This past week of workouts was an odd one for me. Fortunately, my pain and nausea were getting better throughout the week for me. I was still affected quite a bit at the beginning of the week, but I also didn’t have a workout on Monday. I was scheduled to take a class and was ready to go, but classes that morning were canceled because of the tropical storm. I totally understand why they did that and it’s more important to keep people safe. I thought about maybe trying to do a workout after work, which I did for years, but I just didn’t feel like doing a later workout. Also, when I used to work out after work, I was done with work much earlier in the day. If I did an after-work workout now, it would be at 7pm instead of 4pm. So I just skipped the day and that was ok.
Tuesday’s workout was a bit tough because of how I was feeling, but it was much better than the week before. I also think I was a little less prepared for the workout since I had an extra day off. I can feel it in my body when I take an extra day away from my workouts. It’s not like I am suddenly out of shape, but it just seems like some things are a bit tougher for me and I just don’t feel as strong as normal.
For cardio, we had a mystery road challenge. This meant that things were a bit random for cardio. Normally, there is a bit of a pattern we follow during a workout or we know that we will have a recovery after an all-out. But for the mystery road, we jumped around with whether we were doing a base, push, or all-out and the intervals were ranging from 15 seconds to a minute. This is probably more like what doing cardio outside is like because you can randomly go faster or slower and don’t always have nice intervals unless you are timing yourself. I did my best with all the efforts, but I know I was pedaling a bit slowly throughout the entire thing.
On the rower, we started with a 250-meter row. After the row, we had quick feet. Then we did another 250-meter row followed by switch feet. And then another 250-meter row followed by high knees. Then the row went down by 50 meters and we repeated each distance 3 times doing one of the 3 exercises between each row. The goal was to have the same wattage or time for each row of the same distance. I wasn’t really able to get the same time for each row because of the breaks I had to take, but I was very close to the same wattage each time so that was something I was proud of.
On the floor, we had one long block. We had our regular exercises, but when cardio was in their all-out, we stopped those exercises and did lunges or squat jumps. The regular exercises were walkouts to push-ups, step-ups, single-arm high rows, and plank dips. Because of my nausea, I used the bench to do my walkouts and push-ups. I also split those exercises up so I did just the walkouts first followed by just the push-ups. I had the bench on the lower setting for my step-ups so I could do those too. Even with the modifications I had to do, I think the floor block was the best part of my workout for me.
I was feeling much more like myself on Wednesday. I still had some nausea, but I could tell it was from medication and not my cycle, so it affects me differently. I don’t know how to explain the different types of nausea I experience, but I can tell when I have one or the other (or when I have them both at the same time). I treat both types the same way, but I know that medication nausea can sometimes be easier to deal with during workouts for whatever reason.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that focused on push paces and base paces. We started with a 2-minute push pace and a 45-second base pace. We alternated between push and base paces. But the push paces got shorter and increased in incline/resistance level each time. The base paces stayed at 45 seconds each. And we ended with a 30-second all-out at an incline at the end of each block. I did the resistance levels that I should have been doing for each of the push paces, which made them a lot more challenging. But when we have challenges like these, I try to focus on that challenge instead of how fast I pedal to keep the variety in my workouts.
On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. Each block had the same pattern. We started with a 400-meter row and then had an exercise. Then it was a 300-meter row followed by an exercise. That pattern continued through the block. In the first block, we were supposed to do lunges with rotations using a medicine ball, but I just did regular lunges. And in the second block, we had halos using a medicine ball, which I was able to do.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 3 exercises. The first block had split stance deadlifts, rows on the straps, and tricep extensions using weights. The second block had squat reach to rotations on the straps, squats to presses, and bear plank low rows. I had to modify the bear planks to be regular planks, but that’s not bad for me with all the modifications I feel like I usually have to do.
I was feeling even better on Thursday. I was glad to be over feeling nauseous and back to normal. And I was ready to push myself a bit more than I did earlier in the week to make up for how I was feeling and also only getting in 3 workouts for the week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was 2 rounds of a 2-minute push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block was the same pattern except the push paces were 90 seconds and the base paces were 45-seconds. The longer push paces were a good challenge for me to work with the slightly higher resistance level I use for those and try to get more used to them. I know that it won’t be long before I should increase the resistance levels I use on the bike, and making my push pace level feel easier is a big part of doing that.
The rowing was one long block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by high knees. Then we did that again with a 400-meter row and a 200-meter row with high knees. After completing those 3 rows, you went through all 3 rows again but did butt kicks instead of high knees. I was a lot slower on the rower than I thought I could be, so I was just getting ready to do the second 400-meter row when the block was over. I wasn’t paying attention to the time since it was a single block, but I think that getting on and off the rower took up a lot of my time so I didn’t have as much rowing time.
And on the floor, the exercises we had were done as back-to-back sets. We had 2 exercises that we were supposed to do without resting in between them. And we were supposed to do each set of exercises twice before moving on to the next set. We had chest presses and split squats (which I modify to be lunges), hammer curls and single-arm hip hinge swings, and chest flys and speed skaters. The chest presses, hammer curls, and chest flys were done on the bench that was set on an incline which makes those exercises feel different than when you do them on a flat bench. I especially felt the difference when doing the hammer curls and it made those a lot harder even though I wasn’t using a heavier weight than normal. But just like everything else, it was a good challenge and I allowed myself to take my time to keep my form looking good.
I usually feel frustrated when my workout week isn’t what I expected, like when I don’t get in the 4 workouts I planned to do. But I think that this time it worked out well for me. I didn’t work out on the day that I was feeling my worst this week and just got to have minimal pain and nausea issues. And that missing workout motivated me to really push myself at the end of the week and try a lot harder, which I think I needed. Hopefully, this week will be a bit more normal for me with no missed classes and feeling like myself. And maybe I’ll be able to challenge myself even more.
You Might Also Like
A Short And Slightly Painful Workout Week (or Still Getting In My 3 Workouts)
Getting In My Full Workout Week (or Feeling As Ready As I Can)
Another Normal Workout Week (or Feeling Back Into My Regular Routine)
A Good, Strong Workout Week (or I Really Love Feeling Like Myself)
A Short Workout Week (or I Guess I’m Glad This Happened On A Bad Week)
My Short Workout Week (or 6 Years Of Family Workouts)
