HIIT Training

Let me start this off by saying HOLY BUCKETS OF SWEAT, followed ever so kindly by HOLY BURNING QUADS!

I have been doing some reading into H.I.I.T. High Intensity Interval Training.  According to the research I've done (let's be clear....not the "published specific research information" required for my nursing job, but the "reading lots of blog posts/sports nutrition/training website" type of research.)  Anyways the research I've found has lots of  good things to say about HIIT.  Basically you are doing short bursts of maximum intensity with recovery in between.  This is AMAZING for fat burning.... again according to the research I've done. 

The past 2 weeks I have been in serious Half Marathon training mode, but managed to work a few HIIT runs into my training plan.  Last week my legs were extremely tired the day or two after my first HIIT run, so I took a few days off to recover for my 10miler I did on Sunday.  This week is TAPER MADNESS!!!!!!!!  And I'm struggling BIG time at it!  So Tuesday night I completed this workout.....and have not run much since! (that's what we call FORCED recovery!)

I do these on the treadmill

Warmup : 5 minutes @ 3.5mph

15sec. @ 9pm

45sec Recovery @3.5

Repeat 10 times

(I varied my sprints between 15sec and 30 sec, but always kept the 45sec recovery)

Cooldown : 5 minutes @ 3.0-3.5

The object of these types of workouts is to GIVE IT YOUR ALL!  You should be feeling like you're going to die at the end of your sprint, and you should be sweating BUCKETS!  Now I have a pretty good cardio base already, so if you're interested in adding a few of these into your workouts you might want to start your sprints a little slower.  You should be able to finish them, but it needs to be HARD!  I seriously sweat more than I have in a LONG time doing these!  It took me 26 minutes total (warmup and cooldown included) and was around 2.5 miles. As this starts to get easier, I will increase my time, the interval speed, and the # of intervals! 

Here are a couple of the resources I've found information on.....

BePrettyThinkPretty (search HIIT on her blog...)

Blonde Ponytail
www.intervaltraining.net/HIIT.html

Let me know what you think!  I will repost an update in a few weeks and let you know if I'm seeing any results!
Here's a little motivation.....

This pic came from FitPit's facebook page!