Tag Archives: struggle

Struggling Sucks (or Thank Goodness It Was A Short Workout Week)

Posted on March 5, 2018 | Comments Off on Struggling Sucks (or Thank Goodness It Was A Short Workout Week)

This past week of workouts wasn’t that great for me. I wish I could put a more positive spin on things, but that really is the truth for me. And I’m not one to sugarcoat the truth. I’ve been struggling a lot lately, but this past week took things to a new level and I really wasn’t mentally prepared for it. I had one ok day, one horrible day, and one bad day. Not what I was hoping, but that’s the week that I had.

I didn’t have a workout on Monday because I was in Palm Springs, so I only had 3 workouts this past week. But that ended up being for the best for me. Wednesday was a power day and it wasn’t too bad. I think I lucked out because we were switching between blocks and it was more like a 3 group workout than a 2 group workout. So we never really spent that long in one section of the room. The first round was 3 minutes at each section, the second round was 5 minutes at each section, and the last round was 3 minutes at each section.

For the treadmill, it was pretty much push paces and push to all out paces. I walked everything and was able to do my normal speed and inclines which really surprised me. I thought since I missed my Monday workout it would have been much worse, but maybe doing my hiking helped me not feel too bad. On the rower we had 2 rounds of distance rows with lunges between and one round of counting pulls for the rowing. For counting pulls, we were counting for 200 and 100 meters. The goal for 200 is under 20 pulls, but because I’ve been working on taking my time with these challenges I managed to do it in 13 pulls! And on the floor we had burpees, crunches, hop overs, skier swings, and sit ups.

Friday’s workout was just bad for me. I was dealing with pain and nausea and even though I took my medications right before class they weren’t helping. I thought I could do the treadmill since it was a power day, but after the warmup I was feeling so nauseous that I got off and got on the bike. I’m glad I’ve figured out that being on the bike helps keep some of the nausea away (walking is just too bouncy for me when I feel bad), but it’s still a little bit of a disappointment when I can’t use the treadmill. I’m working on getting out of that mindset, but I think the way I was feeling physically was affecting my mental state.

We had 4 blocks for cardio but we didn’t switch between blocks so we were on it for the first half of class. The first 3 blocks were push paces and push to all out paces. I really worked on my cadence with the bike and trying to work on increasing my gears for the push and all out paces. I did have to take breaks from time to time because of the nausea, but I managed to get through most of the workout on the bike just fine.

On the floor, we had 1 long block that was all Bosu and rowing work. We had pop jacks, sit ups, hop overs, back extensions, lunges, and side crunches all using the Bosu. Those were split into 3 sections and between each section we had a 250 meter row. I really had to take my time with the Bosu work, especially when there were exercises that went from standing to sitting or laying down. My stomach wasn’t doing ok with moving like that so I had to take breaks and go easy. With the rowing, the first time I was on the rower it took 2:21 to row (it should be around 2:15). The second time I rowed it was 2:16. And the last time I rowed it was 2:11. To improve with each row is good and I’m glad I finally got it under the time we were supposed to be within. But again, my nausea was kicking up a lot and before and after each row I had to focus on breathing and trying to feel better.

Saturday’s workout was one that I was very nervous for. I was still feeling pretty horrible (I had some blackout cramps before my workout) and I knew it was going to be a partner workout. I usually love partner workouts because it helps keep me motivated and I want to make sure that my partner isn’t waiting on me to finish so we can switch. But since I was feeling so badly, I didn’t want to let my partners down. When I got to class, it was a 3 group partner workout and it turned out that technically no partner was going to be responsible for the switch on their own.

We had 3 blocks that were each 13 minutes long. And in each block we rotated between the treadmill, rower, and floor. And the switch was determined by whichever of the 3 of us was finished with the work first. So even if I never finished first, my team wasn’t going to be stuck waiting on me. That was a big relief.

I used the bike again instead of the treadmill but I was able to use the rower and could do the floor work. The cardio was all short intervals (some of it was on an incline on the treadmills) and I was usually able to get the bike work done in about 3 minutes. On the rower, we had rows that were between 200-600 meters. And on the floor, it was the same work each block but we changed the number of reps each time. We had lunges, squats, crunches, and plank punches.

Even though I didn’t have to worry about my partners waiting on me, I didn’t want to be too slow with my work. And a few times I was actually the person that initiated the switch. I tried to take my breaks on the floor since that section was repeating each block, but there were a few times I had to stop on the bike to let the wave of nausea pass. It’s sad that I’m getting used to dealing with this, but since it’s possibly going to be like this for a long time I guess it’s a good thing that I’m learning to manage.

Overall, while this wasn’t a great workout week for me it was better than not showing up. It sucks to struggle and to feel like you can’t do anything to fix it, but I’m proud of myself for at least going to class. Working out won’t make things worse (except maybe walking making my nausea worse) and there is always a chance that it could be better after a workout. So I have to take the chance to see if it will help and if not, at least I’m keeping my commitment to myself to do at least 3 workouts each week.

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Is This A Rut? (or Trying To Not Feel Stuck)

Posted on February 26, 2018 | Comments Off on Is This A Rut? (or Trying To Not Feel Stuck)

For so long, my workout weeks were super exciting to me. I was constantly discovering new amazing exercises and I was surprising myself in what I was able to do. I never knew I could lift as heavy of weights as I did or that I could run. It seemed like each week there was something that seemed spectacular and it was so motivating. But lately, I’ve been struggling a bit to make sure that I don’t feel stuck. So this past week of workouts was another week where I really tried to find where I could improve so I could feel great about things again.

Monday’s workout was a tough morning for me. I had a lot of things working against me including a lack of sleep, having some back pain (I tweaked my back on Saturday), and my medications elevating my heart rate; but I was still in my positive mindset that I would be doing the best that I could and not thinking about what I should be doing better. It was a 3 group workout that morning and it was also a rowing benchmark class. And since I started on the rower that ended up being better than I expected.

The rowing benchmark was done in the first block where we had a 4 minute distance row. I knew what my PR was for it previously and I knew that I would not be hitting that in this class. But I did decide to set a goal to row for the entire 4 minutes without stopping. That’s not the biggest victory for me, but when I was having so many issues I knew it would be a big accomplishment. And I’m so happy that I was able to row those 4 minutes without stopping! Each of our row blocks had a timed distance row and the goal was to get at least half the distance of the previous distance row. And I did manage to do that! I did more than half of my 4 minute row in my 2 minute row and more than half of my 2 minute row in my 1 minute row. While none of these rows were PRs for me, I felt amazing for doing what I was able to do.

