Category Archives: Fun Stuff

This past week of workouts wasn’t really too exciting. There were some exciting moments, but in general the entire workout week felt really normal. I even remember during a few of the workouts thinking that I had no idea what I was going to blog about because there weren’t a ton of crazy moments. But like I’ve said before, it’s nice to have things feel routine and normal. It makes it feel like a normal habit in life and not something extreme.

Monday’s workout was a partner workout and I was equally excited and nervous about that. I like partner workouts because it motivates me to keep going so my partner isn’t waiting on me. But I was nervous because I was partnered with someone I don’t know and I didn’t want to let him down. But he seemed to be very understanding and not too worried about things so that helped me feel better.

The partner workout had 3 blocks. The first block had the first partner (me in this case) walking on the treadmill at 15% incline. Everyone was a power walker for this part. While I was on the treadmill my partner was doing pulsing half squats. After I was done, we switched and I did the squats and my partner ran to get the distance on the treadmill to .2. We didn’t reset the treadmill every time we switch so every time my partner was on the treadmill he was getting to the next round even distance (.2, .4. .6, and .8). For this block, we were pretty equal time wise so I felt good about it.

The next block was rowing and floor work. One partner rowed for time until they were tagged (my partner did the bike but I did the rower). The other partner had lateral raises with weights, seated bicep curls to stand, lunges, and crunches with over under legs. This block was another good one for me since it still felt equal with the time we were taking.

The last block was the one that worried me. It was the same as the first block but the partners switched. So my partner was the power walker and I ran to get to the next distance marker. I knew that I could run because it was about 90 seconds each time for me to complete it, but that was longer than my partner was on the treadmill. And doing those pulsing half squats weren’t easy after all the work we had already done! I did apologize at the end of the workout to my partner for making him do the squats longer than I had to do, but he really didn’t care. And he said we both got an amazing workout in so that was all that matters. And I have to agree with him.

Wednesday’s workout was a run/row day, but it was also an endurance day so I decided to not try any running. And that really did end up being the best thing for me because the floor work was all mini-band work which isn’t the easiest thing on my hips.

The run/row had an easy format to follow. The run portion was always .5 miles (I did power walking so it was always .25 miles at 6% incline) and the row started at 800 meters and went down 200 meters each time. I was back to my normal power walking speed and it went well for the first few rounds. I did have some hip issues (I think I was tossing and turning in my sleep the night before) but nothing that bad. The rowing was tough because they were longer distances and I did end up needing to take some breaks during the row. That was a bit frustrating because I know I could have done those rows without breaks, but I was also probably mentally preparing myself for the floor work.

The floor was all mini-band work and it was all timed work. I’m trying to love the mini-bands, but they don’t seem to love me back. They like to roll up a bit on my legs and when that happens they hurt, so I have to take time to unroll them. The first block on the floor was front walks, squats with weights, and alternating plank leg lifts. The second block was lateral walks, half squat flys, and toe reaches. And the last block was doing everything we had done in the previous 2 blocks. After we were done with the floor work, I was so happy to get the mini-band off my legs. I tried to love it more during this workout, but I guess it will take other workouts to love it enough to not worry about when it rolls up my legs.

Friday’s workout was a 3 group power workout. Normally I would be running during those, but it was just a morning that I wasn’t feeling like running was the right choice. There were 3 blocks at each section and the treadmill blocks kind of built upon each other. The first block was a 2 minute push to a 1 minute base. The next block had a 30 second all out at the end. And the last block had a 1 minute all out at the end. But it was good that the first block didn’t have an all out because on the rower we had a benchmark challenge.

The first block on the rower had a 200 meter benchmark row. I know my 200 meter row PR is pretty quick already but I wanted to get as close to it as I could. Obviously the best thing would have been to beat it, but I just wanted to be not that much worse. I ended up being about 2 seconds slower which isn’t a lot. I would have liked to have been a bit closer but I also know that the fast I get the harder it is to beat my PR. The last 2 blocks on the rower were similar with 200 meter rows and then lunges with tricep presses using the medicine ball in between each row.

