Thursday, March 19, 2009

Heightened heart rate

Finally, got back at it today and I feel great. I went to the gym and ran for the first time in about eight days. I ran my usual 42-minute interval run, my go-to workout when I need a jump start. It was challenging and tiring but it was well worth it. But not everything went off without a hitch.

Music Good, iPod Bad

First, Polly had set a great tone for my entire workout over on her blog. Then, Blog Buddy Ange said she'd been running to The Who so I fired up Roger and the boys for the first half of my interval run. I don't think I've ran to The Who before but it went pretty good actually. I liked the tempo of the songs I listened to, not too soft but not too up-tempo either. They allowed me to get into my groove soon enough.

About halfway through, I switched to Metallica, the old stand-by, since my heart rate was going up and up and I knew the last push was going to be tough. Sure enough, the final two-minute sprint - which I run at a 9.0 - Metallica was going to come in handy as I had put on a harder song but right when I was about to stretch my legs and start the sprint my iPod died on me. Argh! I was so frustrated.

I can look at it as a positive though, as a sort of test of my own will, a test to see if I can get through something alone but I'm tired of these tests and tired of my iPod's shenanigans. I got through the sprint just fine, cooled down for five minutes and then...

My Buddy, Core Exercise

I hadn't done core in a long time. Too long. I did some crunches and was on some other torture machines that doubled as core exercise machinery. I did manage to get the iPod up and running, found a defibrilator and got it back to life. I decided to keep the blog buddy theme going and listened to White Zombie, a suggestion from Crystal. That helped get me through the first torture machine. Then, I changed it up to Staind thanks to Willoughby and finally "Tomorrow Comes a Day Too Soon" by Flogging Molly, inspired by Tattoos and Teething Rings.

It was great. I really believe in fate and that things happen for a reason. For instance, before I got to the gym Metallica told be to look up at the sky, that it might be the last I'll ever see. That kind of summed up my fears. As I was on the torture chamber Staind said "It's been a while since... I did core" okay, they didn't say the last part but it had been a while since I worked on my core. Then, Flogging Molly belted out "without hope you're blind" or something to the effect.

I have hope and I still have hope and I will always have hope. Hope and desire and motivation drive me, and I was reminded by that at the end by that song.

High HR

My heart rate got as high as 193. Wow! I averaged 172.I think the last time I did the interval run the numbers were 162 and 181 or so.

It was good to have done the run and core but also it served as a reminder that I need to get back at it more often. But today was a great way to get back at it. And I have all my blog buddies to thank for it!

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