So I walk five laps, and then I sprint 1.5 laps or 300 meters. I gave up on jogging. Its just hard on my knees. Sprinting seems easier. More fun too.
When I finish the sprint, I am pretty much out of breath, but it really doesn’t hit me until I slow down. Interestingly.
When I slow down though, both my arm get a flood of tingles, not at all unpleasant. I feel pretty darn good for a few seconds. I imagine I am starving my arms of oxygen for that minute and a half.
Or do I have poor circulation? That is my question.
Sprinting and other forms of intense, short duration exercise are anaerobic effort; that is, they are essentially independent of respiration, and are powered by energy reserves stored in the muscle (glycogen). Once these are depleted, the muscles have to recharge these stores from the liver or conversion of glucose (so-called “blood sugar”) in order to sustain activity. As blood sugar is depleted, the body will then switch to converting lipids (adipose tissue or “body fat”) into glucose and then glycogen, which provides energy for long duration activities.
By the way, there is absolutley nothing wrong with sprinting, provided you do it with good form and follow up with suitable recovery period and nutrition. Multiple sprints and other forms of interval training which approach or exceed 100% VO[SUB]max[/SUB] (maximum respiratory oxygen intake) are at least as beneficial in terms of aerobic conditioning as jogging and other long slow distance (LSD) exercise, and result in less repetitive stress type injuries. Conditioning from LSD-type exercises tend to plateau relatively quickly and provide little in the way of strength and power performance; in fact, the only real advantage is that they improve glycogen storage capability in the muscles, but at the expense of developing power and usually overall strength. Sprinting or other intense ‘aerobic’ exercise like burpees or jump rope, combined with bodyweight or freeweight exercises and some coordination exercises is the best overall approach to general fitness.
I’m definitely hitting peak VOmax. I get that feeling “need to breath faster” but I cannot. Nevertheless, energy is coming from somewhere, and it still feels sustainable; I am not getting dizzy.
If I hold my breath at that point, I can sustain it; there is more air to be had. The rapid breathing is purely reflex, and I need to suppress it. I’m currently practising pacing my breathing as I run.
Sprinting is less stressful than jogging, which feels pretty unnatural to tell you the truth.
Thanks for encouraging me. Its good to know I am using a “best overall approach”.
Barbitu8, I currently sprint 300 meters, and would like to work my way up to 500. It takes me a minute or so I would guess, but I need to be timed.
Today is walk day, and the day after I will sprint again.
When I was in Jr. High / High School, 40+ years ago (southern california), we called them burpees. We had regular (“4-point”) burpees, “6-point” burpees, and for even greater torture, “8-point” burpees. The higher-order burpees were created by adding extra push-ups in the middle.
The OP didn’t say if he was carrying the question while he was out running with it (might explain the soreness, if question was heavy), or if he had it running along-side him on a leash.
