By Corey McMickle

Now that the debates are well underway I couldn’t see a better way for us to cope with these modern day episodes of the Looney Tunes. The badgering and slanderous talk of each other, it almost makes me feel bad for whoever doesn’t win. That’s a healthy dose of crow they’ll have to eat after dishing out such hateful propaganda.

But who hasn’t said or done something we, in the end, regretted? Is it just coincidence that the “Sprint on the Flint” is this weekend, the same week we wrap up our running article? I think not! Let’s not regret missing this opportunity to utilize this new found knowledge riddle somewhere in these lines. So get to it.

Last time we were here I was wanting us to warm up for five minutes with, what some have called, a “sassy walk” and then switching between a minute’s worth of running and then a minute and a half of jogging, for a total of thirty minutes and only three times a week. Now things are going to get simpler and more difficult at the same time.

At the beginning of our fifth week let’s continue to warmup the same way for five minutes and then we’ll begin to jog for five minutes instead of our original minute and a half. With a steady pace that’s on tempo for a half a mile a jogging section! Now these are probably going to be an extremely long five minutes our first couple times, but they’ll fly by once our heart rate gets going and we begin to loosen up properly. After doing this for four times finish with a three minute jog our fifth jogging section to finish us out for the day. Let’s have that be our staple for the next two weeks.

So let’s remember, a 5k is precisely 3.1 miles worth of “fun.” How are our sessions looking distance wise after a month? If you’re not as sharp as most with numbers I’ll tell you. After a month of this schedule we’re churning out a little over two miles a complete session. That’s remarkable, probably just as much as it is difficult. I’m not going to slap these words on the page and just expect you to zip outside and hop through this, and that’s why I’ve designed it the way I have. This is like when you go to the pool, you stick your toe in to test the waters. If you just thought, “If I wanna run 3.1 miles why don’t I just get out there and get after it?” That’d be like me shoving you in the pool instead of you sticking your toe in. Ill prepared for the harsh and painful coldness of the water. Not how you want to tackle learning to run, or much of anything in life. (I won’t charge you for that life lesson)

After those two weeks we start doing some serious jogging sessions. The first running session I want us to (after warmup) jogging for ten minutes, walk for three minutes, then finishing with another ten minute jog. Please remember, this is our first running session for the week. The other two simply consist of a warmup and jogging for two and a half miles. We’ll never want to jog the complete 3.1 miles until our first 5k. This keeps us from overexerting ourselves for a measly extra half a mile and still inside our thirty minute window. But once you start getting done with those two and a half miles earlier than our thirty minute mark, just continue with that “sassy walk” until you’ve completed your time frame of a half an hour.

That’s my goal, to keep you going for no more than thirty minutes. I understand how precious your time is. You have a job, children, a spouse, a football team and hopefully friends that need this valuable resource just as much as fitness. That’s why I’ve taken the time to lay this out for us, to keep your schedule streamlined and easy to maintain, while possibly making you a healthier person. I just need you give yourself the time for this endeavor. Good luck and happy fall Port City.