Category Archives: Fitness

Going A Little Easier On My Good Week (I Hope I Don’t Wish I Had Pushed More)

This past week of workouts was another one of my good weeks. But just like the week before, I didn’t push myself too much. I wasn’t planning on going easy for both of my good weeks and worry that this will cause me to struggle a bit more with my bad week, but that’s how things turned out this past week. I had to go a little easier due to some hip pain associated with the weather, which is something out of my control. And then I chose to go easier on Thursday for another reason.

Thursday was a benchmark workout, which I usually push myself for. This time, it was the 12-minute run/bike. This is one of the harder benchmarks since it will always take 12 minutes to complete it. With the other benchmarks, you can tell yourself if you go faster it will be done faster. That won’t work for this one. I’ve been very lucky to be able to improve on my distance on the bike the last few times, but this time I knew that pushing myself wasn’t the right choice. I was going to be at a work event that evening and I would be standing around in heels for several hours. So I needed my legs to not be exhausted after my workout. It was a little annoying to not push myself when I would have loved to see if I could beat my past distance, but I didn’t want to be miserable later that day. So I took it easy for those 12 minutes. I set the bike resistance level for between my base and push pace levels and just tried to bike as long as I could without take a break. I did still have to take a few breaks, but they weren’t that frequent. I also tried to ignore the distance I got since I knew it wouldn’t be great, but I did look at the end and it was so much worse than almost all my past benchmarks. But I just reminded myself that I wasn’t trying so I can’t compare my distance from when I was trying.

A lot of the rest of the week had a lot of endurance work, so I spent my workouts being focused on keeping things steady and not having too many hills and valleys with how I was feeling. I’m probably a lot better at power or sprints for cardio than I am for endurance, so it’s not the worst thing for me to slow down a bit more than I would like. It’s not easy for me to do since I do like to push myself, but I’m trying to understand more and more that I can have more well-rounded workouts that aren’t always pushing me to the limit.

I know that my bad week is likely to start this week, but I’m trying to stay hopeful that either it won’t happen or won’t be as bad as it can be. I don’t know if I’ll be able to push myself much this week, but I really want to try as long as other factors allow me to. I do worry that I will feel worse about my bad week, but I also know that if that happens it’s only a minor setback and I’ll be feeling more like myself again soon. But even if I know that, it can still mess with my mind when I feel like I’m not able to do what I know I can do. I hate that I get down on myself like that, but it’s just how my brain works. Maybe having an easier week when I’m feeling good will make an easy week not as emotional and tied to a bad week and that can help me feel better about it. I guess I’ll find out after the next week or two when I’m over my bad week.

Having A Bit Of A Reset Week (or Not Feeling Like I Need To Push Myself)

I was feeling much more like my normal self this past week. This is always good, but it’s extra nice for my workouts. I will always have the potential to not feel great between the pain I sometimes have with my hip and the nausea I get with my injection, but when I know there’s a chance to have a good week it automatically puts me in a much better mood. I did have a little bit of hip pain this past week, but it wasn’t much worse than what I deal with daily. And I must have gotten my injection in the right spot because I didn’t have much nausea. I did inject myself in a spot that caused the worst bruise I’ve ever gotten from a shot, but that pain is a lot easier to deal with since I only have to be careful about how I bend down so I don’t make it hurt.

Typically, when I have a good week like I had this past week, I use it to push myself really hard. I feel like I need to make up for having to go easy the week or two prior. But this past week, even though the workouts always have a mix of endurance, strength, and power they felt more like they focused on endurance. A lot of the workouts focused on being steady with what you were doing in the block or repeating the same thing several times so you could work on improving what you were doing the time before.

For cardio, we had some workouts that were focused on longer hills that didn’t go as high as some of the inclines/resistance levels normally go. We also had some workouts that were long push paces followed by base paces and that pattern repeated itself for the entire cardio block. It allowed me to not feel like I needed to go too crazy on the bike and by not pushing myself I also didn’t need to take as many breaks to deal with my hip pain.

