This past week of workouts was a pretty standard week for me. I am getting into my new routine and am still loving having a studio so close to my house! I can’t believe how I’ve been able to get into morning workouts when I thought I’d only be ok with the afternoon ones, but I’ve found the transition much easier than I thought it could be. But I did have some struggles this past week mainly due to nausea. Fortunately, I’ve been dealing with that long enough that I know how to modify things for myself.
Monday’s workout was at the Brentwood studio and it was a 3 group workout. I was able to start on the treadmill this time and each section of the room had an element of choosing your own workout plan. On the treadmill we could pick from 3 different distances to start with. After we did that then we had a walking recovery and we could pick from one of the other distances we didn’t do. I started with the longest distance and worked my way down to the shortest since I figured that would be the easiest for me. I did struggle a bit on the treadmill, but it wasn’t as bad as it’s been in the past. I was keeping my inclines to my usual incline plan and that helped when I had the longer treadmill distances.
Next I was on the rower where again we had 3 distances to choose from. After we completed a row we had 3 rounds of squats and sprint rows before going back to pick another row distance to do. Again, I started with the longest distance thinking that would make it easiest for me. What I wasn’t expecting was about halfway through the row my legs were starting to be really sore! I think I didn’t allow my body to recover enough from the Dri-Tri and that’s what I was feeling. So on the long distance, I had to take several breaks to stretch out my legs before continuing. I didn’t make it through all the rowing distances before moving to the floor, but that was ok.
And on the floor we had 2 blocks. The first block was bicycle presses, sit-ups, and lunges. We had 100 of each to try to do and we could break up the reps however we wanted to. But whenever we switched from one move to another we had frogger squats to do. I broke them up by doing 25 at a time and I made it through 2 rounds before that block was done. The second block was the same idea with 60 reps of front raises, mountain climbers, and Y raises on the straps. This time, I did them 20 at a time and again I made it through 2 rounds before time was done. Our coach knew we wouldn’t get all 100 reps or 60 reps done, but he wanted us to do our best and I think doing at least 50% each time was pretty good.
Wednesday was another morning workout at the Culver City studio. Unfortunately, I had a horrible night sleep and I was exhausted. I probably only slept about 2 hours and while it was tempting to sleep in and miss my workout, I knew I had to hold myself accountable. Along with being tired, I was having a bad hip day, but I figured I would go in and do my best. It ended up being an endurance workout and I was starting on the treadmill.
We had 2 blocks and the first block was decreasing push paces starting at 3 minutes and ending at 1 minute. I started at my normal speed but realized that my body was just not handling it well. I thought about going on the bike but decided to stick it out on the treadmill but reduced my speed to be between my normal power walking speed and my walking recovery speed. It helped having the speed reduced and I was still doing my normal inclines. The second block was similar to the first with the decreasing push paces. But in the middle of the second block, I was hit with a bad wave of nausea. I knew that there was a chance to feel nauseous that morning (I’ve been getting good at figuring out my body’s patterns) but I was hoping it wouldn’t happen. But it did so I stopped my treadmill to run back to the lockers to take an anti-nausea pill. My coach was worried about me and I wasn’t thinking about how she doesn’t know my issues with nausea yet and how I need to remember what to warn the coaches about. I’m going to try to be better with that for the first few months at the Culver City studio.
On the floor we also had 2 blocks. Each block started with a 500 meter row. Because I was feeling nauseous, I was a bit slow on the rower. I was a bit slower than the goal time but I did the row both times without stopping with is always good. The first block was lunges, seated rows with weights, and chest flys. And the second block was power jacks with a medicine ball, lateral lunges with the medicine ball, and bicep curls on the straps. I took my time with each move (the power jacks didn’t help my nausea) but I was able to get through 2 rounds each time and that was pretty good. I was also using slightly heavier weights and a heavier medicine ball than I usually would so I was very happy with that.
Friday’s workout was a power switch day, and it came right after I had been hoping there would be a switch day at the Culver City studio. I knew that with them doing the transitional workouts that they might not be bringing in switching for a while, so it was a nice surprise when I arrived and found out it was a switch day! I was still dealing with nausea so I went with the bike for the cardio portion. It was my first time using the bike at the Culver City studio and it was a bit weird being behind the treadmills (instead of next to them), but it wasn’t bad and I did feel a bit less cramped in that location. The format for the workout was 2 blocks, switch, do the 2 blocks on the other side, switch, and then it was one long block left on each side.
For the cardio, it was decreasing push paces starting at 2 minutes and then being 90 seconds or 1 minute. Sometimes we also had an all out pace right after the push but mainly it was going back to base pace. I tried my best to go hard on the bike and I was able to get to my highest resistance on one of the all out paces, but I pretty much stuck with the resistance levels that I’ve been doing for a while. I did have to take a few breaks on the bike when a wave of nausea hit, but overall it went pretty well considering how I was feeling.
On the floor, the first block was squat thrusters with weights and burpees. I wanted to do the burpees but my body wasn’t having them so I did squats followed by push ups after to replicate the moves the best that I could. The second block was chest presses on the straps, roll outs on the straps, and sit ups. And the last block which was the longest had medicine ball squat presses, torso rotations with the medicine ball, plank jacks, and 200 meter rows. Since I was feeling off I focused on doing longer pulls on the rower with breaks to keep my stroke rate down. It’s easy for me to try to row super fast, especially for sprint rows, but I also know that taking my time allows me to focus on the movement and can sometimes get my wattage up. I did ok with my row times but they weren’t my best. But I figured that was because I really wasn’t focused on how long each row was taking me but instead on my stroke rate.
Saturday I was back at the Brentwood studio. It may have been my last Saturday workout there because I will probably start going to the Culver City studio on Saturdays because my friends will be hopefully working out with me (and the class times are changing soon and they will be better for me after work). But it was a great workout if this did end up being my last Saturday at the studio. It was a 3 group workout and for the first half of class it was a pretty standard class (I was on the bike instead of the treadmill, but everything was pretty normal).
Then for the second half of class, we were in 3 people teams and we had a capture the flag challenge on the rower. One person was at each station and the person from the floor controlled the switches. The floor person did squat twists with the medicine ball, push-ups with the medicine ball, and crunches. Once they were done they tagged the treadmill person (who was running for distance) and the treadmill person tagged the rower (who was rowing for distance). You didn’t reset the rower between each person and the goal was to row as far as you could get in 23 minutes. I think the goal was at least 3,000 meters but I wanted my group to get at least 4,000 meters. I was the last person on the treadmill and when we were done I was pretty happy with how far we got as a team!
Overall, this was a great week of workouts. It was weird going to different studios during the week and I do miss my coaches I have had during the week in Brentwood. But to do an afternoon workout there (and deal with the rush hour commute home) isn’t worth it when I can go to a studio just minutes from my house. I’m sure I’ll get used to this new routine soon. It’s only been 2 weeks so far and I’ve had almost 4 years of workouts at Brentwood. So I just need to give myself time before this totally feels like my new normal.
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