I Love Pain!


I cheat when I run. And I don’t mean that I jump into the last mile of a marathon or that I do blood doping. It’s the little cheats in my training that make a big difference in my results.

Not being a competitive runner, I run races, sure – just not to win them. Although I do really enjoy passing people – but don’t worry, I don’t throw elbows or shriek “ON YOUR LEFT!!!” as I throw you into the water table. (Wow, there’s a story for another time.) However, I’m all about beating myself. I love getting faster. I love feeling powerful. I love feeling like I’m flying as I leap over small curbs in a single bound.

I do not love long training runs. I’m a very chatty girl and unless I have an equally crazy friend who is willing to keep me company for three hours then I don’t really want to do them. Sure, I’ve got an mp3 player with some really great music on it. (Side note: it took me until adulthood to realize that everyone thinks they have the best music. For years I honestly thought I just had better taste than everyone else. Which is really embarrassing considering I went through a major New Kids on the Block phase.) But even the best music ever doesn’t keep me going that long.

Saved By the Research
Now, glory be to new research, I don’t have to! According to the Exercise Sports Science Review, a little interval training can go a long way. For years it was thought you should train for what you actually do (i.e. long runs for marathoners, sprints for sprinters). But a substantial body of research shows that HIIT (high intensity interval training) can produce the same physiologic benefits of long runs.

The Review states that, “six 15-minute workouts of “very intense exercise” in two weeks can increase skeletal muscle oxidative capacity and endurance performance and alter metabolic control during aerobic-based exercise.”

They have one caveat: You have to be willing and able to endure a lot of pain for a short period of time. Hey, I love pain!!! Except in childbirth. Or bowling. Or toenail clipping. Or slivers. Or spider killing. Okay, I’m a huge wuss. I can’t even watch scary movies. I had to leave the theater during Sixth Sense, thereby ensuring that I would never get any “I see dead people” jokes. And there are a lot of “I see dead people” jokes.

Anyone who has ever pushed hard enough to achieve or get close to their maximum heart rate knows exactly what kind of pain I’m talking about. It’s officially called “Zone 5” for those of you into the zone thing. I call it the barf stage. For me, I start to get light-headed. Then spots appear around my peripheral vision. Those spots then coalesce into an increasingly narrow tunnel. My heart feels like it’s going to explode and I can’t even tell if my legs are moving anymore. And then I think I’m going to barf. Or faint. Which I have done, embarrassingly enough.

That’s HIIT. Thankfully, you only have to last a few seconds at that level. (Repeated for 10-15 minutes).

An Inadvertant Experiment
As the Gym Buddies and I did CrossFit, we noticed that it incorporates a lot of sprinting. It does a few longer runs (10K & 5K) but more often the running is done in short intense bursts. The popular favorite is either a 400-meter or an 800-meter (half a mile) all-out run.

At first Gym Buddy Allison (the only one of the Gym Buddies crazy enough to do this with me) and I hated these days but we did them because, well, it was an experiment. After doing them for a month though, we have learned to hate them even more! Well, it’s true. We don’t look forward to them. But I do secretly love them for how they have improved my running. I’ve dropped more than 1.5 minutes from my fast mile and a minute from my pace speed. And that is with doing maybe 2 longer runs that entire month. Plus, you feel completely awesome when you finish. It’s like that feeling after you have a really good pee – you know the kind I’m talking about, where you think “Man, am I still going? I can’t believe that was all in me! Oh yeah, somebody’s been hydrating!” Any of you noticed this phenomenon? (The sprinting, not the peeing. Aw heck, tell me about your peeing too. You know I love bodily fluids.)

Now it’s time for one of those late-night-sleepover type questions: Would you rather run short & hard (and possibly puke or wet yourself in front of a Gym Hottie) and quickly improve your fitness OR would you rather run long and slower and improve at a slower rate? OR would you rather die by falling into a volcano or into an ice crevasse? Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s? Mounds or Almond Joy? Cocaine or a root canal? So many questions, too few sleepovers!

14 Comments

  1. Im a longerslower I think.

    though you would NOT believe the number of people who (unsolicited) tell me Im wasting my time when I choose to do my cardio that way.

    Im more a weights than cardio fan (though I do both) and really DO NOT wanna feel the burn (aka the pukage of which you spoke) during cardio.

    oh

    and it’s my ME TIME so perhaps I DO want it to be long.

    that just occurred to me 🙂

    and the blood doping line? HILARIOUS.

  2. I’m more of a slow and steady girl. I do incorporate sprint intervals into my regular running regimen, but it’s more like 4 quarters and an 800 to 1/2 mile at as fast as I can carry out for that distance. And I run them over the course of 3 – 4 miles, once a week.

    But you know, I really love the long runs. I love clearing my head and how awesome I feel about myself after I’ve run for an hour or longer. Sadly, I need the de-stressing me time.

