Category Archives: Fun Stuff

I know that some of my workout recaps are probably a bit boring and repetitive. But honestly, boring is something I want in my life from time to time. I deal with enough issues in my workouts with various health issues, so having a normal week is something I love. And I do find myself able to push myself more when things feel normal and routine, so I see them as some of my best weeks.

Monday’s workout was a mix of endurance and strength. I think it was a bit more endurance for me, but I got some good strength work in there too.

Cardio was one long block and it was all about 90-second push paces. The base paces between each push pace ranged from 45-seconds to 90-seconds. The push paces weren’t too bad on their own, but to only have 45-seconds at a base pace after was really tough. And we ended with a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out. I tried to go hard for the all-out since it was the only one, but I was feeling tired at the end of the block.

Rowing was also one long block. We started with a 600-meter row and then we had lunges. That was the workout for the entire block, but the row went down by 100-meters each time. I really want to be able to row without breaks again, but I’m just not there for the longer rows. So I was taking breaks for most of the rows I got to do in the workout.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that had a lot of Bosu work. The first block had weighted front squats, burpees, and reverse extensions. For the burpees and extensions, we were supposed to use the Bosu but I only did about half of the burpees with it. And the second block had lateral raises to front raises, squats, and side plank dips. The raises and plank work were supposed to be on the Bosu, but I did them on the floor without it. I usually can do the raises while kneeling on the Bosu, but I was feeling really unbalanced and didn’t want to use up too much time trying to find my balance and not have as much time to do the exercises.

Wednesday was a strength day, and I was starting to have a few more issues with my hips. I have noticed this is happening more and more often and I can’t fix things the same way I used to, so I’m a bit worried. But it might be after walking weird after my foot thing, so I’m just trying to wait it out a bit before I really get worried.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a 2-minute push pace, a 1-minute base pace, a 2-minute base pace on an incline, a 1-minute base pace, and a 30-second all-out on an incline. The second block was the same work, but we had the 2-minute base pace at an incline first and the 2-minute push pace second. The resistance level I used for it was what is normally my all-out level, so doing that for 2 minutes was really tough.

On the rower, we worked on stroke drills. In the first block, we had to row 100-meters and count how many strokes it took. The goal was to make the number as low as possible because after each row, we took the number of strokes it took and did that number of reps for a squat chest press with a medicine ball. The second block had us doing a 250-meter row and then using that number of strokes for a front jack with the medicine ball (which I did as an overhead press).

And on the floor, the first block had single-arm chest presses, bench tap squats with bicep curls, and single-arm hip hinge low rows. And the second block had kneeling single-arm shoulder presses and plank pull-throughs.

Friday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power but to me, it felt like it focused most on endurance and strength.

Cardio had 2 blocks and the first block was more endurance. We had rounds of push paces to 30-second base paces. The push paces started at 30-seconds and went up to 90-seconds before going back down and having a 30-second all-out at the end. 30-seconds of a base pace isn’t that long, especially when you just did a 90-second push pace. The second block had 30-second base paces with inclines and 1-minute base paces with no incline in-between. The resistance levels I used on the bike were really high, at least 2 higher than my normal all-out level, so I felt like I was barely moving for a lot of that second block.

The rower was 1 long block. We started with a 100-meter row and then we were supposed to do foot exchanges after each row. Then we had a 200-meter, 400-meter, and 800-meter row before going back down. But the foot exchanges were too tough on my hip and it was hard for me to get on and off the rower, so I just tried to row for the entire block as much as I could and took breaks when I needed them.

And the floor was 2 blocks. The first block was using the TRX straps. We had reverse lunges holding onto the straps (I tried doing as many of these as possible before doing regular lunges), Y raises, and reach and rotates. And the second block was supposed to be with a single set of weights for all exercises. We had closed grip chest presses, seated low rows, and squat to shoulder presses. I had to pick I weight I could do the shoulder presses with, so I went a little lighter for the chest presses but because I limited my breaks it still felt tough.

Saturday’s workout was a Dri-Tri prep day. There have been a few of these this month, but I have missed the first two. But they are designed to get you ready for the Dri-Tri, which is coming up! This prep day was to prepare for the cardio portion.

Cardio was one long block with timed runs/push paces followed by a 1-minute base pace. We started with a 5-minute run and each time after the base pace, the run went down by 1 minute. After a 1-minute run/push and a 1-minute base pace, we had a 4-minute progressive push pace. We were supposed to increase the speed/resistance level every minute, but my body was so tired by that point so I did it every other minute. And then we ended with a 1-minute all-out. I didn’t make it to the distance I normally would in that time for the Dri-Tri, but it was a good prep day and a nice challenge.

And the floor was also one long block. We had 5 different exercises for the block. Each exercise was done for 8, 6, 4, and 2 reps before doing a 250-meter row and then moving on to the next exercise. So essentially, we did 20 reps and then a row. But because the exercises were done per side, you switched so you had 8 reps on the right and then 8 on the left, 6 on the right and then 6 on the left, and so on. The exercises were lunges, single-arm shoulder presses, single-leg deadlifts (which I did as regular deadlifts), side plank rotations, and step-ups. Because we have the newer benches now and they can go pretty low to the ground, I was able to do step-ups instead of lunges. They were a tough challenge for me since I never really do them, but I’m glad I tried.

I really was happy how this past week went, even with the hip issues that I had and continue to have. And because I do have the Dri-Tri coming up, I’m glad I’m feeling pretty amazing now because there is a chance that the Dri-Tri will be on what will possibly be my worst day for pain and nausea.

