Fitness Files: A marathon, not a bunch of sprints

Extreme disappointment hit when I saw the forecast for Los Angeles, March 15. Marathon Sunday will be 87 degrees.

Heat is the enemy of endurance athletes. For the second year in a row, marathoners will sizzle. I wilted last year, suffering leg cramps at mile 20. Got a first place, but ended a roasted runner.

Disheartened, I adjusted my goals. I’ll drink more sports drinks, eat salty pretzels and, mostly, accept a slower finish.

And I’ll laugh. Three friends handed me an article by the Los Angeles Times’ Monte Morin quoting the Copenhagen Heart Study: 8 1/2-minute-mile runners who exercise 2 1/2 hours three days a week died at the same rate as couch potatoes.

I’m flattered that friends think I’m that fast, and they’ll take satisfaction in knowing that while I’m out there killing myself on steaming March 15, they’ll outlive me, consuming bagels and the Sunday Daily Pilot in a cool coffee shop.

Here’s an exercise routine that will make them even happier. In “How Much Exercise Do You Really Need?,” Colette Bouchez for WebMD tells my friends to take a brisk 5-minute walk to the bagel shop and back home later. They could receive as much health benefit as if they’d spent half an hour at the gym.

Supporting the gains of “multiple short bursts” of exercise throughout the day, Bouchez quotes three studies:

1. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2006: “Short walks after dinner are more effective than long exercise sessions in reducing the amount of fat and triglyceride levels in the bloodstream.”

2. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health: “Short bouts of exercise helped lower blood pressure as well as shave inches off hips and waistline.”

3. Preventative Medicine, 2006: “Multiple workout sessions as short as 6 minutes could help adults reach fitness goals similar to those achieved by working out for 30 minutes.”

I don’t claim to be a medical or fitness professional. What I write bcomes from 40 years of daily fitness snags and struggles.

I love the evidence that walking after dinner, taking five-minute vigorous aerobic bursts — six times a day — can lower blood pressure, and reduce pot bellies and balloon bottoms.

I understand that packed schedules preclude hour-long boot camps. While rejoicing that good things come in small-time packages, I see a big fat downside.

If you commit to 30 minutes, three times a week, paying for a class or trainer, you know you’ve missed a workout.

But if you plan six-times-daily aerobic exercise, will you notice when you skip one, two or a whole day?

Examples: You don’t want to sweat in your work clothes walking up the stairs; or you’re late and must drive; or you’re chauffeuring a friend who doesn’t want to park five minutes from the destination.

You get the point. It’s harder to toss off a fitness appointment than a 5-minute-promise to yourself.

Also, you miss the “I’m done” feeling after workouts. With several short exercise periods, there’s always one ahead. “Never done” would play with my mind.

And here’s the biggest reward a “Five Minuter” may miss. Bouchez’s article quotes the American College of Cardiology and American College of Sports Medicine that we don’t feel the endorphin rush until six to 10 minutes of exercise.

Looking back over years on the road and at the gym, I credit post-exercise endorphins. Some of the same people who handed me Morin’s “dying to exercise” article ask, “Aren’t you tired after a long run?”

Nope. I’m energized.

Call it endorphins, although I think it’s a whole-body-gratitude response, thanking me for using bones, muscles, guts and gristle for what humans were designed to do — move.

I won’t discount the power of intense exercise in short bursts: a revolutionary fitness habit for “crazy busy” people. Like all fitness regimes, it takes devoted commitment.

Personally, I’m grateful for being outside. While hating heat, I’m happy to douse myself with endorphins. If distance running’s going to kill me, I’ll die smiling.

Newport Beach resident CARRIE LUGER SLAYBACK is a retired teacher who ran the Los Angeles Marathon at age 70, winning first place in her age group. Her blog is [email protected].