Cardio "2-fer"

The Workout:

AM
1 mile run on treadmill - flat, 7:30min/mile pace
stairmaster - hill, 12min, level 7, 1000vft
1 mile run on treadmill - flat, 7:30min/mile pace
row machine - 6 minutes
stretching - 5 min

Lunch
UpperBody Circuit 3 sets, 15 reps
curls
bench press
crunches
butterfly chest
seated rows
military press
lat pulls
dips
arm circles - side, front, top
Cardio
Sisyphus - 30 min, max incline (12), 15lb medicine ball

After being sore yesterday I cut my morning workout to ~ 45min this morning. At lunch I hit the gym again and did an upper body workout on exercise machines. I used a weight and pace that allowed me to get through the whole workout with not much left on the table. After some arm circles, I could barely hold my arms straight out from my sides. Next came an awesome Sisyphus workout. I upped the ante and traded the 8lb medicine ball for a 15 pounder. My intention was to do 10 minutes at max elevation and a brisk walk. Last time, I moved the ball every 15 seconds but this time I decided to move it every 30 seconds. Held out in front, to the right, behind back, to the left, over head round and round it went. As the 10 minutes drew near, I set my sites on the 20 minute mark. It was deliciously hard but still manageable and I was sweating bullets. Once again my mark came and went and I resolved to try and hit 30 minutes. With 5 minutes to go and still feeling strong I increased the speed setting from 3.5 to 4.0. It's hard to tell what those settings actually translate to in the real world but all I can say for sure is that 3.5 is a sustainable speed and 4.0 sends me over my aerobic threshold and gets harder and harder to maintain. At the end of the half hour, I flattened the treadmill and jogged for a half mile to cool down.

I may pay for that the next few days but right now I have this extremely sharp, crisp, clear cleansed feeling right now. Probably endorphins but I feel like I worked all of the soreness out of my legs and got a great upper body workout in to boot.