STADIUM intervals

I have continued with the Power 90 - I did the abs-whatever-thing instead of the ab - BOSU- lutly class. The Power 90 abs thing is more like what I do on my own and it is gruelling even though it is only 5 minutes. Next I did the advanced cardio DVD - 40 minute of a ton of leg lifts and kick boxing stuff followed by - damn - the same abs-whatever-thing. I was pretty beat by the end of the session - I would say that this was also comfortably hard. It was manageable. A few more of these and I might need to kick it up a notch.

Last week the STADIUM was tough. IT was hot and the workout was grueling. If you remember, each set involved single steps, double steps and then the bleacher lunges. As many as possible in 30 minutes. I was able to bust out 9 sets (27 times I climbed the stadium). I think about half of the sets were solid. The rest, well the fatigue had set in and it was just hard. I know that when I do intervals on the bike or on the run that I try to make the last sets as strong as the first sets. Keep the intensity up! So, this time at the stadium we mixed it up a bit. I wanted to bring the intensity and keep the intensity. I decided to only run the double steps - they tend to be a good compromise between speed and strength - but give myself a little bit of time to recover so that I could hopefully keep the same pace (intensity). I decided to have each set last 2 minutes.

As soon as we ran up the first set - it only took about 14 or 15 seconds- Chad and Richard thought that 2 minutes was took long (the rest would be 1:45 seconds if we could keep pace). I let them get the best of me and I changed the game plan. Okay, now it was 1:30 per set - and the working sets had now increased from 15 in 30 minutes to 20 in 30 minutes.

The intensity was maintained for a little more than half of the duration. It got hard and I started to drag after the 12th climb. Chad and Richard were slowing even more and decided to break from the task at hand and do lunges instead. I kept of the game plan but I slowed down a second or two - which is significant in such a short sprint. All in all I felt that this was a more satisfing workout even if it was not as fatiguing. I probably did not burn as many calories but I think that my fitness improved more. Next time I will try the 2 minute sets and see if the intensity can be maintained for the duration. Once that benchmark is set then we can chip away at the rest!