No
Time to Train?
Found a great article in a French running magazine called
Jogging International, No. 211, May 2002, titled "In 10, 20, 30, 40
minutes, Your Training, Done Quickly, Done Well" by Gerard Martin and
Philippe Maquat. I'll try and hit
the high points. Since 30 or 40
minutes is probably an average day for many, I’ll limit this to the
instructions for 10 and 20 minute sessions.
Does your professional and/or personal life allow you
something less than an uninterrupted span of 90 minutes to train in peace each
and every day? Does 40 minutes seem
a luxury? Some days 10 minutes is
all you have. Skip the workout and
wait for a better day when you have more time?
Too easy, and chances are tomorrow won’t be any better from a training
standpoint. Is it worth it to try
and run? Yes – it is better to do
something short than nothing at all. In
20, 30, or 40 minutes you can complete a very beneficial training session.
Even if you only have 10 minutes you can put a smile on your face and do
yourself some good. Here’s how.
What to do in 10
minutes? Anything is possible in 10
minutes. Or almost anything.
First example: Find
a set of stairs (at least 20) or a mid-grade hill.
Start with:
-
One
minute warming up at a very slow pace, followed by
-
One
minute of exaggerated strides (knee lifts and then heel to seat) nice and
easy
-
Now
hit the stairs or the hill for a series of accelerations – three times up
and down, accelerating through each of the three climbs, an exercise that
should take approximately 2 minutes
-
Off
the stairs or the hill, run a one minute steady acceleration on the flat
where you take your heart rate from about 80% max at the end of the stair
session to 95% max at the end of the minute interval.
Halfway there!
-
One
minute of easy jogging for recuperation
-
Now
three times 100 meters hard with 30 seconds recuperation after each one, for
a total of 2 minutes
-
After
the last 30 second recuperation, launch into a steady 45 second acceleration
where you raise your heart rate progressively to 90% of your max.
-
Finish
with
1:15
of easy jogging to cool down. Voila!
Second example, again using stairs but this time you need 8
floors/flights (or a longer hill)
·
Start with 2 minutes of easy warmup at the bottom of the
stairs/hill
·
Push hard up the 8 flights of stairs or the hill for a total time
of approximately
1:30
·
Descend in 1 minute to recuperate
·
Climb again in about the same
1:30
time
·
Descend again in 1 minute
·
20 pushups followed by 30 seconds of jogging
·
40 situps or crunches followed by 30 seconds of jogging.
Voila!
20 minutes – a
good balance
First example - find a set of 20 stairs or a hill.
-
Start
with 2 minutes of easy warmup going progressively faster to get your heart
rate to 70% max
-
Accelerate
further for one minute to raise your rate to 80% max
-
Accelerate
further for one minute to raise your rate to 90% max
-
Maintain
that steady fast pace for one minute. That’s
5 minutes total.
-
Recuperate
with a minute of easy jogging
-
Run
4 minutes of hill/stair repeats – roughly 8 reps of 30 seconds up, 30
seconds down. Halfway there!
-
Back
on the flats, run 5 minutes steady at 10k race pace, roughly 90-95% max.
heart rate.
-
2
minutes easy jogging for recovery
-
Now
three times 100 meters hard with 30 seconds recuperation after each one, for
a total of 2 minutes
-
Finish
with one minute of easy jogging
Second example
-
10
minutes warmup, accelerating steadily through the warmup and finishing with
a few exaggerated strides/knee lifts during the final minute
-
10
minutes of 30-30s, in which you go hard for 30 seconds followed by 30
seconds of easy recuperation
Third example
-
5
minutes warmup with a few exaggerated strides/knee lifts during the final
minute.
-
14
minutes tempo at 10k race pace
-
1
minute cooldown
Columns represent the opinions of
the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes of the club.
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