On the rower, we had a lot of repeating rows. Sometimes it was about repeating a specific distance and sometimes it was about repeating a specific time. But it was a lot of repetition and I used that to play around with different rowing styles to see how I could maximize my speed and wattage but not burn myself out too quickly. I know that whenever I do the Dri-Tri next, I will want to make sure that I get through the row quickly but I also know the risks of burning out and having to go slowly for the last part of the row. I don’t think I’ve found the perfect combination of rowing techniques for me yet, but I was happy with how much better my wattage was during this past week’s workouts compared to what I normally do.

On the floor, I didn’t feel like I had the same type of success as I did on the bike or rower. But I was able to play around with some heavier weights for some of the upper body work, which was fun. I learned pretty quickly that I’m not really ready to increase my weights just yet, but I’m so glad I tried. And I felt like they weren’t as much of a struggle as they have been in the past, so I know I’m getting stronger and closer to being able to go heavier with what I use on the floor. I also allowed myself to take a bit more time on the floor and not feel as rushed about getting in as many rounds done so I could make sure my form was ok and I took the time to stretch when necessary. Because of some of the hip pain I have, stretching can be hit or miss with me. Sometimes it doesn’t help me feel better so I’m careful about stretching during the workout. But this past week, it was the type of pain that got a bit less intense with some stretching so I did that when necessary on the floor.

Overall, this wasn’t my typical good week of workouts, but I think this was exactly the type of week I needed. I felt like I found some new baselines for myself that I could use moving forward. I do still like to push myself in my workouts so I’ll probably try to do that this week, but this past week was a good alternative option for me when I’m feeling good and probably a good idea to do from time to time to check in with myself and how my progress with endurance is going.

An Up And Down Workout Week (or Still Feeling Ok With How Things Went)

Even though I wasn’t feeling physically great the week before during my workouts, I was feeling mentally good about the efforts I was able to make. That week went a lot better than a lot of my bad weeks in the past have gone, and I think a lot of it was because I had so many amazing workouts leading up to it. After that week, I was a little concerned that this past week wouldn’t go the same way because it would be a bad week after a bad week, so I might not have the same high from the good workouts as I had the week before.

I had a mixed week this past week with my workouts. Some days were pretty bad with a lot of pain and nausea. I had my usual monthly pain plus I had a lot of extra hip pain this past week because of the weather. But I feel lucky that I wasn’t feeling really horrible every day or throughout the entire workout. I had bad moments, but I didn’t have any day that was all bad without some moments of relief. And when I had moments that I was feeling normal or closer to normal, I tried to take advantage of those and do little bursts of working harder.

For most of the workout, I wasn’t pedaling or rowing hard, but when I could do a little sprint I did that. We’ve had workouts before that were focused on a base pace with little surges in them, and that’s pretty much what I did on my own. And when I was on the floor, I tried to lift heavier weights when I was feeling a little better and then used lighter weights when necessary. But that was a bit harder to do because I was worried I would have a really bad cramp while holding heavier weights and possibly drop them. So that wasn’t done as often as the increases on the bike or rower. I also wasn’t getting as much sleep this past week so I was feeling a bit more fatigued, so even if I was feeling good I probably wouldn’t have lifted heavy weights.

It did help this past week that on Monday I did get to sleep in a bit since I didn’t have work and I could take a later workout. In a perfect world, I would take a class a little later than what I do now. But since my only other option is to work out after work (and I don’t want to go at 7pm), I just have to continue with my early mornings. But it was nice to have a little extra sleep on Monday since that was one of the worst days for me with nausea.

We also didn’t have any signature workouts or benchmarks this past week, so I didn’t have to feel like I needed to push myself more than I knew I could do. It was good to not have that pressure on myself and to just allow myself to do what felt tolerable. That goes along with my challenge for this month with listening to my body more. I really paid attention to how I was feeling and if things started to get bad, I eased off. I know I can’t control when my nausea gets severe, but it was nice to not feel as bad as I have before and not need to leave class because I was worried I was about to be sick. So I’m choosing to believe that by listening to my body and not being upset about what I can or can’t do, I made my bad week a little bit easier on me.

I’m hoping that this week will be good, but I know that’s not always something I can predict. Everything should be in my favor to have a good week, and as long as I’m feeling ok I plan on pushing myself again in my workouts. I know that maximizing my good weeks before these past 2 weeks really helped me get through the tough times. And if I can repeat that and make my next round of bad weeks just a little better, that will be a huge victory for me!

