Catapult Fitness Blog officially turns 1-year old tomorrow, April 30th.

This past year has literally flown right by and when I take the time to reflect, I realize just how much can happen in a mere 365 days:

… You can find yourself on an health and wellness journey that has you losing 16 lbs and lowering your bodyfat by 10%, all in your mid-40s;

… You can start a new career;

… You can have the opportunity to meet one of the individuals who inspired you to make changes in your life;

…

This frozen meal has stuffed rigatoni pasta filled with a creamy blend of ricotta, romano and mozzerella cheeses tossed with orange and yellow carrots, zucchini and red peppers in a fire roasted tomato sauce with accents of oregano and basil.

My Rating
grade: A+
would buy again: yes, have already bought several times

Nutrition Info
calories: 240
net carbs: 31
gprotein: 12g
fiber: 4g
fat: 6g

Availability
size: 10 oz box
price: I usually wait until it’s on sale for $2 or less

Notes: This is actually probably my all-time favorite “diet” tv dinner.

I put in my last interval session on this training cycle last night. I wasn’t able to make it to the track to run with my club, so I headed on down to the Back Bay and ran some intervals there. It was more like a Fartlek workout - the only difference being I had my Garmin programmed to remind me to slow down and speed up every quarter mile. When all was said and done, I put in my planned six miles. I kept it easy and ran within my target pace - except on the last 400 where I decided to air it out a little (7:04 pace- - wow - was that really me?).

So, here I am.

While I don’t believe that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the only worthy form of cardio, I do firmly believe it is the ideal form of cardio for those individuals who are looking to lose weight and lower body fat for reasons addressed in my Understanding EPOC article.

With that said, I’m also convinced that HIIT is often incorrectly performed as I hear over and over again from individuals that they perform HIIT for 45 - 60 minutes at a time. That implies that the exercise is not being performed to HIIT standards.

Let’s take a look at several HIIT protocols:

• 1 minute on, 1 - 2 minutes off, repeat 6 times
• 30 seconds on, 90 seconds off, repeat 6 times
• 45 seconds on, 90 seconds off, repeat 6 times
• 20 seconds on, 40 seconds off, repeat 8 times

Note: Make sure to include a 5 minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool-down.

Notice that each protocol includes an “on” and “off” segment.

I had every intention of putting in four miles yesterday. The only problem was execution. I really should run early on Saturday and Sunday. But yesterday I slept in, so the morning was out. Sunday afternoons is normally grocery shopping. Yesterday was no different. Also, I normally cook dinner for the family on weekends (so my lovely wife has a night or two off). By the time I got dinner done and on the table, it was pushing 6 o’clock. I did get in my car and drive down to the Back Bay, but I got there, the wind was howling, the temperatures were dropping, my iPod was no where to be found, and my back and legs were still sore.

Be sure and listen to the “Ingles Information Aisle” on 570am - www.wwnc.com this Saturday from 8:05-8:35am as I talk to ASAP - Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project - about locally grown food and products. You can find their 2008-2009 guide at Ingles soon!

As I said in yesterday’s blog, I’m coming down the home stretch. I’m keeping things easy and simple this week. Just enough to maintain fitness. Hopefully not so much that I leave myself tired. In that vein I did a quick four miles in the evening. The goal was to just put in some general aerobic miles.

The other thing that I am doing is checking out tunes for the weekend. I have a 10K race playlist that I’ve put together, but I don’t have a two hour playlist for a half. So, I loaded the fathers (grandfathers?) of hip-hop/techno - Kraftwerk.

These Sandwich Thins are a new product and also come in Whole Wheat. Only 100 calories they are thinner than an English Muffin and toast well. I like the fact that they aren’t “bready” so you can really taste your sandwich ingredients. Find them in the Bread Aisle at Ingles.

Wow. Yesterday was a tough twelve miles. The weather was perfect (sunny, mid 60’s, a slight breeze). Everything started out well. I was keeping my speed down in the 10:20 to 10:30 range (that was tough itself). Everything was going great, right up to mile 10 1/2. All of a sudden the concrete in my legs set and my lower back just went into fatigue mode. Literally, over a quarter mile I went from “All Systems Go” to “Danger Will Robinson!” Breathing and heart rate were just fine - it was the physical systems that went haywire. I really struggled to finish.