A four minute workout that beats an hour's worth of exercise

4 minutes a day - only $14,000!

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

The skies were clear when I got up this morning but I decided to take the easier road with an indoor run. Part of it was due to time. I'd slept up to my alarm, giving me only 15 minutes to prep, get outside and run. I'm sure that 15 minutes sounds like a lot but, in the early morning, time goes by like a freight train. That is, until you are on the treadmill, where every minute feels like three.

As I ran through my workout this morning, I thought about an article I read on Active.com about Tabata training. This training method involves a short duration program (< 5 minutes) consisting of 20-second maximum-intensity sprints separated by 10-second recovery periods. According to the article, a study compared stationary cyclists doing hour-long, moderately intensive, workouts (control group) to another group that did the Tabata training.

Both groups did five workouts a week for six weeks. The control group's weekly duration was 5 hours while the Tabata's totaled just 20 minutes. The control group improved their VO2 max by 9.5% with no change to anaerobic capacity. The Tabata group improved their VO2 max by 14 percent and improved their anaerobic capacity by 28 percent!

It made me think of that $14,000 ROM machine they've been advertising in the back of Popular Science since my college days. The claim is that this machine gives you a complete workout in four minutes a day. If Tabata is for real, then perhaps that's really true. But according to the article, any maximum intensity workout will do the job. You certainly don't need to spend $14K to get the same benefit as pushups.

Where angels fear to treadmill

Today's run (treadmill intervals): 30 minutes

When two unpleasant things, like sodium and chloride, are combined, the resulting substance can be quite palatable (like salt). More often, combining two disagreeable things will just amplify their unpleasantness. One great example is running intervals on the treadmill.

My plan for this morning was to head out early to the local track to run 4 x 400's and 100 meter sprints. I ended up sleeping to 6:45 AM, which set my schedule back an hour, so I changed my plans to run 200 meter intervals at the adjacent middle school. Due to circumstances, my time got too tight to do even that, so I elected to do my speed work on the treadmill.

Honestly, I don't always find the treadmill disagreeable, but I far prefer to run outside. Intervals on the treadmill spook me because the faster the machine goes, the more concern I have for my safety.  When the Sole is cranking over 8 MPH, it provides a scary display of motion and power. A 7:30 pace on the road feels very mild by comparison. The whole time I'm running fast on the treadmill my primary concern is a misstep that will cause me to fly off the machine.

Since I don't really trust the recorded distance on the Sole's display, I went by time for my fast running. I started off with three minutes of easy running and then hit the 8 MPH button, holding on for dear life. I'm sure there are many people, some who read this blog, that might look at 8 MPH as brisk, but not especially fast. I guess it's all relative, because that first 3 minute cycle was a heart racing experience.

I switched between 3 minute cycles of 8 MPH (truth be told, I dialed back to 7.5 MPH after completing the second interval) separated by two minute recovery cycles. The first three recovery periods were done at 4 MPH, and the rest were at 6 MPH. I ended up running a total of 30 minutes and I stepped off the treadmill thinking:

• OMG I'm exhausted
• I need electrolytes
• I wish I was already in the shower
• I need to be ready to leave the house in 30 minutes and all I want is a nap

When I came out of the shower I was still sweating, and I knew I accomplished my goal of getting an effective speed workout completed today. I'll go out for a very easy run tomorrow and start my taper for next Saturday's race. Now that enough time has passed, I'm already forgetting how hard today's workout felt. Like sodium and chloride, treadmill intervals do yield some benefits when they're combined, but it's hard to appreciate that at the time.

For now, it's all about my need for speed

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

This coming weekend I'll take a break from distance training in order to focus on speed. The City of Long Beach Snowflake Race takes place on the 11th and I'm hoping to do some interval training this weekend to prepare. Long Beach is always a great venue for a race because it's primarily flat. If the weather cooperates this year, a good portion of the run will be on the boardwalk.

This morning I managed to get myself outside despite the cold and had a decent run. My dawdling put me a few minutes behind, but fortunately my Garmin acquired its signal in record time. This gave me back a minute or so in terms of my morning schedule. I probably benefited from a tailwind over my first half mile but I didn't appreciate it until I turned and hit the headwinds. Fortunately, I had worn enough layers to stay comfortable despite the wind chill.

I was happy with my running performance through January and I'm hoping to turn in a credible time in Long Beach 4 miler. Still, I need to put in the work to activate those fast twitch fibers. So it's back to the track on Saturday for some fun 400's.

