Treadmill Torture

Because I love torture and grueling pain, I did the Treadmill Boot Camp class this evening. 

Wow. Wow. Wow. 

The class really puts it to you. The best part is, how hard you work is completely up to you. It's just you against the stop watch. If you ask me the stop watch was extremely slow today. 4 minutes felt like an eternity!  

This is what my workout looked like today.

- Run 4 minutes at a fast pace on an incline of 1.0, to simulate the outdoors. I chose 6.7 for rounds 1-3 and 6.9 for round 4. I almost died on round 4!

-  Take it back down to your base. My base is 6.0. Run for 1 minute. This is your recover time.

- Take the incline to 3.0 and run for 2 minutes at your base pace. Round two take the incline to 4.0, round three 5.0 and round four 6.0. 

- Take the incline to 0 and run for 1 minute at your base. This is your recover time. 

Do this 4 times... if you like to be tortured!

The reason why I put myself through this torture is to hopefully improve my speed and endurance. I have three major fitness goals (not including weight loss) this year that are going to take some torture and suffering in the gym to achieve.

They are:

1. Break my 5K PR time of 24:59.

2. I want the last leg of the Triathlon, running, to not be as hard as last year. I do not want my legs to feel like concrete! 

3. Beat my Incline PR time of 37:19.     

Starting Weight (2/28/11): 134.6lbs

Current Weight: 130.2lbs

Total Weight Loss: -4.4lbs

Goal Weight: 120lbs

Note: Great workout!

Personal Best

Two, okay let's be honest, almost three weeks of not working out really makes it hard to get back into the swing of things. I forced myself to go to the gym on Tuesday to run.

Thinking that I would be at the same level of fitness I cranked the speed on the treadmill to 6.5 thinking that running 3.2 miles would be no problem. I made it to 2 miles without stopping... barely. I had to walk/job the last mile. I was pretty dissappointed in myself for 1) thinking I would be in the same shape as I was at three weeks ago and 2) allowing my endurance level to fall. I went home a little defeated.

The happy ending of this story is even though I wasn't able to run the entire 3 miles I still lost 1.6 pounds! Last night I did the Incline with Erica who is Ashley's family member and lives in California. Erica is a trooper and hard core! Most people would have let the altitute beat them down, but Erica gave it everything she had and finished strong and before me!! She had a great time!

I made it up the Incline (from the very bottom) in 37:19. This is my personal best!!! Oh ya, I pushed myself so hard at the very end I actually puked at the top. My next goal is to get to the top in under 36 minutes!

P.S. I am only 1.2lbs away from losing 10lbs!!!

Augusta's First Incline!

This morning, on the incline, was full of new experiences...
 

New Experience #1

Augusta went up the incline and down Bar Trial for the first time! She did really good and had a great time (in my opinion)! I kept her on the leash for most of the incline due to her bundle of energy, curiosity of the new surroundings and my fear of her running under the other goers. She wasn't too fond of the metal tubes and even refused to move. Jackie and I had to pick her up and plop her onto the next step a couple of times. Once we got past the false summit and most of the people I took her leash off. She did an amazing job. She would go up a couple of steps and then turn around and wait for me. With a little more practice she won't even need a leash. Augusta finished her first incline in about 28 minutes!! I was a little worried that she wouldn't have enough energy or legs left for the run down Bar Trial. Boy was I wrong! She ran her little legs off! She would run to Jackie, then back to me, then back to Jackie.

This is nap #1. She is now on nap #2.  

New Experience #2  
Jackie and I decided to start at the very bottom of the incline. We usually hike up to the incline from the parking lot and start there. The extra steps added a new element of difficulty. My goal this morning was to reach the top in 39 minutes. Goal achieved! I reached the top in 38:11. Yes, Augusta beat me!  

New Experience #3 
If you run down Bar Trial, tripping over a rock or your feet is just a matter of time. Well today was my day to fall. All of a sudden I go flying through the air and do a perfect volleyball dive. I skinned up my hand and my entire right side of my body is pretty sore. I am going to have some killer bruises. I am not gonna lie, it shook me up a little bit. Oh ya, I also landed in dog poop. I even had some on my face! I hope this fall makes me more fearless and not fearful!

I Did It!

This morning I climbed the Incline for the very first time! I got stage fright last night and wanted to back out so bad. Luckily I was going with a group of people so I really had no choice. The view was so much more than I excepted. And the steps at times were horrendous. The weather going up was near perfect, but the summit was a little breezy. I learned that if you stop it is a little hard to get going again and if you get behind someone with a slower pace you are in trouble. I felt great going up and I actually finished it faster than expected- 41 minutes. I will definitely be doing the Incline again! Tomorrow starts the last and final round of P90X!!