HIIT Training

For the month of April, I’ve decided I’m going to make an effort to work out twice a day, a couple times a week. That means, I need to get my butt out of bed early to get it done before work, because the chances of me getting up early on a weekend when I can sleep in is none. It’s not going to be easy because I’m not a morning person. So, that’s also the reason I’m only going to try this for a month. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep it up long term. I value being lazy way too much. So, the idea is that my morning workout will be shorter and the evening workout will be a normal workout. Basically, just a little extra exercise in my week to kick start my goal of making my work pants not double as compression pants.

(source)

Anyway, it’s not April yet but I decided to try it out today. My personal trainer gave me a HIIT workout that I’ve been wanting to try  (and I think she got the workout from this site). If you don’t already know, HIIT stands for “high intensity interval training.” So, HIIT training is all about speed. The workouts are intended to exhaust your muscles of their stored energy which is the quickest way to burn fat. The best part is they are only 20 minutes or less, so they are really good workouts when you’re short on time but want maximum results.  Or for when you want to sleep in as late as possible but still workout ‘cause you’re a lazy-ass.

Here’s what I did:

The “work” column is all out effort sprinting and the “rest” column is easy running or walking. I did the original workout and hated it. But I’m posting it anyway. Just because I hate it doesn’t mean you will.

I think the original workout would be better outside. It takes about 10 seconds for my treadmill to slow down to a walking pace, so I wasn’t getting much rest. I ended up adding 5 seconds here and there just so I could get a rest in. Then, it was just a big mess trying to figure out where I was in the workout (I had it printed in front of me) because I’m watching the sheet and watching the treadmill time and trying to change speeds. Toward the end, I accidentally sprinted for 50 seconds instead of 10 because I read the sheet wrong. So everything about that workout was annoying to follow. With all my additions, the workout was 18 minutes long and 1.85 miles. Next time, I’m going by my modified version. I haven’t tried it yet so it may still need some tweaking.

(Usually I do a 20 minute workout of 40 seconds work/20 seconds rest which is super easy to do on the treadmill.)

Later in the day, hubs and I went to Crossfit and did a workout that kicked our butts.

Because I can’t get my chest to the floor when I do a regular push-up, I did progressive push-ups. Basically, you do a regular push-up on the way down and then a girly push-up on the way up. Again, I couldn’t find anything online depicting this so…

I know. You don’t have to say it. You love that graphic. I hear progressive push-ups work the best when you’re wearing nothing but blue sneakers too. But seriously, they are supposed to be a good way to get your muscles strong enough to where you can do regular push-ups (chest to ground), which I can’t do. I’ve been doing regular push-ups half way down and thinking that was good enough.

Also, our trainer was telling hubs and I how stiff we looked during our workout. He asked us if we had been on any long car rides or sitting for long periods of time this week. I guess all those extra work hours sitting at my desk have taken a toll. So it makes total sense that I’m sitting at a desk and blogging right now. Guess I should stop being an old lady on the computer and go enjoy my Friday night.

Have a good weekend everyone! 🙂

Workin' Up a Sweat

This week I’ve had some really good workouts that I haven’t had a chance to talk about. I usually hate workout dump blog posts so I’m irritating myself as I’m writing this but I want to be able to look back on this week. I promise I’ll make it short. But I might get sappy at the end. You’ve been warned.

Monday I met up with Linda (that’s my personal trainer, if you’re new around these parts) for a speed run at Lake Underhill Park. I’ve been avoiding that park since the whole gunpoint thing but going with someone else makes me feel a lot safer and now that it’s lighter in the evening, I don’t mind as much.

We did:

• 1 warm-up mile
• 10 x 1/10 mile with 30 second rests
• 1 cool-down mile

Pin it!  (< — haha, totally kidding. And if you don’t get that, you don’t read enough blogs.)

Now, I know the sprints were only 1/10 of a mile, but those are sixes. I have to say, we felt like we were flying and we even had a couple girls cheer us on as we ran by which made us feel super fly and popular.

Tuesday was a weights workout. I’m still doing my weight training, but haven’t been talking about it as much. Do you want to hear about those workouts? Usually I just talk about them if they were particularly notable so no one starts using my blog to cure their insomnia.

On Thursday, I finally found a place to take spin where I didn’t need a gym membership to do it.

The class is super small (only 9 bikes) and it’s in a personal training gym. Do you see the little wires hanging from the ceiling? Those are headphone jacks that we have to plug into to hear the music and the instructor. Kinda weird, but I liked it. The instructor was pretty good, but the class was too short (45 min with the warm up/cool down, so only 35 min of real work). The music selection was…well, let’s just say I think I’m pretty good in life never hearing Caribbean Queen again. I’ll probably give the class another shot since I miss spin so much.

This evening was another speed run with Linda. And it was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do. Ever.

