feeling the burn.

almost every morning... i pump up the tunes, sweat like a pig & go! go! go! on my bike. all from the comforts of my own home. with all the heat we've been experiencing, it's much more pleasant to ride my bike indoors on my trainer, then battling the hot hot sun outside. seeing as i'm kinda lazy, lately i've figured out how to get more bang for my buck, in regards to my workout, that is. lately i've been incorporating interval training into my work outs. i work harder but for a less amount of time. don't believe it's beneficial? then check out THIS newspaper article.

have i piqued your interest yet? ready to add a little variety to your workout? for starters you're going to need a heart rate monitor, then you need to print out THIS handy little heart rate chart, get some water, pump up your tunes & get ready to work... (for the sake of brevity, i will refer to the heart rates zones, on your chart, as follows: recovery - zone 1, endurance - zone 2, strength - zone 3, interval - zone 4, race day - zone 5. every "*" represents a "recovery" period. & finally, don't start timing until your heart has raised, or dropped to the desired heart rate. in the beginning it will take longer, but the more you train, the faster it will happen. make sense?)

so here's the plan:

2-4 minute warm up in zone 1, progressing to high end of zone 2

moderate intervals:
2 minute zone 3
*1 minute zone 1 or 2
3 minute zone 3
*1 minute zone 1 or 2
4 minute zone 3
* 1 minute zone 1 or 2
5 minute zone 3
*1 minute zone 1 or 2

gear down - more challenging intervals
2 minute zone HIGH zone 4
*2 minute zone 1 or 2
2 minute HIGH zone 4
*90 second zone 1 or 2
30 second HIGH zone 5
*60 second zone 1 or 2
30 second HIGH zone 5
*60 second zone 1 or 2
60 second HIGH zone 5
*2 minute zone 1 or 2
60 second HIGH zone 5
*90 second zone 1 or 2
2 minute HIGH zone 4
*2 minute zone 1

approximate acceleration time for zone 1,2 & 4: 15-45 seconds
approximate deceleration time for zone 4 & 5: 30-60 seconds

the great thing about this workout? it's really flexible... some days, when i feel really ambitious, i'll do the whole thing. other days, i'll just do the moderate intervals, some days i'll do just the more challenging intervals, & then there are days where i do bits and pieces from both. plus you can do it using any type of machine - bike, treadmill, etc. (i'm sure you could do it without a machine, too, it'll just be harder, and take longer, to change your heart rate.)

don't forget your towel... you'll be sweating like a pig.