Ups and downs at Bethpage State Park

Dear Garmin: I can't recall that 90 foot spike at 1.4 miles

Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 4.2 miles -- 4 x 800m downhill, 4 x 800m uphill

Yesterday's training run at the business park provided some hilly terrain but the net gain was less than what I'll face next Saturday. I decided to head to Bethpage and do some hill repeats. My plan was to run up and down the big hill that comes at the beginning of the bike path. This hill comes at the end of my out-and-back long runs and I always dread it. I wondered how I'd feel running it four times today.

Since what goes up must also come down, I started my session going downhill after an initial climb up a steep but short section off the trail head. I ran this hill to the half mile point, turned around and came back up until my Garmin showed that I'd gone a half a mile in both directions. I repeated this exercise four times with no stopping between intervals.

The first two miles were easy. While I'm usually encountering this big hill after an hour's worth of running, today I was still relatively fresh. The downhill segments served as a nice recovery from the harder work of coming back up.  I saw a lot of other runners today and wondered if they were also training for next week's race, since Bethpage's path has many hills along its route.

It was a good workout but not as hard as I feared. The second two miles were a little tougher, but I never felt over-taxed. That may be a sign that my conditioning is in line for next Saturday's course that is half uphill and half down. I didn't push hard on the downhill sections but I didn't hold back either. I figure that after I crest the highest point on the Oyster Bay 5K, I can let loose on the decline knowing that the hardest part of the race has already been run.

My fastest 5K ever*

Today's run (track): 1 mile warm-up, 8 x 200, 1 mile cool down

I knew I needed to get in some speed work so I headed to the local HS track this morning. When I arrived I noticed that the adjacent lot was almost full and saw that the high school team was playing a pre-season game against another town. There were people up in the stands and standing alongside the track that circles the football field. There were also people walking around the track, seemingly oblivious to the action taking place a few feet away.

I started my workout with a brisk mile warm-up that I completed in 8:13. That wasn't bad for a cold start. I followed that with eight 200 meter intervals, with one minute recovery periods, and averaged 6:54 for that mile. I finished my workout with a 1.1 mile cool down run that I did in 8:52. I ended up averaging 8:01 for the 3.1 miles (24:39).

*This can't really be counted as my fastest 5K because it wasn't a continuous run. Knowing that you can stop after 200 meters, or even after a mile, helps keep you moving fast. However, I will say that every second on that track was focused on performance. At the end, I was satisfied that I was doing my best to prepare for the Cow Harbor race.

Kinvara retirement run

You served with distinction but now you're hurting my knee

Today's run (treadmill): 3.15 miles

After yesterday's long run at Belmont Lake State Park I felt no urgency to get out this morning for my Sunday run. That, and the booming thunderstorms that came through around 4:30 and stuck around most of the morning. While I looked out at the drenching that my lawn and trees were getting, I debated whether I should run indoors, do an elliptical session or do nothing.

It wasn't until after lunch, that my wife said I should at least do something. She didn't want me to regret missing my workout after it got too late to do it. She knows me well. I decided to do a mixed session on the treadmill, combining intervals and recovery runs.

The rains have continued all day but it hasn't helped the humidity level. I wore minimal gear -- running shorts and no top. That probably helped, although you couldn't tell by the amount that I sweated. I began at an easy pace, below 6 MPH and eased up to 6.3 through my first mile. At that point I hit the 8 MPH button and ran a few minutes at that speed before backing down to 6.5.

I repeated that cycle a few times until I passed 3 miles, where I dropped to a sedate jogging pace to cool down. I had worn my Kinvaras for the first time in months and, just like the last time I wore them, I experienced residual knee pain after my run. On top of that, I had a hot spot on my mid-foot that may have been caused by my sock. To be safe, I'm going to officially retire the Kinvaras that served me very well for almost 600 miles.

I'm going into my taper now, in fairly good shape. Today's speed work will - hopefully - help me next Sunday. The chaotic weather wasn't only a factor here on Long Island. My friend KWL and his team did not participate in Gran Fondo bike event in Philadelphia today because they were suffering similar conditions. Must be very disappointing. I have no worries for that next week. The website says the Dirty Sock 10K will happen -- rain or shine.

Fast and furious today - could it have been my diet?

