Running; why I do it as a cop.

If your a cop and you end up looking online for exercises for Leo's, you will quickly see an ongoing debate on whether Officers should run or not. A lot of cops say that long distance running is a waste of time. They think that since most foot pursuits are short sprints that you should only run short sprints. Me, I run for multiple reasons. The first being health and the second stress relief. Now in regards to running I think the above school of thought is all wrong. Yes speed work needs to be part of your cardio training but so do long and slow runs. Simply put the long and slow work different muscles then fast running. It also increases your cardio endurance.  This helps if you catch the guy and end up fighting him.  I can honestly say it's awesome being in a foot pursuit and being able to call out streets, locations, and descriptions without being short of breath. Another nice thing about running is if you work in a small town everyone finds out. I remember when I took off to run a 10 mile race at the department I previously worked for. Word got out and I was never in another foot pursuit. My recommendation would be to look at halhigdon.com and find a training program. If you've not been running start with something easy and not something like the dopey challenge. Starting with to much mileage is a sure fire way to injure yourself.