I speak often about high intensity interval training (HIIT) on Catapult Fitness Blog. HIIT is done by alternating brief periods or high intensity work (85% or more) with a brief recovery period. HIIT is an example of an anaerobic exercise, which means that an inadequate amount of oxygen is being delivered to working muscles during the course of the exercise.

When inadequate oxygen is available lactic acid is produced. Lactic acid is what gives you that burning feeling during a workout. It leads to muscle fatigue and must be burned up by the body during a recovery period before another anaerobic bout of exercise can be attempted. This recovery period also allows the muscles to use oxygen to replenish the energy used during HIIT.

Conversely, aerobic or “steady-state” exercise uses oxygen at a constant rate with no accumulation of lactic acid.

While both anaerobic and aerobic exercise burn calories and create some EPOC effect, EPOC increases dramatically with intensity thus making anaerobic exercise a more effective means for fat loss.

A commentary in the December 9, 2005 of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition examined aerobic and anaerobic energy expenditure for two exercise tasks of equal work using a treadmill.

The results of the study showed that the steady-state exercise tends to burn more calories during the actual exercise than interval training, while interval training generates a higher EPOC leading to a much larger number of total calories burned.

Ultimately, HIIT results in significantly more calories burned in a much condensed period of exercise.

This is not to say that steady-state cardio does not have a place in your workout routine. Interval training should be limited to 2 – 3 times per week to lessen the risk of injury and allow for an adequate recovery period.

Steady-state cardio on the other hand can be performed daily, depending on duration and intensity level.

There are a myriad of HIIT exercises that can be found on the Web.

Hopefully you can use this information to maximize your workouts and turn your body into a fat burning machine!

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

Here’s the deal. The Los Angeles Marathon sent their official “Final Race Instructions” email. Anyone who has not grown up or lived in L.A. for a while might be a little intimidated. Some of the gems:

• “You must wear your Bib on the front of your shirt and leave the B-Tag attached to your bib. If you do not wear the Bib and attached B Tag, your marathon time will not be recorded properly.” I wonder how the B-Tag works if it’s under layers of clothing? How many will I see duct taped to a shoe? I wonder how many will be disappointed that their start time isn’t recorded?
• “The ChronoTrack Timing System uses the disposable B-Tag which is attached to the runner’s race bib. You will not need to remove the tag from the bib to put on your shoe. The timing device remains ON YOUR BIB.” I wonder how many people won’t read this?
• “ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY!!! Let’s face it folks, this is Los Angeles, so even though it is a weekend and you will be leaving your house or hotel before the crack of dawn, you have to factor in traffic, congestion and crowded parking lots. We strongly advise all participants to arrive at the Stadium a minimum of 60 minutes before the race and 90 minutes is even better!” Anyone who has lived in L.A. for any length of time gets this. Sorry tourists!
• “ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY!!!” So, let’s see. I’m on the 5:00 AM shuttle to Dodger Stadium. I probably need to be parked about 15 minutes before that to make sure I get to my shuttle. 30 minutes of traffic once I get off the freeway to get to the parking lot. One hour drive to Santa Monica. Hmm. Leave home at 3:00. AM. No wonder Marathon jumped!
• “Running 26.2 miles in and of itself is fun” Hooohooohooo! When was the last time *these* folks ran 26.2?
• “The Honda LA Marathon has stocked the race course with TONS of excitement to keep your energy level up and lots of fun things to look forward to throughout the race. There will be 25 entertainment centers, 4 City Block Parties, Cheer Alley, and over 50 additional entertainment sites located throughout the course.” Like I care? Hey dudes! I’m running a race! There better not be a block party at mile 23….
• “Please situate yourself in the start area according to your anticipated minute pace per mile, i.e. ten minute miles. This system is for your safety and the safety of other participants. Pace per mile signs will be hung along the sides of corrals, starting with a 9 minute pace all the way through 13 + minute pace per mile.” I read this as self policed corrals?  For 20,000 runners? I spell that C-L-U-S-T-E-R-F….
• “Diversified Paratransit shuttle vans will pickup runners who are unable to complete the Marathon starting at the Mile 7 water station and continuing through mile 23 and transport them back to the Runner Drop Off location at 2nd Street and Broadway in Santa Monica.” Bwahahahaha! (Ugh……)
• “If you want to store anything, there will be a bag check located in Lot G at Dodger Stadium.” Cool. “Due to heightened security reasons we will only accept the clear plastic bags of runners belongings. Non-transparent bags or back packs will not be accepted.” Hmm. Now that’s different. I wonder how many people won’t read this? I hope they have extra clear plastic bags at the bag drop!

No wonder Marathon is hiding! Maybe I can entice him: “Don Francisco will be providing coffee throughout the day for spectators and participants.” Here boy! Here boy!

Hmm. I wonder if I should be concerned that the title of the pdf they sent is “2010/03/10-Race-Instructions-revised.pdf” “Revised”? Make some room there Marathon. Where’s the mud pit?

My eating was super good yesterday, no snacks (except my planned dessert) - I didn’t reach for the nuts once! I think that is the secret for me. For some things, a little is enough to satisfy me, but with trigger foods like nuts, as long as I don’t have any, it is easier to resist. Once I have a small handful, it’s all over for the night. I have no self control sometimes!

