Why does hill running hurt so much? In part, because it takes more work. You have to recruit more muscle fibres to get yourself up the hill, which causes those muscles to fatigue faster. Plus, when you’re running on an incline, there’s a shorter distance for your foot to fall before it hits the ground. That translates into less of an energy boost from the tendons, which you normally get when running on a flat surface.
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Go from no running at all to 30mins non stop, all in 8 weeks.
The training plan that follows is designed to get you to the point where you can run 30 minutes (about 3-4km’s) at a slow, relaxed pace. It’s a simple, progressive program that begins with more walking than running, and gradually evolves into more running than walking. Each week’s plan also includes a training tip. Once you are able to run 4km’s nonstop, you can decide on your next goal. You might simply want to continue running 3-4km’s at a time, three or four days per week. Research has shown that this is enough to help you maintain weight, and improve many other important health markers, i.e., your cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin response. Or you might decide that you want to do more, in which case keep updated with harder, more challenging running programs through Twitter or the Progression Fitness fan page. The first 3km’s are the hardest 3km’s you will ever run. Once you have reached this level of fitness, it’s relatively easy to do more. You simply have to budget the time, and be patient and disciplined in your training.
FACT or fiction – Is There a “Fat Burning Zone?” And Where Is Yours? {www.progressionfitness.com.au}
Recently someone asked me: What pace should I run for maximum calorie burning? At last, an easy one!
Answer: You burn the most calories/minute when you run your fastest. Calorie burn is directly related to effort. Whether you’re running, biking, swimming or doing pushups, you burn the most calories (for that activity) when you’re doing it as fast as you can. (Of course you probably can’t keep going for more than 10 seconds or so, but that’s another issue.)
The fat-burning question is more complex and confusing. So confusing that wrong answers lurk in many places: at the water cooler, in the locker room, and on endless Internet pages.
THE MYTH:
EXERCISE IN THE FAT-BURNING ZONE
THE TRUTH:
The “fat-burning zone” lies between 50 and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. When you exercise at this low intensity, your body draws energy from fat. As your heart rate goes up, more energy comes from carbs. So it seems logical that to lose fat you should keep your heart rate low, says Jason Karp, Ph.D., owner of Runcoachjason.com. But that’s not the case.
“Running at higher intensities causes you to burn a lower percentage of fat calories in favor of carbs,” says Karp, “but you use more total calories.” And that’s the key to slimming down. Plus, since you torch more total calories, the absolute amount of fat burned actually increases, too. So it pays to pick up the pace.
Of course, lower intensity exercise still has its place. Long, slow runs build aerobic fitness and endurance. But to kickstart a pokey metabolism, you need intensity. Karp suggests interval training (condensed runs that mix in intense efforts with recovery) because studies have found these workouts burn more calories during and after exercise (see “Torch Calories” below for Karp’s interval workout). “It also cuts down on boredom,” he says, “which makes it more likely you’ll stick with your program.”
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