Running Shorts

How did you first get into running?  It's a pretty innocuous question, but it's one that every runner gets asked at some point in his/her career. And, if you really take the time to think about, it's a really interesting question. How did you get into running? Out of all the sports there are to choose from -- basketball, baseball, football, soccer, etc. -- why did you end up just running? For me, I was always running. Both my dad and uncles were runners; competitive in high school and college, but also age-group competitive once us kids came around. I grew up with runners are role models, so the sport was something I was drawn to. But I was also a bit lucky: Mariemont had a recreational track program for elementary kids. Just like everyone played SAY soccer, little league baseball, or rec basketball growing up (I did all those things, too) my neighborhood also had a youth track team. So every spring we would "practice" one evening per week and then spend al...

What is the workout? Disclaimer: This isn't a workout I did, but one the high schoolers I help coach did. That said, I think it's a great workout, so I wanted to share it. The "speed shifter" as they ran it was: 5 sets of 3 minutes easy, 90 seconds moderate, and 30 seconds relaxed fast. No real rest between sets, just go from the relaxed fast portion straight into the easy portion of the next set. While the 'easy' part should be around your normal everyday running pace, the 'moderate' part should be near your tempo pace (or lactate threshold or half marathon or whatever you want to call it) and the 'relaxed fast' should be as fast as you can run without straining, while still holding form (think: strides. Relaxed is the key word here.). In total, it was 25 minutes of total running and 10 minutes of hard running. Add in a warmup and cooldown, and that's a solid day for a high school athlete. Why should you do it? You should do this t...