This past week of workouts was such a tough one for me. I knew I was getting over this cold, but I really thought I was doing better than I really was each day. You usually feel better in the morning than the evening when you are sick, but this took a much harder hit on me than I honesty thought it would. It really became a week of just doing anything and not thinking too much about it. I wasn’t always able to actually do the workout we were supposed to do, but I did something.
Monday’s workout was a strength day but it wasn’t really a strength day for what I was doing. For cardio on the bike, I just set it to my base pace resistance level and kept it at that for the entire time. I wasn’t focused on increasing the resistance levels or when we were supposed to be in a push or all out pace. I just kept pedaling and doing my best. I know that research says if you are sick from the neck up (which I was) that light exercise is good for you. I figured that’s exactly what I was doing.
On the rower, we were supposed to do increasing row distances with jumping jacks between each row. There was no way for me to do jumping jacks, so I did a similar thing with the rower that I did with the bike. I just tried to keep rowing the entire time. I had to take breaks every minute or so because I wasn’t fully able to breathe through my nose, but again I just figured doing something was better than nothing. It wasn’t a hard workout and I wasn’t sweating much, but it was better than just being in bed missing out on doing what I could.
For the floor, I was much closer to what we were supposed to do. The first block had lateral lunges to single arm thrusts and then ab work. I had to split the lunges and single arm thrusts into separate moves, but that’s pretty normal for me. For the ab work, it was tough at times to be on my back, so I did the work on the bench instead of the floor so it was easier for me to sit up when I needed to. The next block had the same exercises but we also added sumo squats which I was able to do without modifications. And the last block was the lunges, squats, and chest presses. I wasn’t using my normal heavy weights, but they weren’t that much lighter either.
While I was feeling better than I had the past few days before this workout, clearly I was still sick because when I got home and showered, I fell asleep for almost 8 hours!
Wednesday’s workout was the Infinity workout and I was a little disappointed that I would have to do some more big modifications for this one. We were supposed to track distances for the cardio and rowing, but because I had to change so much up I didn’t track anything. It didn’t seem fair to track distances if I wasn’t doing the proper workout.
For cardio, the bike work was the same for me as it was on Monday. Even though we had different push paces throughout the time we were doing cardio, I didn’t worry about them. I just set the bike to my base pace resistance level and went the entire time at that. I took breaks when I needed to and it wasn’t as often as Monday, but it still happened a lot. I did what I could and tried to just remember that I was only there to do a light workout as I was still sick.
On the rower, we were supposed to do rounds of 100 meter rows with jumping jacks with the medicine ball in-between each row. I did the first 100 meters and tried to do squat presses with the medicine ball after, but getting up from the rower and squatting was too hard for me. I wasn’t lightheaded, but I wasn’t feeling too stable. So I just did the same thing from Monday again and tried to row the entire time. I still was taking lots of breaks but I tried to go a little further each time before taking a break. It still averaged every 100-200 meters, but it gave me something to work on and strive toward.
The floor work was one long block. The idea of it is to get us ready for the Dri-Tri (which I’m not sure I’ll be doing yet). We had bench hop overs, bench tap squats, lunges, plank jacks, push-ups, and burpees. I didn’t do the burpees at all and I modified so many of the other exercises, but I tried to do them as close to how I do them for the Dri-Tri normally. I just added in the breaks that I needed to recover. But I did notice that I was doing better on Wednesday than I had on Monday (plus, I didn’t pass out and need sleep after this workout).
I finally was on the tail end of this cold (which may also be bronchitis) by Friday so I could do a bit more of a normal workout for me. It was another strength based class and I didn’t do exactly that, but I did more than what I had been able to do the past few workouts.
For cardio, the first block I was able to do normally as there was no hill/incline work. I did the base, push, and all out paces at my new resistance levels on the bike. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I think that was because I had been doing so little the past few workouts. The second and third blocks were hill work and I just kept working with my normal base, push, and all out resistance levels. I knew I couldn’t do more and I didn’t want to push myself too hard since I was still struggling with my cough and exercise was making it a bit harder to breathe.
On the rower, we started with a 90 second row and then medicine ball squat presses. Each time on the rower we did 50 meters less than the row before and had the squats between each one. I was doing the squats for the first few rows that I did, but toward the end I was struggling a lot so I just worked on the rowing. I was hoping I wouldn’t have had to modify the rowing work, but I also am very cautious of my limits right now and knew I was getting close to working too hard.
And on the floor we had 2 blocks. The first one was bicep curls, upright rows, and low rows using weights. I did go a bit heavy with the weights and that helped me feel better about my workout. We also had sit-ups which were much harder than I thought they would be and made me cough quite a bit. The second block was a short block with side plank hip dips, plank punches, and then holding a plank. I had to take some breaks while holding the plank, but it was just because it was making my nose run.
Saturday’s workout was the closest to normal for me. While I was still coughing a bit and had some congestion issues, they were so much less than what they had been. Comparing how I felt on Monday to Saturday was such a huge improvement! This workout was an endurance day and I was pretty much back to what I know I could do.
On cardio, we had 2 blocks and they were distance challenges. The first block was a 3 minute push pace, 90 second base pace, and a 90 second distance challenge. And the second block was 2 rounds of a 90 second push pace and 45 second base pace followed by another 90 second distance challenge. I was using my normal push and base pace resistance levels and I used the level between my push and all out pace for the distance challenges at the end. I did manage to do better the second time than I did the first and the overall distance I got on the bike was one of the best ones I’ve ever had!
On the rower, we had one long block. It started with a 2 minute row and then squats. Then we had half the distance of the 2 minute row and pulsing half squats. The pattern continued but the timed row was 90 seconds the next time and 1 minute the last. I was doing close to normal row distances for the timed work and I did all the squats every round. It was so nice to not need to do any modifications for once this past week!
And on the floor we had all mini-band work. The first block had walking forward squats, lateral squat steps, and tricep work using a weight. And the second block had toe reaches, squats to lateral leg raises, and deadlifts. I didn’t go as heavy with the triceps and deadlifts as I know I can go, but they were still heavy weights. I just was getting tired by the end of the class and I had done so much more work than I thought I’d be able to do.
For this week, I’m hoping I continue to keep getting better. There’s a chance I will still be dealing with some symptoms for another week or two which is a bit annoying. But as long as I feel like I’m making some improvements in my workouts or feel like I’m getting close to my normal self I think it will make me feel ok. I’m seriously so ready to have a week that I feel great and I can push myself. I haven’t used the treadmill in a long time and it might be nice to try one treadmill day soon. But I also know that I am not slacking off while on the bike when I can do my normal work. I just have to keep listening to my body and making sure I do what I know is best for me.
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