February Challenge

Every month, I put a challenging workout up on the board. Part of it is for a little friendly competition, but more than that, it’s an experiment—a way for us to collect some data and calibrate expectations.

Some of these workouts are just plain hard. Others reward a bit of strategy and self-awareness. This month’s challenge is a precise blend of both.

February Challenge
Every 2 minutes until failure:
Complete 16 calories on the Concept2 Bike
*Every round, add 2 calories

I mentioned recently in a Friday Thoughts that I did this workout back in November of 2022. What I forgot to mention was that it was on the rower, not the bike. Since the bike tends to be easier to be efficient on, I fully expected to beat my old score—especially considering I believe I’m more fit now than I was then.

Around this time last year, I was doing a lot of machine-based work like this, and a clear theme emerged: I had spent a lot of time going long and slow. I wasn’t very comfortable hanging out at high heart rates—for me, that’s the 170s.

When I took on the challenge yesterday, things started getting uncomfortable around the round of 24. High heart rate. Big leg pump. But I couldn’t help smiling—my heart rate was hovering right around 170 bpm, and I felt…comfortable. Surprisingly so.

Then it clicked. I thought back to what I spent the summer doing: hard track workouts, tons of hills, and long tempo runs. I had spent the year getting comfortable up there. Even though my training hasn’t been perfectly dialed lately, it was reassuring to see that fitness still hanging on.

As you can see on the heart rate chart below, I was able to buffer off the work until there simply wasn’t enough time to recover and get ready for the next round.

Consider this your invitation to give the monthly challenge a go. It fits perfectly into any interval-focused training day you might already have planned.

—Justin Miner