The weather in Maine has been bipolar in nature. This is the time of year when the maple saps flows. Cold nights, followed by warm days. How warm? Well one day last week, it was 65 sunny degrees. The very next day, it was under 30 and we had a snow storm that sent the kids home early from school. But for the most part, it is delightful. The chill in the air in the early mornings, is perfect for being outside. I love the crispy air early in the morning.I am not a runner. As a matter of fact, I hate running. I have a strong dislike for steady-state cardio of all sorts. I think it is unnatural for a human to run marathons, or do step-aerobics, or sit on bikes to "spin" to nowhere for an hour at a time.
I like intervals. I think that our ancestors, back in the hunter-gather era, would have spurts of high intensity exertion, the chase. Then the hunter would have slow lumbering exercise, walking back to the village. Since my hunting for food, means scanning the papers for bargains and sales, I have to exercise.
Telephone Sprints
- Find a long road, safe for running, that has telephone poles running along side.
- Jog lightly for 2 minutes, just long enough to warm up your muscles.
- Find the nearest telephone pole and when you get to it, sprint as if a gnarly beast is chasing you until you get to the next telephone pole.
- Walk or lightly jog to the next telephone pole.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 for a total of 20 minutes. After ten minutes, you may want to turn around and come back the way you came.
- Now you should be about where you stopped the warm-up jog. Walking home is a great way to cool down.
- Are you a fighter? While your muscles are still warm from the sprints, it is a perfect time to do stretches for flexibility.
