Thursday 27 September 2007

Intervals

A blog that I've recently discovered is Criticism & Friends. From what I've read, I really admire Bathsheba's commitment to training, and the way she expresses herself with the written word.

I think it was a posting I read whilst trawling through her archives that inspired me to drag A down to the nearest oval last night and attempt to do interval training.

Now I have to come clean:I've been an on-off-on-off-again amateur jogger for years, but I don't have the faintest clue what I'm doing. I've done 5 city2surfs but never done more than 5 training runs for all 5 of them combined. I hate jogging on the treadmill, and the last time I dragged myself to an outside run was well over a month ago. In short, I'd have to say that I lack motivation, discipline and commitment.

What appealed to me about trying out intervals in the first place was the fact that it was an activity that A and I could do together, yet go at our own pace. It'd also mean we get outside and get to take advantage of the warmer nights we've been experiencing this week. Plus it'd be all over in 20 mins, even if it turned out to be a disaster.

So last night we headed down to the footy oval a few streets away and did some interval sprints. I've never in my life attempted interval training, not even on the treadmill, so I wasn't really sure what to do.

I decided to sprint along the straight part of the oval, and jog around the curvy bit. After the first few laps that changed into a sprint/walk combo - it was tough!! But you know what, it was damn fun! I loved the rush of giving it everything you could - that's what I normally do toward the end of my 30 min slow jogs - but this time I got to do it every few minutes. Major endorphins!

After 20 mins I was red, puffed and sweaty. But happy. And even happier that A enjoyed it too. We've decided to try and do this twice a week or so. I'm hoping I feel this good after every session!!

4 comments:

Margaret said...

That sounds fantastic. It is always easier to build up that motivation if you find something that you can a) do with someone else, and b) that you enjoy. I loved interval training when I was doing it and you are right - those pesky endorphins should be allowed to roam free during your training, not just at the end of it :)

Mary said...

Oh hon, make me jealous! When I started running to the C25km program, I was having a ball with the interval stuff but my knee couldn't hack it and then I couldn't do yoga stuff :-( It's so cool that A is doing it with you!!

Check out the Cool Running and C25km links on my post (if interested) - http://ombites.blogspot.com/2007/05/learning-to-run.html

Steph said...

I love sprint training. Don't you feel so powerful and strong running fast.

yublocka said...

I sure do Steph - even if it's only for 2 minutes at a time!!