Last-minute lazy Sunday workout

We threw a magnificent housewarming party on Saturday (Oktoberfest themed! Bratwursts! Sauerkraut! Polka music!), and had a blast celebrating our new house with lots of friends and family. It sure didn't feel like October (90* out!) but we made the most of it and had a wonderful time.

Post-party, I declared Sunday an official day of rest. Trust me, it was much-needed. We've been prepping for this for weeks now - there is nothing like a looming event at your house to get your butt into gear to get boxes unpacked, pictures hung, shelves lined, and everything finally put away! So, having run ourselves ragged, then playing "host / hostess with the most / mostest" all day Saturday, C & I really needed a break.

C settled himself in for a long day of football-watching, and I parked myself on the couch with a fantastic book (The Language of Flowers - highly recommend it). I got completely immersed in my reading, and didn't look up until after 4. When I finally emerged from the story, I realized that I probably ought to get myself to the gym, since it had been several days without a workout. I moseyed around for a while, then, on a whim, looked up the hours for the gym. To my surprise, it closes at 6 on Sundays! Yikes! I threw myself together and raced over, and I was walking through the doors at 5:15. Not only that, but I was decked out in this awesome new shirt that my sister brought me:

Her school sold them for a fundraiser, and she was sweet enough to swipe me one. Perfect for October (and year-round!)

I knew I needed something quick and easy to get myself good and sweaty in a limited amount of time, so I decided to go with an old favorite: intervals on the treadmill. I used to do HIIT and interval work all the time, but once I started working on distance running, the other stuff kind of fell by the wayside.

Last night, I came up with one that is about as simple as it gets to follow along with: 2 minutes "off" (slower speed), 3 minutes "on" (faster speed), and repeat. This style of workout is great for when you have limited time, because you can do as many "cycles" as you have time for, and then call it a day. It's also super easy to modify: pick a "slow" speed that keeps your heart rate up but gives you a chance to catch your breath, and a "fast" speed that is a little outside your normal comfort zone, so that you really get your heart rate up. I went with five rounds, plus a cool-down, and was sufficiently sweaty and out of breath by the time I was done. I left the gym right as they were starting the vacuums and wiping everything down. Perfect timing!

Here's a handy chart for with the interval workout I did:

I definitely need to start adding these workouts back into my routine. While longer runs are great, the shorter stuff that gets my blood pumping definitely has its benefits as well. I'm glad I got in there and got it done before the gym closed!

Do you do intervals? HIIT? Have any suggestions for great workouts like this?

Five for Friday

I am THRILLED today... because it's the best kind of Friday there is: the Friday before a long weekend. Perfect! A quick "Five for Friday" update it what ya get today - I have tons on the to-do list!

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Five for Friday

1. This time tomorrow I will be sitting on the dock by the lake, most likely with a beer in hand, reading a good book. I. Can't. Wait. We have sweet family friends who have a house down at Smith Mountain Lake, near Roanoke, and they are gracious and kind enough to have given us a pretty-much standing open invitation to come down whenever we like. Memorial Day weekend has basically become a tradition, and so we are headed down tonight and will spend the next few days basking in the sunshine, enjoying the slow life. I honestly can't even tell you how excited I am about this - I need to get away. Can't wait for some quality time with friends and family. Hooray!

2. Last night, I took Suzann's CX Works class, and then we were going to go for a run. However, the weather was not working in our favor, and it looked like it was about to downpour any second. We opted for the treadmills instead, and I introduced her to the HIIT workout I did on Tuesday. Let me tell you - she kicked my @ss in her class, and I returned the favor on the treadmill. Ha! Sorry Suz. You know you loved it! After our quick run, there was one more thing we needed...

SweetFrog! A little fro-yo was the perfect ending to the workout, and just the rejuvenation we needed. This stuff is so good. There are no words.

Not mad about this at all. YUM.

3. I didn't have a chance to get to Global Market for fruits and veggies this week, and I have really been missing my usual breakfast and lunch choices. We are just about out of everything at our house. I've been subsisting on strawberries and baby carrots every day - not very interesting... I will definitely be making a trip to the store ASAP!

4. Best news ever: So You Think You Can Dance is back!! This is seriously my favorite "reality" show of all time. The first episode of the season was last night, and it was fantastic! Some seriously talented dancers out there, y'all. Good indicator that it was a great episode: "I forgot how much this show makes you cry." Direct quote from the husband. Typical. Did anyone else watch??

5. Cat update: Mac the Cat is getting a bit braver. /crazier. He is really starting to let his little personality shine, and I think he's getting a bit more comfortable with us. Last night, he joined us for some TV watching:

Hilarious.

And then ran around until he tired himself out and needed a stretch:

And then he disappeared to hid behind the dresser upstairs again. C has taken to calling him "Flee" because that's basically what he does all the time - flee! I MUST GET AWAYYYY! We like to narrate his thoughts. It's a lot funnier than it sounds written here... trust me.

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And that's all I've got. Have a fantastic weekend! Don't forget to think about what Memorial Day is all about... it's easy to forget between the barbecues, beers, and good times. Happy Friday!

Interval Training Tuesday - Feelin' the Burn

I think I may be on to something - this is two Tuesdays in a row that I've done a HIIT workout, and I kind of love it. Welcome to Interval Training Tuesday - let's see how it goes!

I had my regularly scheduled abs class tonight, but I also wanted to break in my new running shoes. What better way than with a quick jaunt on the treadmill? (um, lots of better ways - but it was humid and gross, and I just didn't feel like being outside!)