Not Feeling As Bad About My Bad Week (or I Hope This Week Is About The Same)

I was prepared to go into this past week of workouts that this week would likely be bad. I never know if I’ll be feeling horrible for the entire week or just for some of the workouts. And I never know how extreme it might be. Unfortunately, I’ve been having a lot of significantly worse weeks in the recent past. I never used to have to leave the workout to let my nausea pass or to be sick, and that happens from time to time now. It’s not as bad as it can be at home, and I still have no idea why I’m not as bad in my workouts as I am at home. Maybe it’s the fear of knowing how much worse things can be that somewhat keeps things under control.

I had just had some really amazing workouts the past few weeks, so I was on a bit of a high in general about how I was feeling about my fitness. And I’m glad I had those good workouts leading up to this past week because I didn’t get as down on myself as I have in the past with my bad weeks. I did wish that I had been able to do better with different exercises, but I was more forgiving with myself and the limitations that I had.

The only workout I was worried about this past week was the one we had on Valentine’s Day. That happened to be a partnered signature workout and I didn’t want to have to stress about doing a workout with partners. This signature workout was Capture The Flag and I feel like I have been trying to do this workout without a partner the last few times we had it. For this workout, you have one partner on cardio, one on the rower, and one on the floor. The person on the floor controls when the group switches. They complete a round of the floor exercises and go to tag the cardio person. Then the cardio person goes to the rower, and the rower goes to the floor. The goal of the workout is to get as far as possible on the row so you are supposed to really push yourself there. And for different distances that your group gets to, you can earn different colored flags.

The morning of that workout, I was pretty nauseous. I knew that I would be going slowly on the floor and the rower, which were the spots that would affect the entire group the most. Fortunately, there was going to be an odd man out after the groups were formed so I got to do the workout alone. I wasn’t able to do all the floor exercises because of my nausea, so I did the ones that I could do. And I just did the bike for about 2 1/2 minutes and the rower for the same amount of time so I was doing my own rotations. I didn’t count how many times I got through it on my own, but I did get about 1300 meters on the rower. Most people who were in groups of 3 got between 5,000 and 6,000, so I wasn’t too upset with my distance knowing I wasn’t able to row that hard.

The rest of the workouts this past week went pretty much like my bad weeks usually go. I biked and rowed slower than normal and I modified a bunch of things on the floor. But mentally, I was doing a lot better and that made me happy. There’s a very good chance that this week will go pretty much like last week did, and I’m just hoping that I finish out the week with the same mindset that I had after this past week.

Building Upon Another Good Week (or PR Weeks Are So Much Fun)

I really got lucky this past week with having another good week. I didn’t have the pain and nausea I deal with each month and my weekly injection didn’t make me feel sick. I don’t know if I’m getting used to the new dosage or if I lucked out with injected it in the right spot. I did have some extra hip pain this past week due to the weather, but that is minor compared to what I am normally used to. I know that I will be having another bad week either this week or the week after with pain and nausea, but I was just so happy to have a good week this past week and I really took advantage of that.

I think because we have the Transformation Challenge going on right now, we are getting a lot of benchmarks and specialty workouts. And I know I can’t always get a PR or have an incredible workout, but I was still on a bit of a high from my PR the week before and wanted to continue my streak. This past week, we had Catch Me If You Can. This challenge has been a tough one for me in the past. I was always getting caught at the same checkpoint each time. I knew it wasn’t impossible to get past, but I was always shy of the distance I needed to be on the bike to continue going.

But the last time we had this challenge, I somehow made it to the distance I had to get to so I could continue going. I felt so proud that I finally made it and I got past another checkpoint after that. I wasn’t able to get to the end, but very few people make it to that point so I was ok with not completing it. I was just so happy that I finally got past the point that I was always caught at and felt so accomplished. When I knew we were going to do this challenge again this past week, I reviewed what I did in the past. I wasn’t sure if I’d get a PR again this time, but I was really hoping I would beat the past checkpoint that I was always getting stuck at.

