How My Lungs Almost Exploded – Chronicles Of My IPPT Training (Part 4 & 5)

Yes, my lungs felt like they almost exploded after my 5th HIIT run last Saturday. Previously, I could never understand how anyone can run or exercise till they throw up. Since last weekend, I knew how that could be very possible indeed. But I’ll get to that in just awhile.

I’m going to combine two workouts summary into this single post because both are somewhat interrelated to each other (more so than the first 3 parts).

PART4:

Last Tuesday, I went back to my crappy gym with the crappy treadmill that could only go up to 16km/hr top speed. But I still got a relatively good workout nonetheless because I maintained at 16km/hr for most of my HIIT sets. The following was my HIIT sets:

• Warm up set: 5 mins x 10 km/hr
• 1st working set: 1min x 15 km/hr
• Active recovery: 1min x 10 km/hr
• 2nd working set: 1min x 15 km/hr
• Active recovery: 1min x 10 km/hr
• 3rd working set: 1min x 16 km/hr
• Active recovery: 1min x 10 km/hr
• 4th working set: 1min x 16 km/hr
• Active recovery: 1min x 10 km/hr
• Last working set: 1min x 16 km/hr

A little more exhausted than last week after the run, but still feeling pretty strong. I was able to still proceed to do a few sets of chinups and leg raises after the run. Feeling confident that I conquered the crappy treadmill by running at the fastest speed possible, I decided to search for a new treadmill with a faster peak speed in my next workout.

PART 5:

I haven’t got down to signing up for my new gym membership yet. Don’t ask me why its taking me so long. I’ve just been… busy. And to be honest, to sign up for the gym membership at Safra, I first have to be a Safra member, then become a member at the gym within the Safra complex. So I guess the thought of signing up for two memberships and the potential hassle put me off a bit. They should really make the application process online and payable by credit card. Who in this time and age still fills up a damn form and have to go down personally to submit it?

Anyways…

Last Saturday, I ended up going to a gym that I previously patronised. One that I know has a treadmill that could go all the way to 20km/hr. As I entered the gym, I saw that something had changed. The treadmill that I once ran on was no longer there. In its place, were two brand new treadmills! AWESOME!

So I did my dynamic stretches and then proceeded to “test” the speed of the treadmill first to see how fast it could really go.

16, …18…19…20!

The belt on the treadmill was making a familiar whizzing sound that was only possible with speeds up to 20 km/hr. Something like a Mach 1 sonic boom for the treadmill.

So I slowed down the treadmill to 10 km/hr and hopped on, doing my 5 minute warm up as usual.

Set 1:

First set 15km/hr. Feeling comfortable and strong. Some guy running on the treadmill next to me saw that I was running crazy speed, decided to crank up his speed as well.

After a minute on that speed, I took a 10km/hr active recovery.

Set 2:

Time passes quickly when you are resting, before I know it, its time for set 2. Now I upped my speed to 16km/hr for the next 60 seconds. Beads of sweat started to trickle down my face. The speed somehow feels faster than the 16km/hr in my crappy gym.

Active recovery once again for another 60 seconds.

Set 3:

Determined to improve my performance, I increased to 17km/hr in this set. Then I felt something strange. The speed really feels faster than 17km/hr. It feels 18… or even 19. But I dismissed this thought. Maybe this is fatigue speaking. So I endured for the final seconds before my next active recovery.

As I was jogging at my active recovery pace, my calves started to ache. Its been awhile since I’ve subjected my body to 17km/hr speed. Or what the treadmill tells me is 17km/hr. I kindda regretted increasing to 17km/hr on the 3rd set as I still have two more sets to go. But the rule of HIIT training is, you can either stay at the same speed or increase. There is NO DECREASE!

Set 4:

Sticking to 17km/hr, I smoked the treadmill and focused more on my breathing to get more oxygen into my lungs and body. My calves are really aching at this point. 60 seconds can feel like 60 years when you are suffering. My fellow users on the 10 Minute Corporate Fat Loss Plan all know this very well in the 10 Minute Jumpstart Routine. One thing I learned about running on the treadmill is to never keep looking at the timer. The more you look, the slower it moves. So I kept looking forward and before I knew it, I over shot it by 3 secs.

Now on my active recovery set before my final sprint set, my whole body is already drenched in sweat. My whole body is gasping for air and dreading the arrival of the next and final set. I have always tried to finish strong as often as possible. So in my next set, I’m going to do the unimaginable… I’m going to increase to 18km/hr!

Final Set:

I held my finger on the speed increase button till the meter showed 18km/hr. This is it. I could keep up with the speed for the first 20 seconds. But after that, I was panting and breathing through my mouth enduring the final seconds of the set. “The treadmill is strong, but HULK IS STRONGEST THERE IS!”

Thats actually what I thought to myself at that time.

When your’re performing any kind of exercise and your on your toughest set or final lap, you’ll say lots of crazy stuff to psyche yourself up. Then I forced a smile as I ran because I recall reading somewhere that this has some kind of pain killing effect. As I was drawing near to the end of the set, I tried to push the speed decrease button but my finger keeps slipping because of the sweat. So it wasn’t slowing down as fast as I wanted to. I stayed on 16 and 15 for 10 more seconds before eventually coming to 0 km/hr.

In my cooling down set, I was literally dripping sweat on the entire treadmill. This was one hell of a workout. I am confident that I will continue burning calories for at least the next 24 hours.

So I got off the treadmill. My lungs felt very much expanded. I went outside of the gym for some fresh air and stretching. I raised my arms to get some extra air into my lungs. After 5 minutes, I downed half a liter of water, which I now regret (you should slowly sip your water instead of gulping them down quickly after an intense exercise). I went back to the gym to do some light weight training. But my lungs still had that enlarged sensation almost like its yearning for more air. It was a strange feeling.

I decided I shouldn’t continue with my workout anymore and just to take a shower.

After every workout, I always mix one serving of whey protein to protect my muscles and get them growing immediately after the workout. I took a sip of my whey and I felt like throwing up. Not because the whey tasted awful. But because my body wasn’t ready to consume anything yet. I decided to sit down at a nearby restaurant for awhile while I sip slowly on orange juice (high glycemic carbs for fast energy replenishment). After bout 20 minutes, I felt a lot better.

This was some scary shit. I’ve never felt this way before. Did I over-exert myself? Probably. Will my body recover if I give it amply recuperation time? Certainly. Will I come back stronger and run at the same speed if not faster? YOU BET!

Stay tuned for my next IPPT training update to see if I could conquer the treadmill.

Let me know what you think by posting a comment below.