The Garmin missed it big on first lap

Today's run (track): 4.25 miles (3 mile tempos plus 8 x 200)

My running experience on Saturday was disheartening and my poor performance caused an alarm after I started reading the July issue of Runner's World. This issue's theme focused on people who use running to raise money for cancer research and on those runners who are coping with the disease. One story quoted a runner whose running performance was unaccountably slipping and a checkup revealed some horrible affliction that is (happily) now under control.

I'm not really a hypochondriac so I didn't take any of that to heart, but I was still puzzled by my bad run. Paul, a local runner who I met at the NHP 8K, suggested that my diet may have left me depleted of needed carbs as an explanation for my failure to generate speed during yesterday's run. He knows his stuff and suggested trying more complex carbs the night before a long run. He competes a lot and tunes his pre-race meals according to distance and time of the day.

I took Paul's advice and (for dinner) had a modest portion of Garden Delight Penne Rigate with roasted chicken, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower mixed in. Earlier that day, I had a recurrence of the sinus headache that plagued me a couple of weeks ago. Around 4:00 AM this morning I got up and took two Pseudoephedrine and went back to bed. I woke up at 5:30 feeling great. After a couple of cups of coffee, I headed for the track.

My plan for today was to generate some speed after yesterday's tough run. It was humid, but not too hot, and the cloud cover was thick. I started with a mile warm-up at a brisk pace (7:50 min/mile) and then ran 8 x 200's averaging 6:50/mile overall. For me these were blistering paces. The Hattori's performed well on the track, my landings were much more front than mid-foot and neither my feet, ankles nor calves balked at the strain.

I followed the speed work with two miles of "easy" running, maintaining an 8:20 pace through that distance. I haven't managed that pace over two miles in a long time, clearly the speed work had activated those fast twitch muscles. What a difference a day makes. I'm no longer feeling that I'm on an unstoppable performance decline and I'm thinking that I need to do speed work more often than once every three weeks. Perhaps a trail run tomorrow will be a great coda for this 4th of July long weekend. Speed's not an issue on Monday -- I have nothing left to prove.

Garmin 210 - trouble keeping track on the track

A shot of the track from this morning

Today's workout (track): 8 x 400's plus 3 mile run

Since I'm racing again next Sunday, I wanted to get in a little speed work before I taper my training next week. This morning I headed over to the local high school track to run some intervals. There were a handful of runners and walkers already on the track when I arrived but the lanes were fairly clear. I brought a stopwatch as well as my Garmin and I ended up using the FR 210 to record my runs and used the stopwatch to time my rest periods between intervals.

I didn't run the intervals hard. My goal was to do mile-equivalents a little faster than my 5K race PR and I managed to average 8:06 across eight quarter miles. I hoped that would recruit enough fast twitch fibers to give me some speed when I ran the following three miles (5K actually) and it did. I averaged 8:45 for that run.

A clear margin of error

The Garmin did not do a good job capturing my route. The picture above is a grab from Google Earth using the imported KMZ file. I stayed primarily in a middle lane but the GPS interpreted that much differently. Even though the 210 is always a little off I still like it a lot. It's great to be able to run without swapping the foot pod every time I change shoes. Especially in the case of the Hattori's that don't even have a place to attach a foot pod.

I'm really happy with today's workout. While I'm still not speedy, I've proven to myself that I can run sub-9:00 paces when I need to. The Hattori's were interesting to use on the track and they responded well when I took off in a sprint to begin each interval. I haven't decided what I'll do for tomorrow's Memorial Day workout but I am hoping to fold in a bike ride or two before I return to the office.

Quad pain? How about a 5 mile hike!

My daughter takes the lead as we head toward the water

Today's workout (track intervals + hike)

I had hoped to repeat the experience of Monday's interval training and headed to the track with family in tow and stopwatch in hand. After a short warm-up around the track my daughter and I ran a few timed sprints. Before long my left quad began to protest loudly. It didn't feel so much like an injury as it did a warning and I quickly backed off. I circled the track again a couple of times at an extremely easy pace and then called it quits. My wife completed her workout on the track and we headed back home.

After lunch (and icing my quad) we headed to Caumsett State Park for a hike. Caumsett, which is located on 1,750 acres in Lloyd Neck, sits directly below Long Island Sound. It's only about 15 minutes from our house yet we'd never been there. The Empire Passport certainly makes it easy to explore new venues since there's no admission fees to dissuade you from visiting. We were amazed by the white-capped waves and ocean spray as we made our approach to the park entrance. We began our hike after looking at the map and headed north along one of the main paved trails.

