Tabatas

I have been a pretty serious runner for twelve years now. It has been god-sent, because as a woman, my view of my body and my self-esteem was never a result of a number on the scale. Honestly, who cares what you weigh when you can run a 7 minute mile for 10 miles, out-swim any man and stand on your head?? It just dont matter no more!

Anyway, I digress...my point is that I have learnt to heal quickly and move on (most of the times) from awful situations because in sports, one cannot dwell....ever. You make a mistake and then move on to the next point, the next mile. My mind is trained that way still.

Its been so cold and dark and foggy here that I find motivation very hard to muster. I have made a promise to myself. I take myself to the treadmill for an hour and play. Thats it. I do like it long and hard - I'm talking about the run :-), but its not so desirable in the winter rain. I run on the treadmill to music and do intervals I call 'tabatas'. Basically, they are intervals where you go hard/easy in bursts of 20-30 seconds. So 20 seconds all out, followed by 30 seconds easy. Try it for 30 minutes in a row on a treadmill, cross-trainer, bike or stairs and I guarantee your legs will burn. I do it to music and during the song chorus I go all out 60 seconds, with a 20 second rest - repeat for 45 minutes and the rest 15 minutes is easy uphill running to cool off. This workout is challenging, gets me sweaty in the winter and very happy! This has helped me so much in my low motivation period. I feel challenged everyday. And what could be better than that?

Yesterday was 40 minutes stairs easy, 30 minutes weights and 20 minutes of yoga.
This morning I had a fever of 101 degrees, so I sweated it for 45 minutes of sprints 11kms and 15 minutes of easy walking, plus 10 minutes of stairs and 20 minutes of stretching.

Day off on sunday. I am sick, taking time out and just eating and drinking the sabbath away.