Sunday, February 25, 2018

That Got The Heart Pumping

Eight reps 30/30s on the rower followed by five reps 30/30s on the bike. I was dying on the last couple of reps.  Feels like it's doing me good though - something that takes that much effort has to be doing me good, right?...

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Eight

A session of eight 60s reps at 15kph with two minutes recovery and the elevation kept at my now normal level of 4%. I'm slowly starting to edge the sessions out. A little longer. A little faster. A few more reps. It's going in the right direction.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Short and Sharp

Steady session to end the work week. 20 minutes on the bike with five efforts to finish followed by a sharp hiit on the treadmill. Twelve reps 30s/30s at 14kph and 4% elevation. 

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Breathing Deeply

I definitely feel over the wheezing. Six 30/30s rowing reps followed by six 30/30s bike reps. Didn't feel like I was going to die tonight. Still a hard workout though, just didn't need to gasp for breath come the final few reps.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

That Was Hard Work

Not a long session but long enough - and not to mention lung busting. I decided to edge up the rep duration to 60s and aimed to run ten at 16kph on a 4% elevation with 90s recovery. It ended up being a starting rep at 14kph followed by four at 16kph and a final one at 14kph for six in total with the recovery slipping out to 120s. Even then I had to step off the treadmill after completing the rep to let the speed drop before getting back on. Didn't expect the extra fifteen seconds to make it that much harder work! I finished the session with 5 reps on the bike, 30/30s and got the burn good.

When I read the session back and recall what I used to be able to run... Well, it's not worth thinking about. The here and now is all that matters for now. So anyway, although I'm not feeling completely unwheezy, I think I'm over the worst of it. Hopefully more training tomorrow...

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Training Didn't Quite Make The Earth Move

I'm still feeling a bit wheezy but after having given the training a miss yesterday I felt I needed to do some today - however poor it might turn out to be.

The session today was 10 reps of 45/75s at 14kph with 4% elevation. I wasn't sure if I'd complete as after the first couple I was really puffing, sucking in the air to recover but oddly it got easier through the session. I finished with a ten minute warm down on the bike.

It wasn't till an hour after training I read there'd been an earthquake. On checking my start time I can confirm it wasn't me that caused the earth to move - that happened a few minutes prior to my session starting.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Feeling Wheezy

Been feeling a little bit wheezy the last couple of days, hence no HIIT - until today. Didn't want to miss another day so I tried a burst on the rower followed by a burn on the treadmill. Except after really struggling on the rower - 6 reps 30/30s - I decided to HIIT the bike instead of the treadmill and subsequently struggled there too - 5 reps 30/30s. I don't feel unwell. I just almost feel like coughing but without actually coughing. Tomorrow will be better.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Trio Of Training

Five all out rowing reps, 30s/30s followed by six treadmill reps of 30s/60s at 14kph but with a further increased elevation of 10% and it all began with a solid thirty minute warm up on the bike. At the moment it's all about maximum variation. I don't want to get stuck repeating the same sets day in day out. It's got to help varying it up. So far so good.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Slightly Different Again

More HIIT. Fourteen treadmill reps, 30s on, 45s off. Slightly slower at 14kph but with an increase in elevation to 6%. Good hard work. The 45s recovery was a good compromise between 30 and 60. Finished with 6 bike reps 30s/30s all out. Might try a run in the real world tomorrow...

Friday, February 09, 2018

A Bit Of Elevation

Well I have to say I'm surprised how much tougher a 4% elevation was for today's resumption of training, I was aiming for 10 treadmill reps of 30s on, 30s off at 16kph with that 4% elevation but couldn't sustain it. After four reps I had to increase the recovery - but on a positive note, I did increase the reps to try and compensate. So in the end the session was 4 reps of 30/30s and 8 reps of 30/60s.

Thursday, February 08, 2018

Well Deserved Rest Day?

After six good days, I'm flagging today so I decided a rest day is in order. And to treat myself for six good days I cooked up the ultimate filled omelette - a fish finger filled omelette - oh yeah, michelin eat your heart out...

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Rowing Reps

Another short, sharp session - but certainly not effortless. Six, thirty second all out blasts with thirty seconds recovery. Died on the last rep.

(I'll admit I was aiming for eight but after the sixth, that was that).

Tuesday, February 06, 2018

Short And Sharp

So I made it to the treadmill. Ten short but sharp reps. Thirty seconds on, thirty seconds off at 16kph and I even braved a smidgen of elevation. Only 2% mind, but just enough to feel it.

The session was about right. I was just on the edge of not quite recovering before the next rep started. It's a far cry from what I could once run but I just need to keep plugging away for now and not worry about that.

Monday, February 05, 2018

More HIIT

Gave the treadmill a rest today but kept things going with seven 30s/30s all out bike reps. Should be back on the treadmill tomorrow - hopefully. Got a good burn and raised heart rate from the bike though, so it's all good.

Sunday, February 04, 2018

Day Three Of The HIIT Parade...

So far so good. Compared to a 45 minute plod, my new 30 minute routine, encompassing 12 minutes at high intensity, feels like I'm accomplishing more.

I've honed the session to 12 treadmill reps of 45s at speeds between 14 and 16kph with a 75s recovery. Now I'm not naive enough to think that the treadmill is anywhere near the same as real life speed but it still feels bastard hard for me at the moment. I'm aiming to run all of the reps at 16kph and then start edging up the elevation.

Then it's 5 bike reps of 30s all out at high resistance off a 60s recovery. My legs burn - which is the way it's meant to be. I'll probably nudge up the number of reps over time.

I'm hoping I can remain enthused enough to complete the session at least a few times a week - I'll brave putting a figure to that after I've managed a few sessions during the working week...