The floor was the same exercises each block. We had ultimate burpees, lunges, single leg squats using the TRX straps, and sit-ups. Each block was pretty short so it was nice being able to focus on the same exercises each block and it didn’t feel like I was repeating things too much.

But the big thing that happened in Friday’s workout was it was my last workout with my coach Sam. She is going to be moving to San Diego and Friday was her last day. She’s been my Friday coach since I started going to the Culver City location and it sucks to have to say goodbye to a coach I really connect with. And I haven’t been to San Diego since my grandma moved away, but I do have other friends down there and I really should go down for a visit. And now I have another reason to get back to San Diego!

Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it ended up being a really great running day for me! The treadmill blocks had a similar pattern but they were a bit different.

The first block had 3 rounds of 1 minute pushes and 90 second bases with a 30 second all out at the end. The second block was 3 rounds of 45 second pushes and 75 second bases with a 30 second all out at the end. And the last block had 3 rounds of 30 second pushes with 1 minute bases with a 30 second all out at the end. I ran all the push and all outs and walked the bases and it was the perfect pattern for me to work on running with intervals. I was getting a bit tired at the end because it was a lot of running, but I also knew I needed to do that to keep working on my running endurance.

The floor also had 3 blocks. The first block was 3 rounds of 100 meter rows with recovery in between and then we had clean to presses with weights and speed skater lunges. The second block was 2 rounds of 150 meter rows with recovery in between and then deadlifts and frogger squats. And the last block was a 300 meter row and then half thrusters using weights and mountain climbers. The only downside to the floor work was that my left shoulder was bugging me (I think I slept funny on it) and it was a lot of shoulder work! But beyond that it went pretty well!

Even though there wasn’t anything spectacular about this past week of workouts, it did feel amazing to feel normal again. I wasn’t thinking about pushing myself like crazy to prove that I could do something. I still have a ways to go before I’m back to where I was, but the process of getting back there is feeling good.

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I’ve had a lot of great workout weeks lately. I’ve been so happy with the progress I’ve been making and it really has made me feel amazing about myself. But this past week of workouts, I didn’t really have anything amazing happen. In the past, this probably would have gotten me down. But now, I’m just still so happy that I’ve been doing what I can and I know that it’s still better than where I started from.

Monday’s workout was a bit of a tough morning for me. My hips were bugging me (although nothing as bad as the week before) and it was an endurance day so we were on the treadmill for a longer time. The blocks were all pretty short at 6.5 minutes each, but I knew that it was a day that I was going to do power walking only and trying to run was just going to be too painful for me.

Each block had a similar format with starting with a longer push pace followed by a 90 second base pace. Then we had a 30 second push pace, 90 second base pace, and a 30 second all out pace. The first block had a 2.5 minute push pace as the long one and each block went down 30 seconds. I kept my incline for all my push paces at 6% and I did do my all out paces at 8%, but it was a struggle for me that morning. But I’m glad I just stuck with walking and didn’t try to run because I think that would have made things worse.

On the floor we had 3 blocks that all had the same pattern. We had 3 exercises plus burpees. The first block had rocket pushups, bench tap squats, and bench hop overs. The second block had regular pushups, skier swings, and low rows on the straps. And the last block had atomic pushups, ankle reach crunches, and swimmers. For the burpees I was able to jump my feet back and forth by using the bench for my hands. I’m really enjoying doing my burpees that way and I feel like I’m getting much more power out of the move. For the other work, I was toward the middle of the weights I usually use. We had a lot of reps for many of the exercises so I had to be careful about not doing too much weight. The floor went better than the treadmill which was nice since I ended with floor work.

Wednesday’s workout was a 3 group workout and it was a switch format. We had a round of 5 minute blocks, a round of 4 minute blocks, and a round of 2 minute blocks.