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I was really worried that this past week of workouts was going to be really bad for me. It wasn’t a great week, but I’m surprised that it went much better than expected. I’m always prepared for the worst when I know I will be dealing with pain and nausea but it’s nice when it’s not close to what I was prepared for.

And I’m especially glad it wasn’t as bad as expected on Monday because my dad was with me for that workout! Pretty much whenever my parents are in LA, my dad tries to make it to a workout with me and I love that! And for this workout, it was a signature workout that I knew would be a challenge. This was the Catch Me If You Can workout, and while I’ve done it before, it’s something that is very tough and I have a lot of room for improvement in what I can do.

This was a 2 group class so our Catch Me If You Can challenge was 22 minutes long. The idea is that every minute or two there is a distance goal you are supposed to get to. If you are at that distance or further, you keep going. If you fall behind, you are caught. And if you are caught, the rest of the 22-minute block you have sprints on the rower and treadmill (or bike). I usually make it around the middle checkpoint and that’s exactly how far I got this time as well. It’s right when the distance from one checkpoint to another gets a lot further. For me, the distance would normally take me about 3-minutes to complete and we had 1-minute to do it. So I knew I would be caught. When I was on the rower doing my sprints, it was still tough with my foot hurting, but at least they were quick rows. And my dad kicked butt and made it really far in the challenge!

On the floor, we had 1 long block. It started with a 500-meter row and I shocked myself by being able to row the entire thing without a break. I regretted that later when my heel was hurting a lot, but in the moment I was really proud of myself. And then we had bicep curls to squats to shoulder presses, hip hinge reverse flies, planks with rotations, Y-raises on the straps, and knee tucks on the straps (which I did as knee tucks on the ab dolly).

And of course, we had to do a post-workout photo with Coach Tyler since that’s the tradition!

Wednesday’s workout was a power day. I was feeling a bit sicker than I had been on Monday, but it was still much less than I had expected. And as usual, when I’m feeling this way, I just try to do my best and do what I can.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first two blocks were the same with a 1-minute push pace, 90-second base pace, and 1-minute all-out. The last block had 3 rounds of a 1-minute all-out followed by a 1-minute recovery. I did get the resistance level on the bike to my normal levels, I just was pedaling slower than I normally would so I think that was still pretty decent.

On the rower, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of 100, 200, and 300-meter rows with medicine ball power jacks between each row. I did squats to shoulder presses instead of power jacks, but they were still tough. And we just repeated those distances with increasing the reps for the medicine ball exercise each round for that block. And the second block was timed with cardio with rounds of a 1-minute all-out row followed by a 1-minute recovery row. It’s hard to always do the recovery row when I would prefer to just take a break. But I tried my best to at least move a bit. And fortunately, by this workout, my foot was doing better so the rowing didn’t bother me as much.

And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had bench sit-up to stands, deadlifts, hop overs (which I did as squats), and lateral lunges. And the second block had burpees to bicep curls and step-ups. The second block was really tough for me and I was getting a bit more nauseous. So I didn’t do the burpees and just did squats to bicep curls to count as my exercise that block.

Friday’s workout was an endurance day, and it was one of the toughest endurance days! The cardio work was tough, but the hardest thing was that the entire row block was one long crew row! When you do a crew row, you are supposed to be matching the speed and cadence of everyone else on the rower. And that’s tough for a few reasons.

For cardio, it was 14-minutes straight of push paces and base paces with an all-out at the end. The push paces varied between 30-seconds and 2-minutes, but the base paces were always a minute. And the goal was to never go below your base pace to recover. I wasn’t great at tracking how fast I was pedaling on the bike, but I never went below my base resistance level for the entire block.

For the crew row, because of how the rowers were set up and we were spaced out, we got split into a few different small crews. But we still had to stay in sync with the others in our group. The pace we were going was a bit faster than what I’m comfortable with, so I needed quite a few breaks to reset and get back with my group. Plus, rowing for 14-minutes is hard no matter what! I didn’t get to the distance goal we had, but I was closer than I would have expected.

And for the floor, we had 1 long block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had rollouts on the straps, chest presses on the straps, and plank reaches. We had 3 rounds of that before moving onto the second mini-block with hip bridges, single-arm chest presses, and reach and rotates on the straps. We had 2 rounds of the second mini-block and then we were supposed to do the entire thing as one long block. I had just finished my second round on the second mini-block and was starting my rollouts again when the workout ended.

And Saturday’s workout was a strength day and I’m glad that I was no longer worried about how I would be feeling. I feel lucky I got through this week without what I normally experience and I really feel like I took advantage of that in each workout.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks that were all the same length. Every block had a push pace, a 1-minute base pace, a base pace at an incline, and a 1-minute all-out. We started with a longer push pace and a shorter base pace at an incline but the incline was the highest one. Each block, the push pace got shorter, the incline base pace got longer, and the incline got lower. It was a good challenge for me to work with the resistance levels a bit more and for the longer incline intervals, I really felt it.

For the floor, we had 2 blocks. For each block, we were supposed to do 2 rounds of the exercises, and then we had a 200-meter row. The first block had bird dog low rows, step-ups (which I did as lunges), and leg raises. And the second block had lateral lunges, shoulder presses, and tricep push-ups. And when I did my 200-meter row in each block, I got it back under a minute which was much better than any other rowing I did during this week.

I’m so happy this past week went as well as it did. I wasn’t expecting it to be this way, but I know I needed it. The past month has been tough for me with my workouts and I needed to feel more hopeful about how I was doing. And I got that this past week and I hope to continue to feel that way this week!

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