero, begin at 9.5, and increase the speed .1 each half-lap. When finished my heart rate is near its capacity of 165, or so. Yesterday, it was 11 degrees with blizzard-like conditions here in New Jersey. So I put on News 12 for the local weather remotes, and did another of my favorite workouts: a 10-K "commercial run." Here, you run at tempo pace during the programming, but at grade 2. In my case, I start off at 8.0 on the treadmill, about a 7:34 mile. When a commercial comes on, I drop down to zero grade, but pump up the speed to 9.0 (about 6:40 miles). Each commerical, I bring it up another .1, until the break mercifully ends. During the programming, to add a challenge, I raise the speed up .1 each mile, so between miles five and six, I'm at 8.5 (7:03 mile pace), during programming. When I hit the six-mile mark, I sprint in at 10.0 for the final .2, hopefully replicating a race. One more challenging workout is the race-pace 5-k. In my case, I try to break 20 minutes, which right now is a realistic test for me. So, after a mile warm-up, I start the first quarter at 9.0, grade 2. Each quarter, I raise the speed up .1, and try to maintain level 2 as long as I can. Eventually, I need to drop it down to grade one (or sometimes, zero), but still bring the speed up .1 every quarter. In this case, you finish up at 10.1 for the final lap. As I mentioned, be nice and warmed-up for that one, but you can get an intense workout in, with a warm-down in about 35 minutes. My goal is to try to maintain the same finishing times (between 1:30-1:35 for the half) I've had for the past five years. Hopefully, a little closer to that faster number. Set your own goals this year, and try to make them happen, "one step at a time."