From my TT Members' forum TT Transformation Challenge thread, posted on Sept. 25th...

Today I decided to see how far I could push myself in intervals. Instead of increasing just the speed, I also increased the length of the work interval.

In the past I stuck with 30/60 Work/Rest splits and it worked but I never felt completely spent by the end. Oh, I could feel I'd done a workout, but I just didn't get that feeling everyone says you get if you do intervals correct.

Well, let me tell you, I felt it today. I couldn't even finish my 6th set, stopping at 5. By the last 10 seconds of the final interval my legs were rubber, that timer couldn't count down to 0 fast enough! When it finally did reach 0, I was completely spent.

I had to laugh because while I was dying on the treadmill it felt like I couldn't go on. But after I finished up and headed to work (after a shower of course) I realized it only "hurt" for a few minutes. Kind of like what my father used to tell me in baseball as a young kid and what I'm now telling my kids..."if you get hit by the ball, it only hurts for a minute so don't be afraid to get in front of the ball."

Translate that into getting in shape and you'd get "it only hurts for a few minutes so don't be afraid to push yourself." When the pain is gone you feel great and that makes those few minutes of suffering worth it.

So, my interval session today was;

5 sets
4 min warm up
3.5MPH rest @ ~60-90 seconds
10MPH work @ ~60 seconds
4 min cool down