How to Maintain Interest in Your Running Workouts by Using Variety
Although most running workouts don’t have multiple ways to exercise in the same manner as weight lifting does, there are ways to introduce variety. For example, instead of running a long distance all at once, break your run up into smaller parts.
Multiple Smaller Distances Produce a Great Workout
Doing a mile of wind sprints is at least as beneficial as running a mile non-stop. Windsprints are sprints that gradually accelerate to maximum speed on the straightaways of a track, then jogging the curves at both ends. You could run quarter mile “sprints” with gradual accelleration or full speed all the way around the track. A quarter mile is one lap around a standard track. You could run 220 yard sprints – half laps.
Increasing Distances During Your Workout
You can run increasing distances for each part of your run. In other words, run a 50 yard sprint, jog a ways, then run a 100 yard sprint. Then run a 220 yard sprint. That is half a lap on a standard track. Next, run a full speed lap – a quarter mile. Keep increasing the distances until you have a sufficient workout.
Decreasing Distances During Your Workout
You could also reverse the order with the longest distances first. If you start with the shortest distances at the beginning, be sure to warm up first. Doing a full sprint without a warm up can sometimes cause a pulled muscle or other injury.
An Added Benefit
As you can see, variety is not hard to add to your runs. These also introduce a little extra stress on your muscles, lungs, heart, etc. Even when you are running the same total distance, your muscle strength, endurance, and cardiovascular capacity all increase. You don’t need to spend any more time than usual, but things become more interesting.
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