Tonight's workout was provided by my friend, Caitlin, who recommended it to me last week after reading my HIIT post. She linked me over to the blog Meals and Moves, where Janetha details a short & sweet 20-minute HIIT session. This particular HIIT workout is different from the one I did last week, in that the pace stays relatively steady, starting at 6.5/mph and increasing by 0.5 every minute until you get to 8.0/mph, and then repeat four times. The change-up is that the incline changes every round! Each time you start the four-minute set over, you also increase your incline by 0.5 until you end at 2.0 - and let me tell you, that is enough to feel the burn! I was absolutely dripping with sweat, and my legs felt so heavy by the end, even though it was just a twenty minute workout! Sheesh. I liked it, though, and it was definitely a good experiment!

It's been a pretty intense week actually, and it's only Tuesday!

On Friday night, after a few beers, I committed to an early-morning run on Sunday with my new running buddy & friend, Suzann (yes, she has a name! Hi Suzann!!) - and I do mean early. She told me to meet her at our local playground at 6:45 AM and she'd take me on her usual route. On Saturday, that seemed daunting, but on Sunday morning I was actually up and energized, excited for our date! I parked in the playground parking lot to wait for her, and after an interaction with a friendly cop (apparently, a lone girl in a deserted parking lot on a Sunday morning is a bit sketchy?... ha), we headed off. Suzann said we were going to do 7 miles - a full mile more than I'd ever done. I scoffed a bit, and said we'd see, but wouldn't ya know - my legs felt great, I felt great, my breathing was good, our pace was good.... and we just ran and ran. In the end, we got back to my car having done 7.61 miles. Just think about that for a few. My previous longest run was 6.22 miles. I AM AMAZED. The end. I felt like a freaking champ the whole rest of the day on Sunday. Talk about a runner's high!

Last night, I went to BodyPump and upped my weight a little bit on most of the tracks. I am definitely feeling the burn today - my muscles are on fire! In a good way. I like the way I feel the day after a weight increase: liked I truly pushed myself. I'm not dying, I'm just getting a gentle reminder all day of how hard I worked.

Last but certainly not least, I registered for a race today! I'll be running the Wicked 10k in Virginia Beach in October. This will be my longest race to date - and I am already SUPER excited. It looks like an awesome race, ad it's sponsored by Blue Moon! Easily my favorite beer, so that alone was pretty much enough to motivate me to register. I've already proved I can run the distance - nothing standing in my way. Boom.

OK, really finally: a few pictures of the new cat. Because who doesn't love pictures of cats?! Especially one this cute. (If you follow me on Instagram, sorry 'bout it, but you've already seen these.) Look!:

Watching TV... normal

Ummm hey guys.

OK thank you for this bed and this window.

Night y'all. Hope your Tuesday was intense!

Change of Pace - Literally.

Last night, I'm pretty sure i came THISCLOSE to death. How, you may ask? Simple: HIIT.

See what I did there, with the title of the post?... bahaha. SORRY. Jokes.

Before I left work, I printed out this workout that I got from Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats (I'm obsessed with this blog - she's amazing!):

After my abs class, I hopped on the treadmill. Let me just tell you - it. was. intense. We're talking gasping for air, gulping water, dripping with sweat intensity. My mom was walking on the treadmill next to me, and every time I increased the speed, she looked at me like I was a little bit crazier. This routine was tough. To make things even more complicated, I couldn't figure out how to get my treadmill to count time up as opposed to down - so while I was running and working physically, I had to do math and work mentally, too! Really not my thing. I actually had to turn off my music about halfway through so that I could concentrate on what I was doing. It was that serious!

Around the time I hit the 10/mph portion, my feet were flying like never before! My legs were Jell-O afterwards. I actually finished with 3.55 miles, and burned over 400 calories! I had the incline set to 1.0 for about half the workout for a little extra oomph, but brought it back down before I finished. Even that tiny increase made a difference, and made the workout that much harder. I did not feel terrible at all about collapsing on the couch to watch two hours of Glee when I got home - pretty sure I earned that lazy time!

As we were leaving the gym, my mom asked me what are the benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and why it's better than regular running. I wasn't quite sure how to articulate the answer, other than "it just is!" - so I did a little bit of research. Here's some key factors about why HIIT is a good choice:

• You burn more fat. The intense exertion kicks your body's recovery mode into overdrive, and you burn more fat and calories over the next 24 hours than you do after a cardio workout at a steady pace. [source]
• It makes your heart healthier. During many workouts, you don't truly reach that anaerobic place where your heart is working it's hardest - HIIT forces you do to that, and exercises your heart along with your other muscles. [source]
• It increases your lactate threshold.Your ability to handle increased lactic acid buildup in your muscles substantially increases with regular HIIT workouts. [source]
• It increases your metabolism. This type of exercise has a direct impact on your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) - aka your metabolism. That means you burn more calories regularly, even when you aren't working out! [source]

Sounds great to me!

Granted, as intense a workout as it is, it's probably not a good idea to try to do HIIT every day. It's more like a one-or-two-times-a-week thing, and should be mixed in with other types of exercise as well. I did mine along with my abs class, like I said, and I found that to be a good combination that worked for me. I'm not a doctor or a trainer, obviously, so don't take my word as law. If you're up for it, though, I definitely recommend giving it a try and seeing if it's the thing for you. I'm always looking for new ways to exercise so that I don't get bored, and this is a good option to include in my regular routine.