(w)ow...

Two Mondays ago, I did some more interval training and injured my right leg somehow. It was a deep, achey feeling, one that made me think that, if I was told I'd caused some ridiculously minor bone damage, well, it didn't seem unreasonable. So, I switched to doing mostly work on the elliptical and doing some more physical therapy-style exercises.

Yesterday, I decided I was going to start interval training again, and I think my subconscious had worked out part of my problem. I was jogging at a really slow speed before, so it was hard to step properly. Running is sort-of a set of one legged jumps, but I was going so slow I had to work against that.

Plus, I knew that because I was stepping differently, I wasn't going to be able to jog as long as I had before. Well, if I bumped my speed up a good bit, it'd be like starting over. Okay, so I can't jog for five minutes at a time; but that was at 5.2 miles an hour, and now I'm doing six!

Well, I found that I can jog at six miles an hour for two minutes per interval, with a two minute rest in between. I can also sometimes slip in an extra fifteen seconds of jogging, and early in my workout, I might not need a full two minutes of rest.

I managed to average 4.4 miles an hour over 30 minutes. My legs are informing me that they don't like this a bit.

I'm assuring them that I'm kindly and understanding of their grief, and that I'm always thankful for their help and service.

I haven't informed them that I'm doing it again tonight. I guess I can be cruel sometimes.

(w)ow...

Two Mondays ago, I did some more interval training and injured my right leg somehow. It was a deep, achey feeling, one that made me think that, if I was told I'd caused some ridiculously minor bone damage, well, it didn't seem unreasonable. So, I switched to doing mostly work on the elliptical and doing some more physical therapy-style exercises.

Yesterday, I decided I was going to start interval training again, and I think my subconscious had worked out part of my problem. I was jogging at a really slow speed before, so it was hard to step properly. Running is sort-of a set of one legged jumps, but I was going so slow I had to work against that.

Plus, I knew that because I was stepping differently, I wasn't going to be able to jog as long as I had before. Well, if I bumped my speed up a good bit, it'd be like starting over. Okay, so I can't jog for five minutes at a time; but that was at 5.2 miles an hour, and now I'm doing six!

Well, I found that I can jog at six miles an hour for two minutes per interval, with a two minute rest in between. I can also sometimes slip in an extra fifteen seconds of jogging, and early in my workout, I might not need a full two minutes of rest.

I managed to average 4.4 miles an hour over 30 minutes. My legs are informing me that they don't like this a bit.

I'm assuring them that I'm kindly and understanding of their grief, and that I'm always thankful for their help and service.

I haven't informed them that I'm doing it again tonight. I guess I can be cruel sometimes.

Sigh...

So, I said to myself, "self," I said, "two minutes at a time is your limit tonight. You want to go from 30 minutes of interval training to 40."

So that was an absolute rule, one that I simply couldn't break.

So I got on the treadmill, and went for 2 minutes at 6 miles an hour... and my heart rate was only 138. After a minute and fifteen seconds, it was at 118, and when I started again after a minute and a half, I was at 114, no, wait, 113.

What could I do? I went for 2:15, which put my heart rate in the low 140s. And then, after a minute and a half, I was back under 120. I gave myself an extra fifteen seconds of rest, and then went for 2:15 again. And again. And again. I did seven or eight intervals at 2:15 before deciding that was enough, and doing only 2 minutes for the rest.

I got through 45 minutes, and kept my average speed at 4.4 miles an hour.

My legs aren't on speaking terms with me, but then, legs don't talk, so I suppose that's okay.

Sigh...

So, I said to myself, "self," I said, "two minutes at a time is your limit tonight. You want to go from 30 minutes of interval training to 40."

So that was an absolute rule, one that I simply couldn't break.

So I got on the treadmill, and went for 2 minutes at 6 miles an hour... and my heart rate was only 138. After a minute and fifteen seconds, it was at 118, and when I started again after a minute and a half, I was at 114, no, wait, 113.

What could I do? I went for 2:15, which put my heart rate in the low 140s. And then, after a minute and a half, I was back under 120. I gave myself an extra fifteen seconds of rest, and then went for 2:15 again. And again. And again. I did seven or eight intervals at 2:15 before deciding that was enough, and doing only 2 minutes for the rest.

I got through 45 minutes, and kept my average speed at 4.4 miles an hour.

My legs aren't on speaking terms with me, but then, legs don't talk, so I suppose that's okay.