What I expected to be a 30 minute workout turned out to be a 20 minute workout with a 20 minute cooldown. I tried to do the whole fartlek thing with a sprint, then running below pace, then running at pace, then back to sprinting. Turns out I can semi-sprint (feels like 80-85% of the work?) for 20 to 30 metres at a time (which is more than enough since a fencing piste is only 15 m XD). Even at what feels to me like a low speed (5-6 mph), my heart rate is still around 150 bpm - 120 would be a better benchmark. I ended up having 6 sprints during the 20 minute run before I could go no further and walked the rest of the way home. So my endurance needs work. I might not be ready for fartlek if my heart rate is still that high at what seems to be a low speed.
Also figured out that shoulder raises are unnecessary/redundant in my current set-up. Minor DOMS in arms and legs, but shoulders were worked too hard. Would be good idea to lower reps to avoid overworking them. My arms are good enough to do a good 20 seconds of exercise ball planks, so I think I've found the right balance for their workload.
I'm eating over 2500 calories a day, yet I'm still losing weight. This is probably transient fat sitting around from vacation or water weight as my bowel movements and urination become more frequent from higher fibre and water intake. I know it's a bad habit measuring every day, but I still expect the loss to level out by the end of this week. Otherwise, I am being too conservative with my calorie intake estimates. Solutions would either be estimate that I'm eating more or estimate that I'm burning less through exercise. Maybe I could consider simply adding 100 cal to whatever my plan was for the day just to be on the safe side.
Identified another weak link - my calves. Whenever I train in the traditional en garde position (with back feet pointing out instead of forward-ish) my calves feel very strained and tight. And if past injury is the best predictor of future injury, it would make sense to strengthen the calves for it's been the only muscle that I've had cramps with. Developing the upper legs while ignoring the lower leg would only increase the asymmetry and increase the likelihood I'll apply a load that's too big for them.
I can now tell why girls do squats and leg workouts. I can also now tell for whom those workouts are working out.
Also figured out that shoulder raises are unnecessary/redundant in my current set-up. Minor DOMS in arms and legs, but shoulders were worked too hard. Would be good idea to lower reps to avoid overworking them. My arms are good enough to do a good 20 seconds of exercise ball planks, so I think I've found the right balance for their workload.
I'm eating over 2500 calories a day, yet I'm still losing weight. This is probably transient fat sitting around from vacation or water weight as my bowel movements and urination become more frequent from higher fibre and water intake. I know it's a bad habit measuring every day, but I still expect the loss to level out by the end of this week. Otherwise, I am being too conservative with my calorie intake estimates. Solutions would either be estimate that I'm eating more or estimate that I'm burning less through exercise. Maybe I could consider simply adding 100 cal to whatever my plan was for the day just to be on the safe side.
Identified another weak link - my calves. Whenever I train in the traditional en garde position (with back feet pointing out instead of forward-ish) my calves feel very strained and tight. And if past injury is the best predictor of future injury, it would make sense to strengthen the calves for it's been the only muscle that I've had cramps with. Developing the upper legs while ignoring the lower leg would only increase the asymmetry and increase the likelihood I'll apply a load that's too big for them.
I can now tell why girls do squats and leg workouts. I can also now tell for whom those workouts are working out.