Nike + iPod: Be all that iCan be?

I take my running seriously, yet I don’t consider myself a “serious runner.” My usual run is between three and five miles, three days a week — far below what marathoners probably chalk up in a day.

How do I run? Half-heartedly, at best. I keep a pretty steady pace, but I won’t win any speed contests. I do it because it feels good, which I try to remember as an older and less — let’s just say “aesthetically proportioned” — runner goes flying past.

Sure there are times when a particularly upbeat song playing on my Nike + iPod-equipped nano (the only iPod it works with) compels me to lay it on, rewarding me, when it’s over, with congratulations by Lance Armstrong on my fastest or longest run yet.

Basking in that afterglow, I return home, plug in my nano, launch iTunes to update my progress, then visit nikeplus.com to see a chart depicting my latest run, as well as those that came before it. Definitely longer or faster, or at times, both, but in the end, my overall pace remains slow.

I decided to change that, by seeking the help of a downloadable expert. Opening iTunes, I clicked over to the Music Store’s Nike + iPod workouts section to browse the selection. The concept is simple: Overlay a bunch of tracks suited for working out with the encouraging voice of a real coach. I chose “Increase Your Speed 1,” coached by multiple-marathon champ Alberto Salazar. That I recognized none of the artists included in the $14.99 workout mix worried me, but I figured the selection must have a good amount of oomph if it had any hope of fulfilling its promise.

With a post-snowstorm temperature of about 25 degrees, I slipped on a knit cap, a few upper body layers, some glove-liners for my hands, and went with soccer shorts for the lower half because I don’t own any real running pants.

My course: The boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey, which spans five miles when run end to end and back again. Though there was snow, the wide lanes reserved for peddle-powered surreys were clear. I did some light stretching, selected the workout’s playlist, and took off.

Some light-beat music started up as Alberto chimed in with a  welcome. He laid out the course: ten minutes of warm up, followed by four intervals of increasingly faster sprints with rests in between, finishing with ten minutes to cool down. I was instantly turned off because I figured the ten minutes to warm up then ten more to cool down equaled twenty minutes of slower-paced running, which would yield a slower overall pace result. Then again, perhaps those four bursts would balance things out and I’d wind up with a respectably quicker pace in the end.

Following my coach’s queues I hoofed it easily through the warm-up, and then bumped up my pace for the next four minutes to what Alberto defined as 70 percent of my maximum potential. My breathing increased up as my legs moved faster, running at a clip equal to what I considered to be a slightly speeded up version of my normal pace. So far, so good.

After four minutes Alberto told me I was doing a good job, then throttled me back to what he referred to as my “recovery pace” for the next few minutes, until it was time for the next burst: 80 percent of my potential for three minutes.

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