[blackbirdpie id=”180775321098915841″]

We did:

• 1 warm-up mile
• 6 x 400s
• 1 cool-down mile

I was hoping to get all the 400s in the 8:15 min per mile area but I was feeling really slow out there. When I got home and loaded my Garmin on the computer, I saw this:

I’m so surprised by this run. I was hating every moment. During the last sprint, Linda was ahead of me and trying to yell back at me to keep pushing it but I couldn’t give any more. And that was our fastest sprint. I was barely hanging on for the cool down mile. I mean, I was spent. But once I got home, I was feeling GREAT.

So hang on for a second while I get super sappy on your asses. I didn’t want to do that run today and considered canceling. I was even bitching to Linda before we started. But I seriously felt great afterwards. So, if you’re sitting on the couch and you don’t feel like getting up and being active, do it anyway. It doesn’t have to be running, it can be anything. It’s WORTH it. And if you don’t feel like doing it for yourself, do it for someone else. My dad was never active, had a quadruple bypass in his 50s, and died of a heart attack 3 1/2 years ago. If he had gotten off the couch, he’d still be around to make me laugh at his stupid jokes. So if you don’t feel like getting off the couch for yourself, do it for someone who cares about you.

Lucky Number Sevens

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who commented on the picture of my ass in this post a couple days ago. Not the point of the picture, but I’m going to take all your compliments, let them inflate my ego, and pretend I’m better than everyone else. I hope you’re all happy at what you’ve made me become.

So, to give you an update: I’m doing pretty well on my little diet. Or lifestyle change. Whatever you want to call it. I’ve lost a couple pounds but nothing major. I’m still eating lower (but not ultra low) carb and I’ve been really good at avoiding sweets (for me). I still have a Reese’s cup or a fun size candy bar type thing after lunch so I don’t get crazy, but I’m not shoving 20 peeps and a cupcake in my mouth at once, so we’ll call that progress.

Last night, I pulled out my old Asics Gel Cumulus 12s, that I don’t really love and don’t really hate, for a speed run.

I bought some spiffy new laces because the ones that came with the shoes were way too short, so it was hard for me to double knot them. I found these laces on Amazon and am apparently color blind because they don’t match at.all. Dumb.

I left my security blanket, also known as the treadmill, and went outside for my very first speed run. This probably would have never happened if it wasn’t for this girl’s post telling me how to actually use my Garmin. I guess at some point you actually need to follow the instructions on the Garmin. I had it set for 6 quarter mile intervals with a 1:30 timed rest and what I got was 6 quarter mile intervals with a quarter mile distance rest, so I had to press lap to shorten all the rests. Then I accidentally added a 7th interval (Lap 14) when I should have been in cool down. Not only am I color blind, but I can’t count. Or read.

Long, lame story short – I did a speed run.

Ooohhh, look at that! It’s like a “seven” party up in there. I like it!

Afterwards, I did a cool down mile at a 9:09 pace, which is close to the pace I need to run to PR this weekend. I can’t see that happening for 13 miles unless my future third husband, Jensen Ackles, is running just out of reach in front of me.

And even then, he might need to be holding a cupcake.

In the meantime, I need to find a cute new outfit to wear for the race so this doesn’t happen again.

I Watch Too Much TV

1.  With all the famine, disease, and poverty going on in the world, you’re probably wondering how my box of chocolates fared overnight at work.

However, I think the person got my love note because the box was in a different position this morning. (Why, yes I placed the middle part of the heart directly against the corner of a picture frame on my desk and noticed it was inches away from the frame this morning. What? You don’t do that?) I didn’t even care if they took more chocolate, I just wanted them to know I know. You know?

Oh yes I did!

2.  I went to the gym for a speed workout on Monday and it was awesome. I ran my recoveries for the first time ever. Usually I have to walk them all because I’m so out of breath. Is it even possible to be faster after only 2 weeks of speed work? Doesn’t seem right for some reason. Now if I could only have a personal air conditioner on me at all times during races, I might be able to PR again in this century.

Mile	Pace
.50	10:00
400 (1/4 mile)	8:34
400	8:00
400	7:54
400	7:48
.50	10:00
4 x 400	7:48
200	12:00

In between each 400, I ran a 200 at a 12:00 pace. Slow yes, but not walking.

3.  Are you sick of hearing about my shoes yet? Because I’m tired of talking about them. But I still will. The good news is that during that speed run, I had no calf pain in either leg. The bad news is, my sock was bloody from a blister. Incidentally, it was in the same place that my past Nikes have given me blisters. So, I guess I’m going back to doubling up on socks and wearing lots of band aids to try to prevent them.

4.  Did anyone notice Breaking In is coming back from cancellation?

No? Just me?

I read a bunch of articles awhile back that said this show had decent ratings compared to it’s competitors at the time so no one understood why Fox cancelled it. So, hubs and I were psyched (and confused) when we saw a commercial for season 2 last night. We love this show. It’s so funny. And it looks like Megan Mullally is joining the cast this time around (to replace Odette Annable, who’s on House now.) And really, I’ll watch anything with Christian Slater. That man keeps getting better looking and the 1980’s woman in me will love him forever. Until it premieres at the beginning of next month, I will have Pump Up the Volume on constant play. I would watch Heathers, but Michelle won’t give that back to me. *cough* I might even bust out my Christian Slater pose again.