Due to its adjacency to the Sound, the winds were strong and a little chilly, but that didn't bother us much. At the 1.5 mile mark we reached a mansion that is the former home of Marshall Field III. Directly behind this building are rolling grounds that flow sharply down to a pond that's circled by a dirt and sand path. Directly north of the pond is the beach line of the Sound. The kids played a little on the water but the winds were fierce so we headed back to the pond trail and followed it to another main trail that eventually took us back to our starting point.

We covered about five miles and about a third of that was on hills. It was a great workout for everyone and I had ideas about returning for a long run tomorrow morning. I will admit that the idea of doing a long run with those hills and that wind is a bit daunting. I'll see how I feel tomorrow when I get up. I'd actually prefer a rest day on Friday but with bad weather predicted for Saturday and Sunday, Friday may be my last opportunity to run a measurable distance before the LI Half.

Karhu Fast 2's live up to their name

Today's run (track intervals)

You know those movies where the mousy librarian takes off her glasses and the leading man suddenly notices how beautiful she is? That was akin to my experience today with the Karhu Fast 2's that I'd damned with (very) faint praise in my recent review. In testing these shoes I thought I'd done an adequate job of assessing their capabilities, both on long runs as well as short speed bursts and tempos. What I didn't do - and shame on me for that - was put them to the test on the Tartan track. This morning, along with my daughter (who served as my running partner and coach), I used these Karhus in their natural environment.

Our plan was to run multiple short intervals to help build fast twitch muscles and anaerobic base. After a trip around the track at a moderate pace we headed to a side track that had sand pits on either end. That gave us about 45 meters of useful track length for our short, fast sprints. My daughter and I took turns running on this track beside some high school boys who were practicing their long jumps. We did multiple runs, going in both directions and were pleased with our speeds. My daughter (age 12) was able to match me or come within a second of many of my times.

We followed that first set of runs with another lap around the track and then ran additional sprints on the main oval. Again our speeds were good and I was happy that most of my running (besides the recovery jogs) stayed well below a 6 minute pace. The Karhus really shined today. I finally got the "Fulcrum" concept and ran on my forefoot, practically on my toes, bringing my knees up higher than I would on an aerobic run. The Karhu Fast 2 will be my speed shoe going forward and it even felt good at a sedate pace today. I'm still committed to a lower profile shoe like the Saucony Mirage and Kinvara as a daily trainer but the Karhu is a true sprinter. That made for a great practice today with my favorite running coach and partner.

Back to the track

Good conditions for speed work on the newly redone track

Today's workout (track intervals): 6 x 800 (ave. pace 8:23) plus 1.62 miles of recovery runs (4.62 total miles)

Along with all the distance training that I've been doing over the last few weeks,  it was important to fold in some speed work to my training for next week's race. I headed over to the high school track this morning with the intention of following a Runner's World plan for a race week taper. The track was redone over the summer and recently painted and it looked brand new as I stepped onto the pristine surface to start my warm-up laps. The plan was to run six 800 meter intervals with 2:30 recovery jogs. I was pleased with my energy level at the start. Considering my 8 mile run on Saturday, I was still able to maintain a mid 8 minute pace on the speed sections. As time passed I saw more people on the track, mostly walkers, but a few runners showed up near the end. I ran through my segments, not pushing too hard, but keeping my pace below 8:30.  I wore my Kinvaras and they felt great. I averaged 8:52 overall, with the interval segments averaging 8:23. In the end I felt satisfied with the workout.

In the afternoon we headed over to the outlets and I visited the Adidas store where I tried on a pair of Marathons. The fit was good and they reminded me a little of the Kinvaras but I actually prefered the Sauconys. At the Reebok store I tried on a pair of ZigTech's that just felt awful on my feet. I'm no fan of Nike but since I was at the Nike store I tried the LunarGlide + (not for me) and the Moto 5's that actually felt very good. The wrap at the arch was excellent as was the heel to toe transition. They also had the the 6's and 7's at the same $75 price point. I tried on the 7's and didn't like the fit or the feel at all. That's the problem with Nike's, not a lot of consistency between the fit of the shoes from update to update.

Tomorrow I plan to run in Central Park with my friend CK to put in five hard miles. Tuesday I'm running with another colleague, JQ, who is looking to get back into running. We'll take that slow and I'll look at that as my penultimate workout before the Great Cow Harbor 10K.