INTERVAL TRAINING - they way to go?

Sunday (Jan 28, 2007) - This was the first time I was going to attempt a run with such distance in my adult life. I may have did 10 kilometers during my teens, but in those days, energy was abundant and it seemed like I could do it forever. The sad truth however dawned upon me, when I struggled past 5 kilos! Dang... 10ks ain't that easy I reckon. I ended up walking almost 1/2 the way, and finally, my legs almost broke down and had to call my wife to come and pick me up! HAH! What an experience :) ... anyway, I'm not giving up... because I think I am quite keen on entering the KUALA LUMPUR 10K RUN in 2weeks ++ time :) So, it's off to training again today... only it's gonna be less kilometers today.

ANYWAY! To the topic of today. Interval (Cardio) Training. What is it? Sound technical... but really, it can be quite simple. For me, Interval Training is a "short-cut" to getting your cardio done for the day. It's not a cheat mechanism in any way... cuz it's quite a challenge to do. But if it can cut down my cardio time to 20minutes... then hey! Why not :)

Basically, Interval Training is to do perform a particular cardio exercise repetitively, at an increasing pace, within a certain interval.... .. .. .. Ok ok. I think I didn't put that in the best definitions... since English is not my mother tounge, I beg for forgiveness. It's best I explain using an example.

I personally love the BODY FOR LIFE technique. First, I pick an exercise... Say RUNNING :)
I will divide my exercise into FOUR 5-minute intervals (4 X 5-minutes = 20minutes!).

Minute ONE
- I run a slow pace. Just to get things going. Run run run run run... Slowly that is :) I'm not even losing breath of burning my calves muscles here. (I rate this at level 2)

Minute TWO
- I increase the pace a bit. But still, not that challenging. Just making sure it's faster than the first minute. (Level 3 perhaps?)

Minute THREE
- Here, I beef up the tempo. running faster than the previous minute. It starts to get a bit challenging here. But it's not DEAD challenging. Start to breath heavier, but still, I can take it.
(Level 6 is the number here)

Minute FOUR
- This is when I add more beef to my run. Ok... BEEF here means I make things faster :) I start to breath heavier, and I feel that my heart rate is rising... beating faster and faster. I also start to feel that I'm going at a FAST PACE! A pace I don't think I could maintain for 30 minutes! (Level 7)

Minute FIVE
- For me, I usually divide this minute into two parts. I'd go at about 85% of my might for the first half. Believe me, it's a pace you won't want to maintain for a long time :P The second half would bring me up to 90%. This is when I feel that I am (almost) fully sprinting. Heart rate has risen to a high of... I'm not sure how much (around 160 beats per second I reckon). And at the end of this minute... I'm panting profusely. (Level 8-9)

Minute ONE (Second phase of the Intervals)
- Then, I start lowering my pace to slow jog... Not to drastic or else my blood would go
popping through my head :P

I repeat the process for another THREE-five minute intervals.
And at the end of 20-minutes... I'm done. I feel good! And there's my cardio for the day :)
Simple sounding ain't it? ... simple yes.. but definitely not easy! But once you get used to the
routine, it would (almost) be like a bag of peanuts.

This is however my personal preference. Might not the the most effective way of interval training... but it works for me. Lost quite a lot of kilos (15 to be exact) using this method... coupled with lifting weights of course.

For more information on Interval Training, you might wanna search the net. Feel free to Google either thru this website (at the top) or thru www.google.com :)

Hope you had a nice read.

Cheerios!!!