Interval Training - Day One

Today was the first time I've attempted timed interval training. (Usually I just do my own type of intervals; sprint until I'm spent, skate casual until I catch my breath; then do it again. Not timed, I just listen to my body.) The plan was to do one minute full on as fast as I could skate, followed by a two minute casual cool down - repeat 3 times and then on the third sprint take a five minute casual skate: repeat as many times as I could during the course of my outing. On my first attempt I discovered two things:

1.) Trying to skate full on as fast as I can right into a head wind is like trying to run in a swimming pool. (I'm so sick of the wind I can't even begin to express it...)

2.) One minute is a looong frigging time....

So the plan may have been 1 min on/2 min off but the reality was that I couldn't do my full on fastest skate for a full minute. I lasted about 30-35 seconds before I felt like I was going to die. And it also took me longer than 2 minutes to recover. I started getting discouraged but decided instead to ignore my watch and just do it like I always do. I still did intervals, I still felt like I was working hard; but I wasn't watching the clock. I still managed to do 15.73 miles in just under an hour and 13 minutes - my average mph was 12.9.

I'm a little concerned about my heart rate; I have a physical scheduled in a few weeks so I'll definitely run over it with my doctor. Based on my age, my maximum heart rate is 180. 85% of that is 153 bpm. My average bpm tonight was 174 with a maximum of 197... That seems like I was in the red zone for far too long. I felt pretty good, but it just scares me... I've been reading that everyone is different and that those numbers are just a guideline so maybe I'm just one of those fast heartbeat kind of people... I hope that's the case!!

Either way, it felt like a good training workout. I had a moment though, where I felt afraid of losing the very reason why I started skating in the first place. I am afraid that I'm going to wake up one morning and think of skating as work and not as something fun. I need to remember to look around and enjoy the feel of the sun, the beauty of my surroundings; hear the birds singing, the crickets chirping - the frogs doing whatever it is that frogs do... Make sure to focus on the other stuff and not just chasing miles as fast as I can. Skating has always been playtime for me - I never want to lose that. The minute I start feeling like it's work is the minute I chuck the app and start skating with no idea how far/fast I'm going....

This is why I skate - to be out in this...

Tomorrow is weight training, then I have a nice, long. leisurely skate planned for Friday morning - work on some distance with no hard core intervals...