Necessary Evils.

They exist everywhere in our lives, these necessary evils. Whether it's the morning traffic jam called a commute, or sitting beside the most annoying guy in the office, they find their ways into our lives and we have two choices. We can either endure and be unhappy or we can change. Everyone has a different necessary evil. For me, it's long distance cardio. The thought of running farther than 100m makes me cringe and to be honest I've neglected the long distances ever since I stopped training for a triathlon about 4 years ago. I've been on and off with it but never really found the motivation or the point really. I got caught up in HIIT, Interval Training, HIT, Tabata, Turbulance, Ballistic and other acronyms to describe high intensity training. I assumed that because I was busting my ass doing these workouts, panting and completely exhausted at the end something beneficial must have been happening. The physiological benefits were there, but I wasn't happy at the thought of not being able to just simply run for awhile. I felt imbalanced and inadequate in that area. After re-evaluating my goals and prioritizing the importance of longevity, I've re-introduced the long distance cardio to my workouts. I'm not training for a marathon here but using it to balance my fitness approach. It MUST find it's way into training. Quick story, during my undergrad at U of T, we had to do a 12 minute run fitness test for one of our classes. Being in Phys-Ed, I assumed everyone would have no problem with this, should be a walk in the park. But after about 7 minutes in I say the struggle in people's eyes and was just shocked. How could we be the fitness ambassadors of tomorrow and not easily run for 12 minutes. RIDICULOUS!!!

After a smack in the face of reality and some research, distance cardio is back... and back for good in my training program. If you're looking to incorporate long distance work in your training I'd recommend starting with 1-2 times per week and building from there. Everyones definition of long distance work will vary but I'd say building up to 45 min plus would be a safe bet. If you can find a park to run in or trails, your ankles, knees, hips and back will thank you later on in life. Really take a look at your current training program and see if it's meeting your needs for a balanced fitness approach. If your one of those people wanting to shape up for the summer, now is a great time to start planning that out. A well planned and balanced fitness approach will trump a fad program any day. It's about outfitting your body for what you need it to do.

Quan, OUT