The treadmill work was a bit of a struggle and I thought about going onto the bike, but it felt good to walk and stretch my legs a bit after each of the row blocks. I stuck with my normal speed and for the first 2 blocks I did my normal inclines as well. But for the last block, I keep my push and all out pace inclines the same because I was getting tired. Each of the treadmill blocks was a pretty standard pattern and I’m so glad that they were shorter blocks because it did allow me to get through the treadmill time and I wasn’t struggling as much as I would have if it was a long block.

And the floor work was not my best time this workout. Of course on a day that I was having back pain the floor worked seemed to be very back heavy. The first block had good mornings to tricep presses, pullovers with weights, and knee tucks. This was my best block because I didn’t really feel any pain with any of the moves. I did end up doing sit-ups instead of knee tucks, but that was more due to knee tucks feeling super awkward for me and I just wanted to do something instead of struggling through one exercise. The second block was single arm presses with weights which were tough on my back but with a lower weight it was not too bad and I felt good. But the other move was pop jacks and my back was just not having those. The plank was hurting me and I ended up only doing the arm work that block. And the final block was lateral lunges with the BOSU which was fine but then we also had Y moves on the strap which again was back work that hurt. I ended up doing those by being far from the anchor point of the strap (the further you are the easier the move is) but I think it ended up being more of a stretch type move than an exercise. But since I knew I’d be making modifications to anything that involved my back, I was pretty happy I figured out a solution for the problems I was having.

Wednesday was a strength day and I was a bit worried going into the workout. I knew I wasn’t feeling totally great, but I was hoping a workout would make me feel a bit better. The treadmill was split into 3 blocks and each block had a similar format. When we had push paces, half of the time was a regular push pace and the other half was at an incline. For power walking, that meant that you increased from your push pace incline to one higher. So for each push pace I did the first half as my regular push pace incline and the second half at my all out pace incline. It wasn’t easy because the incline felt so much higher than normal, but I did my best to make it through. When we had the all out paces at the end of each block, I just stuck with my normal all out pace instead of trying to go a bit higher. Even though I had to take several breaks in the middle of each of the treadmill blocks, I felt much closer to normal than I had in a while. My heart rate wasn’t spiking as often and when it did the spikes weren’t as crazy as they have been. It was such a nice change from having crazy heart rate issues.

The floor work was one long block that had both rowing and work with weights. We started with a 500 meter row. Since I was still recovering from the treadmill, I didn’t really focus too much on what my time was for the row. It was probably close to what I normally do, but I’m not too sure. Then it was on to the weight work which was seated shoulder press to stands with weights, skier swings with weights, single arm rows with weights, plank work, and toe touches. Then it was back to the rower. We were decreasing the rows by 100 meters each time, but my coach wanted me to do things a bit differently. She wanted me to set my rower for a minute and 40 seconds to see how far I could get in that. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do 400 meters and told her that. But she wanted me to see what I would do.

I am so glad she set my rower that way because I ended up surprising myself! I was at 395 meters when the timer stopped and I honestly thought it would take me 2 minutes to do 400 meters! Then it was back to the floor and then back to the rower again. My coach had me do a 70 second row instead of 300 meters and this time I was at 298 meters. While it would have been nice to reach my rowing target in that time, I was more proud of myself for getting so close when I thought there was no way I could do that! The goal was to do enough rounds to get down to a 100 meter row, but I was only on the floor work after the 300 meter row when class ended.

After having an easier time on Wednesday, I was hoping that Friday would be the same. But of course nothing is predictable and I ended up having a bit of a rough day. It was a combination of my heart rate issues and some nausea that started right when I got to class. I started on the treadmill but after noticing during the warmup that I wasn’t feeling ok I moved over to the bike. The class was an endurance, strength, and power class and I decided to take the cardio blocks as seriously as I could on the bike.

During the endurance block, I was using the resistance on the bike that I had done the week before and I was paying much more attention to my cadence so I could make sure that I was doing more during the push and all out paces. I was definitely sweating a lot during this block and it wasn’t just because I wasn’t feeling ok. During the strength block I did work on increasing the resistance a bit more to replicate hills, but I wasn’t doing the resistance as high as I had before as I was focused on my speed. And during the power block I just focused on going as quick as I could to replicate doing an all out pace on the treadmill.

The floor work had 2 regular floor blocks and a row block. In the floor blocks we had single arm rows on the straps, upright rows with weights, side plank pendulums, deadlifts, low rows on the straps, and burpees. When we were supposed to be doing the burpees my nausea was kicking in a bit more so I ended up doing squats with calf raises instead. I didn’t love having to do something instead of burpees, but I knew it was necessary with how I was feeling. And for the row block, we were on the same pattern as the treadmill. Essentially it ended up being a 1 minute row, 90 second row, and 2 minute row. The goal was to be able to do at least 100 meters more each time and I was able to do just a bit better than that.

After the difficulty on Friday, I think I was much more mentally prepared for Saturday. I knew I’d be going on the bike again and I was excited to see how I could improve. The class was a power day and we did have some switching around. We only spent about 6 minutes at a time in one section of the room and we did 2 laps around. On the bike, I really was focused on my cadence and making sure I was getting it up higher for the push and all out paces. This class was the first one where I think I was above 100 RPM for all of the all out paces. It was tough, but it felt really great after because it finally gave me the sense of accomplishment that I think I needed. I’m still figuring how what distance I can do on the bike and how to improve on that, but I know that I’ve been getting slightly faster over the past few weeks.

On the rower, we kind of repeated things for the 2 times we were there. We started with a 90 second push pace and a 30 second all out pace on the rower. Then we had sprint distance rows with some rowing recovery in between. I wasn’t rowing as fast I could, but I was under all the times I usually try to be under so that was good. And on the floor, each time we were there we started with 30 second rounds of squats and plank work. Then we had other things like sit ups to squats on the bench, knee tucks, chest flys, and lunges. And by the time I was done with class, I was exhausted but in the best way.

Considering that going into this past week of workouts I was hoping to find some sense of accomplishment again, I think I’m finally getting closer to being there. I know there will still be struggles (although I’m hoping this will be ending sooner rather than later), but knowing that I can hit some new goals is encouraging me.

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Settling Into A New Normal (or Seeing This As A New Beginning)

Posted on February 19, 2018 | Comments Off on Settling Into A New Normal (or Seeing This As A New Beginning)

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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Learning More Patience (or Figuring Out Where I Can Succeed)

Posted on February 12, 2018 | Comments Off on Learning More Patience (or Figuring Out Where I Can Succeed)

This past week of workouts were up and down for me. I really thought I’d be doing better with my medication but I also ended up allowing myself to feel ok with doing what I can do. I feel a bit lackluster in some of what I was doing because I keep comparing myself to what I was doing recently. But I think if I wasn’t comparing myself against that version of myself and maybe focused on comparing to where I was in the beginning to where I am now I could be happier. But the struggle is real and I am really working on accepting it.

Monday’s workout was a strength based workout. I wanted to use the treadmill (even with having to do inclines), but I was dealing with some random and unexpected nausea that morning. I debated about using a treadmill, but I knew that walking would probably make me feel worse so I ended up on the bike. But because I’ve used the bike a lot lately, I decided to try to do things a bit harder than normal. There were two blocks on each section and for the cardio it was a pretty similar pattern with a push pace, a base pace at an incline, and a push and all out pace at an incline. With the bike, you use heavier gears to replace incline so I tried to make my gears higher than I normally do with the regular push and all out paces on the bike. I did end up at a gear that made it really tough to keep going, but I was able to keep my wattage up on the bike which is what my coach emphasized I should be focusing on for my workout.

Next I was on the rower and finally my nausea was starting to go away. The first block on the rower was rounds of 500 meter rows with some rest between each round. I don’t know if my rower was acting weird or I was just having a bad rowing day but all of my 500 meter rows were taking longer than they normally do. I was trying to go at it a bit harder, but I wasn’t able to get my time to what I’m used to. But with the second block, we had 250 meter rows with bicep curls using the rower handles between each row. And with that block, I was able to get my rowing to be just a bit longer than normal. But that it to be expected when I’m getting tired so I was feeling much better about the rowing. And I ended class on the floor. The first block was chest presses, lunges, and plank work. I was using some pretty heavy weight with my chest presses which made up for not using weights in my lunges in my head. And the last block was using the workout bands for hip bridges and plank side leg lifts. I put the bands lower on my legs this time (which made things much harder) and I did much better with the bands. They were still twisting a bit, but not nearly as bad as the first time I used them. And I’m sure that in time I will get more and more used to using them and will get better at it.

Wednesday’s workout was an endurance, strength, and power day. This was after I talked with my therapist about my medication and I felt much better about taking things easy. I still didn’t like doing it, but it seems like it’s not just an issue I’m having. And while it is frustrating having this issue last longer than I expected, it does help to know that my doctor thinks I’m doing the right thing and it’s ok to ease back into normal workout endurance. And as much as I wanted to try to run during the power block, I held back. And I knew I needed to because even walking at my normal speed was spiking my heart rate. During the strength block, I didn’t go too high with my inclines but I did work with them. I wish I had more interesting things to say about my treadmill work, but it seems like this might be the trend for a little bit longer.

On the floor we had one long block and I really enjoyed it. We had 1 rep of 5 different moves that were supposed to be done as a single movement. We had a deadlift, a low row, an upright row, a squat, and a shoulder press. I could have gone heavier with my weight for the deadlift, but because we were supposed to use the same weight for the entire circuit I used my normal deadlift weight (which was heavier than normal for the rest of the moves). After doing 6 rounds of that, we had 6 burpees and then ab work before we went to the rower. Then it was back to the floor to do it all over again. It was a challenge to do those 5 moves as a single movement, but it was a good challenge to have and I was really focused on my posture and form during the entire thing.

Friday’s workout was a special partner day for the Olympics. On cardio we were supposed to have teams of 4, but with my group there were 10 people so they did 2 groups of 4 and 1 group of 2. My friend Grace and I volunteered to be the group of 2. We thought it would be good because we were both stressed about letting a team down and knew we would be fine not worrying about that with each other. But it turns out having our group of 2 actually made things harder for us! It was a run/row format with 1 person on the rower setting the pace and the rest of the team on treadmills. When the first partner was done with the row, they tagged the next person and they rowed (and the first partner went to a treadmill). They went through all the partners this way. But because Grace and I were on our own, we were just tagging each other. So we had much less rest time between rowing than the other groups. In the end I was just taking my 30 seconds on the treadmill to catch my breath and drinking water, but I tried to do a bit of walking each time I was on there.

Once the partner workout was done, we were on the floor for the second half of class and it was much more of a standard format without the partner work. The first block was speed skater lunges, shoulder work with weights, and running men. The second block was skier squats with weights, regular squats, and sit ups. And the last block was Y raises on the straps, pop jacks, running men, and sit ups. The floor work was so tough after the cardio, but I tried to limit my breaks. But I was definitely feeling done mid-way through the floor work and I know that I wasn’t doing my best in class.

Saturday’s workout is where I feel like I turned things around. I could have used the treadmill, but I decided to use the bike. I was thinking about how when I started doing 4 workouts a week that I set the 4th workout to be on the bike. And I worked hard on the bike each time. But lately I have looked at the bike as a second choice, and while I have been working on it I knew I wasn’t working as hard as I could. It was an endurance based workout with 3 groups so I was on the bike for the first 15 minutes of class. We had longer push paces with base paces after each and I really focused on pushing myself on the bike. I wasn’t using as high of resistance on it so I could focus on pedaling faster. And it seemed to work because it felt like the hardest bike workout I’ve ever done! I’m thinking I should probably use the bike once a week or so while I’m getting over this medication issue and I bet it’s going to benefit me when I’m back to running.

Next I was on the floor where we had 2 blocks. We had upright rows with weights, bicep curls, and high rows on the straps in the first block. And in the second block we had squat low rows with weights, side plank pendulums, and lateral lunges. And I ended on the rower where we had decreasing rows with lunges between. We started with an 800 meter row and I managed to get within 5 seconds of my PR! Not bad for the end of a workout! I didn’t do quite as well with the 600 meter row but I did PR by 2 seconds on my 400 meter row which was the last thing I did in class! It’s pretty tough to do that well when I had been working so hard during the rest of class, so I was pretty impressed with myself.

The beginning of the week was a bit of a frustration, but I did come to the realization that I could focus on things I can do and try to not think about what I’m struggling with. And by the end of the week I was able to create new goals and accomplishments for myself which was awesome! I do still want to get back to running and that is going to be a focus of mine, but I’m continuing to practice patience and I think it’s finally starting to kick in.

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Default ThumbnailA Week Full Of Rowing (or Figuring Out What I Can Do When Nauseous) Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Progress And Practicing Patience (or Having Some Good Challenges) Default ThumbnailLearning How To Maximize My Injury (or Feeling More Normal) Default ThumbnailExtra Running Time (or Figuring Out What I Can Do) Default ThumbnailSetbacks and Goals (or Still Figuring Out What’s Next)

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Still Managing My Expectations (or Still Able To Surprise Myself)

Posted on February 5, 2018 | Comments Off on Still Managing My Expectations (or Still Able To Surprise Myself)

It was another workout week of needing to take things a bit easier. It is frustrating because I will feel so ready to be pushing myself when I walk into the workout and then as soon as I start it I feel like I can’t do it. This is something I do need to talk to my doctor about when we have our phone call because I don’t know if maybe I do need to go back to a slightly lower dose. I don’t want to have to struggle with my workouts like this for a long time because I can feel my progress slipping, especially with my running. But even with those issues, I did still manage to kick some butt this past week.

Monday was an endurance based workout. I had to start on the rower and I knew it would be a tough workout because it was my first morning workout on the new dosage. The rower I was on was acting up (for example it said I did under 200 meters in 3 minutes when it should have been more like 600 meters), but that might have been the best for me. I knew I was struggling on the rower and not knowing how much I was really struggling was helping me not feel as horrible about it. We had timed and distance rows, but for the distance rows I just rowed for the time it should take me to complete them. For example, the 200 meter row would have been probably about 3.5 minutes according to the glitchy rower, but normally that takes me about a minute. So I rowed for a minute.

Next I was on the floor. The first block was a pretty standard block. We had deadlifts, pull overs, and single arm rows using the weights. But the second block was when things got interesting. Orangetheory just started using strength bands in the workouts and Monday’s workout was the introduction of them.

I’ve used workout bands in the past, but not anytime recently and my experience with them was limited. For this workout, we had weighted squats, squat walks, and ab twists using the bands. I struggled with the bands, especially getting them on me without them twisting and feeling uncomfortable. I figured out that I could use them lower on my legs (which would make it a big harder, but that could be good) and I wouldn’t have struggled as much. But I tried my best and I’m looking forward to using the bands again.

And I was on cardio last and I was feeling pretty exhausted by then. I also knew I’d be going to Disneyland after the workout so I stuck with being on the bike. I’m glad I went with the bike because we had 5 minute distance challenges. If I was on the treadmill, I probably would have tried to run and possibly hurt myself. But since I don’t really have an idea of what I can do in 5 minutes on the bike, the pressure was off a bit. For the first distance challenge I did 2 miles on the bike and for the second one I did 2.1 miles so I was happy with the small improvement between the two attempts.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day. It was a bit frustrating to still not be able to run especially because when I got to class I was so sure I’d be working on running. But even walking was getting my heart rate up pretty high so I had to stick with walking. All the blocks were 4.5 minutes long and they were all pretty much the same pattern with a push pace, base pace, and push to all out pace. I was doing my normal walking speed and inclines and I tried not to focus on my desire to run. By the way, the fact that I have a desire to run is still a bit of a novelty for me and I think it’s pretty funny.

Things were more back to normal when I was on the floor. Again, all the blocks were 4.5 minutes long so things moved pretty quickly. The first block was full thrusters using weights and plank low rows using weights. The second block was snatches with weights and plank Spiderman. The third block was the toughest for me because it had full burpees but the other move was squat reverse fly with weights which was a nice break from burpees. And the last block was rounds of 100 meter rows with skier swings. With the rowing, I was able to get my wattage up pretty high, but I still couldn’t PR which was a bit frustrating. You’d think by having the best wattage on the rower I would get a better time, but it wasn’t happening that day.

Friday’s workout was a struggle for so many reasons that I’m just glad I survived. First, I was still dealing with adjusting to the new medication dosage. Also, I was dealing with horrible craps and nausea. And finally I ate too much at lunch that day (my friend Dani brought sandwiches over and we were hanging out before the workout). All of those things combined just made the day so difficult. It was an endurance day and I really didn’t think much about it. I just tried to get through it. There were 3 blocks on the treadmill and they all had longer push paces with going back to base paces. I was able to do my normal speed and inclines, but I did have to take a ton of breaks in the middle of each block.

On the floor the first block was a longer one. We started with an 800 meter row (I was done in just under 4 minutes) and then we had a bunch of exercises. Those included chest presses on the straps, lateral lunges, side plank leg raises, and sit-ups. Then it was a 400 meter row and the same exercises again. I was just getting through the exercises again before time on that block was done. Then we had a quick block with static lunges, bicep curls on the straps, and bicycle curls. The floor work was a bit better for me than the treadmill, but it was still a bit of a struggle.

Saturday’s workout was an endurance, strength, and power workout and it was a 3 group workout as well. I was still feeling off when I got to the class, so I used the bike instead of the treadmill. Each block started with a longer push pace and then had decreasing push paces with base paces in-between. With the bike, I’m not as familiar with my abilities (although I should be) so I don’t know if I was doing more than I normally could. I was getting my heart rate up and I was sweating, so I figured that was pretty good.

Next I was on the rower. We started with a longer row and then we had sprint rows with medicine ball squats in-between. We were doing 100 meter sprints and I decided to see if I could PR. I hadn’t checked my records before class, but I was pretty sure I knew what my best was. I had my coach stand on my rower (sometimes when you go really hard the rower can jump a bit) and I rowed what felt like the hardest I had ever rowed. I was really disappointed when I was done because I was sure it wasn’t a PR. But I knew it was my best average wattage for a 100 meter row so I took a photo of it for my records.

To my surprise, when I got home and checked my records, I actually did PR! I took 4/10ths of a second off of my 100 meter row! I wish I had known that in class because I think I would have been happier with things instead of feeling annoyed that I couldn’t PR even with trying the hardest I could. I’m glad the hard work did pay off though! And I finished up on the floor where the first block was clean to press with weights, triceps with weights, and half squat swings. And the last block was a core blast with sit-ups and superman extensions.

I know I’ve said this the past month or so, but I don’t know how much longer I will need in this adjustment period. I know that my workouts are suffering a bit because of this but it will be worth it in the end. I’m working on my patience with myself and it does seem like it’s paying off in my strength and rowing work. And hopefully soon enough it will be paying off in my cardio and I’ll be back to running.

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Default ThumbnailBack To Balancing (or A Pretty Routine Workout Week) Default ThumbnailRunning And Walking (or Accepting My Limits) Default ThumbnailA Week Of Walking and Biking (or Getting Through Some Low-Key Workouts) Default ThumbnailMaybe Not That Much Running (or Training For Thanksgiving) Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailMy First Dri-Tri (or Beating My Expectations)

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Another Week Of Taking It Easy (or Feeling Strong While Not Working As Hard)

Posted on January 29, 2018 | 1 comment

Even though I’m continuing to increase my medication and it’s affecting my workouts, I’m starting to get used to having to be a bit easier on myself. It’s not easy to do it because I always do want to push myself, but I’m more accepting that this is a temporary issue and that I’ll be done with increasing my medications soon and I’ll get used to this new dosage.

Monday was a bit of a tough workout for me. It was the first time on the increased dosage that I had a morning workout (which meant I worked out about 90 minutes after taking my medications) and I really felt it. It was a strength based workout so I was fine with walking on the treadmill. And since it was a 3 group class, I was only on the treadmill for about 1/3 of the class and not 1/2 of the class. I was able to do my normal speed and kept my inclines at my normal inclines. I did have to take more breaks than normal, but overall I was pretty happy with myself.

On the rower the first block was decreasing rows starting at 500 meters with bicep curls using the rower between each round. My times were never that great, but they weren’t that horrible. I did have to take some breaks on this rowing block because of my heart rate going up too high, but it wasn’t anything unmanageable. The second block on the rower followed the same pattern as the second block on the treadmill with doing base, push, and all out paces. The idea was to not stop rowing for the entire block (which was about 5 minutes) and to get to 1100 meters. By the end of the block, I was just at 1100 meters. And on the floor we had squats with weights, triceps with weights, knee tucks using the ab dolly, lunges with weights, hamstring work, and roll outs on the ab dolly.

Wednesday was the first day on a higher dosage of Vyvanse (and what should be the dosage I’m sticking with so hopefully the last increase). It was difficult being on the higher dosage and my body felt it. I dealt with a little bit of light-headedness (I don’t think I drank enough water before class either) and my heart rate was getting super high. I knew that this would happen on the first day of the new dosage but expecting it didn’t stop me from being a bit frustrated at times that I wished I could be doing more. The treadmill format would have been a good one for me to do some running in normal circumstances, but I had to stick with walking. I did my normal speed but only used 4% and 6% inclines.

The floor was one long block. We had sumo squats, skier swings, triceps on the straps, push up to plank jacks, and knee tucks. And after doing all of that we had rowing. The first row was 1200 meters and I managed to do it in 5:45 and didn’t have to take any breaks. That seemed like a huge accomplishment considering how I was feeling. I then had the second round of the moves on floor and then a 600 meter row. This was at the very end of class and my rowing wasn’t my normal speed or intensity. I had to take a few breaks and just as I finished the row class ended so I never made it to a third round on the floor.

Friday ended up being a much better day than Wednesday. I was feeling more adjusted to the new dosage and the workout was a partner day so that helped to keep me motivated and focused. My friend Grace was in class that day so she was my partner. It had a bit of an odd format, but I liked it. Blocks 1 and 2 were the exact same thing. One partner was on the rower and one was on the treadmill. The person who started on the treadmill was the pace setter and did .25 miles on the treadmill (I walked so I did .13 miles) and then tagged the person on the rower. Then they rowed 400 meters and tagged the person on the treadmill. The other partner just ran and rowed for distance. One of us was the pace setter for the first block and the other was the pace setter for the second block.

After those blocks, we had the last block that lasted about half of class. It was a bit more complicated but basically the partner on the treadmill or rower was the pace setter while the other partner on the floor did exercises until they were tagged (so we rotated throughout the block who set the pace). The floor exercises were squat thrusters, upright rows, froggers, high rows on the straps, and mountain climbers. The pacer had .5 miles on the treadmill to start (I walked .25 miles). The next round was 800 meters on the rower. And the last round was .16 miles on the treadmill (.08 for me) and a 260 meter row. Grace and I each were able to complete all the cardio portions before time was called which was awesome! I didn’t want to be the slacker partner and I think that I was able to hold my own.

Saturday’s workout was a bit more like Wednesday’s. I was struggling a bit with the medication dosage and I felt it in the workout. So I just took things nice and easy and did my best. And it helped again that it was a 3 group class. I started on the treadmill where we had rounds of push paces that decreased as the block went on. I was at my normal speed and used all my normal inclines. I was tempted a few times to try running for the 30 second all out paces, but I knew that this was just the beginning of the workout and I didn’t want to overdo it.

Next I was on the floor where we had 2 blocks. The first block was weighted lunges, plank work, good mornings to tricep kickbacks with weights, and pop jacks. The second block had squat jumps, side plank hip dips, squat jacks, and sit ups. And I was on the rower last where we started with a 200 meter row followed by 10 squat jacks. Then it was a 30 second all out row followed by 10 squat jacks. Then 15 pulls on the rower followed by 10 squat jacks. Then we started back at the top again with the 200 meter row but had 15 squat jacks between each rowing segment. I took quite a few breaks and none of my rowing was what I know I could do, but it was the end of the workout plus I was dealing with everything else.

I’ve debated if I should have gone down to 3 workouts a week instead of 4 while I was adjusting to new medication dosages, but I’m glad I didn’t. I did struggle at times but I like staying in this good habit. And now that my dosage won’t be increasing again, I can focus on getting things back to normal and being able to do my workouts the way I want. It still may take another week or two, but I know I’ll get back there eventually.

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Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailRowing And Partners (or Enjoying A 4 Workout Week) Default ThumbnailA Week Of Progress (or Feeling More Like Me) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Pushing Through (or Feeling Strong Before Feeling Sick) Default ThumbnailShort and Sweet Workout Week (or Taking It A Bit Easy) Default ThumbnailWorking Through Physical Challenges (or Not Letting Feeling Bad Ruin My Workouts)

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Managing My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments)

Posted on January 22, 2018 | Comments Off on Managing My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments)

This past week of workouts were a bit tough for me. I had a few things that were preventing me from doing my best, but I knew that was going to happen ahead of time. I think knowing the week was going to be a bit of struggle before getting to each workout was actually an advantage because I set my expectations lower than normal and didn’t have to worry about reaching goals that probably wouldn’t be possible.

Monday’s workout was a 3G power class. Normally this would be an amazing workout to work on running, but that wasn’t the plan this time. First, this was my first class with taking my Vyvanse all in the morning instead of splitting it up between the morning and lunchtime. Also, this was my 4th class in a row because I had my normal classes the week before plus the special 500 class on Sunday. Because of those factors, I didn’t try to run at all. We had 3 blocks on each section and we switched between the blocks.

The treadmill was all the same pattern for all 3 blocks. We had a push pace, a base pace, a push pace, and an all out pace. I managed to use my normal walking speed and the inclines I’ve been using for a while so that seemed like a victory to me. On the rower, the first block was doing 15 pulls and seeing what distance we got. Then we tried to get to that distance in fewer pulls. The second block was the same idea but with 300 meters. And the last block was just rowing for distance. My rower was acting funny and it wasn’t doing the meters correctly so I just tried to row straight through each block. And on the floor we had 2 moves for each block. And those moves included lunges, push-ups, hop overs, lateral raises, pop jacks, and upright rows using weights.

Wednesday’s workout had its own struggle. It was the first day on a new dosage of Vyvanse. Fortunately since it was an afternoon workout it didn’t affect me as much as it did in the morning, but I still have to make sure my heart rate doesn’t get too high. It was an endurance day and I did start trying to run but realized that I couldn’t do my running intervals. So I stuck with walking with my normal walking speed and was able to do my inclines. The goal for the class was to get ourselves back to base pace (instead of increasing push or all out paces) so I tried really hard not to jump the rails on the treadmill during the workout. I did have to do it when my heart rate got a bit too high, but I was doing better than expected. On the floor, the first block was squats, hamstring work, and knee tucks. The second block was rounds of 200 meter rows with hammer curls in-between. And the last block was sumo squats, half squat swings, and plank jacks.

And just when I thought things would be a bit more normal, I had a new issue on Friday. This time, I had a minor freezing procedure on my foot so it was a bit tender. It wasn’t as bad as it’s been in the past, but again I knew I needed to stick with walking. This time it was a power day and all the blocks had rounds of push to all out paces. I stuck with my normal speed and inclines, but since I was on the treadmill I still felt pretty good. I debated about using the bike, but I know my treadmill workouts are better and I’m glad I was able to do that. And the floor had skaters, plank twists, deadlifts, alligators on the straps, mountain climbers, and plank dips. And the last block on the floor was the same pattern as the treadmills with push to all out paces.

Saturday’s workout was a bit better than the rest of the week. But of course when I was debating if I could run it ended up being a strength day so I didn’t want to run inclines. It was a 3 group class and I’m pretty glad that it was because this was a tough one! On the treadmill, we had rounds of 3 minute or 90 second hills. I wanted to try to get my inclines higher, but I was feeling a little light-headed so I stuck with my usual inclines. On the floor we had lunges, upright rows with weights, lateral raises, chest flys, and weighted ab work. And on the rower we had decreasing rows starting at 500 meters and between each row we had squats and push-ups.

This week I will be increasing my medication again so I have a feeling I will have a similar week to the past week. I need to be careful with my heart rate and I’m glad that I go to a workout that makes it easy to monitor it. This week should be the last medication increase and then it might take another week or two to have this dosage feel normal. I’m just going to keep focusing on trying to do my best and realize that I have setbacks that might not be allowing me to do everything I’d like to do.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Taking It Easy (or Feeling Strong While Not Working As Hard) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Normal Workouts (or Balancing Hard Work And Taking It Easy) Default ThumbnailA New Year Of Workouts (or Finally Starting To Feel Like Myself Again) Default ThumbnailMaybe Not That Much Running (or Training For Thanksgiving) Default ThumbnailStill Managing My Expectations (or Still Able To Surprise Myself) Default ThumbnailSome Progress and Some Setbacks (or Trying To Set New Workout Goals)

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Back To Balancing (or A Pretty Routine Workout Week)

Posted on January 15, 2018 | 1 comment

This past week of workouts wasn’t that eventful of one. That’s actually kind of a victory for me since having things be routine is a pretty big milestone for me. It’s nice that even with some setbacks and struggles, the workouts felt so normal to me. Technically this was a 5 workout week, but the 5th workout was something special so that will be in tomorrow’s post.

My workout on Monday was endurance, strength, and power based. It was a 3 group class and we had 2 blocks on each side. I ended up walking for all of the treadmill work. It was going to rain and when it rains my hip hurts. It’s an annoying fact of my life, but I also know there is nothing I can do to fix it so I try to make the best of it. The first block was a long push pace and then a push pace to all out pace. And the second block was 1 minute or 30 second all out paces but we had to increase the incline each time. If we didn’t have the inclines I probably would have run, but I know I’m not ready to run on inclines right now. So I started at 6% incline and bumped it up .5% for each of the all out paces.

Next I was on the rower where the first block was a 1,000 meter row to start. My time was pretty slow (it was longer than the goal time for the class) but I also wasn’t as focused on the rower as I have been in the past. After that row we had lunges and then sets of 250 meter rows until the block was done. The next block was 500 meter rows (I got a slightly better time than half of my 1,000 meter row) and then 100 meter sprints. I was excited for the sprints because I know I can go pretty hard on those. I really wanted to get my time under 18 seconds but I wasn’t able to get it under 19 seconds that day. And on the floor the first block was chest presses on the straps, chest flys on the ground, and plank taps. The second block was bicep curls, plank rows, and torso rotations.

Wednesday was a strength day without switching between blocks. Since it was strength that meant we had hills on the treadmills and I wasn’t going to run it. It was also my first class with a slightly different plan for my medications so my heart rate was a bit odd. Each of the blocks on the treadmill were a similar pattern with a push pace (it was on a flat incline for runners), then a push pace on a hill, and ending with a push pace to an all out pace on a hill. While I didn’t get my inclines as high as recommended for power walkers, I did get it to be between 6-10% for the hill sections. I did struggle a bit with some dizziness (and I’ll probably have that for a few weeks as my medication adjusts), but I took my time when I needed it and felt pretty great when we were done on the treadmill.

On the floor we had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 250 meter row (I did it in under a minute) and then we had seated shoulder presses to stands and leg raises. The last block was a longer block and it started with deadlifts, low rows, and lunges. After 3 rounds of those we moved onto a core blast that was scissor abs and crunches. I wasn’t using heavier weights than normal on the floor, but I was able to use my regular weights which was good considering I was struggling on the treadmill.

Friday’s class was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I had a couple of friends in class with me so that always makes the workout better! I was still struggling a bit with my heart rate so I stuck with walking everything. For the endurance block on the treadmill we had longer push paces. On the strength block we had increasing inclines for each segment and I was able to keep things between 6-10% again. And the last block was on the rower which was a nice change of pace. It was 30 seconds of a push pace, 30 seconds of an all out pace, and 30 seconds of recovery for 4 rounds.

On the floor, the first block was lunge jacks (I did them as regular lunges), roll outs on the straps, and plank work. The second block was single arm clean to presses with weights, lunges, and knee tucks on the bench (I did the knee tucks instead of any modifications). And the last block was on the same pattern as the rower. We had 3 rounds of 30 seconds of skater lunges and running man. And then the last minute was a plank hold. This class seemed tough to me because of my heart rate issues, but my friends agreed that this seemed like a really tough (but really awesome) class!

And Saturday’s workout was one that I wasn’t planning on going too crazy. It was the second day of what would end up being 4 workouts in a row (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday). I originally thought I’d go on the bike, but I decided to use the treadmill and modify where I needed to. And I’m so glad I stuck with the treadmill! It was a 3 group class and the beginning of class was a round of 4 minutes at each section. On the treadmill it was a 4 minute run for distance. I thought maybe I’d do intervals with walking, but I decided just to run and see what happened.

I stuck with 4.5 mph because 4 minutes of running was more than I had done in a while. And it was difficult and I really thought about switching to a walk. But I just kept thinking how I was 1/4 of the way done, 1/3 of the way done, 1/2 of the way done and so on. I just watched the clock and decided to try to do the entire thing as a run. I had in my head that it would be amazing to get to .3 miles in 4 minutes and I saw that I was going to be close. So I bumped up my speed for the last 10 seconds and managed to hit my target perfectly!

On the floor, we had 4 minutes of bicep curls using weights, bicep curls using straps, tricep kickbacks using weights, and tricep work on the straps. That was a really tough 4 minutes since it felt like my arms never got a break! And on the rower, it was a 4 minute row for distance. While our coach said we should try for 1,000 meters, I knew that I couldn’t do that. So I set my goal at 850 meters which seemed pretty conservative to me. But when I missed it by 1 meter, it really made me mad! I knew I could have done better for a few seconds to get there but I didn’t do it and it showed.

The next round was about 10 minutes on everything. On the treadmill, it was longer push paces and I stuck to walking. My heart rate was having trouble recovering during the base paces like it normally would so I didn’t want to overdo anything. The second block on the floor was incline chest presses, upright rows with weights, toe touches, and weighted torso rotations. It was a tougher block, but it seemed much easier to me than the shorter block. And the last block on the rower was an 800 meter row followed by squats and then a 400 meter row. I got my 800 meter row in under 4 minutes and my 400 meter row under 2 minutes so I was happy. Getting a good row in at the very end of class isn’t easy!

Like I said, this was actually a 5 workout week. But I will be writing about that last workout tomorrow. But for the first 4 workouts of the week, I think I did pretty amazing!

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A Week Of Walking and Biking (or Getting Through Some Low-Key Workouts)

Posted on December 4, 2017 | Comments Off on A Week Of Walking and Biking (or Getting Through Some Low-Key Workouts)

It seems that whenever I have a really great plan to try to get my workouts back to the progress I am trying to make, something happens that stops me. But at least now, even when things stop me from making progress it doesn’t stop me from doing my workouts. So this past week of workouts ended up being much more low-key and low-impact than I wanted them to be, but I was still there.

Monday’s workout could have potentially been a day I worked on running, but it was a day that had endurance, strength, and power in it and I knew I couldn’t do the endurance or strength portions as a run. The endurance block on the treadmill had a 3 minute push and the strength part was all running on inclines. Between the incline runs, we also had frogger squats which were a nice break after incline work. The floor work was one long block that had low rows on the straps, front raises, squats, hip bridges, and plank work.

And when I got to the rower I finally felt like I could do better than I had in the rest of the workout. We had 2 blocks on the rower and in the first block we had 400 meter rows with squats using weights between each row. But where I really did my best was in the second block where we had timed rows. We started with a 3 minute row and then had a 90 second and 45 second row. The goal was to do more than half of the distance we had done in the row prior. And each of the times I was supposed to do that, I was able to go much further than half of the previous distance.

Wednesday’s workout was an interesting one. On Monday, after I got home from Universal Studios, it seems like I might have broken my toe. I was taking off my shoes and jammed my toe into the leg of my couch. As soon as it happened, I knew it was bad. My vision went white, I was in horrible pain, and my toe was not looking normal. Tuesday I was starting to be able to walk a little bit more on it (I think the damage was to the top of my toe and not the side or bottom), so I decided to try to walk slowly in my workout. It was another endurance, strength, and power workout and I just tried to take it easy. By the end of the treadmill time, I realized that I probably would have been better off using the bike but it was too late.

When I got to the floor, I had to focus on taking some of the pressure off of my toe. The first block on the floor had 400 meter rows with strap reaches and plank rows. I adjusted where the rower strap went on my foot to keep me from pressing off the foot plates with my toe. The second block was squats, shoulder presses, lunges with rowing, and ab work. It was tough to stay on my heels and not my toes, but I did my best. And the last block was squats with 150 meter sprints. By the end of my workout I was feeling a bit more pain in my toe, but it was still feeling better than it did when I hurt it on Monday.

When I got to Friday’s workout, I knew I needed a break from the treadmill. I went on the bike for our endurance day. This workout would have been a good one to work on my running, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was a single block where we had different distances to go with walking recovery. We did everything at our own pace and I tried to stick with the plan for the bike. When I started I thought it would be nice if I could make it to 10 miles on the bike, and that’s exactly what I got to when it was time to switch to the floor.

The floor work was another interesting set up. Everything was timed so we didn’t have to count reps or worry about it. It was 3 rounds of deadlifts, squats to walk out push ups, shoulder raise to lateral raise, side plank rotations, and 2 minute rows. It was nice having it all timed so I could focus on the work, but it was tough. It’s sometimes easier when I know how many more reps I have before changing moves, but this time I just had to try to get through the time and knew that it would be done before I knew it. My rowing wasn’t anything spectacular, but I did row the entire time without stopping each round.

And when I worked out on Saturday, I stuck with the bike again. It was a 3 group workout, but I figured that my toe needed the rest (I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be on the bike, but I’m going to try to go easy on myself). It was an endurance, strength, power day again; but I really didn’t pay too much attention to the workout when I was on the bike. I was dealing with my toe plus some bad nausea so my goal was mainly just to keep moving and not stress about much else. I had to take breaks while on the bike, but for most of the time I was able to go at a slowish pace and just move.

On the floor, we had a progressive workout. Each round started with chest presses and then we added on moves from there. We also had triceps on the straps, low rows with weights, lunges, and abs. I was just getting toward the end of the plan when time was called to switch. I had to take breaks to not feel nauseous which did slow me down a lot. But I got through almost everything so I was proud of myself. And on the rower was where I struggled the most. We started with 3 rounds of 90 seconds for distance. I did ok, but it was not easy to keep rowing for 90 seconds based on how I was feeling. And after that, we had rounds of 200 meter rows with squat work between. I was feeling pretty relieved when the workout ended because I was feeling done.

Obviously I couldn’t predict that I was going to break my toe, but my nausea is something I can plan for. I never know how bad it will be each month, but it comes without fail every month. I need to keep working on how to workout and not let it get to me since I can’t take a week off every month. But having a tough week like this past one was a great training week for pushing through whatever my health circumstances may be.

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Maybe Not That Much Running (or Training For Thanksgiving)

Posted on November 20, 2017 | Comments Off on Maybe Not That Much Running (or Training For Thanksgiving)

After my recent realization that I was not doing as much running as I should, I thought I’d be getting back to running a lot more. And that was my plan and my intention for this past week of workouts, but it didn’t quite work out that way. And that was very frustrating because I wanted to be the best I could before my workouts this week. My Thanksgiving workout is a family event and my dad and I are pretty competitive about it. But I know that I probably didn’t do enough running this past week to really be ready for it.

Monday’s workout was an endurance and power based day. It was a 3 group workout so I figured I’d be able to do running since we wouldn’t be on the treadmill that much. But that morning was just a horrible day for hip pain and I was worried about how I’d feel at Disneyland later that day. So after a few minutes on the treadmill, I got off of it and went over to one of the bikes to use that for cardio. I didn’t really pay too much attention to the intervals when I was on the bike, I just was trying to stay steady with my pace and increasing the resistance when we were in push or all out paces.

On the floor we had 2 blocks. The first block had arm work, goblet squats, and alligators on the straps. The second block had squats thrusters, front raises, and pop jacks. I wasn’t able to be that fast on the floor, so I focused more on not taking as many breaks and just continuously working. And on the rower we started with a 600 meter row and 10 bicep curls using weights and each round the rower went down 200 meters. The second block was on the same pattern as the treadmill with push to all out paces and my focus was just to keep going. I wasn’t able to do the same push or all out pace on the rower as normal because of the hip pain, but just moving is sometimes all I can ask for.

Wednesday’s workout was on where I thought I might try running, and then it ended up being a strength workout so all the treadmill work was in inclines. I know that I could have ignored the inclines and ran, but I like to try to follow the workout as much as possible. So this workout was al walking for me. We had 3 blocks on the treadmill and each block started with a 3 minute progressive hill. The first block I was between 6-8%, the second block it was 7-9%, and the last block was 8-10%. I was able to keep my normal speed for everything until the last minute of that last hill at 10% where I did end up bringing the speed down a bit. Each block also had a longer push pace but I ended up walking them too. It was tough not running on a day that I felt motivated to run, but I felt really good about my hill work.

On the floor we had 2 blocks. The first block was lateral lunges to rows with weights, regular lunges, and scissor ab work. And the second block started with a 500 meter row that I was able to do in 2:10. It’s not my fastest row, but considering how late in the workout it was I was pretty happy with myself. After the row we had squats, triceps, hip dips, and bicycle crunches. It was a tough floor block with getting up and down a lot, but again I just focused on moving and not how hard I was working.

Friday’s workout ended up being another walking one. I originally thought it would be a great one to work on running because I heard we had 2 different 5 minute runs for distance. What I didn’t realize until class started was that those 5 minute runs would be incline runs. So I ended up walking them. For each round, we went up 1% each minute. I started at 6% the first time and did ok. The second time I started at 4% because my hips were starting to hurt a bit more. We also had blocks on the treadmill that weren’t at inclines, but I was a bit nervous to try to run them since I knew how my body was feeling.

On the floor we had 2 floor blocks and 1 rowing block. In the first block, we had single leg squats using the straps, sit-ups, and plank work. And I actually was able to do the single leg squats as single leg squats. I was holding on tight to the straps for stability, but that’s still a big accomplishment for me. The second floor block was high rows using weights, uppercuts with weights, lateral raises, side plank crunches, and a 250 meter row. But I knew we had a rowing block after that so I didn’t go too hard with my rowing. And the last block was that row block were we followed the same pattern as the treadmills with push to all out paces. I was able to do my rowing a bit harder than I had done earlier in the week so I was happy with that.

Saturday’s workout ended up being the one time I really worked on my running, and I did a lot of running! It was a 3 group workout so I was only on the treadmill for about 15 minutes. There were 2 blocks and the first block was 3 rounds of 1 minute push paces, 1 minute all out paces, and 30 second walking recoveries. I ran at the same speed for those 2 minutes at my normal push pace speed. So out of a 7 minute block, I did 6 minutes of running! The second block was essentially the same except that the length of time for the push and all out paces were changing. But since I was doing the push and all out paces at the same speed it was the same as the first block. Again, I had 6 out of 7 minutes in the block as running. To have 12 minutes out of 15 (there was a 1 minute walk between the blocks) be running is pretty great for me!

On the row we had 2 blocks and the first block was 150 meter rows with squat thrusters using weights between each round. I wondered if my rower was broken because no matter how fast or how slow I went, it seemed like I always finished my row in 40.3 seconds. It was really weird. So I stopped worrying about the time I finished my rows in. The second block was also 150 meter rows but this time we had squats with medicine ball presses between each round. And on the floor for the first block we had squats, knee tucks, and mountain climbers. The second block was rows on the straps, lunges with high knees using the straps, and side to side crunches.

Out of my 4 workouts this past week, only 1 had any running in it. Not at all the ratio that I wanted to have but I also realize that I’m not in control of the situation all the time. I can’t necessarily control when I am in pain and I can’t control at all what type of workout we have at Orangetheory. And while I could adjust the workouts to be more running friendly when it’s an incline day, I also want to work on my inclines. It’s still a balance that I’m trying to figure out.

This week will be a bit weird with my workouts, but I am looking forward to my Thanksgiving workout. It should be the biggest group of my family at a workout yet and that should be fun. And I think that even if I can’t do all the running I want to do at that workout, it will still be a good one. And knowing that I’m getting a good workout in that morning will help me feel less guilty about eating all the delicious things that night!

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