Eric Frey.net

So far this week, my only workouts have been from my Kendo classes. Today I did a 5k run to see how my time compared to last June when the heat made drove me indoors for the better part of my workouts.

Last June my best time was 25:49, and I want to get below 25:00. Today’s run was finished in 28:27. I can account for about 1 and a half minutes at water fountains (I didn’t stop for water on that 25:49 time), but that still leaves me about 1 and a half minutes slower.

My goal is to get to sub 25:00, and if possible sub 22:00 for a 5k run on Thanksgiving. Since getting faster is one of my goals right now with martial arts as well, I’m re-working my exercise routine to focus on things that will get me faster. I’m going to make sure I get my running in, but more of my exercise routine is going to be spent doing Tabata intervals to help build explosive power and speed.

Tabata intervals are spent doing an exercise at high intensity for 20 seconds, and then taking a 10 second rest. This taxes the anaerobic energy pathways, but also ends up increasing aerobic capacity. It’s a very efficient type of work out. It is frequently done with sprints. 20 seconds sprinting, 10 seconds walking. This is done 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. It’s a very vigorous workout for just 4 minutes!

I’m going to be doing various circuits of strength or speed exercises in this manner. Since I’m going to be mixing up the circuits, I hope to keep from getting bored with maintaining a routine through the end of November.

Since each circuit will have 4 exercises, I’ll switch exercises with each 10 second rest and go 4 rounds for a total of 8 minutes of high intensity work. Then do an ab circuit for 2 rounds or 4 minutes. Total workout time will be 12 minutes, and I’ll scale up in rounds as I see fit. Most of the circuits have some variations on Olympic weightlifting to them, but some are specific to kendo, karate, or running. As I tweak each circuit and perform it, I’ll describe it in a blog entry. I’ll get video if I can. Right now, all of the stuff I’ve come up with seems very heavy on squatting and pressing movements, so I need to balance that a bit.