Stratergizing

here.  Please read the post if you want to understand how the following concepts work.  Today I was discussing strategies for running with someone.  The idea is that if you have a specific goal for running, pullups, rowing, etc.  What strategies do you use to accomplish your goals?

We will use the goal of running a mile in 6 minutes as our example.  The first thing you do is go out and run a mile as fast as you can and see how long it takes you, right?  That is called task priority.  You can keep running it as fast as possible and over time you may or may not reach the 6 minute mark (especially if thats all you are doing).  How about a time priority?  See what distance you can run in 6 minutes.  Keep running as hard as you can for six minutes until you eventually make that mile marker within the time frame.  Use only one or the other and you will see slow progress, but use them both and you will acheive your goal at a quicker pace.  How about breaking down the mile into 4x400m runs?  You would need to be running at a 1:30 pace for each 400m to reach that goal.

 Start by running a 400 meter at 1:30 with a 2 minute break in between.  Over time, the rest interval will become shorter and shorter until no rest is needed.  Use all of these methods in varying intervals and you will achieve your goal in a much shorter time frame than any one alone.  The reason is that each exercise stresses your body different metabolically, or the energy required to perform these exercises varies.

We can see this clearly in some of our regular bench mark workouts that include body weight.  Look at Angie, Barbara, Chelsea and Cindy.  On the surface, these WODs look very similar.  They all include general body weight exercises such as pull ups, push ups, sit ups, and squats, but they are each uniquely demanding as to be completely different workouts.