Hi, this is Debbie Boyles, coach at Mojo for Running, with episode number 159, six activities to add to track workouts to make them more fun and more effective.

In the last episode, we discussed repeats and intervals.

Today, I'll share the ways I add other activities to speed workouts to make them much more

impactful and as a side benefit, which is of great import in itself, is that it also makes

them more fun.

After a long day at work, when they're sitting in famously terrible Tampa traffic

and it's 85 degrees out, some of my runners are more focused on dinner than I'm running.

It's great if at this time I can dangle a good time in front of them, the memory of the last

workout, how accomplished they felt at the end, how they enjoyed the camaraderie of friends,

and the novelty of an unexpected activity that I introduced. If I can change it up,

surprising them and teaching them new skills at each session, they may focus on that more than the

hard work. If they believe they will get faster as a result, as they

always do, they are more likely to drive to the track, or in my case the park, than they are to

turn the wheel toward home. The activities I'm about to describe will accomplish all these goals,

and I feel sure you'll be anxious to try them yourself. The first three build coordination,

agility, and power. Any form of jumping is a plyometric activity, an activity requiring the

muscles to exert maximum force. The result is increased power. Imagine two cars at a stop

some. They appear to be identical, but one has a bigger engine under the hook.

If each driver pushes the gas pedal exactly the same amount,

the one with the bigger engine will certainly be faster.

Think of jumping activities as building explosive power that will make you faster.

Remember, when you run, every single step is a jump of sorts.

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