This past week of workouts was pretty standard. I am feeling more and more normal with the restrictions that I’ve been dealing with and they aren’t as frustrating as they have been in the past. I think I’ve gotten myself more into a mindset of this being a new beginning and seeing where I can improve versus trying to get back to where I used to be. For all I know, even when I’m more back to how I was before it still can be very different. Maybe my running endurance will be better or I can run faster. I have no idea what will happen when I’m doing more running and now I am just focusing on getting myself ready to run again in the future.
Monday’s workout was a power day that had a switch format. And since this was a 3 group class that meant I was only at each section of the room for about 4 minutes before switching. I had been debating if I should use the bike instead of the treadmill because my legs were a bit tired from Disneyland, but since this was the format of the class I decided the treadmill would be a good choice. I would work on my walking endurance and see what I’m able to do. And even though I struggled a bit on the treadmill with my heart rate acting up, I think I did pretty great! Each of the 3 times I was on the treadmill was the same plan. We had a 1 minute push pace, a 1 minute base pace, a 1 minute push pace, and a 1 minute all out pace. I ended up treating the last 2 minutes as a 2 minute push pace with keeping my incline at 6%, but I was able to follow the plan pretty close to what we should have been doing.
Each of the 3 times I was on the rower, we had a similar plan. Each of the 4 minute blocks started with a 2 minute row for distance. The goal was to get over 400 meters and the first time I did it I did manage to do that. The second and third time I did it wasn’t as great, but I also know I was tired. After each of the 2 minute rows for distance we had a minute to recover and then we had work with weights for 1 minute. The first time we had overhead presses, the second time we had goblet squats, and the last time we had squats with overhead presses. And each time I used a 15 pound weight. And on the floor we had 2 blocks of body weight work like mountain climbers, plank jacks, and lunges. And we also had a block where we were using weights on the Bosu for pullovers. I was glad that each rotation I was on the floor because it did give me a little bit of a break so that when I went back to the treadmill I was ready to go again. I was really worried that the workout on Monday was going to struggle from being at Disneyland the day before (instead of going to Disneyland after a workout), but I was pretty proud to see that wasn’t the case and I had a pretty decent workout!
Wednesday was Valentine’s Day and there was a special partner workout that day. But it was also a 3 group workout so it was a 3 partner workout (I would have guessed Valentine’s Day would have been 2 partners). I ended up being partnered with 2 of the front desk staff which made me pretty happy. Partner workouts can be competitive a bit and I knew having staff in my group would help make it a bit less competitive and they would be much more understanding if the switches took longer.
The workout was 2 long blocks each with a similar format. Both times whoever was on the treadmill was the pacer and they did .4 miles on the treadmill (since I was walking I did .2 miles). And in both blocks the rower was similar with them rowing 200 meters with a medicine ball move between the rounds of rowing. The first block was power jacks and the second block was squat raises. The first block on the floor had lunges, bench hop overs, and toe reaches. And the second block had chest flys, bicep curls, and tricep extensions.
Even though I was worried about being slow on the treadmill and making our switches take longer, I think all 3 of us were pretty equal on treadmill time. I know I didn’t row as much as my partners did when they were on the rower, but as a team we weren’t too worried about being competitive with how much we rowed during the entire block. And usually with partner workouts I’m extra tired because there isn’t really a break between things. This time, I did take the rowing and floor sections a bit slower and that seemed to help me in not needing as many breaks. Usually I’m trying to rush through things and do the most I can, but it was a nice change to not feel that pressure on myself.
Friday’s workout was one that was designed to test a benchmark. We used to have Peak Performance Week, but that isn’t happening anymore. Instead, we are going to have benchmark workouts a few times a year for each benchmark to see how we improve. This will be nice because it will be spread out a bit more, but I think I might miss the hardcore nature of Peak Performance Week. Friday’s workout was a benchmark workout for the 200 meter row and before class I checked my records for my previous PR to hopefully be able to beat it.
I started on the treadmill but our first block was pretty easy because we were just warming up for the rower. When it was my turn to do my row, I really felt like I was rowing faster and harder than I had before. But unfortunately, I was about 2 seconds off of my PR. But in non-PR accomplishments, I did a row so hard that I knocked over my water bottle so hard that when it fell the lid came off and leaked, so that was something.
After that challenge, we got back to more normal workout patterns. On the treadmill it was longer push paces with base paces between. I was having a bad hip day (it’s been a while since I had a bad hip day like this one) so I was walking a bit slower than normal while trying to keep my inclines normal. I did take a ton of breaks on the treadmill and debated about going over to the bike, but whenever I had that feeling the block was about to end and I decided to stick it out.
On the floor, each of the rest of the blocks started with a 200 meter row. We had the opportunity to see if we could beat our first time but I never was able to do so. I know that some of the slowing down was due to being tired but I know that it was also a bit because of my hip and the pain I was feeling while pushing back on the rower. After that row on each block, we had power moves on the floor. Those included single arm snatches, lunge work, pull ups on the straps, plank kick throughs, froggers, and power push ups. I was taking more breaks than normal on the floor, but I made it through each block with the best of my ability.
Saturday’s workout was a bit more successful than Friday’s. I knew going into class that I was going to be on the bike instead of the treadmill. It was a strength workout and I took advantage of being on the bike and using harder gears. Whenever the treadmills had incline work, I bumped up the gears more than I would normally do for a push or all out pace. I ended up being able to do a minute on the 13th gear (normally I don’t go above the 10th gear) and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! I also focused on my cadence steady during the push and all out paces and keeping it higher than I probably have in the past. Doing those few things made the bike a lot harder than I’m used to, but that made me so happy!
I was on the floor next where we had 2 blocks. The first block had low rows with weights and alternating chest presses with weights. It also had 2 moves with the new fitness bands we have in class. Both of those were moves where the bands were around our wrists which was an interesting twist. In the other classes, we had only used them on our legs. First we had low rows on the straps with the band around our wrists to focus on keeping our arms at shoulder distance (I really felt that on the outsides of my arms!). Then we had plank work using the bands while we walked our hands out and in. I really liked using the bands on my wrists because they didn’t twist as much as they do on my legs. But I also liked just having something different to work on. And the second block on the floor was hammer curls and ab work.
And I ended on the rower where in the first block we started with a 500 meter row followed by 10 ground to press with a medicine ball. I wanted my row to be under 2:15 and I was able to do it in 2:12! Next was a 400 meter row and I did that in 1:47 which was a bit longer than I wanted to do. And in the second block we followed the treadmill pattern so we had a 2 minute row for distance, a 1 minute row for distance, and a 30 second row for distance with breaks between each row. I hit the minimum for each of the rows which is all I can ask for sometimes at the end of a class.
Reflecting back on this past week of workouts and how I just wrote about it, I feel like I’m being so much more positive about my workouts than I have been in the recent weeks. I’m not letting my setbacks really be setbacks any more and I’m really focused on what I have been doing well. I really hope this will be the trend for me while I figure out what I can do and what is still going to take a bit longer before I can try again. It really is more fun when you are happy with your workout than when you are feeling frustrated and disappointed.
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