Last week, I wrote about how the week before I increased my base pace for my workouts. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep that up, but I figured I would play around with what my base pace would be and at least I knew I could use that as an option. And going into this past week of workouts, I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing with my base pace, but I knew one thing: I was going to have an awesome week of workouts because it was my birthday week! But I managed to do even better than that!
Monday’s workout was a 2 group workout and because it was only a 2 group class we were able to have a run/row! Since most of my classes are 3 groups, run/row classes are rare and they are a fun treat for me. And the numbness issue while rowing has continued to get better so I wasn’t too worried about how I would do while rowing. The run/row had quick hill work for cardio and then decreasing rows after. Each time I was on the bike, I was done in under 3 minutes. And the rowing started at 400 meters and decreased by 50 meters each round. The hill work was supposed to be a push pace with no incline, a base pace at incline, and then a push pace at no incline. I did use my regular push pace and for the incline work, I was keeping the resistance level above my normal all out.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block had chest presses, lateral flys, and double crunches. The second block had low rows with weights, bench pullovers, and toe reaches, and the last block was a core blast with bicycles, side toe taps, and plank work. I was able to go heavy on the weights, but I was having a few issues with catching my breath and had to take some moments to calm down. I think I was having some nerve issues because I had my doctor appointment after my workout, but once I calmed down I was able to get back to the workout and continue working hard.
Wednesday’s workout was a partner workout and it was called Follow The Leader. The person on the rower always set the pace of the team. It was a tough workout because we were always working hard and unless you were on the rower you weren’t sure when you’d be switching.
On the rower, you started with a 700-meter row. All 3 of us had the 700-meter row before we moved to the 600-meter row round. Once all of us did that round we went down to the 500-meter row round and so on. The person on the treadmill (or bike in my case) always had a run/bike for distance and every time you were back to the treadmill/bike you increased the incline/resistance level. I was able to do all the cardio work starting at my new base pace level and increasing it every round. And on the floor, we had burpees, bench hop overs, chest flys, bicep curls, and single-arm rows. You picked up where you left off on the floor when you returned to it.
My partners and I were a pretty equal team so we seemed to have a consistent pace moving around. And I did have to leave this workout a little early because I had something I had to get to before I had to work. One of the other partners also had to leave early (that’s why we were partnered up), so toward the end of the workout, we did have a bit of a weird pattern. But we made it work and that’s what matters.
Friday’s workout was my birthday workout! I never thought I’d be the type of person excited to get to work out on my birthday. And I especially never thought I would be excited about having a workout at 7am on my birthday, but I guess I am that person now!
The workout was a strength-based class, which isn’t my favorite but I was still excited since it was my birthday. And it was a switch class so at least we moved around a bit.
For cardio, the first block had a push pace with no incline, a base pace, a 3-minute hill, a base pace to recover, and an all out. And the second block had the same pattern but all the segments were shorter and the hill wasn’t as high of an incline/resistance level. And the second block was also shorter.
On the rower, we started with a 90-second row and then we were supposed to have lunges with shoulder presses. I changed those to be squats with shoulder presses. Then we decreased the row by 100 meters every round with the squats and shoulder presses between each row. The second block started with a 1-minute row with squats between each row. And each round the row decreased 50 meters.
And on the floor, we had a lot of work with the Bosu. The first block had goblet lunges, back extensions on the Bosu, and sit-ups on the Bosu. And the second block had lateral lunges and weighted crunches on the Bosu.
And of course, I had to get a birthday workout photo (even though it’s a post-workout photo so we are all tired and sweaty).
Saturday’s workout was an endurance day, which was a tough one to do when I was exhausted from working hard during the week. But I was grateful that it was a 3 group class since I knew it would be a bit easier with switching every 15 minutes. But it’s still hard no matter what.
For cardio, we had 4 rounds with 2-minute push paces. After the first push, we had a 90-second base pace. After the other ones, we only had a minute. I was using my new base pace and my normal push pace. After those 4 rounds, we finished cardio with a 90-second distance challenge and I set the bike at the resistance level between my push and all out.
On the rower, we started with a 100-meter row and after that, we had 20 pulsing half squats. We increased our row by 50 meters each round and decreased the squats by 2 each round. And we did that for the entire 15 minutes. That is a long time to row and do squats and it was starting to be a bit hard on my hip. I also started to have a bit of numbness in my feet, but considering this was the first time all week I had that issue I wasn’t too worried about it. But I still had to be careful with my floor work because of how hard the rowing work was for me.
On the floor, we had one long block. We had bicep curls, hip bridges, chest presses, tricep extensions, lunges, and dumbbell swings. The only big modification I had to do was change the tricep extensions to be using the straps instead of using weights. I was feeling a bit off balance and having a weight over my head wasn’t feeling comfortable. But for weight work, I was going heavier than normal which felt like it made up for it.
I didn’t think about it until the end of this past week, but I didn’t even think about going back to my old base pace once during this past week of workouts. It just seemed normal to use the new base pace and I didn’t question it once. Yes, it was challenging from time to time, but not so challenging that I wanted to go back. It was so cool when I was done with the week and I had that realization. I was already excited about the week being my birthday week, but it was extra nice to end the week with something else to be excited about.
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