Run, walk and run

Pierini Fitness, circa 2004 - a long time ago!

Pierini Fitness has had an on again off again relationship with running the past dozen years.  And now, the relationship is back on again.  For how long?  Time will tell but there’s no doubt about it, running has its place in the middle-aged man fitness toolbox for those who want to reap its tremendous cardiovascular, mobility and self-defense benefits.

The cardiovascular benefits are without question.  A somewhat dated, yet still relevant, research done on this reported than “running is an excellent means of conditioning the cardiovascular system. It is a highly aerobic activity that utilizes both fatty acids and carbohydrates for energy. The typical runner tends to have a slow resting pulse rate and a high maximal oxygen consumption.”  Read more here:  Cardiovascularaspects of running

Mobility is the ability to move or be moved freely and easily.  Since running is an activity of moving from here to there and since practice makes perfect, running, therefore, improves our middle-aged man abilities to more easily and efficiently move and, thus, be mobile.

The self-defense part may have you wondering and wanting to know more.  The best example is with a story.  Here’s one from a long time ago:  Run, run, run

So, what’s my current running curriculum?  Twice a week which will not resurrect me into a world-class middle-aged man runner but that’s not a goal.

Twice a week, consisting of a Sprint 8 workout one day and a run, walk, run workout the other day.  It’s a current running work-in-progress that I’ve recently begun to rekindle my past joy of being a middle-aged man fun runner.  How long will this last?  As with all middle-aged man fitness training and goals, time will tell.  I’ll give you updates from time to time, particularly if I’ve done something worth sharing.

Sprint 8 workout

So, what’s the Sprint 8 workout?  Pierini Fitness explained it here: 

The super-tough Sprint 8 workout

Last Saturday, my workout was 8 rounds of 30 seconds sprinting and 90 seconds of walking recovery, done on a high school all-weather track.  The weather was amazingly wonderful for January, perfect for this workout. 

This is always a tough workout and that was my case.  For the fitness data geeks like me, here’s a statistical summary of my effort:

Round	Mile pace for 0:30
1	6:00
2	6:03
3	6:00
4	5:56
5	6:41
6	6:00
7	6:17
8	6:32

These mile paces are the equivalent to sprinting between 120 and 135 meters during the sprint portion of the rounds.  This is pathetically slow compared to my past but I’m not complaining and am glad I was able to complete the workout.

Excluding a 2-minute warm-up and 2-minute cool-down, these 8 rounds took 16 minutes to complete. 

Here’s a snapshot of the cardiovascular demands of this workout:

There’s no doubt about it, a weekly dose of Sprint 8 training will help this middle-aged man ratchet his cardiovascular conditioning to the next level.

Run, walk, run workout

So, what’s a run, walk, run workout?

I guess the best way to describe it is a running workout done sort of like a “grease the groove” workout that was discussed in a Pierini Fitness post a few days ago about a pull-up workout.

I first learned about run, walk, run when listening to a presentation by running great Jeff Galloway.  You can learn more about this approach here:

Run Walk Run: It began in 1974

Earlier this week, I did a run, walk, run workout for a long run lasting one hour.  What I did was run for 3:10 and then walk for 0:50 for 15 rounds, taking exactly one hour to complete.  It’s about the third time I’ve done this workout.  Initially, I started with 3:00 of running and 1:00 of walking and each successive workout I’ve increased the run time by 0:05 and decreased the walk time by the same time.

Since my running speed is a far cry from its former self, during this one-hour run, walk, run workout was for 5.78 miles, which is a slow 10:23 mile pace.  Undoubtedly, my distance covered will improve over time.  Interesting is that my average and maximum heart rate for this workout was comparable to the Sprint 8 workout, as shared above.

Consider adding running to your middle-aged man fitness toolbox.  Then, together, we'll be improving our cardiovascular conditioning, mobility and self-defense skills by a once a week date with Sprint 8 and a workout where we run, walk and run.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Run, run, run

Last evening’s walk took me past St. Francis Elementary School where I attended grades 4 through 7 over 45 years ago. It is a stone’s throw from where I now live, across the street from Sutter’s Fort where Sacramento began almost 170 years ago.

Walking past the playground brought back pleasant memories of playing kick ball, dodge ball and tag, all of which required running skills. It also brought back memories of the Batman and Robin and Green Hornet television series.

We were all fascinated with the Green Hornet’s sidekick Kato and his mysterious kung fu martial arts skills. We all wanted to be like Kato, capable of performing lethal flying jump kicks and circular chops and punches. He represented what every kid wanted, the ability to defend himself from the perils of youthful life – self defense at its finest against the most formidable opponents.

Some kids had trained in judo or karate, others knew how to box or wrestle, and yet others were just athletic and big, capable of taking care of themselves. And then there was Glen.

Glen was a scrawny kid everyone liked to pick on. And for some strange reason Glen would do things to get other kids mad and they would push him around. But kids didn’t get very far with Glen as he was the ultimate master of self-defense.

What was this ultimate self-defense system of Glen? Well he didn’t know judo or karate, and he never learned how to box or wrestle. He certainly wasn’t athletic and big. Yet Glen was able to defend himself against a half dozen kids at one time. How do I know? Well I was one of those kids. As hard as we tried, Glen was able to defend himself against all of us. We tried our best for over one hour, yet Glen’s body and face did not bear one bruise, cut or scratch.

And by the way, Glen was the last person anything close to Kato; but like Kato, he was a master in the art of self-defense.

You see, Glen knew how to run. He could run fast and he could run far. He always won games of tag. Nobody could touch him. One time he got about six of us kids mad and we all went after him on foot. It started at the school playground and ventured across the street to Sutter’s Fort. It seemed like the chase lasted an eternity covering the whole 6-block perimeter of the Sutter’s Fort Park. We tried our best, yelling expletives along with “you are going to get it when we get you!”. But we never did.

I sometimes think of Glen; I did so last evening during my walk past my elementary school alma mater. Whether he lives in Sacramento, what he looks like and whether he can still run. I'm sure in some small way, he gave me a thrill of running. One thing I’ll always remember about Glen, he was a master of self-defense because he could run, run, run.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum