I’m still working through this bug that is in my system, and I knew it was going to take a while. It’s a bit annoying that I can’t get over this, but I’m trying to stay hopeful that I’ll be over it soon. And one of the things that has been helping me see that I am getting over it slowly has been my workouts. Since the last symptoms I’ve been experiencing have been related to breathing (like coughing and being short of breath), working out has been a good way to judge my progress getting over it.
Monday’s workout was a power day, and even though it was a 3 group workout it had a bit of a run/row format. When it was the cardio or rowing block, we switched back and forth. For the cardio block, I was on the bike twice and the rower once and when I was on the rowing block I was on the rower twice and the bike once. But instead of starting with cardio like I normally do, I had to start on the floor this time.
The floor work was one long block that had mini-blocks in it. We first had a mini-block with 3 rounds of chest fly on the Bosu and plank jacks. Then it was a mini-block of 3 rounds of chest press on the Bosu and pop jacks. And the last mini-block was 3 rounds of hip raises and push-ups. After completing all the mini-blocks we did all the exercises as one long block. It was definitely weird for me to start on the floor and I felt strange. I had a warm-up before we started, but I’m used to feeling much more warmed up. I was using close to my heaviest weights for the weighted work which was good. Some of the work on my back was tough because of the congestion I was dealing with, but it was nothing like the week before.
For the bike work (whether I was doing a cardio block or rowing block), it was always the same thing. We had a 90 second push pace, 1 minute base pace, and 90 second distance challenge. I used my new push pace resistance level for the push and I used the level between my new push and all out paces for the distance challenge. They were short bursts on the bike so I was able to go a bit harder than I thought I could. Every time I finished on the bike, I was back on the rower and had a bit of time to rest and get my heart rate back.
Every time I was on the rower, we had the same thing as well. We started with a 200 meter row followed by squats. Then a 150 meter row and squats and a 100 meter row and squats. I never made it to the last set of squats for any of the times I was on there, but I was doing the squats like we were supposed to. I wasn’t modifying things because of how I was feeling and that was such a great feeling. I really was feeling strong and tough while rowing and I even worked on my form a bit more and got some guidance on some hand placement that might help me row better when we have distance rows.
Wednesday’s workout was an endurance day and we didn’t have switches between blocks so I was at each station for about 15 minutes. That is one of the ways that an endurance day is an endurance focus, but it is also all about not having to have recovery time when doing cardio. There is an emphasis about not going below base pace during the block and I worked hard at doing that.
For cardio, we started with a few rounds of push to base pace which increased each round. And without a recovery after that we went into a 4 minute progressive push pace that went into an all out pace. That’s not an easy 15 minutes to do, but I was determined to test myself with how my endurance was doing after being so sick. I did have to take a few breaks to get water (I still can’t drink water while pedaling on the bike), but I never did go below my base pace resistance level. I was using my new push pace level for the regular push paces. And when we did the progressive push, I started at 1 level above my base pace and went up 1 level every minute. It was not easy to keep going and not bring the level down, but I made it through. Since I track the distance I do in workouts I know that I didn’t go as far on the bike as I thought I would, but I think that just means I wasn’t pedaling as hard and quick as I might do with other workouts.
Once I got on the rower, I took a bit of time to recover and get my heart rate down a bit. I can recover my heart rate faster than I could before, so it didn’t take too long. The rower started with 4 rounds of 150 meter rows with squats holding a medicine ball between each row. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300 meter row and the squats became squats with an overhead press. Then we had a 600 meter row and I was working on that row when the block ended. My rows were all under the time goals, but it took me a bit of time to recover from each row and get to the squats which slowed me down a bit.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that had a lot of focus on lunges. Several things had to be modified by me, but it was because of my hip issues and not because I was feeling off. The first block had kneeling lunges with overhead presses with weights, regular lunges while holding the weights up, and side plank dips. And the second block had regular lunges without weights, squats, single leg squats, and leg lift abs. My legs were shaky by the end of class, but I honestly felt so good to feel like that.
Friday’s workout was a power day and we had a lot of timing ourselves during the workout. We had repeating distance challenges with cardio and the rowing, but my main focus wasn’t beating my distance but doing each challenge as hard as I could.
For cardio, we had 3 different 4 minute challenges. Each challenge was doing a push pace for a certain distance, having a 30 second recovery, and then an all out for a certain distance. Even though I wasn’t tracking my distance to see if I could beat it each time, I did track it so I could do my push and all out paces for the right amount of time. Each block I was ending my all out pace about 20 seconds before the block ended, so I just kept going with it. I know I was working hard and I was also able to not take breaks to catch my breath or drink water during each block. It was nice to be able to wait to do those things until we had real recovery time.
On the rower, it was also 3 different 4 minute challenges. We had rounds of 30 seconds of rowing and medicine ball squats to overhead presses. This was harder on me than the bike work. As much as I wanted to go hard with my rowing, it was taking me so much time to catch my breath between the rowing and the squats and I didn’t want to lose that time. I didn’t go as slowly as I did when I was really sick, but I did have to row much slower than I wanted to.
For the floor, we had 1 long block that had 3 mini-blocks in it. We had 3 rounds of one mini-block before moving on to the next one. The first mini-block had squats to thrusters and uppercuts. The second mini-block had pull ups on the straps and high rows on the straps. And the last mini-block had skater lunges and sumo squats. I was able to do my normal weights for the weighted work, but I had to modify the pull ups on the straps to be low rows using the straps instead. My body wasn’t acting coordinated enough to do those properly and I didn’t want to do something that might hurt myself.
Saturday’s workout was a strength day, and I was feeling ready for it. I was doing so much good work on the bike and I was ready to play with my resistance levels to simulate hill work. I still wasn’t totally better, but I was going to push myself to prove that I wasn’t as limited as I had been the week before.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were very similar. The first block had a push pace, a base pace, a base pace with incline work, a regular base pace, and ended with a push to an all out pace. The second block was the same pattern but the incline work was longer. I used my new resistance levels for all of the regular work. And for the hills I used the level between my push and all out level. The hill work was really tough, but it’s supposed to be tough. Because these blocks were a little longer than the ones on Friday, there were a few times I needed a break to cough and get some water, but nothing compared to what I was having to do before.
On the rower, we started with a 500 meter row and then we had squat to press and calf raises while holding a medicine ball. Then the row went down my 100 meters and the squats increased and calf raises decreased. That pattern continued for the entire time we were on the rower. I was able to do my rowing with a slightly higher average wattage than normal which surprised me. But I think it might have been because I’ve been working on my form so much so I can be an efficient rower. I did skip the last round of squats and calf raises because it was the last minute of the block and I decided to just keep rowing.
And on the floor, we had one long block. All of the exercises had 5 reps per side so they went really quickly. We had single leg sit to stands, suitcase squats with a weight, half getups with weights, and a hollow hold chest press with weights. I did go heavy for my squats since I know that I can go heavier than I think I can. And it did help that there weren’t a ton of reps for each exercise so I could test out what I could do. I didn’t have to worry about doing them for a long time or worry that my form would get sloppy over time.
Overall, I felt like this past week of workouts was really all about proving to myself that I’m doing better than I thought and that I’m not as sick as I was the week before. It’s so hard to judge progress in so many different aspects of life, but pushing myself with workouts and seeing how I felt during them really did help.
Of course, I’ll probably be better toward the end of this week and that’s when my nausea will likely be kicking in. It sometimes feels like I never get a break from having tough workout weeks, but I’m trying to reframe my mindset and think of them as challenges to overcome and not just tolerate.
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