Day 15 of 300 - Oh Joy - a Stairmaster
I returned from the mountains with a new mindset: I need to get much fitter and I also need to lose weight dramatically.
Today, I tightened the recovery window for my run and introduced myself to the StairMaster.
Before the trek, my standard operating procedure was 1 minute of running followed by 90 seconds of walking. Today, I dropped the walk break to 1 minute.
Reducing the rest period changes the physiology of the workout entirely. You never quite get that “full recovery” feeling; you have to run while the heart is still settling.
The Data:
- Time: 40:00
- Distance: 4.44 km
- Average Pace: 9:01 /km
- Average Heart Rate: 141 bpm
The Verdict: The pace has officially quickened. I averaged 9:01 /km, significantly faster than my pre-trek intervals. I’m slowly getting fitter.
The treadmill builds the heart, but the mountains build the legs. To ensure I don’t lose the climbing power I gained last week, I added a new machine to the rotation: The StairMaster.
I kept it to a 10-minute “introduction,” but the data proves that gravity never sleeps.
The Data:
- Time: 10:04
- Calories: 144
- Average Heart Rate: 143 bpm
The Verdict: 143 bpm on the stairs versus 141 bpm on the run. Climbing is physically more demanding than running for me right now. It burns nearly 900 calories an hour and targets the glutes and calves in a way the treadmill can’t touch.
I’m back on the grid, the recovery times are shorter, and the intensity is higher. Onwards to tomorrow.
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