6am is much too early a start for me on a Sunday morning. Thankfully, R is old enough to know it's wise to let his mother sleep for at least a couple of hours more. After registering that he and his sleepover friend were awake, I attempted total ear shutdown - but I never really managed to go back to sleep properly. So at 8am I was ready to face the new day, complete with two cranky and tired 6-year olds. I knew I was gonna have to get them out of the house before they killed each other or the cat.
Breakfast out of the way... and off to the running track we went. Armed with a football and some other outdoor toys, I had grand plans to get some exercise in while the boys played on the middle field. Knowing I wouldn't have long before their patience wore off, I decided on some 4 x 4 intervals to make the most of the time I had.
I had originally decided to let the heart rate monitor stay in the drawer for a few more weeks, so as not to get demotivated by my sheer level of unfitness – but let's face it: it makes interval training at the correct intensity a breeze. So out it came.
Did a slow 5 minute warm-up, followed by 4 sets of 4 minutes at 85-90% of max heart rate, with 3 minute "resting" time (70%) in between. When I was at my fittest a couple of years back, this meant running quite fast for 4 minutes, then a slow jog for 3 minutes. Now... well it was more a moderate jog for 4 minutes, followed by 3 minutes of brisk walking. But that's ok, I've gotta start somewhere!
30 minutes later, I was done - and didn't feel half dead like I thought I would. After a few stretches and catching my breath, I had enough oomph left to play some footie with the boys for 15 minutes, and also to be thoroughly beaten by them in a plank-off. Can you believe, they managed over 3 minutes each!!! I was defeated by the 1:30 mark. Ah, the shame! (By the way, my 6-year old pulled off 100kg on the leg press machine at the gym the other day, when he decided he wanted to have a go. Just like that, before I had a chance to set it lower for him... the fitness instructor dude was like "whoa!")
Have also spent some time today reflecting on my emotional overeating issues. This is something that will have a massive impact on my life if I can manage to work through it somehow. More on that in a later post – now it's bedtime!
Oh! Almost forgot to mention shorter and easier domain: www.flabfight.me
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