Lame attempt at a pun, I know. Bear with me.

Anyway, I followed my RD's advice and tried HIIT (high intensity interval training) for the first time last night. I incorporated it into my normal 2.5 mile nightly walk. The RD told me I should only do this type of activity for 20 minutes, tops, no more than three times a week.

Five words: put a fork in me.

I strapped on my heart rate monitor and started walking at my normal brisk pace for about four minutes, getting my heart rate up to about 134 bpm. Then I took off in a dead sprint (and I DO mean sprint--I ran as fast and as hard as I could, my feet nearly hitting my ass, running as though someone waving an ax were chasing me) for about 30 seconds, measuring my heart rate until it hit about 175 bpm. Then I stopped, not completely, just down to almost a crawl.

That wasn't so bad, I thought to myself. Shoot, I could do this all night.

Hah! As if. I felt great, exhilarated even, after the first two sprint intervals. OK, truth be told, I felt triumphantly smug. You see, I've done some reading on HIIT, and all articles have indicated that one should experience extreme exhaustion following each session, perhaps even nausea or (in severe cases) actual vomiting. But I felt full of vim and vigor!

Until the fourth interval, that is. I ran as hard during that interval as I did back in my track days (which were loooong ago). When I stopped to allow my heart rate to slow down, wooziness hit me mercilessly. It was 10 p.m., my neighborhood was quiet and dark, and I was about a mile from my house. My stomach started hitching as though I would throw up. My legs turned wobbly and I staggered down the street like the town drunk. But what really got to me was the lightheadedness. Several panic-stricken minutes passed during which I swore I would pass out right there in the middle of the street, with no one around to help me. I envisioned myself collapsing across the top of a garbage can (it was trash day today) and being discovered at sunrise by an unsuspecting homeowner.

But I didn't collapse. Instead, I slowed my pace further, taking little mincing steps until my heart rate returned to 134 bpm. I finished my twenty minutes with a fifth interval, willing myself to push through the fear. Then I resumed my normal pace for the remainder of my walk.

I like this. And all research points to the high efficacy of HIIT. We shall see...

FYI: for more HIIT information, check out these sites:

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp
http://www.davedraper.com/hiit-cardio-training.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIIT
http://www.naturalphysiques.com/faq/525.html

Labels: health