RUN FASTER FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Run Faster, By Leaps and Bounds
YOUR DAILY FIT TIP
By Jennifer Gruenemay, ACE-Certified, Special to Lifescript
Published May 17, 2011

Training for speed is no cake walk, but it could make the difference between completing a race and competing in a race. There are a number of things you can do to become faster, but you won’t find “do the same old program you’ve always been doing” on the list.

You can’t expect to run fast in competition if you don’t run fast in practice, which means that strength and endurance training won’t make you faster. Instead, try adding intervals to your training regimen. This can be as simple as adding hills or sprints to your normal routine. Running uphill makes you work twice as hard, which builds strength, power and speed. Surprisingly, running downhill can also improve your speed.

Add plyometric (explosive movement) drills to your workouts to increase power, coordination, agility, and speed of movement. “Bounding” is a good example of a plyometric drill that can help you run faster: As you run, push forcefully off the ground with your feet for each step you take. This exaggerated version of running will have you literally leaping as you run. This improves both your explosive power and speed.

If you decide to follow a speed-training regimen, just keep in mind that it's especially hard on the body and shouldn’t be done on consecutive days.


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MY THOUGHTS

Maybe I'm ready to do this.  I've been walking around for 2-3 hours everyday for the past 13 days.  Leisurely walking.  Brisk walking. Today I walked on some rough road.  I thinks it's time.  To jog a little.  That would be some leap for someone who had been sedentary for a really long time.