When we had the challenge, we had a little paper in front of us that showed what the various checkpoints were. But I noticed that the one I had for the bike wasn’t accurate (there are 2 types of bikes at Orangetheory and the paper was the distances for the other type of bike). I was able to get my coach to give me the one that had the distances for the treadmill and I just had to do the math and multiply those by 4 to get the bike distance. Yes, doing a little bit of math at 6am isn’t fun, but it was fine.

I kept the resistance level on the bike at my normal base pace level because I knew I needed to pedal really quickly to get past the checkpoints I wanted to beat. I felt like I was cutting things close to the checkpoint where I’ve gotten caught in the past, but I managed to get to that distance right before the time cutoff. And just like the last time I got past that one, the checkpoint after that was a lot easier for me, and the one after that was another close call. But I was at the spot where I was the last time and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the distance for the next checkpoint. Even though I was certain I was going to get caught at the same checkpoint as my last PR, I was hoping I would be able to at least get a little bit further than I did the last time. It’s not as easy to do that on the bike since the distance tracker isn’t as precise as the treadmills. But when we got to that checkpoint and I was caught, I managed to squeak by with an extra .1 miles compared to my last PR.

It wasn’t easy to get that done and I was exhausted for the rest of the workout, but I was still so happy that I got another PR. I wasn’t expecting the one I got the week before and I wasn’t certain I would be able to do this one. But to get PRs on back-to-back weeks was so incredible. I know that not every week or every challenge can be like this, so I celebrate them when they happen.

We have another challenge coming up this week, but I’m not expecting another PR. It is a team challenge and I usually do them solo so I don’t track how I do. And I’m not sure how I’ll be feeling so I don’t want to set myself up to be disappointed if it doesn’t go well. I’ll see how I feel when that day happens and maybe I’ll surprise myself again. But no matter what happens, I will still be so happy with how the past 2 weeks went with my workouts and I’ll continue to celebrate those wins!

I Got My Good Workout Week (or Beating My Expectations)

When I wrote my last workout recap post, I said I hoped that this past week would be a good week for me. I can always hope for a good week but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen. But I had a few different things potentially working in my favor so I was really optimistic.

I recently did some new medical testing and discovered I have an iron issue, so this past week I was finally going to start doing something about that. I know that probably won’t affect my workouts too much, but I wasn’t sure how adding iron pills might make me feel. I’m always worried about side effects from medications, even just vitamins, but I was hoping that since I don’t take my medications until after my workout I wouldn’t have many side effects in the morning.

Monday through Wednesday, I had pretty good workouts. I had some of my usual issues like being lightheaded (which probably isn’t due to my iron issue but my low blood sugar), but that wasn’t affecting my workout too much. I also had a little bit of weakness after having a bad week, but that just pushed me to work a little harder in the weight room. I might not have been using heavier weights, but I was doing my best to make every rep count. And I really felt that in my muscles after each workout.

But I really want to talk about my workout on Thursday. We had a benchmark that morning, the 500-meter row. I’m very competitive with myself for all the benchmarks. And we were warned that the 500-meter row is always a bit of an odd one since it’s not a sprint and it’s not a long row that you have time to make up speed if you slow down. I know in the past, I have burned out very quickly on this benchmark because I go too hard at first and then can’t make up for it when I’m exhausted. I didn’t want that to happen, so I put my focus on just being steady and not stressing about beating my past time. I never have gotten this benchmark below 2 minutes, and as much as I wanted to do that I knew that it wouldn’t be the right thing to focus on.

When it was time to do the benchmark, I made my focus on the 500-meter split time on the monitor. I know that I usually get slower as the row goes on, so I wanted the split time to be below 2 minutes for at least the first half of the row so that when I slowed down, I would still be close to 2 minutes by the end. I took a deep breath before I started and got a couple of really hard pulls in first to start the row.

I was shocked at how low my split time was at the start of the row. I was close to 1:45, which I knew was not going to be sustainable. But it was a great way to start the row knowing that I would slow down. But I was able to maintain that pace for a lot longer than I thought. My split time wasn’t getting above 2 minutes once I was halfway through the row. But I was starting to get really tired. I struggled to catch my breath, but I also didn’t want to stop because I knew I had less than a  minute to go.

