I’ve heard a few times, “hey I saw you out jogging”.
Incidentally one person in particular had seen me during a workout when I was “jogging”
six-one mile repeats at 5:45 pace. Sure Mister, I was jogging. REALLY!?!
My cousin who has recently taken up road racing actually posed
this as a subject for one of my blogs. I'm guessing since her training began she has been getting this question? Perhaps right after a tough run, thinking of a finger as she smiles and answers how many miles she "jogged"?
It is interesting to hear people use the
term jogging to describe what I affectionately refer to as running. I will admit
I have jogged. I consider my pre-race warm-ups more of a jog as I am not doing
anything too strenuous to warm up my muscles; just enough so that I am feeling
fresh from the sound of the gun. I also consider it jogging when I am trying to
keep the legs warm during a stop light in the Iowa winters. (By the way haven't these 90 degree plus temps been great?)
So what makes you a runner or a jogger? Perhaps it’s a
personal judgment call? Whatever it is, I have to say I have lots of flutters
in my heart for all of the people I see at road races. You are ALL winners and
as far as I am concerned NO ONE comes in last! Even the last place person who
may appear to the couch potatoes to be a jogger, still BEAT the couch potato.
Feel
free to honk or wave if you see me on the street. Please don’t ask me how my
jogging is going or that you saw me jogging. Trust me, come along for a “jog”
with me and I will set the record straight. Get your gait on and run or jog if you wish, I
will be running. Will you be running or jogging that is the question…and how do
you determine who is a runner and who is a jogger?
ok- so my question is... what are the keys to getting faster? I run between a 7.30 and 8 min mile for my races and I would like nothing more than to clock a sub 7. What kind of things should I focus on to get faster? Sprints during my regular runs? Should I do some cross training and focus on building stronger form or maybe lose a few lbs? What's the secret?
ReplyDeleteKeys to getting faster are mixing hill repeats, intervals, tempos (typically not a crowd pleaser), and oddly enough SLOW running on recovery or easy days when you aren't performing an actual workout. Cross training can be great also. I guess I would emphasize getting hills in each week even if you are just doing 2-8 (8 second) hill sprints. Many people get injured from not working some of those muscles used for uphill running. I would also add strength training which you can do in your own living room with either free weights or just your body weight with various exercises and furniture/stairs. I will look for this great tutorial that was from a newspaper and send it your way as long as you will forgive the crazy PDF formatting it is in.
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