This weekend, I’ll try something different in my training.  I plan to add a stair climb to my Saturday routine.  The American Lung Association has the “Fight for Air” Climb in the Market Tower Building.  I’ll do the 30 flights.  But, organizers have options for people who want to see the stairwells over and over — for 60 flights and even 90 flights.  If you’re in the mood for a little cross-training, join me.

If you want to see some real gluttons for punishment, watch for the firefighters who’ll do the climb in full turnout gear.

“Rush Hour Recycling”was created for people only slightly more inspired than the Trinitron Trasher.  If you can get an old TV to your car, you can dispose of it in a more suitable way.

“Green Piece Indy” collected more than 50,000 pounds of unwanted electronics and cardboard in last year’s “Rush Hour Recycling” campaign.  The project starts again this week. 

The first collection site is Friday, March 5,  in Greenwood at the Sam’s Club, 1101 Windhorst Way.

On March 10, collectors will be at Bjava, 5510 Lafayette Road.

March 17, they’ll be at Hawthorne Plaza, 62nd and Binford Blvd.

March 24, Green Piece people will be at E-Lazy Daze, Irving Theater and Jack and Jills Antiques, 10

March 24: Lazy Daze, Irving Theater and Jack and Jills Antiques, 10 S. Johnson Ave.

March 31: the collection site is the Family Video store at 7301 Rockville Road

And, on April 7th, you can drop off these recyclables at Earth House, 237 N. East St.

In this round, collectors will accept “expanded polystyrene foam” in addition to the electronics and cardboard.  

The collection sites above will be open from 7 in the morning until 9 in the morning on those days — rush hour – so people can drop off old computers, printers, and TVs.  Green Piece also says these are “full-service” sites.  You pop the trunk.  The staff will remove your recyclables.  Then, you’re free to go.  They will ask for a $10 donation to cover the costs associated with the safe disposal of the lead in the old TV tubes.

It’s a great deal — and you won’t have to hide your recycling like the Trinitron Trasher did.

Treadmill running offers a chance for some hill training, if you take advantage of the incline feature.  That can also be helpful, if most of your outdoor running is done on flat ground.  With a little research, you’re likely to find advice to use a slight incline — 1% or 2% — to compensate for the natural resistance of outdoor running.

Heather Fink, Assistant Director for Educational Services at NIFS, suggests using caution on the incline.  She says bodies that are accustomed to flat terrain might find it challenging to run uphill for an entire workout.  So, she suggests using the incline “for small portions of a workout, but not the entire session.”  

Heather also advises using a heart rate monitor.  She says that “can be the best way to equate outdoor workouts to indoor training.  The pace set on the treadmill might be different than your typical pace outdoors, so using the heart rate monitor can give you a better indication of your effort.”  I know my treadmill time rarely matches my pavement time.  It seems I can cover a course outside faster than I can run a comparable distance inside.  

Heather says it’s best to run or walk outside to get accustomed to the weather and to the pavement.  It prepares the legs for the real thing at race time.

Something else to remember: treadmill calorie counters are not the most reliable measures of what you burn.  So don’t gauge your post-run eating by those numbers

Mayor Ballard says, in meeting after meeting, he heard questions about what can be done to improve public transportation for people in the metropolitan area.  He said those questions provided the incentive to devise the proposal that’s under discussion now.

And, for those — like me — who’ve heard this talk for years around here, it’s natural to ask: why would it work now?  I heard one answer over and over.  It is this: finally, “the private sector” — business people — are willing to support the concept more than they ever have in the past.

In an e-mail, he described some of the work his unit is doing with SZU, Sheik Zayed University.  Their goal is to establish a student farm — and a collection of textbooks from the United States, Great Britain and India — to support the training.  The team is also discussing plans to have “at least 2 professors” from Purdue University’s School of Agriculture visit Afghanistan for a seminar in Kabul.

McMillen says SZU has already displayed its “determination to accomplish objectives” by starting some experimentation in a tree nursery.  But, the Colonel sees more than the expansion of the university’s agriculture school coming from this mission.  He sees opportunities for journalism students to work with ag students in the production of training videos and radio programs.

I’ll post updates on the mission as Col. McMillen sends them.  It will be another way to see Hoosiers doing great work around the world.

Amy is a Hoosier fitness trainer and a professional member of the IFBB — the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness.  From what I’ve seen, she’s a perfect candidate for advice on modifying your midsection.  Amy says it guards against injury.  “Each time your foot hits the ground,” she says, “your body absorbs pressure and shock.  Building a strong core can help counteract some of this force.”

