The 25-minute exercise that changed my life

These days, I rarely do this particular workout because I focus on other routines. But tonight is the night — I will go back to the basics.

I started doing this workout exactly four years ago — in late spring of 2020.

Did anyone guide me? Did I read about it somewhere? My memory escapes me. Maybe my oldest son mentioned this workout, but I was my own coach for the most part.

I wasn’t a runner then. And what does it mean to be a runner anyway? I had always enjoyed running, but couldn’t be called an athlete. I was overweight, and my running shape was mediocre. My previous marathon had been over a decade ago. After several attempts, I finally broke the four-hour mark in New York in 2010.

In 2020, I didn’t decide to become a ‘runner.’ I had no goals. I just started to run a little more. At the time, we lived in Irvine, California. There was a high school near our home — University High School — and a private college, Concordia University. Both places had running tracks that were pretty empty because of the COVID shutdowns. If I wasn’t road running, I’d jog ten minutes to either the school or the college.

I would then do this exercise: run 400-meter intervals. A very fast lap, rest for a minute and repeat ten times. I’d do this twice a week. The alternative to 400 meters was six sets of 800 meters with a slightly longer rest.

Week after week, I could feel and see my body transform. My speed increased and I was…