STADIUMS - faster, stronger, better

The STADIUMS returned again this week. I am not sure if it is the cooler weather or adaptations but we are continuing to have success. I dropped the recovery interval by another 10 seconds this week. If you remember, about a month ago we mixed it up and decided to do the STADIUMS more like hill repeats and intervals instead of just running up and down them. The fatigue factor of just running up and down was just that – only producing fatigue. In an attempt to help increase strength and possibly VO2MAX I decided to make every working set ALL OUT. I set my GPS wrist computer to 15 second intervals followed by an appropriate rest interval. The first attempt was for a total set (working + recovery) at 2 minutes. After the first set or two, Chad and Richard decided that the rest interval was just too long – they wanted to go faster. So, against my better judgment we cut 30 seconds off the rest – 90 seconds total for the set. After about 10 sets we all started to get sloppy – the work set was not as fast anymore. In fact, Chad and Richard had to change the workout up – they were failing. I completed the workout but my last few sets were slow.

I did not like that workout – it was unattainable. So the next time we did STADIUMS I stuck to the original game plan. 2 minutes total – 15 seconds working set followed my 1:45 rest. We had success. The next time we cut 10 seconds off of the rest. I was still able to maintain the intensity of the working set just with less recovery. So this week another 10 seconds was chopped of the recovery – and guess what – success again. I am excited about taking 10 more seconds off and trying the 1:30 total set again. That would SHOW progress! (Although to be fair the temperature has turned cooler).

Looking at the chart below would indicate that the heart rate ramps up quicker with less rest but I am able to maintain the same level of exertions without blowing up! The chart shows my max heart rate recorded for each interval – notice with faster intervals we do more sets – the total workout is 30 minutes regardless of number of reps.

On another success front – I have noticed that I can do more reps of various types of chin ups with doing the P90X sessions. The first few times that I did the sessions, towards the end of the workout there just would not be much left. Now I am able to perform a few more reps = still hard – still tired – but more reps!