On the treadmill, the first block was a 2 minute push pace to a 1 minute all out, a 1 minute walk, and a 1 minute all out pace. I ran the first minute of the push and then walked the second so that block ended up being 1 minute run/walk intervals. The second block was a 1 minute push pace, a 1 minute all out, a 1 minute walk, and a 1 minute all out pace. I walked the push pace so I had 1 minute intervals again. And the last block was a 30 second push pace, 30 second all out pace, 30 second walk, and 30 second all out pace and I ran all the push and all out paces. It was a good amount of running considering I’m still getting back into it.

On the rower, the first block started with a 300 meter row and then 30 squat to presses with the medicine ball. Then it was a 150 meter row and 15 squat to presses. The next block was just repeating the 300 row with 30 squat to presses and the last block was repeating the 150 meter row with 15 squat to presses. My rowing was pretty slow and I’m not exactly sure why. I felt like I was going quickly but I wasn’t getting a lot of power and I couldn’t seem to fix that. So I tried not to focus on my times and just focused on getting the rows done.

And on the floor each block was 2 moves. The first block was incline chest presses and squats. The second block was incline chest flys and half get ups. And the last block was 1 minute of a side plank on each side (I guess technically that’s only 1 move but it counted as 2). I was going heavy on the weighted work although not the heaviest weights I have used. But for some reason the incline chest work compared to when you are flat on the bench are harder for me so I didn’t feel comfortable with the heavier weights. And because we were moving so quickly through the blocks I didn’t get a ton of rest time so I had to take it while doing the floor work.

Friday’s workout was an endurance day and I really thought I’d just do all walking because of that. But when I saw the format of the workout, I realized it would be a good running day for some of the blocks. And it ended up being a good basic workout to be my first workout of being 35!

All of the treadmill blocks had a similar format with repeating push to 1 minute base paces. The first block was 30 second push paces, the second block was 45 second push paces, and the last block was 1 minute push paces. The first and second block were good ones to run since they were short intervals, but by the last block I was getting a bit tired so I did that one walking for the entire block. But I still ran more than I honestly thought I would going into the workout so that was still good for me.

The first two floor blocks were using the mini-bands. The first block was squat front walks and bench tap squats. The bench taps were a bit tough since I would have liked to not have had to squat as low, but I challenged myself and did it. The second block was hip bridges and knee tuck abs. And the last block was ab rollouts using the ab dolly and rolling sit-ups on the bench. My floor work wasn’t anything spectacular, but I worked hard and felt good about all my efforts.

Saturday’s workout was a strength based one and I knew that I would be doing all walking on the treadmill so I could do the hill work. But it also allowed me to try some things out that I haven’t really done in a while.

Since I got back to the treadmill, I have been using a slightly reduced speed. Before, I was walking at 3.5mph. Since going back I have been walking at 3.4mph. But this workout, I decided to bump it up and go back to my old speed. It’s weird that I can feel the difference even though it isn’t much, but I’m glad I did it because I proved to myself I could!

And I continued to do some great work when it came to the hills too! All of the treadmill blocks were the same with progressive hill work. Each block had hill work that was supposed to be between 6%-9%. I rarely go above 8% but I decided to go for it and try the 9% incline too and while it was hard I did it! I even was able to do some of my all out inclines at 10%! I don’t know if I will keep doing the higher inclines when we have hill work because a lot of hill work has longer intervals than what we had in this workout, but it’s something to keep in my mind.

The floor work was interesting. We had different exercises to try lower weights with and higher weights with. In the first block we had bicep curls and tricep work. For the lower weight for my bicep curls and triceps, I did 15lbs and for the higher weight I did 20lbs. The second block was the same idea with doing bent over low rows. For those I did 30lbs as my higher weight and 20lbs for my lower weight. In that block was also had ab work. And the last block was 200 meter rows with lunges between each round of rowing.

Overall, I’m happy with what I did in this past week of workouts. I would have loved to have had something amazing to write about with a crazy accomplishment, but that wasn’t what was in store for me this past week. But I still did great work and that’s something to be happy about.

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