TIP: Vary your workouts to improve fitness and stay motivated -- try speedwork.

No matter what form of regular aerobic exercise you choose: walking, running, bicycling, swimming, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, or even jumping rope--a little speedwork can boost your motivation to exercise, improve your fitness, and make your regular workouts more comfortable.

Speedwork means just what the word suggests.
It involves stepping up the pace of your workout. Speed sandwiches, brief periods of going at a faster pace, sandwiched between periods of slower work are the easiest form of speedwork. They don't require a stopwatch, a measured distance, or a heart-rate monitor.

Here's how to begin.

• Warm up at your regular workout pace for five or ten minutes, then pick up the pace for a short distance--you could use the distance between two telephone poles, or between a house and a big tree, or simply count 100 steps.

• Don't go all out. Aim for a smooth, fast pace that pushes your a little outside your comfort zone and gets you breathing harder, but that doesn't leave you gasping or forcing you to stop to catch your breath.

• After a speed burst, slow down to your normal workout pace until you recover your normal workout breathing.

• Pick up the pace once or twice again for a short distance, always recovering your breath before the next speed burst.

• Finish your workout with a five-to-10-minute cooldown.

Do your speed sandwiches only once a week.
Gradually increase the length and frequency of the speed bursts, but do your speedwork no more than once a week. After a couple of months, you may reach the point where fast pacing occupies about one-third your once-weekly speed workout.

Athletes use various kinds of speedwork to prepare their bodies for competition.
Fitness exercisers interested in preparing for a race or special event may benefits from a training plan that includes more advanced speedwork. In these cases, it's a good idea to join a group working, or consult an experienced coach. While right type of speedwork for your sport and your level of conditioning will help prevent injury as you improve your speed, the wrong speedwork can cause injury or burnout.

As close as you can get to family without actually being related

One frigid day January day in 1998, I found myself speaking the eulogy at the funeral of a man I'd never met--the father of my longtime running partner and her five siblings.

They couldn't bring themselves to speak, so they asked me to interview them, write down their words, and do it for them.

"Jeanne says a training partner is as close as you can get to family without actually being related," said Jeanne's sister Donna, who called me the day before the funeral with their request. I agreed without hesitation.

After getting acquainted in the locker room of the local YMCA early in 1986, Jeanne and I had met at first light nearly every Saturday for a two-hour training run.

In the process, we'd forged a powerful bond of friendship based on one simple factor: Committed to self-care as the basis of a good and responsible life, each of us depended on the other to show up.

What matters most? Showing up
We ran at conversational pace, down main drags and back roads, along old railroad beds and hilly snowmobile trails, up vicious hills and down, sharing the griefs and the triumphs, the big moments and the minutiae of everyday life. As we ran, our kids passed from childhood into adolescence, began driving and dating, then left home to begin their adult lives.

We ran in sub-zero and 100-degree weather, through rain, wind, sleet and hail storms. We watched magnificent sunrises, and crossed paths with turtles, turkeys, deer, porcupines, foxes moose, and once, a balloon rising up through the early morning mist in a cornfield.

As close friends and trusted confidantes, we often acted as one anther's better selves: urging the other to take care of a nagging cough or rest a swollen knee, or resist an intemperate response to a difficult challenge.

Except for our Saturday runs and occasional footraces we both entered, we felt no need for further social involvement.

We did those long runs together for another three or four years, until osteoarthritis shut me down from competitive sports (and much running at all). Although we don't run as often and not nearly so far these days, I still think still think of Jeanne as "family-without-being-related.". I'd trust her with my life.

If you walk, run, showshoe, cross-county ski, bike, swim, or paddle for fitness, and you want to stay with it, find yourself an exercise partner. The qualifications for a good one? Keep it simple. Look for:

• Someone whose fitness level roughly matches your own.

• Someone who shares your fitness goals

• Someone who lives nearby and whose schedule synchs with yours.

• Someone who'll always show up.

Where do you find an exercise buddy?
Just about anywhere people in your community gather. Try your faith community, parent-teacher group, co-workers or business associates, the locker room of a gym. Post a notice on a community bulletin board. Or use this chart to find fitness buddies among your friends, family or other acquaintances.

Check out the meetup sports section or craigslist (type in your preferred activity, e.g., walking, running, biking). You might get lucky!

TIP: No time for regular exercise? Make your commute part of your daily workout.

Most American workers don't have the luxury of a shower at work, much less the time for a shower during the workday. If you use getting sweaty as an excuse for not exercising, read on!

Soap and water
Stash a container of liquid soap and a couple of those super-wicking towels at work. After your bout of exercise, duck into the restroom to swab off. If you don't have a private bathroom, negotiate your sponge bath in a stall.

If you sweat a lot, invest in socks and undergarments made from "performance" fabrics (see below), or pack a change of undies and a fresh shirt.

About the dreaded "helmet-hair," the scourge of female cyclists everywhere: C'mon ladies. Find a way! Better yet, start a movement. Let's make helmet-hair the new chic.

Rethink your wardrobe
Many folks find their working wardrobes undergoing a transformation as they boost the activity in their lives.

I know I did. I moved towards simpler, less-complicated, wrinkle-free workwear, and I began seeking out clothing made from "performance" fabrics.

Not just sports clothing, but everyday office clothes, from undergarments to pants, tops, skirts and jackets. More and more companies have begun offering workwear for both men and women that "wicks" sweat away ferom the body, prevents odor from forming, and that stretches and flexes to follow body movements for improved comfort.

The fabrics keep improving, too. Check out the new fabrics containing silver fibers that prevent odors from developing, and clothing targeting women who suffer hot flashes and night sweats.

The downside? Performance clothing costs more
It can cost a lot more, especially if, like me, you lean towards hand-me-downs and thrift-store specials. Some ways to manage the cost:

• Check stores and catalogues; then ask for specific items on gift-giving occasions.

• Own fewer clothes. Wouldn't you rather have a classy, well-exercised body than a classy wardrobe?

Peg Boyles, UNH Cooperative Extension Writer/Editor