Since my HIIT sessions are 60-second bursts followed by 60-second rests, with 2 warmup bursts, followed by 8-10 hard bursts, then 2-3 cool down bursts, I’ve really worked hard to push myself at a high cadence and not stop when it hurts. This last week I got to really put that to the test during a few very tough climbs out in the real world, and my lungs were among the best I’ve ever had. I can definitely tell that HIIT has made a difference, and my body is slightly leaner, but no where near what I’m looking for as I still weigh 230 pounds.

After this week in Whistler, Canada, I’m considering giving up alcohol for 1 month just to see how it affects my body. We’ll see.

It’s really sad that I used to be able to run much further, but I’m just glad I can still run that far.

The new shoes were really great, had solid support and really kept me from thinking of my feet at all, which is awesome. As for the Nike+, I love that damn thing. It honestly makes me want to run more. I can track my runs and my speed and my time and my distance all at Nike.com. It’s so cool. And it’s honestly one of the best sites I’ve seen. Ever. So easy to use, so many features, it’s like using a desktop application.

And the good news is, I supposedly burned 530 calories. That’s nice. Just got to keep doing it. I think I’m going to only do runs once a week, and keep doing the HIIT at the gym 4 times a week. Throwing in a legit bike ride once or twice a week. All things being equal, I’ll always miss one or two workouts a week, so making sure I’m going for 6-8 will keep me around 4-5 consistently.

My weight still is up and down, but I have only been eating reasonably well, not great. We’ll see.

I think that the 25 minutes, including warm up and cool down, gives me my best bang for the buck, and not only boosts my metabolism, but will also be significantly helping my riding strength and speed. And while I’m not pushing quite as hard as I was during sprints, the 60-second interval still assures that my heart rate is around 160-175 during the intervals, which is right around 90% my max (220 - my age (31) gives me 189 for a max).

As for weight loss, I haven’t been eating quite as good as I’d like, and with the long weekend we just had, I’ve drank way more beer than could be productive. However, I’m still losing weight, and with the calories I’ve been consuming, I must be doing something right. Now I just need to get my eating to be a disciplined as my riding.

As I already said, last week I tried it again, and was completely shocked by the results. I think it may be even better for HIIT than running. It takes a little bit of practice and fidgeting around to get the seat at the perfect height, but it’s worth it. I’ve never had a positive experience with a recumbent style exercise bike, so I don’t recommend using those. I used the LifeFitness 95Ci, which was perfect. Make sure that your knees do not straighten completely at the bottom of your stroke, and your hips should not rock side to side as you pedal (they should remain pretty steady as your legs pound it up and down like pistons).

Once you get the seat height correct, the next thing to do is focus on which “workout” you want to do. I’m still finding the right one, but today I think I did the “Interval” hill course (you just keep pressing Hill Plus until you see intervals). I’ve been trying to do 45-60 second intervals with 60-75 second rests. This has been working really well for me, and I’ve completely killed myself at it. I also crank up the Level to 12-14, and try and get my RPMs around 120-130. This is pretty difficult for me right now, but I think it’s the right level of exertion. I like the fact that I’m both training my body to spin at a higher cadence, which will help my climbing, but also I’m pushing what equates to a bigger gear, which will increase my strength. Regardless, I’m burning some serious calories, and quickly putting my body into serious interval training.

I plan to mix it up a little over the next few weeks, trying different techniques and interval lengths with different cadence goals and level choices. Part of why I’m doing this is to get stronger at riding my bike, so I want to mix it up and make sure I capitalize on the saddle time in as many ways as possible. Regardless though, the ease on your body compared to running can’t be stressed enough, and for some reason, spinning frantically over in the corner seems much less weird than totally going to town on the eliptical or treadmill. Also, because you can increase the resistance level so much, you don’t have to spin at a disruptively high cadence. And one last tip for using the bike, move your butt forward and backwards on the seat to find that perfect position. Some people like to be right over the pedals, while others prefer to be behind them slightly, find what works for you and don’t worry about the big indents on the seat, you shouldn’t be in those anyway. Also, with this model, the armrests work really well if you rest your elbows on them. It allows you to just lean into the bike and give it hell. Way to go LifeFitness for making a great tool for HIIT. In the next week or two I’m going to sneak into the spinning room and give those bikes a try, but for now, I like the computerized display showing me numerical representations of my cadence (RPM) and level.