I did end up burning myself out for the last 40 or so meters. My split time jumped a lot higher and I was really struggling to row. But I kept moving, even though I was going really slow. And once I was done, all the hard work I did for most of the row paid off because I PRed by a huge margin!

I was not only below 2 minutes but I beat my last PR by 7 seconds! I would have been thrilled to get a PR by a fraction of a second, but 7 seconds is unbelievable to me! If I hadn’t burned out, I probably would have been closer to 1:50, but I’m not upset at all. If I hadn’t gotten below 2 minutes, I might have been upset by the end of my row. And I’m glad that didn’t happen so I could have this awesome win to end my week!

I seriously needed this PR. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until it happened. But it was the reassurance I needed after my bad week that I wasn’t weak or having major setbacks. One week might not be as strong or as good as the other, but I’m still making improvements over time. And this row proved it to me so much!

Another Hard Week With A Challenge (or Hoping For A Better Week This Week)

I had another really tough week this past week in my workouts. I was expecting this and I was mentally prepared for it. But no matter how mentally prepared I am, I always struggle when I’m in the workouts. I want to push myself to do better than I am, and I know that doing that can cause issues. But I still have a stubbornness that makes me want to always do better. And that feeling is even stronger when we have a challenge within the workout.

This past week, we had the mile benchmark. This has been a benchmark that I’ve really enjoyed challenging myself with and I’ve been able to surprise myself with how well I could do. But when we had the benchmark this past week, I knew it wasn’t going to be my best time. I honestly went into it thinking that I wasn’t going to try to push myself too hard because my pain and nausea were really bad that morning. I set the resistance level on the bike to be what I normally do the benchmark at and I had a goal to try to do it with as few breaks as possible. But I also knew that if I got to the point that I needed to leave class to be sick, then I would have to do that. Staying in the workout when I feel like that isn’t worth the risk. When I finished the benchmark, it wasn’t that close to my PR, which is what I expected. But I also didn’t do as badly as I expected, so that made me happy.

We are going to have the mile benchmark again in about 2 months because right now, Orangetheory is doing the Transformation Challenge. I’m not participating in the Transformation Challenge this year due to various health things I’ve been dealing with and I didn’t need to worry about what may or may not happen in my workouts. But I do like that we started the 8 weeks of the challenge with a benchmark and we will be doing it again at the end. I’m just hoping that when we have it again, I’ll be having a much better day.

The rest of my workout week this past week was a big struggle. I did my best, but I got very frustrated with what my best ended up being. I was lucky that my nausea wasn’t that bad for most of the week. I was worried it would be horrible for the entire week, but it really only affected me on Monday when we had the benchmark. And I think I didn’t have the added nausea from my medication, which was a win. But the pain and cramps I had throughout the week made things really difficult for me. I was worried about lifting heavy weights because if a cramp hit me, I wanted to be able to put the weights down quickly without worrying about hurting myself. I also had to take a lot of breaks in all sections of the room when the pain hit because sometimes it’s a very sharp pain. When I had to stop my workout on the floor, I tried to use that time to stretch a bit so I would still be moving. But I know stretching isn’t the same as weightlifting so I wasn’t getting exactly the same workout. But at least I was still moving a bit and that’s better than just sitting or standing still.

This week, I’m hoping it will be a better week. I had 2 really bad weeks back to back and this week shouldn’t be as horrible. But it also depends on how my medication affects me this week since that can make any week a bad week. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I finally get a bit of a break and I can fully enjoy my workouts again!

Getting Through Another Bad Week (or Being Ok With Not Pushing Myself)

I was prepared for this past week of workouts to be a bit of a bad week, and I was right. I was hoping that I would have at least one good day since Mondays tend to be ok for me, but I really struggled every day. With the nausea I deal with every week, Mondays are the day I don’t usually have it since I do my shot after my workout. But since this past week was also my other type of nausea, it doesn’t follow the pattern that I deal with each week. I still felt better on Monday than I did the rest of the week, but it wasn’t that great of a day for me.

