Purposeful Fitness

These are the heart rate data from my 5K (3.2 miles) on the treadmill this evening.  It was a 35 minute experience.  It wasn't my typical 5K run.  It was a run-walk-run 5K with a specific purpose.  And the goal of this post is to model the habit of attaching fitness to a purpose.

The purpose of tonight's training was to support personal fitness and family fitness.  In about 12 days my family from Delaware (flat) will be visiting the White Mountains in New Hampshire (not flat). Not too long ago we decided that one of our family goals is to climb all the 4000 footers in the Whites.

Tonight's fitness strategy is informed by experience from last year (Jan. 2015), when the premier hike took us to the summit of Mt. Pierce with a temperature at the summit well below 0.  We have been visiting the Whites for 2-3 days at a time in the summers and winters.  During each visit, our first hike is an easier 'shake-down' hike in which the purpose is to become reacquainted with the temperatures, the terrain, our gear and fitness.

Last year was our first attempt at a Winter 4000 footer.  If you believe in comprehensive fitness, you believe in planning and being prepared.  This list of recommended equipment from the Appalachian Mountain Club will fill a backpack and I haven't hiked with a  full pack in years.  Our shakedown hike was a beautiful hike up Mt. Pemigewasset.  Unfortunately, I wasn't fit for the task and it made me very tired and very sore.  Embarrassingly so.  I bounced back well enough for the larger hikes on the following days but I have absolutely no interest in being unfit again at the wrong time this year, especially with family-welfare at stake.

So this evening's treadmill workout went like this:

• Run a 9-minute mile.
• Walk 1.2 miles at 4 mph with the incline set at 14.  
• Run a 9 minute mile.

This workout was hard for me and it accomplished exactly what I hoped.  It gave me a mild sensation of low-back strain and my tibialis anterior muscles were working very hard.  Both sets of muscles will likely be sore within 24-36 hours (delayed onset muscle soreness).  I will periodically get out of my chair and walk around at work tomorrow. These muscles will recover and if I have a few more workouts like this I will not be sore in New Hampshire due to a task-specific increase in fitness. I'll be better prepared and this elevates the family safety factor - comprehensive fitness.

And yes, my heart rate data probably look weird for someone who knows what they are looking at.  I happen to have a cardiac pacemaker.*  It keeps my heart rate above 55 beats per minute (bpm) and increases it as needed for exercise - as well as modern technology can.  The point of showing you the heart rate data is to demonstrate how much you can increase your cardiovascular demand by walking. Walking can be used sensibly to reduce the impacts that would otherwise occur with running - while still getting great fitness benefits.  Some of my favorite Kinesiology experiments from the 1970s are Scandinavian studies that show substantial increases in VO2 max (the ability to use oxygen for work) due to a program of inclined treadmill walking with ski poles.  Very specific - very purposeful.
  

During my first 9 minute mile of running my HR was around 140 bpm.  When running or cycling, I rarely see my HR at the pacemaker's maximum setting of 160 bpm.  But after the first blue line on the graph, look at how the heart rate goes up with walking at 4 mph on a 14% incline.  It quickly went up to 160 bpm and stayed there as constantly as a machine would (straight lines in natural heart rate data are rare).  And wow, I learned something new about myself.  Once I got my heart rate up to 160 bpm by power walking - it stayed there even after I switched back to the easier 9-minute mile run on the level treadmill.

Bottom line - I am better staying fit when I attach it to a purpose and when the purpose relates to more people than just me.  I hope you can find the higher purpose in your fitness too.

*  The big dips in the HR data are where the monitor strap lost contact with my chest.