“Strong abs equal balanced stability throughout your body.  With balanced stability, your upper and lower body can work together through your core; something that is especially important when running rough or unstable terrain.”

Amy says a strong midsection “can help you maintain proper running technique” through your run or a race.  Some of that comes from enhanced strength and endurance.  “With more body strength,” Amy says, ” you will be able to run faster and longer with less effort.”

You could invest in one of those ab machines advertised on TV.  But Amy offers the following exercises, instead.

Lie on your back and place both hands lightly behind your head, elbows flared out. Lift your head, shoulders and upper back off the ground while concentrating on pushing your lower back into the ground. Pause a moment at the top and then slowly lower back to your starting position. Perform 3-4 sets counting out 15-20 each team you lift up.

Facing down on the ground prop yourself up on your knees and elbows. Straighten your entire body concentrating on lifting up your head, back, glutes and legs. Peform 3-4 sets, holding each set for 30 seconds to 1 minute. AVOID: Do not let your middle sag or your hips to rise. Concentrate on keeping your butt down.

Can be performed with or without a medicine ball or weight. Begin sitting on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Hold the medicine ball and extend your arms out in front of you. Recline back so that your body is angled about 45 degrees. Keep your lower body still and twist your body to the right and then to the left. Perform 3-4 sets counting out 20 per each twist. CHALLENGE: The more you lean back (greater than 45 degrees) the greater the resistance. Lift your feet about 1-2 inches off the ground for added challenge.

It’s hard to imagine what members of the Salvation Army have accomplished since the quake hit Haiti.  Jerry says they’ve served more than one million meals to survivors.  They’ll be over two million served in a few days.

The Salvation Army also has a medical clinic that Jerry says is “doing a great job.  Surgeries almost every day” and they “continue to treat the wounds still lingering from the initial quake.”  The most critical patients have had to be sent to other hospitals.

But it’s not all tragedy at the clinic.  They’ve delivered five babies since the quake.

Jerry will be back in Indiana soon.  Then we’ll learn more about the difficult life ahead for those babies and their families as Haiti recovers.

Julie Patterson, the Traffic Reporter on our Daybreak show, is a serious runner.  She is also a trainer for the Fitness Concepts running and walking program.  I asked her for advice on whether people need to add speed work into their training.  She’s familiar with my attitude.  She said it’s normal for people to just plan to finish the race — without regard to time — especially first-time participants. 

Julie says, after a few weeks of training, you should have a good idea of how fast you can go without being winded.  That’s the time to start adding a little speed work. 

Occasionally, I’ll try something that, when I describe it, always brings a smile to the faces of the unfamiliar.  It’s called Fartlek.  That’s a Swedish word which, in this case, means you run faster for a little while.  When I do it, I may use telephone poles as my guide.  Run fast from one to another.  Run slowly from that one to the next.  Then repeat that pattern.

Julie suggests trying “tempo” runs.  In that example, you would run a shorter distance than usual but at near your race pace.  “In other words,” Julie says, that’s “a pace that is NOT comfortable having a conversation with your running buddy.”  Try one of those a week.  Then, think about interval training — such as fartlek — on another day.  Julie says you can “do those on a track … or simply pick out the next mailbox” and run to it as fast as you can.  “The distances will vary depending on your miles for that week.”

I remember a bit of training advice from my first Mini-Marathon program.  If you’re going to do speed work, don’t wait to add it to your training.  If you delay until the last few weeks before the Mini, the benefits will be minimal and you’re more likely to wind up injured.

That’s why Julie advises first-timers to find coaches.  They can help set weekly mileage goals and offer guidance for how to include speed training. 

I don’t have a coach.  But, I may try to get a little faster.  Not to cut my race time significantly.  Just to get home sooner on those long runs.

The founder of the EFRC created the place to give a home to abandoned, abused, or neglected animals.  It opened with three cats in 1991.  Now, it has 205.  Jean Herrberg, the Assistant Director, said they “don’t buy, don’t sell, don’t breed.  Once a cat comes to us, it is a home for life.”  But, it’s also an expensive home.  Herrberg says the cats eat a lot of meat.  “We go through 3000 pounds a day.  So you need to be in farm country — where there are cows and calves and horses that die because they’re old, ill or injured.  Then, our driver can pick them up and we can process it for the cats.”

The link above will give you a link to photos of the center’s residents and more information about what the center does.  It’s quite a place for central Indiana!

The group leader, Jerry Larsen of Indianapolis, will go out on the last flight. Rowland said Larsen “was able to send a group yesterday, a group today, and 1 doctor out on a cargo plane this morning.”  Larsen and the remaining team members are ”most likely” to leave tomorrow.