But I am grateful that my workout coaches all know me well enough to understand that when I’m having a bad week, I just have to do what I can. They don’t push my to do more even when they know I probably could do more. When I have to leave the room to be sick, they will check in with me when I come back but they don’t make a big deal about it and just let me continue with what I can do. I’m so lucky that I’m able to have coaches like this. I can’t imagine what it would be like if they made me feel bad about showing up when I can’t do my best. I probably wouldn’t continue with my workouts if that was the case. It’s the same way they handle my hip issues when I’m in pain, and I’ve experienced other workout places where they tried to make my pain a big deal and it really ruined the workout for me. Of course, I wish I didn’t have to deal with any of this, especially since it’s a very regular occurrence. But I also know that I’m in the best situation that I can be for my workouts.

Even with my gratitude for my coaches, it doesn’t make the workouts any easier when I’m having a bad week. And when I’m feeling as nauseous as I did this past week, it’s a fine balance between just doing what I can do and testing my limits. And I had a real challenge with that this past week because one of our workouts was a signature workout. We had Inferno, which is a workout I’ve done a few times before. It’s always a good challenge to do, but when I’m dealing with nausea, it’s almost impossible for me to do what we have to do. The main part of the workout involves getting on and off the rower and doing hops between each row. Getting on and off the rower is hard for me with my hips even on my best days. But doing that plus hopping is impossible when I’m nauseous. As much as I wanted to challenge myself and see how far I could get on the rower, I knew it wouldn’t be a good choice for me to make. So I had to accept that I just couldn’t do it. During the row block, I just rowed as much as I could and then rested when I needed to do so. Since I wasn’t doing the challenge the correct way, I didn’t put my distance in the tracker and I didn’t compare it to how I did with Inferno in the past.

This week, it’s very possible it’s going to be another really bad week for me. I never know in advance with either type of nausea that I have, so maybe I’ll be surprised and it won’t be as bad. And sometimes, when the week before is really horrible for me, the next week isn’t as extreme. But I’m mentally preparing myself for another struggle in my workouts and just doing what I’m able to do. And I’m not going to feel guilty about not having my best week or having to modify things so that I can get through the workout.

Still Working Out With Side Effects (or I’m Hoping This Will Be Better Soon)

The biggest struggle I had during this past week of workouts was the side effects I have been experiencing from increasing the dosage of my medication. Unfortunately, this past week was worse for me than the week before and I really had to work around feeling horrible. But as always, I tried my best and made the most of each workout I had.

My Monday workouts shouldn’t really be affected by the medication since I don’t take it until after my workout on Mondays. I know sometimes I might still be feeling it from the dosage the week before, but I’m expecting Mondays to not be too bad for me. And that’s how this past Monday went. Because I was expecting things to be this way, I tried to make the most of that workout since I wasn’t sure how the rest of the week would go for me. On Monday, the workout focus was all about doing push paces with a surge before returning to a base pace. I did my push pace resistance level during the surges but increased my pedaling speed to try to make things just a little harder for me. I did struggle a little during the row block since we were getting on and off the rower and that is always hard for my hips, but I did better than I have been doing recently and I was grateful that I was not taking too much time to do that.

The worst day of this past week was on Tuesday. I was feeling pretty horrible overnight the night before, but I was feeling much better by the morning so I thought maybe I was over the worst of it. Unfortunately, my nausea really hit me hard and I had to leave the workout multiple times to be sick in the bathroom. This is still a rare thing for me to experience, so I’m grateful for that. But because the nausea was so bad and it happened multiple times, it was a lot worse than I’ve experienced in class. And without being too gross, I had been sick enough that there wasn’t anything left in my stomach, so being sick was starting to be a bit more painful. I didn’t leave class early, but I really was struggling to keep going. Toward the end of class, I was really hesitant to do different exercises because I wasn’t sure what would trigger the nausea again and I was scared to be sick.

