Muscular Endurance

Gift card from I Heart Kroger

This series at Endeavor is Muscular Endurance, and I think I am getting the most out of it that I've gotten out of any series (though the hill series we did last month comes pretty close). It is hard, and it hurts. But it also leaves me feeling like I've accomplished something. After a very restful weekend (that is, one during which I took a 2-mile walk and did two half workouts total), I was expecting to work hard and not sure how my legs would feel. Surprisingly, I did OK. Last week Thursday we did four 10-minute intervals, and I lasted 10, 5.5, 6, and 8.67 minutes of those intervals (and sprinted to 714W). This week Tuesday we did four 11-minute intervals, and I lasted 11, 8, 8, and 8 minutes of those intervals (and sprinted to 684W). During the third interval, I pushed myself HARD for the final 2 minutes, and I think those were the most rewarding 2 minutes because I really wanted to quit and didn't.

Notes from Tuesday/You know you've had a hard workout (or are going to have a hard workout) when:

• You can wring sweat from your sports bra, even after you've been off the bike for 10 minutes.
• You have to tell the person next to you that you hate to be rude, but there will be no more chatting for the rest of the evening.
• Half the class is trying to encourage you to continue...
• ...and you're wondering how they have enough energy to talk!
• Your W/kg are higher than they've been in the past and you're still alive.
• Your heart rate reaches its max bpm at least a million times during the workout.

Thursday's workout went even better than Tuesday's. I did only the 1st and 3rd intervals, but I did all 11 minutes of both and sprinted to 694W.

Mornings this week I've been on the elliptical or step mill, for 20-45 minutes depending on how much time I've had. I took a walk one day at work, walked on the stairs another day, and rode on the trainer one evening. The rides at T's are taxing, but I've been able to recover from them, so that's encouraging.