“Tabata” sounds rather like “Tabitha” to me; and that makes me think of a cat. When I was little, I had a book, “Bobby the Dog”; and his neighbor was Tabitha Pussycat. One day Bobby was chasing Tabitha on his bicycle; and he crashed. In retrospect, I catch myself thinking that it served Bobby right. But back to Tabata intervals. I experimented with them this morning. I knew that I didn’t have to start by doing eight sets of the intervals; and doing just two or three of them is a beginning. I did a little more that that, though. For a start, I did about four of them; then rode at a more leisurely pace until my heart rate settled down; and then I did a few more. Tabata intervals are tough on the legs, that’s for sure. Twenty seconds “on” and ten “off”; repeated three or four times, seems like plenty for now. I don’t want to wear myself out too much, because I want to keep up the miles. Tomorrow begins the Love to Ride April Challenge! That reminds me: should I go for an easy ride on the road bike tomorrow morning; or ride the hybrid to the supermarket? I use a rack and panniers; but if you can’t manage a two-wheeler, and adult tricycle with a big basket works as well for “bringing home the bacon”. And do I remember my own tricycle! Even with that big rig, I did some interval work. It’s true that you shouldn’t try intervals before you’re reasonably fit; but you don’t have to be elite level. Let’s say your average speed is 12 mph; and you want to get faster. Working to push yourself to 15 mph for 30 seconds is, technically, an interval!