Make your running fun.. Hit the trails..

Sometimes at the start of our FIT class I'll take the group for a short jog as part of the warmup and we'll mix in some lateral shuffling, skipping, high knees and other stuff to loosen up the joints..  This is a really short jog, like less than 1/3 of a mile... But I always hear "Ugh, I hate running...". I can sympathize with this, although I think "hate" is probably kind of a strong emotion towards something that's actually good for you. The problem with running is that most people associate running with long, slow, boring jogs on open roads. Having to deal with the relentless pounding of the pavement and the traffic that typically feels entitled to the entire side of the road that you've decided to run on and that you have as much right to trespass on it as the chipmunk they just smucked a half mile back. 

I had two running experiences last week that were at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Now I've never been a long distance runner (or short distance runner for that matter). But I do like to present myself with new challenges so I've decided to run a half marathon in October. I run about once every three or four days to train for the race. Last week my first run was a 7 mile run on roads. This was, I think, maybe the fourth or fifth time I've run on roads in the past 6 months. Almost all my running I do off road. It took me 56 minutes, which is at the 8 min/mile pace I would like to be at for the half marathon, but it felt like it took at least 4 times that long.. It was late morning and it was hot out. There was lots of traffic and I was on roads that had hardly any shoulder so i was getting fairly irritated with the cars and pickups that refused to give me any room. I have to admit, the run was boring and I was getting tired of the pounding the road was giving me. By the time I got home, I was cursing myself for signing up for a half marathon and promising myself I would never do it again. Three days later I went for a run in the woods back on the trails.. I don't know how far the run is but it takes me the same amount of time as 7 miles on the roads takes me.. The difference is that when I'm in the woods I am completely at play.. I'm running up and down hills, I'm jumping off rocks, I'm launching myself off tree stumps, I threw in some bear crawling. I stop at several different rock formations and do sets of plyometric jumps, my favorite is a 40 inch granite landmark that I'll stop and do ten two footed jumps up on.. This run takes anywhere from 45-50 minutes. My heart rate is much higher for much longer than the road running and there are periods where I'm up around 92-95% max heart rate for minutes at a time. So I'm working harder, I'm going anaerobic from time to time which has a much greater metabolic training effect than long aerobic efforts, (like jogging on roads), and most importantly I enjoy it.. A lot! This is what keeps me running. And it's so much better for your joints without pounding the pavement. It also does much more for strengthening the lower leg and foot muscles since there is so much more lateral movement and balancing going on.

So go find some trails to run on and jump on and over as much stuff as possible. Nothing makes you feel like a kid more than running towards a brook and finding a rock or tree stump to give you that extra lift as you launch yourself over the brook to avoid getting wet.. Or try running on just rocks, stumps, and sticks and see how far you can go without touching the ground. Michele and I took my daughter and her friend on a hike last week and on the way down the mountain my daughter said "everybody gets 1o lives, every time you touch the ground you lose a life".. I'm thinking "that's my girl! great idea".. so we're all bounding down the mountain, rock to rock, stick to stump, losing a life here and there.. And before we knew it, we were at the bottom, huffing and puffing, sweating and laughing. It was a great workout and it was a great game...

So next time you're going to go out for a run, get off the roads and have some fun. It will give you a whole new perspective and it will give you a fantastic workout :) 

Enjoy,

Kevin