HIIT

Tuesday's workout was a toss up. I literally tossed some shorts and a tank top into a bag in the morning along with a banana and some leftover stir fry. I didn't even know if a workout was going to be in the cards for me with work being pretty busy but I figured I should at least be prepared in case I had a chance to sneak down to the gym around lunch.

I got some much needed testing done in the morning at work and at about noon it looked like I had a few extra minutes to sneak away. As I rode the elevator to the sub-floor level of the gym (depressing that the gym is in the basement), I was still contemplating what I should do. Since I ran on Monday I thought maybe I would just lift. Not that lifting is necessarily easier than running, but sometimes it SOUNDS easier. I was also thinking about getting in a run though since I committed to that whole 3 runs per week thing. I went to the locker room and changed and literally as I was walking out the door of the locker room into the gym I decided I would do a HIIT running workout. A HIIT workout is a High Intensity Interval Training run. Essentially it's a good speed workout, it works out your cardio in a way that a normal run can't. It helps to build some of those fast twitch muscles and helps you to become a faster runner over time. Here's the HIIT I made up for myself:

0:00 - 1:50 at Speed 6
1:50 - 3:00 at Speed 10

I did that rotation 10 times for a total of 30 minutes and finished up 2 additional minutes to reach 4 miles in 32:05.

Pace: 8:00/miles

Now wasn't I JUST talking about 8 minute miles? I don't really count a HIIT as a normal paced run, but it still felt great to see the numbers crunch together that way. Run Success. It's interesting too to see that not only do you burn more WHILE working out in a HIIT workout, but for a long time after your workout too. I can vouch for that seeing as I was famished for the rest of the day and tried to eat every food item that crossed my path yesterday :)

On another note I'm in the process of applying to be a Milk Donor. Too much information? I don't really care. I'm a mom and I'm breast feeding my baby. It's an awesome thing. Yadda yadda yadda. And anyway - I really want to be able to donate for babies that are born prematurely. When babies are born too soon their moms can't produce milk yet. The BEST thing for the survival of a premature baby is human milk. So yeah I'm going through the quite complicated and time consuming process of becoming a donor. I feel good about it. I went into preterm labor at 25 weeks and so I know the fear of having a baby too soon. I would have given anything at that time to have every chance possible for K to survive and thrive. I want to be able to give that chance to other moms who aren't as lucky as I am. I made it full term - in fact I went 4 days over my due date - and delivered a healthy, happy, amazing little dude. I'm excited to be able to work with a program in MN to give some of those babies born early a better shot at a healthy, happy life.

Other than that - nothing too new to report. I'm working on planning a baby shower for my sister in law who is due in March. That's exciting! I have a girl's happy hour on Thursday. My husband and I have dinner with my brother and his wife on Friday. We are going to the Home and Holiday show on Saturday afternoon with my brother in law and sister in law and then finally dinner with my best friend for her birthday on Sunday night. An eventful week to come!