Guest: Hobofit shares some “weirdo” fitness tips on the cheap

Hey everyone! I am overwhelmed with the response from my 2014 marathon goal post. Thank you so much for encouraging me to go for it!

You’re in for a treat today.

I’m excited to introduce Ottawa-based athlete Dan from Hobofit. Dan and his beautiful wife Jen and I go way back to my teaching days in Busan. He is the creative behind the thoughtful and humourous blog that has “more no-cost fitness ideas than you can wrap in a handerchief and hang from a stick.” I think he may be onto something in Notes from the Underground. Go on now…. read. 

Well, the weather finally dipped below the -30 mark this week, and we’ve got a boatload of snow for this time in December.  And while it makes for some pretty scenery and a festive looking Christmas season, it really blows
(literally) for running outdoors.  I actually don’t mind the cold at all for running, and for relatively slow-paced stuff, the snow isn’t too much of an obstacle.  It even provides a little bit of added interest in terms of an uneven surface and micro-adjustments that need to be made to stop oneself from slipping all over the place. 

The problem I find, however, is that it sucks for sprinting.  And I really love to sprint.  It’s my favourite type of running (and maybe even of exercise in general).  And without a dry, snow and ice-free surface, it’s really difficult to generate maximum force into the ground and push oneself to the limit. It makes a person hold back.  Not good for sprints.

So what’s a person to do?  Spend a bunch of money to join a
facility with an indoor track? 

Maybe, but not for me. Run in transit tunnels (which I wrote about here)?
Not a bad idea, but they’re sometimes crowded, unless it’s late at night – when you feel somewhat guilty that you might be scaring the solitary commuters and be mistaken for a mugger. 

Well, here’s another idea. How about parking garages?  Many of us work
in buildings with underground parking lots.  These are virtually abandoned during regular work hours (aside from the early morning and late afternoon when people are arriving and leaving). 

I’ve worked in two different large office buildings over the past six years, and at both of these I’ve found that the underground garages provide an ideal place to sprint during the day, on lunch breaks or other short ‘coffee’ breaks throughout the workday.  Most parking garages provide at least a few longer stretches of pavement (60-100 yards or so) that are perfect for sprint drills.  They’re usually dry and the temperature is perfect for running (warmer
than outside but cooler than a typical indoor environment.

• ·     Pick a time that it’s less likely to be busy.  You
  might be able to do 12 o’clock, and I often do, but I’ve found it’s better if you can pick a time slightly before or after to get away (if your schedule allows). That way you avoid any people who are going out for lunch, moving cars around, etc., and usually you don’t see a soul.
• ·     Watch your head. For shorter people it’s not a problem, but some garages have overhead pipes and signs that hang down quite low.  When you’re sprinting, it’s sometimes hard to gauge the relative height of things.  I’m 6’6” and there’ve been times I’ve almost brained myself when the height of the ceiling changes quickly.  Walk your sprint course before you run it the first time!
• ·     Wear stuff you don’t need to change out of.  Sometimes I only have a 15-20 minute break in the day.  That’s plenty of time to get a killer sprint workout in…but not if I have to change clothes twice.  To
  combat that, wear work shoes that you can sprint in.  For me that’s black Converse Chuck Taylors (or any suitable lace-up shoe with a flat-ish rubber soul).  Not going to win any style awards but whatever!  Also, I only buy jeans (yeah, I wear jeans to work almost every day, so what!) that have 1% elastane/spandex in them.  

  Pajama Jean’ jokes aside, skateboarding jeans are the best here. I like a brand called Volcom that you can buy at West 49, and a bunch of other places I’m sure.  Buffalo also makes some with the stretchy shit in them.  Urban Star from Costco too.  Don’t get me wrong, they just look like normal dark blue jeans that you can wear anywhere and not look like a slob.  They just have the added advantage that you can move in them just as easily as a pair of track pants or shorts.  And don’t worry about stinking up the office.  Sprinting is so anaerobic that the amount of sweat is minimal. If you do it right, you’ll destroy your legs and lungs before you ever

  have to worry about sweating through a ‘work’ shirt.

• ·    Avoid the PoPo.  I’ve never been hassled by anyone in my years of sprinting in garages, but I also try not to draw attention any more than necessary.  If I see a security guard or attendant, I usually just wait for them to pass by before I run my next one.  And I try to seek out laneways or paths that are a bit out of the main thoroughfare.  If you see a lone woman loading stuff into her car, maybe wait until she leaves before you go flying past at full speed and scare the shit out of her.  Common sense here.
• ·    Don’t wear headphones.  I usually love music when I run, but you want your wits (and ears) about you when running in close proximity to cars and parking spaces.

With those tips in mind, the underground world is really your oyster. 
There are any number of sprint drills that a person can try.  I usually go for the basics and run a series of 40-100 yard repeats, sometimes pyramiding the distances, with a very short warm-up and cool down at about 70% effort or so.  10-15 minutes of these all-out repeats, resting only long enough to recover the breath, is usually enough to wipe me out.  But it’s the kind of workout that leaves a person energized and refreshed for the rest of the workday, rather than exhausted.

It’s also pretty easy to find ways to supplement this stuff with plyometric drills (garages often have barriers and things that can serve well for box jumps,
reactive jumps, vaulting, etc.). My garage even has bags of road sand lying around this time of year,
that work really well for improvised kettlebell swings, farmers carries and other things.  Let your mind run wild with the possibilities.

I was going to post a photo of my particular venue, but I actually got hassled the other day by a security guard for snapping a cell phone photo of the parking garage.  Like I said, I’ve never been hassled in
6 years for actually running, but this was the first time (and it was for taking a snapshot, rather than for running). 

Quite ridiculous, as it was merely a shot of a straight stretch of
concrete, with no people, license plates or other identifiable information.  But, in light of me not wanting to become
some sort of Edward Snowden-esque character accused of disclosing our concrete-related national secrets to the Russians, you’ll have to settle for an artist’s rendition of the scene:

For more no/low-cost fitness ideas and tips on being the sort of weirdo that sprints around parking garages, please carry your satchel over to www.hobofit.blogspot.ca. (Be sure to follow Hobofit on Twitter too)  And thanks Crystal for asking me to write a guest post on your blog!