Finishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Some PRs and Some Setbacks)

It was another 4 workout week for me this past week. It’s still tough to do that many workouts in a week, but I need to do it to hit my 2015 workout goal!

My Monday class was my final 7:30am workout due to my improv class. I still might have to do occasional 7:30am workouts, but they won’t be on a regular basis (unless my next improv class is at the same time). This week was the end of the 12 Days Of Fitness challenge. And even though I wasn’t there for all 12 days, I still wanted to do my best each of the days that I was there.

Monday was a 7 minute challenge on the treadmill. I’ve done these before and they always kick my butt because I push myself harder on the treadmill than I usually do (and maybe harder than I should at times). I try to keep photos of my PRs on my phone so I can always check to see what my past workout PR was. Lat time, my PR on the 7 minute challenge was .414 miles. I haven’t beaten a PR since my torn calf, so I didn’t really have any expectations for this 7 minute challenge.

For this 7 minute challenge, I did try to push the treadmill speed up as I went along. I kept the incline at 6% for the entire time, and I did get it to go pretty fast by the end. When I hit the stop button for the end of the challenge, I was very pleased by what I saw!

OTF 7 Minute Challenge

This was a .007 mile increase over my last PR. It’s not a huge different, but it’s a difference in the right direction! My goal one day is to be able to do half a mile in 7 minutes (although I don’t ever expect that to be how fast I can walk during a 5K). Baby steps toward my ultimate goal is the way I need to be! And having my first PR since my calf injury was really a great feeling for me. I felt like I was maybe finally at the end of my recovery (it’s been taking forever!).

Wednesday was another tough day, but part of that was due to me feeling a bit off. I started some new supplements this past week and I’m pretty sure I had a negative reaction to one of them. So I actually don’t remember a ton from my Wednesday workout because my head was so foggy that entire day.

Friday was another tough challenge. The plan was to do a mile on the treadmill during one segment and a mile on the rower during another segment. Since I’m a power walker, I only had to do a half mile (and since the time limit was 11 minutes I wasn’t going to push myself for the mile). I felt fine at first, but then I started to get horrible shin splints. I’m not quite sure what happened, but that half mile was one of the most painful half miles I’ve ever done. My row wasn’t fabulous, but I did get it done in just over 8 minutes (my goal was under 8 minutes but since it was at the end of my workout I was exhausted).

I thought that maybe the shin splints on Friday was a one day thing, but when I worked out on Saturday they returned. There was someone else on the bike for a while, so I had to stay on the treadmill until almost the end of the workout and then I moved. I’m not sure what I did to cause this pain, but I’m really going to be cautious now. I’m thinking maybe taking a break and being on the bike this week might be a good thing for me. I can still do decent cardio work on the bike, and maybe my legs just need a break from all the 4 workout weeks.

Overall, I’d say I had a very successful week at Orangetheory. It wasn’t the best week I’ve had, but at the same time I wasn’t as upset with myself with the setbacks as I have in the past.