| Texas Aggie |
Thu Aug 25, 2005 02:08pm |
I'm sure some will disagree, but like it or not, true cardio fitness starts and ends with running. I don't know whether Lance Armstrong runs or not, but even if he doesn't, the alternative to running (in his case) is 3 times as long on the bike. And unless you are doing hills, intervals, and moving at a serious pace, you aren't getting the benefits you will from running. Besides, running is a key part of basketball officiating, so the better you are at it, the better you will be as an official in terms of court coverage. Plus, you'll look the part better.
As far as a program, I think its a good idea to adopt an interval (fast followed by slower, then repeat) program. Not only will it get your conditioning going into overdrive, it will burn fat and it mimics the basketball work you do.
Unlike someone just starting out, you should have no trouble being on your feet for an hour straight. Thus, I suggest the following: a light 30 second jog followed by a minute and a half walk. You can make the walk brisk or slower, depending upon your need to recover, but start at this pace and go for at least 40 minutes while working up to an hour. At 40 minutes doing this you should easily cover 2 miles. Maybe more depending on the level you are starting out with. You might want to do a half mile or so walk to warm-up. If so, start out counting that as part of the 40 minutes, but by the time you are running more than you are walking (see below) don't count the warm-up in your overall time.
If you find that pace isn't pushing you, decrease slowly the rest period. I would suggest doing a week at 30 seconds jog/ 1 minute walk (again, brisk or whatever you need). Then, in the weeks to follow, add 5 seconds to your jog and decrease 5 seconds from your walk per week. Another thing you can do is to do one week at 30/1, then then next week run a little faster and walk a little more briskly. Then, do the 5 second add/subtract the next week even if you have to back off your pace.
You will get to a point where you can cover the full 1:30 jogging. At that point, either just work on increasing your intensity or go like 1:45 with a :15 second walk. It might be a better idea to stay at, say, 1:15 jog and :15 walk (or even 1:00 jog/:30 walk) and stay there -- just increase your intensity, especially in the run. THAT will mimic your basketball. If you want to keep running for an hour, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The only problem is you might put more miles than you really need on your body. But you can deal with that problem if and when it appears.
Don't neglect other stuff. I run/walk in the morning, and hit the weights at night -- 4 nights a week. That's going to be a challenge in season, but you should have 3 nights a week off (or weekends) to get your weight work in. Even if you don't build muscle easily, the weights will add muscle that will in itself burn fat and make you fitter. Plus, it burns calories, and will help you in running.
Go to fitday.com and sign up (its free). You can start keeping track of your intake and exercise and I've found it very useful.
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