I know I’m just not used to asking that of my legs, so I’ll get better. Hopefully, it’ll get easier and I’ll stick with it longer this time.

3 miles, somewhere around 25 minutes.

Yesterday I ran for about 30 minutes, and had about 3-4 intervals where I ran at 80% effort (not a sprint, but faster than a jog). I tried to keep my intervals up past a minute long, but had a good warm down between (always kept running however, tried not to walk or stop). I think this is going to be better for my mountain biking, as I often have very steep sections of trail that require me to really push for up to a minute or two at a time, and I like the idea of being comfortable with that length of effort.

I’ll keep you posted with how it goes.

However, what didn’t work beautifully was my body. After 3 intervals I was absolutely dying and sweating my guts out. When I looked at most of the other people doing cardio, most of them were simply putting in about 40% effort, sweating a little, mainly just looking bored as they stared at the TVs waiting for their time to be up. Boredom is not something I was experiencing. I think that going full-out on the EFX is harder than anything else, mostly because it grows in difficulty it seems. When you start out there’s resistance, but then you get up to speed and it’s not so bad, so you fire up the pistons and go as hard as you can. But as soon as that 30 second mark hits, you realize how there is absolutely nothing left in the tank. This might be the best way to do HIIT.

As I’ve said before the worst part is trying to keep those things moving while you’re gasping for breath and trying to recover. If you quit moving your feet, the whole machine pauses, which keeps you from seeing the timer, which is how you know when to start up again. I’m going to play around with different ideas, but in the end, I like that it keeps me from completely stopping.

Once again, six intervals, almost died. 234lbs and about 10 minutes of lying on the ground recovering. I’m taking today off and going snowboarding. Not as aerobic, but lots of fun and several hours of it.

I had it set to about 70% of max incline and did a couple of minutes of warm up to get my legs used to the motion. As for the actual sprinting part, I ended up staying at that incline and pushing the level all the way up to 20, which was the max, then I just leaned forward and went as hard as I could. The nice thing was there was a very clear and easy to read timer counting down the seconds in front of me. The bad thing was when I finished my 30 second interval, there was no easy way to lower the level without keeping the pedals moving. All I really wanted was to stop, but I had to keep moving to lower the level. I’m sure I’ll figure it out more as I go. The other negative was the extremely loud breathing and gasping for air. I was a little embarrassed despite the fact that there was probably 1 other person within 30 feet of me. I also imagine I’ll get over that.

In the end, I feel like I got an incredible interval workout in and I did without any pounding of my legs at all, which means my shins feel fantastic. That’s great news. It’s also something I think can be sustainable. Although today, I’m absolutely exhausted. I only did 6 intervals, 30 seconds with 1 minute rests. After which I weighed 233lbs. Not a good weight for someone who’s been doing this for a few months, but I’ve not really been eating as well as I should, and honestly only doing HIIT about 2 times a week.

This week, I’ve worked out Tuesday (lifted didn’t run), Wednesday (lifted AND ran), and will tomorrow (lift and run). I also snowboarded on Saturday. If only this was something I could really nail down and not deviate from.

My shin splints have been much better since I started landing on my mid-sole, and yesterday I did 7 intervals for the first time. Tomorrow will be the second, and I’m trying not to think about it.

While running uphill, I had been landing on my forefoot, toward my toes, and never really landing on my heels at all. I had read that this was better form, and could be easier on your body, but for me, the problem was landing on my toes, and making my shins catch all that weight, then push off again immediately. It was a huge strain. So, I just started landing more on the mid-sole of my foot, with a little tendency toward my heal, and suddenly, my shins were much better. And since I’m running uphill, I’m never really catching all my weight on my heals, but simply landing on my whole foot at the same time. I hope to continue to strengthen my legs and my muscle surrounding my shins to be able to handle any style of running, but for now, I’m happy to not be afraid of what I’m going to feel like immediately after the run.

This week I’ve only done one session, and it was doozy. I’m still tired from it, but I’m planning on doing a short one maybe tomorrow. I’m also snowboarding this weekend for the first time in a while, and I’m sure that will bring about all sorts of pain and confusion onto my body Saturday night as well.