Team S.J.G.R. Thursday Team Huddle #7: Interval Improvements

Fist Bump for Team S.J.G.R.! Exercise UP, Forks DOWN, baby!!

Y'all! What's up?!!

First, let me say this:

You guys ROCK for all of this healthy heart stuff you've been doing. ROCK, people. You've been walking. You've been running. You've been putting down the fork and picking up healthy habits. And your hearts are better for it. You know what? Mine is, too.

Peep that hashtag: #TeamS.J.G.R.

And for those who are still thinking about it? You rock, too. Because thinking about making a change is a step. It is. So shout out to you, too.

Okay. So let me make this huddle short and sweet. . . . .

I am obsessed with interval training right now. Specifically as it relates to running. For a while I'd been super determined to "run only" because I thought that would make me more bad ass. Well. What it mostly did was give me a 'flicted ankle and an annoying stress fracture. 

That just made me chuckle at my visit to Sports Medicine. Ha ha ha.

Now.

I am NOT saying that running without walk intervals gives you stress fractures. But I am saying that there's some pretty good data that supports less injuries from those who approach it this way. Especially those who are older. 

Mmmm hmmm.

Getting sidelined back in January was WHACK. I was tortured by an elliptical for 8 weeks which I did not enjoy at all. So once I got the green light after my 'flicted ankle healed, I started looking into ways to never be 'flicted again. 

Enter: Interval running.

So. . . I know that many have already heard of this. It was popularized by this superbad running dude named Jeff Galloway and most refer to it as "The Galloway Method." Essentially, you run for a stretch then walk for like a minute and then repeat. Most of the folks I know that do this approach it with a run-nine, walk-one minute set up. And for the most part, that's what I'd been doing. 

Until Saturday night.

Crystal strikes a pose as one of her multiple personalities. Ha!

Dude. At the 4 miler, my friend Crystal said, "I run intervals, so you can just run ahead if you want." And I was like, "No, I'll roll with you because I like intervals." So check it. Crystal set her Garman watch (another runner-y thingie) to beep whenever it was time to run or walk. And so we followed the beeps.

But HERE is the kicker. The intervals were run TWO minutes, WALK one minute. Yes! Sounds super crazy but can I just tell you how awesome it felt? I ran much, much faster and felt none of those tortured feelings. And I LITERALLY shaved thirty seconds off of my mile-per-minute time. And guess what? I've been doing that since Saturday and literally ran three 10:15 second miles yesterday. All using the 2:1 method. Bananas!

I think I'm going to do this for the Army 10 miler. Yup.

The thing is this: You have to get over the hateration and hairy eyeballs that you'll get. But after that stress fracture, I don't even care. Plus all those haters came in BEHIND me on Saturday. 

Mmmm hmmm.

So yeah. Peep the Galloway Method. There are also a ton of free interval apps for your phone that will tell you when to shift gears based upon what you want to do. Harry was hating on me and saying that I was going to get a tomato thrown at me in D.C. with all the Army cats for doing this. 

To which I said:

Make sure you say that, too, whenever you're worried about looking ridiculous doing some kind of exercise.

Ha ha ha. Yeah, man. 

So that's what's going on with me and my training. I am super thankful to Crystal for turning me on to this kind of interval. I'm hyped, man!

Here's Crystal with Jeff Galloway. She's a BAWSE!!

What's up with y'all?!? Whatchoo doin' these days?

***

Happy Training.

Get ready

Get set

Get heart healthy, baby!