Anyway, after dinner I did arms/chest/a little ab work. My legs were still sore, so I decided to put off working on them. I may do that tonight, after walking with mom, or if not, I’ll just do full body weights tomorrow. I am so glad my legs/butt are finally feeling better (although in a way, I was totally happy they were sore). I am not sure why my arms aren’t sore, since I am doing 15lbs in 3 sets of 12, which is the most yet. I might need to go buy a 20lb weight soon. I am getting confident that when I finally start P90X, I will actually be in good enough shape to do most of it (except pull ups, I don’t think I’d ever be able to do those). I think I’m going to officially set Monday May 3 as my start date for P90X. I’m adding that to my facebook countdown calendar so I don’t forget, haha. That will be a good boost to keep working my butt off when I get back from vacation, and hopefully it will help me get that bikini body during the summer (even if it’s late summer).

Oh yeah, since I hit 169 today, that means my BMI is no longer in the obese category! Yay! I am “just” overweight instead. 29 lbs to go until “normal”. I can’t wait!

I actually got on here to write about a strange thing that happened earlier. About 15 minutes after my weights workout, while still wearing my workout clothes, I went out on our screened in porch to water the plants and clean up fallen leaves to make it look a little tidier. Random people walk around outside all the time (I assume apartment residents or employees). So this guy walks past and made a comment about how I must like plants. I wasn’t really paying attention to him (I am not good at talking to people I don’t know), but then he came back around a minute later with a chopped off aloe plant and asked if I liked aloe and wanted the plant. I wasn’t really sure I wanted it, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I went around to meet him and took the plant.

As I was going back inside, the guy asked me if I did karate, and I said no, and he was like ‘you look like you do karate’. Hmm. Weird. I guess I should take that as a compliment. Better than a stranger saying, hey you look like you sit on the couch all day eating cheetos. But I definitely don’t think I look athletic, so it was pretty weird. Maybe the kickboxing moves I’ve been adding in have actually done something? Or maybe he was trying to hit on me, who knows. I can never figure people out.

Alrighty. Yesterday ended out ok, no nuts again, but I did have 110 calories of chocolate caramels AND some sf pudding, which is more than I should have done. Still, since lunch was zucchini pasta, and I had room for error, I think I did ok. Will try to keep the sweets down to one item per day though. The good news is there are only a couple of those chocolates left. The bad news is I will be plagued with Easter candy soon. My mom still insists on making us way big baskets.

I’m sloooowwwwly making more progress, 168.8 today. I was hoping for better, since I actually saw less than that on Saturday, but that seems to be how things go with the scale lately. I am still happy I seem to be done with the 170s. And I probably would have hit 190 by now if I hadn’t stopped my out of control spiral in January. Sometimes I definitely need to remind myself of these facts, since it makes my slow rate of loss seem much less important/annoying.

I didn’t manage a second workout yesterday, so that means lots of weights on the agenda today. I’m trying to decide if I want to run as well, or stay in for a shorter amount of cardio. I should probably run though, since I did not do that at all last week, and the rain is probably going to keep me from it on Friday. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve been a little afraid to go out running in my new shoes, because I’m still breaking them in. They seem smaller than my old ones even though they’re the same size/brand, but I guess the old ones were just stretched out.

• Taking it eas(ier): I’ll be maintaining intensity but cutting back on volume.  Last night I pulled off 6 miles at an average pace of 9:28. My longest run will be this weekend at 8 miles. Nothing else over 6 for the week. Sunday’s run will be in the two mile range. I could get used to this.
• Eating: I’ll be putting a little greater emphasis on carbs this week. But – I’m not going overboard! Instead of chicken and rice I’ll have rice and chicken. (YESSSSS!!!!) I’ll be limiting some foods high in saturated fats like  ice cream that my body will glomp onto. (NOOOOOO!!!!) Oh well. The added weight certainly won’t help on race day.
• Race plan: It’s time to formalize my plan. I *think* I know why I’m doing this. Time to be held accountable. Look for this by the end of the week.
• Day before and race morning logistics: This will be done solely for reduction of stress. My stress. I love a planned world. I don’t deal too well with surprises.

It’s nervous time. I think I’m a lot more nervous than the last time around in October…

Oh – an answer to a question that I asked yesterday about B-Tags. A comment posted by WadiaSoft directed me to ChronoTrack’s website:

“If you are using the single use ChronoTrack B-Tag as a timing device for your event, please ensure the following in order to receive an accurate time.

So now you and I know. I feel sorry for anyone who won’t get a start time because it’s cool and they decide to wear a jacket….

Mind you, while she won the overall 2009 World Cup, she actually only placed first in 2 downhills last year — Lake Louise, Canada and the race I just watched in Are, Sweden (the last downhill event of 2009). The race in Are, Sweden was the start of good things for Lindsey who to date has won 6 downhill events in 2010, not including her Olympic Gold.

I’ve been more than curious in regards to what Lindsey’s workout entails and after a bit of digging came across this video:

A note of caution: Unstable surface training is risky business if you don’t know what you’re doing. Don’t try some of this at home kids! However, there’s plenty that you can take away from this video, not the least being that if you want to be the best you need to put in the sweat!

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan