switching up the morning routine...

I tried something new today... I stepped up the workout efforts...

My typical morning ride: 45 minutes on the recumbent bike, gym at work. Here's how...
- In the first 15-20 minutes I work my heart rate up by increasing in resistance from 3-9, in two level increments.
- At the mile mark I increase resistance.
- Once I get to res9 I hang there for 2 miles and then slowly decrease resistance.
- The last 25 mins of the ride is at res3, moving rather fast.

I'm able to get my heart rate up pretty quickly, work those lungs and then hang out and focus on cardio.


How I changed it up today... today I focused on sprint intervals.

I followed the same format (increasing in resistance from 3-9 right up front). But ... after 1 1/2 minutes I would sprint-cycle for 20 seconds. Then I would go back to my normal speed (attempt to catch my breath), for about 1 1/2 minutes. Then sprint again. repeat...

According to dailymile.com (after punching in my weight, heart rate, effort level, etc) I burned approximately 953 calories!!! WHAT?!


And to think... when I walked into the gym this morning I almost turned around and just hit the showers.


It sure felt good to "show the morning who was boss" {Sara - thanks for the inspiration!}