Sprint Tabata

If you read my posts you know I am a big fan of tabatas.  My "triad of death" is a tough one where I have only gotten up to 22 intervals before throwing in the towel.  Using a jump rope or the airdyne bike are also favorites and another one is alternating two intervals of rotating an 8 kg (18 pound) kettlebell attached to a 1.5 inch thick rope over my head coupled with two intervals of burpees for the total of 4 minutes.  With all that said, I still believe the toughest tabata you can do is the most primal of them all - the sprint - Sprinting full guns for 20 seconds and resting for 10 seconds for a total of 4 minutes.

I did a 4 minute sprint tabata today as it has been awhile and boy did that burn me out - more than any tabata I could think of recently.  What makes it tough is that by the time your momentum slows after the 20 seconds, 5 seconds will have elapsed from your rest interval giving you only 5 seconds to catch your breath and get ready blast into your next interval.  When you tabata in place with jumping rope, for instance, you can stop on the dime after 20 seconds and have the full 10 seconds to recover - but near impossible to do that with the sprints.  Forward momentum makes things tough!

Following the tabata we did the short 2.1 mile trail run.  I felt great.  My breathing was very relaxed on the trails after the tabata.  I have been doing all my runs with the 10 pound hypervest recently so this was my first run sans vest and I felt great!  I also took yesterday and Tuesday off from exercise so I felt very well rested when I ran today.

I used my Garmin 405 for the interval timing of the tabatas.  I was able to set it up with no instructions and with the GPS it came up with some good stats on tabata and my short trail run.  I may have mentioned in another post that the 405 is hardly accurate on the trails but as long as it is consistent in its inaccuracy I just make sure my time improves for the same distance.  The weather today in Charlotte was absolutely perfect in the 60s with no humidity.  You've got to love the Spring in the Carolinas!