  3. I probably lean toward the LSD (long slow distance), though I usually run at about a 7:30 mile pace if you call that slow, with some speed work thrown in, and then HIIT on cross trainers, like the stairmaster. Like Gena said, there is more to running than just the “exercise.” I’ve read a lot about how running activates your brain, and in my case, almost every major operation I’ve done, where I had the time beforehand, was planned out in my mind while running. Maybe for the emergencies I should run to the hospital, but it’s a little far:-)

    Glad your taping went well, and I look forward to the show!

    Dr J

  4. I was a long and slow girl at first. (And I think it’s great for anyone who isn’t already a runner…it builds confidence to be able to say “hey I just ran 5 miles!”)

    but

    now I’m doing speed intervals and feel myself getter faster which makes me feel even more hardcore. (key word being “feel”)

  5. For me, there is nothing more enjoyable than a long, slow run on a beautiful spring day. (for me, long = about 6 miles. So I guess that’s not all that long for you marathoners out there.) It just feels so good to be out there and moving around!

    That being said, y’all know how much I love MBG, which is all about the FIIT -although I must say I don’t like the puke phase and don’t quite get there too often. But I work pretty damn hard on those interval workouts and afterwards I feel fantastic! I just don’t feel quite as fantastic WHILE I’m doing it – but whatever, it’s only a few minutes out of my day and afterwards I really do feel much better than when I started. And since I’ve been making such great progress, it is enough to motivate me to do it again. (much like your Crossfit, I’m sure.)

  6. Oh, and to answer your other questions: volcano (what can I say, I love fire) Alzheimers (at least I wouldn’t know I was crazy) Almond Joy (because I always feel like a nut) Cocaine (um, duh!) :0) lol

  7. And I posted before I had coffee. 800 m = 1/2 mile. Duh.

  8. My Ice Cream Diary

    I am a long a slow unless I have someone there to push me and then I can go for the fast pain.

    Ice crevase. I hear the cold makes you fall asleep. I have a hard time thinking a volcano would do the same. Alzheimers because ignorance is bliss. Heath Bar. And totally Cocaine if I were about to fall into the crevase but root canal if I’m going to live longer.

  9. Am I alone in loving the pain? I enjoy a good HIIT because I actually feel like I’m working, plus I have issues with blisters on long runs. I am thrilled to no end that these 20 minute runs are actually helping me train for my 10k, thank goodness! The HIIT is the way to go with fat loss too which is my primary motivator.
    (though maybe I’m not H enough in my HIIT, I have not puked nor passed out. yet…)

  10. I do the bulk of my runs LSD(runs from 6 to 14miles), but will do strides (150 meter sprints/pickups) and what my coach calls “Zoomers” Charlotte you’d probably like these so I’ll tell you about hem. After you’ve already run/worked out, you start up a treadmill (stand with both feet on each side of the belt while it cranks up) these can be done to fitness level (or desired pain). So, what I do: Crank the treadmill to 10.0 (6min mile) jump on and run for 10 sec, then crank it to 11.0 for 10sec, then turn the incline to 3% for 10, then up to 7% for another 10, before coming back down to 0 incline and 10 m/hr for 10 sec and start the whole thing again (aprox 40sec in total). That’s one set,After you’re done with one set take a 1-2 min break and do 5-7 of them. You can build you to doing two sets in a row (80sec total)or more.
    The “slow” pace is supposed to be a few seconds slower than 5k race pace, the first set should be an 8 of 10.
    Sorry for the long comment, but these seemed like something you’d like to hear about. 😉

  11. That’s really interesting, I might try some HIIT some time it looks like fun (sick masochistic fun, but fun anyway). I’ve been watching the Australian version of the Biggest Loser and the contestants keep doing that (running at 20k/h on the treadmill) and it looks like fun!!

  12. Rachel – totally agree with you about MBG! They were the ones that pretty much made me fall in love with HIIT!

    Randi – sounds like you are right on target. I’m not advocating puking or passing out! And I’m with you – love my sprints:)

    Kjirsten – I am SO trying your Zoomers today!! It’s just Allison and I today and I know she’ll be up for it too. Thanks for the idea!

  13. I just found you because of Lisa at WorkOutMommy. This post is the first one of yours that I have read and am inspired to try your suggestion (after my Adventure Race this weekend and Time Trial next weekend). I’m gonna see if it will help me achieve my first full marathon this fall.

    I would rather run short & hard (and possibly puke or wet myself in front of a Gym Hottie) and quickly improve my fitness. A close second would be dying by falling into an ice crevasse!

    None of the following: Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s? Mounds or Almond Joy? Cocaine or a root canal?

    Question back to you: which would your rather — train outside (bike or run) in a headwind on a hotday or heavy rain storm?

  14. Kamboja – welcome!! Hope you’ll visit often:) As for your question – easy: I’d take torrential rain every time. I’m very heat sensitive and at least in the rain although I might be miserable, at least I wouldn’t get heat stroke!