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Interval training, 3rd day in a row
Aug. 26th, 2011 10:14 amI can't train over the weekend because I'm working 12 hour shifts - if I feel tired and crappy, I'm asking for misery. So, I trained Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'm a little tired and a bit down, but it's not bad. And, again, I'm up to 10 intervals - carefully run, not going all out, but definitely feeling that I've exercised my heart.
I've been talking about my heart a lot, and I know it sounds funny, but here's the thing... our bodies are made so that our heart will, in an emergency, work much harder than it's comfortable with, and let you feel it later. Otherwise, if you have to sprint away from a predator, or fight for your life, you can't.
I knew that - but I'd never thought about it before.
I've always tried to train slow and steady, never thinking about how the heart also needs to be able to provide bursts of energy. If I was exercising my legs, I'd walk and run, but I'd also do leg presses and squats, to provide heavier challenges to build muscle to make the walking and running easier.
The interval training is the leg presses and squats - and once I get the muscle strength up high enough, then I'll do the longer, steadier exercise - the walking and running. (Which, as it turns out, is how I'll exercise my heart as well.)
Even at my best, I never had a heart that could take a quick pounding, and recover quickly. I had a heart that could work hard for a long time, but only at a steady state. So, I'm trying to change that this time though.
(As a side note: while I've felt tired and crappy, I've never had chest pain, never gotten short of breath, never coughed up white gunk, never found that I was unable to move with energy (though energy was lower sometimes). Those are all warning signs that one's heart is not just worked, but overworked.)
I've been talking about my heart a lot, and I know it sounds funny, but here's the thing... our bodies are made so that our heart will, in an emergency, work much harder than it's comfortable with, and let you feel it later. Otherwise, if you have to sprint away from a predator, or fight for your life, you can't.
I knew that - but I'd never thought about it before.
I've always tried to train slow and steady, never thinking about how the heart also needs to be able to provide bursts of energy. If I was exercising my legs, I'd walk and run, but I'd also do leg presses and squats, to provide heavier challenges to build muscle to make the walking and running easier.
The interval training is the leg presses and squats - and once I get the muscle strength up high enough, then I'll do the longer, steadier exercise - the walking and running. (Which, as it turns out, is how I'll exercise my heart as well.)
Even at my best, I never had a heart that could take a quick pounding, and recover quickly. I had a heart that could work hard for a long time, but only at a steady state. So, I'm trying to change that this time though.
(As a side note: while I've felt tired and crappy, I've never had chest pain, never gotten short of breath, never coughed up white gunk, never found that I was unable to move with energy (though energy was lower sometimes). Those are all warning signs that one's heart is not just worked, but overworked.)
