New and Improved 5K Training Program

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BioSport #CollectiveBias

“Fitness is 80% nutrition, 20% exercise.” Have you ever heard that saying before? Or maybe you’ve heard, “You can’t out run a bad diet.” It’s frustrating but true. I have always been an avid runner, but I have to admit that I often fall short on the nutrition front. I’ve naively told myself that because I was running a few miles a day I was burning a gazillion calories, so I could eat relatively healthy but didn’t have to focus on a super restrictive diet. Ultimately, fitness boils down to one simple factor: calories in vs. calories out. I didn’t have an accurate picture of the amount of calories I was expending during my runs. Luckily, I found a tool that was fusing fitness with technology for a smarter workout that I can incorporate into my 5k training.

I decided that in order for me to crush my fitness goals for 2015, I needed to get down to basic numbers. I had a super rough idea of the amount of calories I was burning during my runs thanks to my treadmill and other apps like RunKeeper (which I knew were based on averages and statistics) but I have always longed to get specific and invest in equipment that would track my burn based on me and my heart rate. The thought of wearing a heart monitor wasn’t appealing to me, so I am incredibly stoked to say that I found the perfect piece of equipment.

I found the SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones at Dick’s Sporting Goods. I had never heard of headphones with a built-in heart rate monitor, let alone Intel. I thought Intel was strictly a computer thing. Plus, they came with a free month of RunKeeper Elite, score!

I have the world’s tiniest ears, no lie. I wasn’t sure how they would work for me, but since they include both small, medium, and large ear gels it was no problem. I just slipped the small ones on, tucked the heart rate monitor (ear wing) in, and I was ready rock. BioSport improves the consistency of data collection with an ear-wing design that sits deeper in the ear canal for continuous, real-time heart rate monitoring. Fusing fitness with technology, the built-in sensor continuously measures heart rate while dynamically removing noise signals caused by the body’s motion during a workout. The sound was great, and the heart rate monitoring was on point!

Using your BioSport headphones is as easy as 1-2-3:

ONE | Install RunKeeper on your iPhone or Android device.

TWO | Plug in your BioSport headphones to your phone and move the slider up to heart rate mode.

THREE | Sync your headphones with the RunKeeper app by selecting the heart icon.

Here in Minnesota it’s a little tricky to get an outdoor run in , especially when you’re trying to use a jogging stroller on a snow covered sidewalk. When the weather gets warmer, I can’t wait to use the GPS function with my RunKeeper App.

The final step in my running makeover, a super awesome 5K training program. I’ve done the “Couch to 5K” and other intermediate training programs, but I hadn’t yet found one that kept me entertained, didn’t have me running a million miles, and had room for cross-training. If you’d like to follow along with me, here is my 6 week training program (add one rest day to each week wherever you see fit):

EASY RUN: run at a maintainable pace for the time allotted.

SURGES: start with a short warm-up and then repeat the following for the number of surges: go all out for the surge, then run at a steady pace for 2 minutes. Cool down for a few minutes at the end.

FAST FINISH: run the majority of the time at a steady pace, finish the run at a moderate pace.

LONG RUN: run at a maintainable pace for the time allotted.

TIME TRIAL: complete the distance allotted at a pace that is challenging yet attainable.

If you’re ready to take your running to the next level, get yourself a pair of these babies. Now until 1/31/15, get 20% off SMS BioSport Headphones at SMSAudio.com with the promo code BioSport20 (US only).