Interval training

This morning we ran intervals again. I knew what to expect this time, which was a huge help. We met up at a park near the War Memorial. It's about a 20 minute walk from my place, so I didn't bother to ride this morning.

We started out with a warm up run around the park. It has a couple of ovals in the middle, so I figure the perimeter has to be over 500 m. I love that I can do these warm up runs comfortably now, as I used to have to listen to myself moaning for the first ten minutes of any run.

After that we did the "kick your bum" and "knees up" part of the warm up. I am definitely doing better on these. There's no way that my knees go anywhere near my waist, but they are definitely going up higher. Some side steps, some surges, some skipping and some bounding and we were ready to start running intervals.

The oval we were running around was 360 m, and it was taking me about a lap and a half to catch my partner. I was tearing off and having to fall back to a walk to catch my breath after a while. I was really pleased to be running faster, but not so happy that it was taking so much out of me.

One of the things that amazes me about having trainers is that they can help you work out what to do about a problem with some simple advice. We were walking together for part of an interval and Krissi told me that I have to work on not stopping. It sounds so obvious, but she did more than that. She gave me a strategy. Krissi set me something to aim for that I feel like I can achieve. All I have to do is slow down instead of stop. I feel like I'm running out of breath, so if I slow down I should be able to get the breathing under control. How easy is that!?! And how obvious? Why did I not think of it myself? Because I was too busy gasping for air. Stopping solved the breathing problem, but didn't help me with my running.

Another thing I noticed is that the intervals seemed to get easier. I mentioned it to Krissi and she again told me something obvious - I was warmed up.

I like the interval training because I know it's improving my running, but I enjoy the walking intervals because I get a chance to talk to the other people at training. It's a great way to exercise - I'm improving my fitness and I'm having fun while I'm doing it.

Brad, our other trainer, was busy taking photos during the interval training. He's keen on photography, which has been great for us. He chronicled our Biggest Loser Challenge and the Group Outdoor Fitness Challenge. It's great to see the photos and we're going to get CD's shortly. Today, I was so tempted to stick my tongue out at him as I ran past, but they are the shots that always end up embarrassing you. Instead I concentrated on trying not to look as though I was about to die. Easier said than done. Still, it looks as though I might end up with a running shot. :-)

Krissi and Brad are going to be away for the next two weeks but the rest of us are going to meet up for a run anyway. I think the girls are great for being willing to come along those weeks, and if they are prepared to do it, so am I. We're going to do a long run next week and some fartlek the week after. It's hill training the following week - something to look forward to. *cough*

I was offered a lift home by a few people, but I walked it instead. I was pleased with that too, as the old me would have taken the easy option.

Skins

I bought some. Wow. They are as good as everyone has been saying. I have been reading the compression leggings thread on the ausrun forum but it's taken me ages to feel like I'm enough of a runner to buy skins. What ended up convincing me that I should invest them was how cold it was for the last Group Outdoor Fitness Challenge session. Winter hadn't even officially started.

I figured there would be plenty more cold mornings like that on the running course so I bit the bullet, read the instructions, chose the size smaller because I was on a borderline, handed over the money, and hoped like hell that they would fit me when I tried them on. Thank goodness, they did. I wore them around the house last night, and couldn't believe the difference they made. I've had a sore calf since having a bad cramp the other night, and it stopped hurting! Ok, it hurt a lot less, but it sounds better the way I told it first.

The real test was this morning. It was 1 degree C this morning when I was walking to the park, and I was warm in my skins. I was a doubter so I wore a pair of capri running tights over the top, just in case. The skins came through though which meant that the running pants came off as soon as I got to the park.

Food Victory

I know the post is getting a bit long, but this one is a major victory. I've been struggling with my eating lately. I've been doing a fair bit of emotional eating - the kind where you're not hungry but you ravenously devour everything in sight and then go looking for more.

Well, I was close to doing this today when I took a step back and decided that I wasn't going to give in to temptation without a fight. Instead, I decided that I would make something really healthy and tasty for dinner. If I still felt like eating mountains of food, then I would eat dinner early. At least that way, I would be eating healthy food instead of empty calories.

I'm pleased to say that it worked. And I have delicious leftovers for later in the week. Yay me!