Interval Training

Don't panic, ladies. This one isn't homework. I am going to post my personal fitness journey here as well (cuz it's my blog, and I can do what I want). As I research fitness and nutrition (as I've become obsessed with doing), I need a place to keep all the information together so I can reference it (and I guess share it if you're interested).

I've come a long way since I started working out, and specifically running, but I'm still super SLOW. I've reached my goal of being able to run a 5k (3.1 miles) without walking, but really what I'm doing is jogging at a walking pace. My next goal is to increase my pace and be able to sustain it.

 I like to pull workouts from Jackie Warner's and Selene Yaeger's books. Both of them are hard core enough to motivate me but down to earth enough not to scare me off. Both focus on strength training, which I need. But to increase my pace, I need interval training (or at least that's what everything I've read says). Today was my first stab at it (a modification of a routine from Runner's World magazine).

2 mile jog
1/2 mile sprint intervals (sprint 100, walk/jog 100)
10 bleachers
1/2 mile backwards inervals (jog backwards 100, jog/walk forward 100)

I did the intervals (and obviously the bleachers) at the track so that I could divide the 100's up by straights and curves.

My heart rate definitely went up and down, which is what the articles I've read said you're looking for in interval training. All in all, I'm going to call it a successful day one.