Wednesday was slightly better than Tuesday, but it was still not a great day. But I wanted to pull myself together for Thursday because we had a signature workout. This time, we had The Chipper. I’ve done this signature workout before, but the last time I did it was about a year and a half ago so it’s been a while. The idea of The Chipper is that you chip away at the workout as you go. For cardio, that means every push pace got 30 seconds shorter each time. For rowing, we had squat jumps and rowing and every interval got shorter and we had less time to get the work done. And on the floor, we had 7 main exercises and each one had 5 fewer reps than the one before. I was pretty happy with what I was able to do on the bike for the cardio block. For the rowing, I never really was able to finish all the work before the next interval started, but I think that had more to do with how long it takes me to do squats with calf raises compared to squat jumps. That little extra time adds up and I know I was always the last person to sit down on the rower. And on the floor, we were supposed to do an anchor exercise between each of the main exercises. The anchor exercise was doing front-to-back hops, and I just ended up skipping those because I knew I couldn’t do them. Because I skipped those exercises, I was able to get through all the other exercises in the floor block.

I’m hoping that this week of workouts will go a little better for me, but it’s impossible for me to know how my medication will affect me. Maybe I won’t have as extreme side effects or maybe it will be worse. I’m hoping that it will get better as my body gets used to the new dosage. I also have the possibility that I might be dealing with my monthly pain and nausea next week, so that could affect things. I’m really ready to have another good week of workouts and I’m worried that it might not happen for a little while. But all I can do is keep going and doing the best that I can each week. I know it’s better than doing nothing and eventually things will be better for me.

A New Year Of Workouts (or Another Short Workout Week)

After completing my goal of at least 200 workouts in 2023, I immediately started on my workout goals for 2024! I got in 3 workouts this past week, which isn’t necessarily my normal workout week, but it’s what worked best for me. I have my tradition of working out on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and because of the NYE workout, I only did 3 workouts for the first week of the year since I didn’t want to do 5 workouts in a week. I know I could have done it, but it didn’t feel right. I also worried about how I would feel this week, and I didn’t want to push it.

My New Year’s Day workout was a 2 group class since I didn’t go at my normal workout time. I thought maybe it would still be a 3 group class since the classes at the beginning of the year can be pretty full, but I think it was still a bit early for the crowd so it wasn’t a packed class. It’s always a nice change for me when I get a 2 group class in my schedule since I rarely take them. Typically, they only happen on holidays since I have that day off of work and don’t have to wake up as early to get to my workout. And I think it was a nice class to ease into the week with because it focused a lot on base pace so I wasn’t going too crazy. I also didn’t get that much sleep the night before since I was out, so even with sleeping in, I didn’t have as much sleep as I would have liked.

I wasn’t worried about how I was going to feel in Monday’s class, other than being tired. But I was worried about how I would feel on Tuesday and Wednesday. I increased my injectable medication this past week. This was the first increase I’ve had in over a year, and I know that every time I’ve increased it, the side effects got worse for a bit. I still have been having side effects at the old dosage, but they can vary from week to week. I think it just depends on the exact spot I do the injection. Sometimes I get it in the right spot and things aren’t as bad. But it’s hard for me to predict how I will feel. But I had a good idea that I would feel pretty off after the new dosage. I didn’t do my injection until after my Monday class since I wasn’t sure if I’d have an immediate reaction. And throughout the day on Monday, I was feeling some side effects. They weren’t as bad as they have been at times, but it was a weird queasy and uneasy feeling. I don’t know how to explain the different types of nausea I experience, but this was different from any other type I have dealt with. The only good thing was that I wasn’t getting physically ill on Monday, so I had high hopes about how I would feel in my workouts.

Unfortunately, something in my workouts must have triggered something in my system because on both days I had to leave class for a break to be sick in the bathroom. This is something that rarely happens to me, but it’s happened before and I know what I need to do so that I can be ok to be back in the workout. I’m sure it sounds crazy to come back to work out after being sick, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to from other nausea I experienced. If I know what exercise triggered it, I just make modifications so that I don’t have to go through that again. And I usually avoid exercises that have me in a plank or face down since I know those can make me feel really nauseous.

But even with being sick in both of my other workouts this past week, I feel really good about the workouts I did. I focused on what I could do without feeling worse and tried to go harder on those to make up for what I wasn’t able to do. I also was grateful that I wasn’t feeling worse because I have experienced much more extreme side effects in the past. I know that worse side effects can hit me any week and just because this past week wasn’t as bad as expected I’m in the clear. But it was nice that I was able to start 2024 with some good workouts, even if they weren’t the best that I could do.