Talk to me about sprinting

I have decided to limit my running to the treadmill because the streets in my neighborhood are concrete, and it makes my knees hurt to run on them.

So outside in the neighborhood I am doing 3 miles at a fast walk.  I was wondering if it would be beneficial to incorporate sprinting in my routine.  I heard this could help boost weight loss,  but I have some questions...

1.  Would it be harmful to my knees?

2.  How do I do it?  Is it a  time or a distance thing?  Like, do I just run as fast as I can for like 30 seconds every so often or what?

Thanks!

Incorporating sprints is a fine idea if you are able to do them.  I would suggest you start out by using the Fartlek method (no, it is not a joke...it is Swedish for "speed play").  Google it or check out this article:

http://www.active.com/story.cfm?STORY_ID=1045 5&CATEGORY=running&SIDEBAR=13&CHE CKSSO=0

I have also known runners that incorporate sprints by doing a few rounds of telephone pole runs (walk this distance between 2 poles, jog the next distance, sprint the next, repeat). 

Good luck!

Before I read the article, I had to say....LOL on the name,  hee!

My neighborhood doesn't have telephone poles, maybe I can use the street lights.

Hey Joy, I'm a sucker for a running thread!

I do most of my running on a treadmill too.  For me it is faster and more enjoyable.  I normally start with a five minute warm up.  I begin jogging and vary my speed every two to three minutes for one minute.

For example:

5 Minutes: Warm up

2 Minutes: Jog at 5.0

1 Minute: Run at 5.5

2 Minutes: Jog at 4.8

1 Minute: Run at 6.0

and so on for about 40 minutes.  Granted, I haven't lost much weight in the last few months, but I think it is because I need to eat a little more.  I am currently running four miles a day and consume between 1,600-1,800 calories.  I'm going to try and bump it up to 1,900 and see what happens.

Good luck with your running.  It gives me a huge high and makes me feel so powerful!

hey, i'm a marathon runner - and i think sprinting is an AWESOME idea!

I do 1 long distance run (12 miles a week) and 2 medium runs (8 miles) and twice a week i do HITT workouts - which are 12 sets of 30-45 second sprints.  you can go on mapquest to track your distance or googlemaps etc. when i do my longdistance run i find it too tedious to run 12 miles on a treadmill so i run outside.... to keep my pace and track my distance outside i use a metranome and mapquest....

sprinting is great b/c it helps your anerobic activity....so when you are doing long distance cardio your heart doesn't have to work as hard....if you are a runner it helps you run faster on those long distance runs.  it's kind of like weight lifting for your heart...i used to run long distance everday at a 6.5mph....now that i've added sprinting i can run 8 miles in 1 hour. 

what i would suggest is sprint as fast as you can for 30-45 seconds...then slow to a walk for 1minute - 2 minute....repeat this 12 times. 

as for the hard on the knees question.....i would say it's ok since it's not long distance - youre only actually running for about 6-8 minutes...do you have a good pair of runners? i used to have lots of problems with running outside until i invested in a good pair of asics.....i think that as long as you stick to the treadmill for any distance cardio you should be good

hope this is helpful!