The Week That Was

Monday: 1.0hr. treadmill run (zone 2/zone 3)
Tuesday: upper body weights
Wednesday: 0.9hr. run (zone 2/zone 3, primarily zone 3)
Thursday: morning upper body weights, evening spinning intervals (set of 4)
Saturday: 1.0hr. run (zone 2)

After long absence I showed up at our Wednesday Night Run Club. Noticeable recovery cost from zone 3 effort.

Cut short my intervals on Thursday due to incipient calf cramping. Anyhow, a three week mesocycle (two building weeks, one recovery week) is reasonable at my age, and perhaps sensible for any novice to HIIT. Added to stretching.

The workouts seem sufficiently aligned with my priorities: cardiovascular and aerobic conditioning, upper body strength (incl. shoulder rehab), and body composition. The intervals also work on anaerobic conditioning, but for me that's a side effect.

I do want to get my soft tissues up to a 2.0hr. treadmill run - suitable for cardiovascular and aerobic conditioning and useful for body composition as a pure calorie burn (beware muscle catabolism, though). Anything longer for me is event specific - training for a marathon or iron distance tri.