Base Pace Challenge (or Exceeding My Expectations)

I am someone who likes to know what types of workouts I am going to do before I go to Orangetheory. I am lucky that I have ways of finding things out before I drive over there (knowing what class I have never makes me not want to go to class, I usually am more excited knowing what I’m in for). And sometimes I find out when there is going to be a benchmark class or something else like that. But somehow, I must have missed some of the warnings for the challenges of this past week, but it ended up working out really well for me.

Monday’s class was all about working with a new base pace, and I decided to take that challenge. I’ve been playing around with not necessarily using the exact same resistance levels on the bike all the time, so I figured I could play around with what my base level might be. I also know that I need to keep challenging myself when I’m having good weeks because it’s too easy to not do that because I feel like I’m just spending that time recovering from feeling so gross the week before.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had decreasing push paces and all the base paces at 1 minute. And the second block had increasing base paces and all the push paces at 1 minute. The push paces for the first block started at 2 1/2 minutes and went down to 1 minute and the base paces in the second block started at 1 minute and went up to 2 minutes. Because the difference between my base and push was only 1 resistance level on the bike this time, it didn’t feel like a huge difference. Maybe I should have increased my push level too, but I didn’t want to go too hard and make the new base level too difficult for me. The new base level was challenging, but I also think it was because it was a 2 group class so I was on the bike for a while.

The floor was also 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses, squats, front raises using the mini-bands, and scissor abs with the mini-bands on our wrists. We also had rowing after each round of exercises. My feet were still going a bit numb with rowing, so I struggled a bit with that. I really think the numbness has to be a combination of foot position and my heart rate being elevated because it doesn’t happen any other time. So I have been working on stopping and trying to calm my heart rate down when it gets really bad and it seems to make it a little better. The rowing was 400-meters, 200-meters, and 100-meters for that first block. The second block started with an 800-meter row which took me much longer than I would have liked it to take. Then we had mini-band plank side reaches, mini-band strap low rows, and tricep work on the straps without the mini-bands. At least the non-rowing floor work went well for me.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day and we were moving around the room so quickly! All the blocks were under 5 minutes and we had 3 blocks at each section of the room.

Every block for cardio was the same. We had a 30-second push pace, 30-second base pace, 30-second all out, recovery, 30-second push pace, and 30-second all out. I was using my new base pace for this and my normal push and all out. For the recover,y I was using my old base pace since that’s what I’m used to using for my recovery. The new base pace was used so little during these blocks so it didn’t feel like that much of a change for me. That was probably a good thing and an easy transition for me so I’m glad that I had this class as my first one after the new base pace class.

On the rower, we had very similar blocks for all the blocks. The first block started with a 300-meter row and 12 frogger squats. Then it was a 200-meter row and 12 frogger squats. I made it to starting the 100-meter row before the block ended in the first block. The second block had the same rowing but the frogger squats were down to 10 reps. And in the third block, the frogger squats were 8 reps. But every block, I was always working on the 100-meter row when the block was done so I never did the very last round of frogger squats. Fortunately, the foot numbness problem was better in this class than it had been. I had changed my dosage that day to add a pill in the morning, so that might have helped somehow. I will never try to understand side effects, but it was interesting to see how it worked that day when I had been very nervous to see what would happen.

The floor had different blocks for each block. The first block had step-ups and squat jumps. I had to modify these to be lunges and regular squats. If the block was longer, I would have done modified step-ups with using the straps, but it takes me time to get onto the bench and to get my balance and I didn’t want to use up too much time during the block. The second block had hollow hold chest presses and pop jacks. I modified the pop jacks to use the bench instead of the ground, but that isn’t a big modification. And the last block had reverse mountain climbers and sit-ups. I changed the reverse mountain climbers to be regular ones because I don’t have the same range of motion and wanted to do the full exercise, but again it was a small modification.

Friday’s class was an endurance class, and I continued to challenge myself with my new base pace level. This was a really hard challenge in this class for me. Not only was it just a tough class, but I was exhausted from not sleeping well (or sleeping enough) and my hips were hurting a lot from that lack of sleep. But I wanted to try to push through the best that I could and see what I could do.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had 3 rounds of 1-minute push paces to 90-second base paces and it ended with a 30-second push to 1 minute all out pace. And the second block had 2 rounds of 1-minute push paces to 1-minute base paces and ended with a 30-second push to 1 minute all out pace. I did the new base pace level for all my base paces and the normal push and all out levels. For my recovery between the blocks, I did go a bit lower than I normally go, but I needed that recovery time. And I did take a few more breaks than I would have liked to have taken, but again, I needed them. Even though the cardio time wasn’t longer than a normal 3 group class, it felt longer than a 2 group class for some reason. I think it really was just because I was so tired.

On the rower, we had 1 long block. We started with an 800-meter row. Then we had 20 squats with a medicine ball. Then it was a 400-meter row and 15 squats and 15 overhead presses with the medicine ball. Then a 200-meter row followed by 10 squats, 10 overhead presses, and 10 tricep extensions with the medicine ball. I was just sitting down to start the 100-meter row when the block was done. I had a little bit of the numbness issue in my feet during the rowing, but just like on Wednesday it was better than it had been the week before. And I’m learning how to deal with it a bit more. I’m still hoping that it will go away, but at least it’s getting better and I’m doing better with my rowing.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses with weights, push-ups, and tricep extensions on the straps. And the second block had lateral raises with weights, full thrusters with weights, and plank work. I had to change the full thrusters to be shoulder presses because my hips were not able to squat down anymore. It’s not the biggest modification, but it still annoyed me for some reason because it felt like a big one. Maybe because I felt like I was going to make it through a workout without modifications and then one just snuck in there. But I still did something and worked hard so it counts and I should be proud of myself.

Saturday’s class was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was yet another opportunity for me to work with my new base pace resistance level. I had a few things I had to modify to make the workout work for me, but since so much of the week was focused on the new base pace I wanted to continue to work on that.

The cardio was split into 2 blocks. The first block was 4 rounds of 45-second all outs with recovery in-between. Because things were going back and forth so quickly between the all outs and recovery, I decided not to change my resistance level on the bike and I used my new base pace level for everything. I just worked on pedaling faster for the all out time. And the second block was 4 rounds of 1-minute push paces with base paces in-between. This time, I did switch up my resistance level and used my normal push level (I still haven’t played around with increasing that just yet).

The rower was one long block. We started with a 100-meter row and went up 50 meters until we got to 250 meters. Between each row, it was supposed to be lunges with tricep extensions using a medicine ball but I modified them to be squats with tricep extensions. Then we worked our way back down from 250 meters to 100 meters and the exercise between each row was squat front raises with the medicine ball. As the trend was over the week, the numbness issue continued to get better. I still had a few moments when my feet were numb, but it was so much better than it had been and I was so grateful for that.

And the floor was also one long block. We had reverse lunges, side toe touches, side plank pendulums, hip bridges with weights, and sit-ups. I had modifications to the first two exercises, which I expected to need. But I went heavier than normal with my hip bridges so I figured that balanced things out for me.

Going into this past week, I had no idea I’d be increasing my base pace level and I hadn’t really been thinking about doing it. But I jumped into that challenge on Monday and really went for it all week. I will hopefully be able to continue to keep it up from now on, although I am open to playing around with the resistance levels on the bike depending on the type of workout like I’ve been doing. But knowing that I can just increase my resistance level as I did with no preparation and really go for it makes me feel so strong and powerful.

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