Driving to a recent triathlon, caught in traffic at 5:30 a.m., waiting to enter a park, I wondered: "What's wrong with this picture?" The answer: As we idled in the rental car on the way to the swim-bike-run, we were burning precious carbon fuels.

I decided to respond with a list of small ways that collectively make a big difference:

1. No more plastic water bottles. I promise to carry my Heart Zones Training water bottle everywhere I go and filter tap water instead of buying bottled water. More than 38 billion plastic water bottles are shipped to land fills every year.
2. No more trash bags to stay warm before races. I promise to wear old clothes I can discard at the starting line. Race directors pick up the discarded clothes, wash and donate the items to charities.
3. No more tossing bike tubes and tires. I promise to take them to shops that participate in a recycling program.
4. No more races that don't care about the environment. I promise to find and support races making an attempt to go green.

OVERVIEW: Springtime gets people get back outside. Perhaps you've been running for a while and want a change and to increase your distance? This workout may get you there.

Results: "Going Long" for the first time builds your endurance while training you for strength simultaneously. The next time you go do a 60-minute run, you should be able to pick up the pace physically and mentally.

Contributed by Kathy Kent, Level 5c Master Trainer

For years, fitness educators have known using almost any training tool leads to increased energy expenditure (read: burns more calories). The results of a recent study published the Journal of the American Medical Association shows even a simple step counter or pedometer triggers the average user to increase movement by 2,100 steps per day. A thousand steps approximates a mile of extra movement.

Exercise scientists compiled the results of 26 studies involving 2,767 participants. The BMI and systolic blood pressure of the participants dropped statistically.

So, try a pedometer. It's an efficient, inexpensive way to increase your daily activity and calorie burn rate. (If you rant to increase your daily activity, try the recommend 10,000 steps per day.)

We recommend the Timex pedometer for $14.99. It's easy to use, easy to read, and does everything: counts steps, calories and measures distance walked. It's available at www.heartzones.com/store

List the things, ideas, activities, people or feelings that call you to be alive today. What do you like to do that, however much you give to it; it gives more back to you? What tugs at your heart? What is so important that you want to grow it, care for it and enhance it? Note the parts of your life that glow.

Finally, once you make a resolution to change, you need to make sure you don't consider the change as optional. Rather, that change is now what you must do on a daily basis. With that kind of resolution, you no longer debate the change on a daily basis. It's part of your day and life.