Cardio

Did about 22 minutes of cardio this morning. This is the fifth day of the early rise gym routine. I have a lot of background with running starting with cross country in high school (about a million years ago) Part of running back then was beating back the dinosaurs with our clubs. It was more like today's biathalon instead of running and shooting, we were running and clubbing. Ok, diverted a bit there. It's my comedic nature...

anyway, I was recently training to run a marathon, when I twisted my ankle wicked bad. I was taking out the trash, so the injury was unrelated to the grueling running schedule, but since I was going back to a full time job, I decided not to get back into that time consuming cycle. A little divergent there, as well, but background helps.
My point is that I was asked how someone could increase their speed in their running routine. I suggested interval training, which is what I am doing now.

This is easier to keep track of on a treadmill. Every third minute, boost your speed up a few notches above your normal pace. When that minute is complete, drop the speed back down. Repeat through your run.
After doing that for a half dozen runs, switch it up. This means that the faster pace is kept for two out of every three minutes. After another half dozen runs you should be able to have the entire run at the new faster pace.

I am not talking about jumping a significant amount. If your normal pace is 5 mph, the increased pace might be 5.2 mph. If you keep the interval training going, after a few months the pace should be up to maybe 5.5 or 5.6 mph. Do only what you feel comfortable with, and always consult your doctor before starting any exercise program.

On another note, I have now lost 5 pounds since starting at the gym 11 days ago. This is a combination of eating better (not eating great, but better - more whole foods) and the exercise. Next week I am going to start the Reset program. The average weight loss on that five day program is 6 pounds. We'll see what kind of numbers I can put up.