I do HIIT on the elliptical (30 seconds) and in my aqua jogging class. The aqua jogging class is pretty tough. The instructor did something called "builds" yesterday where we went from jogging to running, then sprinting, then back down to running, then jogging to recover. Sprinting can be anywhere from 15 seconds to 1 min. 30 seconds. After doing the longer sprints, the 15 second ones seem like nothing. The class is 45 minutes long, and the interval portion is 35 minutes long.

I'm going to try to convince my Wednesday running partner that HIIT would be a fun thing to do while we're out on the trail. :)

Jessica, my HIIT sessions have 2 varieties. First is more structured. Basically I use the Couch to 5K podcasts, the earlier ones that have more walking segments. The music is a little on the techno side, but the guy keeps track of the time, and gives you encouragement. :) The second is much less structured. I made up a playlist of upbeat songs (okay, I'm a country music dork, so they're all country) and I start by using the chorus for the sprinting, then the next song I'll start on one chorus and sprint til the next comes around, etc. I was going pretty fast last night, though I'm at a loss as to how to correlate elliptical rph to mph :shrug: I just know what my rph range is and how to speed it up.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I got it from a book written specifically for athletes looking to gain cardiovascular endurance.

Mind if I toss my HIIT question in too?

I've been doing a learn to run program therefore sorta by default doing HITT since I would be running/walking alternating. As you can imagine at my weight the running was pretty high intensity even at my slow pace. :)

Now I'm almost to a point where I'm nearly steadily running. For example the other day I did 15 minute intervals with 1 minute walks in between for 55 minutes. I can't really cut out the endurance as I have to be able to run 6 miles while semi-fatigued by Aug (I have 2 Triathlons one being Olympic distance) but I'd like to start mixing in HITT as running gets easier... because I also know it's a fantastic way to increase my fitness level and endurance by default.

Should I wait until I can run at a comfortable pace for a few miles (with no walk breaks) before I start mixing in some faster bursts? Or will I benefit from starting that right away even though it might tire me out sooner? Technically I start a 20 week training program next week which starts with shorter runs then I'm used to so it might be a good time to up the effort level?

We have a similar thread going in the Weights and Resistance Training Forum. Here's a treadmill HIIT workout I do affectionately called Bust-a-Lung. :)

Mel