So proud of my H.I.I.T last night and how amazing it feels to PUSH yourself!!

Today, though my body is aching, I feel so proud! Last night I had the hardest H.I.I. Training session of my "Fitness career" (lol, how spiffy). I like doing H.I.I.T on the tredmill doing sprints then walking. I like to do it on the bike, sometimes as well, but I feel it working me the most of the tredmill. I am 5'4 and pretty muscular. Years of gymnastics, Cheerleading, dance, 100m, 200m, 4 x 1 and 4 x 2 relays in Track, and my love of weight lifting have made me this way. I do not have the tall and lean "runner's body". I love to run, though. It just hurts my body. My problem used to be my shins. Lately, they feel stronger and do not bother me as much. Now it is my knees. I have spent countless money on buying the "best" running shoes. The best have shoes thus far I have bought are the Reebok Run Tones. I love them. I have also done shin strengthening exercises as well as vigorous stretching. It does assist in help the aches and pains but not as much as I wish it too!

I often wonder if maybe that is why running can be so hard on my body? I do not feel as though a doctor's trip is necessary at this point. I feel as though once I lose more fat and weight that running will not be so hard on my body. I wish I were taller too! Longer legs would so help with distance jogging - which is my favorite to do in the mountains or on beautiful trails. A Greenway is conveniently located right across the street from my apartment, as well. Nonetheless, I pushed myself hard last night. I try to do H.I.I.T training twice a week on the tredmill. It is not much fun and I do not like being stuck on 1 machine for ample amount of time. Admittedly, it had been almost 2 weeks since I did my High Intensity Interval Training. I decided last night I was going to "Go hard or go the hell home" (My motto, by the way). I did a 5 minute warm up walk on 3.8 (usually 3.6) and normally I sprint for 45 seconds on 7.5 then walk for one minute on 3.5. I decided to do my sprints on 8.5 last night for the 40 minutes of the training (40 minutes of total training that does not include the 5 minutes warm up and 5 minute cool down). I have to admit that it was really difficult and I kept talking to myself the entire time. "Go Liz, it's only 45 seconds, PUSH YOURSELF" - talking to myself and hard rock music kept me going! For my last sprint at the 40 minute mark, I even ran on 10.0 and holy God, it was FAST, lol. I was absolutely soaked and drenched in sweat by the time I finished. And damn I felt beautiful. Consequently, it is amazing how quickly my body recovered. I was out of breath for maybe 10 seconds when I finished and then my body recovered. That is also how it was with the sprints - my body recovered so quickly during the rest period. This is one reason why I love Interval training and absolutely recommend it to everyone! It burns so many calories and really strengthens your cardiovascular system!

I am aching today! I am so sore. It is hilarious: I did 50 minutes of H.I.I.T last night followed by 15 minutes of stretching and my abs are sore, my upper back is sore, my quads are on fire, and my calves are feeling tight! Running really pushes your whole body and makes all the parts work as a team.

Yesterday was my 9th straight day at the gym. And I know, I know - We are supposed to REST. HOWEVER, my body gets nearly 24 hours of rest between work out's. I work out at the same time during the week. I get 9 hours of sleep every night. I go to bed early, sit at my desk for 8 hours working during the day, then do my work out in the evening. So my body can handle it. Especially since I do not do the same work out twice (in one week) and the BCAA's are great, hehe. Needless to say, my life during the week is nothing but work then training and that is about it. But that is okay with me. I have a goal that I working towards so I have to keep my priorities straight.

I have not been doing morning cardio a lot lately, just on the weekends sometimes. I finish my work outs around 7:30 every night. If I do morning cardio I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning, so I can have enough time to get ready for work. My body is not ready for more cardio at that point (or so it feels). I miss doing it though! I think I may tweak my work out's soon to incorporate more morning cardio - we'll see!

TGIF! Only 5ish more hours until the weekend starts. I am going to the gym tonight for 20 minutes on the StairMaster, full upper-body weight circuit, then 10 minutes on the Elliptical. Keeping low key tonight for some wine & dinner with my friends. Tomorrow night I am so excited for some PF Changs (food heaven) and seeing "Due Date". Training all weekend too, of course.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!