5.  Hubs and I started watching Key and Peele on Comedy Central.

It’s on after Tosh.O and it’s a sketch show with two of the guys from MadTV. It’s actually pretty funny. Is anyone else watching this? There have only been 2 episodes aired so far, but it might be a new favorite. I hope they get some MadTV peeps to guest star on this one because I miss that show. It was so much better than SNL.

6.  I finally caught up on Ringer last night. I swear, just when you think you know what’s going on – you don’t. That show is straight-up ridiculous in the best possible way. Plus, that storyline with the teacher keeps getting more crazy. I love it.

I’m not sure how life existed before DVRs. I wanna snuggle with mine and knit it little outfits.

 

I’ll Have an Ombre Kind Sir

I’ve run more this week than I have in a long time and I’m kinda loving it. Thursday, I did a speed run just like Monday’s run and yesterday I did a 6 mile tempo run. Five of those miles were at a 9:05 pace. Sure, there might have been a “special delivery” at mile 2 and a walk to chug water at mile 3, but I haven’t been able to run at that pace for that many miles in I don’t know how long. I know one week’s worth of speed work couldn’t have increased my pace already, so maybe it’s giving me a little more confidence that I’m able to run faster?

Anyway, staying true to form, I watched another TV show that I’ve never seen before during my run: Kourtney and Kim Take New York. I didn’t think it was possible for me to dislike Kim K more than I already do, but turns out – it’s possible.

The girl is annoyingly dumb and selfish. I used to feel bad for Kris Humphries, but turns out, he’s just as dumb as she is. It bothers me that she’s famous. But enough about that.

Today, I had a salon appointment. I fear getting my hair done now, especially since the last appointment turned out so well. I went to yet another new stylist and wanted to get my hair highlighted to look like something I had in the past. Unfortunately, this was the only good picture I could find of my hair.

Definitely not awkward showing that to a stranger.

Anyway, after talking to the stylist for awhile and telling him how I wanted the highlights to show more on the bottom, he told me it sounded like I wanted “the ombre.” Not to be confused with “Hombre.”

After my Friends flashback, I realized he was serious. That’s the name of a type of hair coloring. I say, if it’s good enough for Jessica Biel and Rachel Bilson, it’s good enough for me.

So I decided to get ombre’d instead. (By the way, you know you need your bangs cut when your heterosexual male friend tells you that you look like a sheepdog.)

I like it. Although, I think it’s time to grow out my bangs again. (Hear that, Chris?)

After my appointment, I met hubs at Boardwalk Bowl. He was there with a couple of our friends, Steve and K, for a charity event put on by a rock radio station here in Orlando. (We know one of the DJs). Steve is not a fan of bowling. Or pictures.

By the time I got there, they had already played 3 games so I just decided to watch instead of play. Hubs ended up buying $50 worth of raffle tickets since all the money went to charity. He was really excited when one of his raffle numbers was called because he finally won something. Or lost, depending on how you look at it.

A bowling pin painted like a football and signed by all the DJs at the radio station. Just what we wanted.

I’m off to find the perfect place for that bowling pin in the back of the closet.

So Long, Piggy

As I was leaving work yesterday, I got a text from the hubs that the pig was still outside. So on the way home, I was planning our photo shoot and our new life together in my mind. I got home 15 minutes after hubs, ran my ass  over to the neighbors to claim my big pig…and he was gone. Just like that.

Goodbye sweet piggy. We could have been something.

After yelling at hubs for not getting the pig when he got home, he asked me what I was going to do with a gigantic stuffed animal. I didn’t really think that one through since I wasn’t interested in rational decisions. Anyway, it’s probably for the best. Or so he says.

After the pig ordeal, I texted Linda (my personal trainer) to see if she wanted to meet up for a run. Right now, Linda is feeling fat so she’s on a mission to lose the 10lbs she gained over the past several months. By the way, this is what Linda looks like when she “feels” fat.

Yeah, I hate her too. You should see her pictures when she did competitive body building. Some things in life are not fair. She is one of them.

Anyway, when Linda gets serious about working out, I get a running buddy back! We haven’t run together much since we trained for the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon together over a year ago.

(That’s my all-time favorite medal by the way. It’s a surf board magnet and bottle opener.)

We headed out to the scene of the almost crime and ran 4 miles at a 9:51 pace. Now if I could only shave 51 seconds off that pace…

The last 1/10th of a mile, we sprinted between a 6:30-7:00 pace and it suuuucked. I could have used about 5 more lungs to suck in oxygen and maybe an extra hand to slap myself so I never do that again. I really need to get back into speed work.

What type of runs work best for you to increase speed?