As some of you who follow my every word on Facebook already know, I got my ass to the gym yesterday. In part, like Allie suggested (and by the way, let me take this long overdue moment to plug her/our newest endeavor known as The Greenists) I figured going to the gym would help me overcome the sads. Additionally, there’s a guy that I’m sort of stalking who I hoped would be there. Alas, he was not there, but I did get a really good workout in, which I’m in the mood to share.
I’ve heard places, including on NPR yesterday, that interval training is all the rage and quite good for building athleticism. That means going from a steady pace to a short burst of high-paced activity where your heart rate goes up to 80%. This is how I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill today, which felt great:
- minute 0-4, walk at 3.2
- minute 4-5, run at 6.2
- minute 5-9, walk at 3.4
- minute 9-10, run at 6.4
- minute 10-14, walk at 3.6
- minute 14-15, run at 6.6
- minute 15-19, walk at 3.8
- minute 19-20, run at 6.8
- minute 20-24, walk at 4.0
- minute 24-25, run at 7.0
- minute 25-30, walk at 3.8, decrease by .1 every 30 seconds.
You can adjust that to intervals that are slower or faster, depending on what you like. Running at 7.0 is just about the limits of what I can do, so I like to push myself to that at the very end. But the key is that I didn’t feel like I was going through 30 straight minutes of dying.
Once I was done with treadmilling, and did some stretching to warm down (and one last search of the gym floor to see if the guy snuck in while I was in the ladies room), I went home and made a huge bowl of mac & cheese, which probably equaled about five times the calories I burned. But darnit, I was in a self-medicating mood! Cardio for the uppers and cheesy carbs for the downers. And then I (as those of you who follow me on Twitter know) watched “Intervention” to try and figure out what people who spend thousands of dollars a month on drugs do for a living, to see if I can do something similar, but without the drugs and alcohol addiction. I have, more than once, even in the salad days, stood in the wine store and said to myself, “man, eight dollars is a lot to spend on this stuff…”
If anyone ever tries to film a secret documentary on my jogging and comfort food addiction, I’m not participating, because honestly, I do feel better today.
nancypearlwannabe said,
August 25, 2009 at 8:00 am
Mac and cheese sounds even better with a glass of wine next to it. And after all that running and non-meth consuming, you deserve it.
Allison said,
August 25, 2009 at 9:26 am
I’m totally doing this today at the gym and will let you know how it goes!
btw will you come do the Tufts 10K with me in October? You know you want to!
Kate said,
August 25, 2009 at 9:52 am
I’m so trying the interval training thing. Time to start mixing it up at the gym again.
Pam said,
August 25, 2009 at 9:59 am
Glad to hear that exercising helped the blahs. I started my walk/run program again yesterday, since I have that newly acquired iPod and all. And I’ll admit that I had 2 pieces of leftover pizza afterwards. Hey, one habit at a time folks.
PS AND I watched Intervention last night too. Whoa.
Courtney said,
August 25, 2009 at 10:51 am
So glad to hear you’re feeling better today. The interval program sounds great, and if it doesn’t make you want to die, you’re more likely to stick with it. (LIke I should talk. I never exercise.)
Everyone needs mac & cheese every now and then. Nothing wrong with that.
Allie said,
August 25, 2009 at 11:22 am
I’ve been working with a trainer for the past few months, and he has me doing intervals too. I love it – my workout is so much shorter, but so much more effective. I do 5 minutes walking, then 3 minutes running at a reasonable pace, 2 minutes running as fast as I can – and do the 3/2 cycle several times and then walk for five. I get more out of a 1/2 hour run than I was when I was putting in major miles.
Glad to hear the gym time made you feel better.
Also – Go Greenists!
Hope said,
August 25, 2009 at 11:50 am
I love the Greenists! My trainer who I just started working with again made me do intervals last week too- very effective. I have to get used to the running part though. I haven’t done that in so long!!!
Glad you feel better- and I thoroughly support the combination of gym and comfort food. Burning off my comfort food is one of the main reasons I GO to the gym!
Hey…does your gym still give out free pizza and bagels?
Kristabella said,
August 25, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Good for you! That’s kind of what the Couch to 5K program does, where you walk then run then walk. And it makes the workout (for me) go by a lot quicker. I need variety!
I need to get to the gym to help with The Sads. But I’ve been so tired lately (from The Sads) that is hard to motivate myself.
Anika said,
August 25, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Awesome. I’m doing this today!
jason said,
August 25, 2009 at 1:10 pm
seems like a lot of planning and thinking, and almost obsessing… right up your alley
Knot said,
August 25, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I’m a big believer in Body for Life which equates to, “Eat right and exercise”. Their exercise regimen is mostly interval training for cardio and muscle building for toning. Interval is good for burning fat.
JD at I Do Things said,
August 25, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I gotta get in on this interval training thing. It would be easy to do, as I like to rock out on the elliptical a few times a week. My running days are behind me.
You obviously needed that mac & cheese. And if you find out whatever job those drug addicts have, please let me know. I don’t have a habit to support . . . well, not a drug or alcohol habit. But I like my mac & cheese, too.