Track work

This morning I drove over to the high school to put some track work in. It was my first track work in a long time and my first time field testing my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch with heart rate monitor. I did better than I expected, but there is certainly plenty of room for improvement.

I jogged a warm up lap and then sprinted/ran faster the straights while jogging/walking the curves for another seven laps. I walked a cool down lap for a total of 2.3 miles in about 30 minutes. I averaged 140 bpm for my heart rate which I think is a good zone to be in. My watch also says I burned 300 kCal which sounds about right. The good thing is interval training will not lead to plateaus and it'll amp up my metabolism enough for me to continue to burn after I'm done.

I like interval training because you can work on your maximum speed, your sprint endurance and your general endurance. You also don't need to go as far to get a good workout. Coincidentally, there was another dude there doing the same kind of workout. However, he one-upped me by running to and from the track. Heh. I hope to do that after a few more sessions though I might prefer to ride over.

I really like my GPS watch. My only complaint is it's a little on the heavy side.

I just drank a post-workout protein shake made from unsweetened almond milk (40 kCal per serving) and whey protein powder (120 kCal per serving). The almond milk will provide a lot of calcium without the dairy. Unfortunately, it is slightly acidic so it might leech some calcium. I guess the whey protein will counteract that phenomenon.

Heh. My 160 kCal post-workout drink undid about half of my gain from this morning, but I think it makes for a good mid-morning snack so I'm not going to sweat it.