I feel like the past few weeks of workouts have all had something crazy or dramatic. I’ve had to deal with nausea, Hell Week, fires, and other injuries. Things just haven’t been easy for me lately, but I’ve been pushing through and trying my best. And while this past week of workouts wasn’t simple, it was nice to have a week that didn’t feel like I was dealing with a lot of outside factors affecting my workout.
Monday’s workout was much more normal when compared to the past Monday when we had the fire. There was no more smoke in the air and most of the people I see in my Monday classes were there. I’m glad that the fires weren’t as bad as they were, but we are still dealing with a lot of fire danger here.
The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power; but to me, it felt much more like a power day. We had 30 minutes in each section of the room, and that allowed me to get a lot of work done on the bike.
Cardio had 3 blocks. Each block had a run/bike for distance, a recovery, and at least 1 30-second all out. The first block had a 6-minute distance challenge and 1 all out. The second block had a 3-minute distance challenge and 2 all outs. And the last block had a 90-second distance challenge and 3 all outs. I started the first distance challenge with my push resistance level, but I realized to be able to do my best with the distance I had to put it back to my base level. And I kept that base level for the all outs as well because my coach encouraged me to use those to work on my speed and not the wattage I was getting on the bike. The 6-minute distance challenge was tough because I haven’t had a long-distance challenge like that in a while. But after we were done with cardio I had one of my highest distances on the bike I’ve gotten.
The floor work also was 3 blocks. Each block started with a row and then we had the floor work. The first block had a 600-meter row, the second block had a 300-meter row, and the last block had a 150-meter row. I was using the ideas I had learned the week before with how to use my feet to maximize my power. My power is still lower than most people can get, but it was higher than I normally do and I was able to do the rows very quickly. And the exercises we had on the floor were froggers, skater lunges, plank forward reaches, single-arm snatches, reverse chest flys, reverse mountain climbers, single-arm clean to presses, and planks with leg raises. I kept my weights a bit lower than normal because most of the weighted work involved my hips and I was having a bit of a rough morning with my hips. But I had good form and got a lot of each exercise done.
Wednesday’s workout was a strength-based class and it was also a switch class. We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and we switched after each block. It was nice to have shorter blocks and breaks after working hard.
The first cardio block wasn’t too much of a strength block. We had rounds of push paces to base paces with an all out at the end. There were no inclines/resistance levels used. But it was a block designed for us to really feel how a push pace feels for us. The second block had rounds just like the first one, but instead of push paces, we had incline work. The goal was to make the inclines feel the same as the push paces did without changing our speed. It was a good block even with the incline work and I enjoyed testing myself and what I could do on the bike.
The first rowing block started with a 100-meter row. Then we had medicine ball work and did a 200-meter row. We increased the row by 100 meters each round until the block was done. When we got back to the rower for the second block, we started at the distance we ended on and then decreased the rowing by 100 meters each time. I did have to modify the medicine ball work a bit to work for me, but I was happy with what I did otherwise.
And on the floor, we had cluster sets. Cluster sets are 3 rounds of the same exercise but with low reps. This allows you to go heavier on the weight than you would if it was 1 round with more reps. The first block had cluster sets of chest presses and the second block had cluster sets of goblet squats. We also had lunges, pikes, and plank twists during those blocks.
Friday’s workout was the only one that had a bit of a weird issue. I had my MRI on Thursday (more about that tomorrow) and I was dealing with a few odd side effects from it. I had a lot of soreness in my arm where the IV was and I was feeling very dehydrated even though I drank a ton of water the day before. I had to adjust things to work around these issues, but it wasn’t as bad as many other things I’ve had to deal with.
For cardio, the first block started with rounds of push paces to base paces. I only focused on speed and not adding resistance because the next part of the block was hill work. And the end of that first block was a 2-minute distance challenge. The next block was rounds of 30-second intervals so I focused on speed again.
For the rower, we started with a 90-second row for distance. After that row, we had medicine ball work and then we worked on rounds of rowing, going down 100 meters each time. The rower ended up being a struggle for me. The pain in my arm was really affecting me and preventing me from pulling back on the rower properly. I ended up going pretty slow so I could do my best, but I wasn’t able to do what I know I could do.
The floor had a few issues with my arm too, but it wasn’t as bad as the rower. We had squats, skater lunges, shoulder presses, deadlifts, plank pull throughs, and hip bridges. I did modifications on most of the upper body exercises to work around my arm pain, but it also ended up being a good block to stretch my arm out and I was in less pain at the end of the workout than I was at the beginning.
I think Saturday’s workout was my best workout of the week. I think it helped that we switched every 3 1/2 minutes so everything was really quick for me.
For cardio, we started with a 2-minute push pace, a 1-minute base pace, and a 30-second all out. The next block took 30 seconds off the push pace and put a 30-second push pace before the all out. And the last block took another 30-seconds off the first push pace and put it with the push pace before the all out. I did work with the resistance levels on the bike for all the blocks, but I also tried to focus a lot of my pedaling speed.
The first two blocks on the rower matched cardio. When cardio had a base pace, the rowers did squats. But we had the same push and all outs. For the third block, we redid the distance we did for the second block and held a squat for the rest of the time. I’m glad rowing was much easier for me than it was on Friday, but I did still have a little bit of soreness left. So I did take a few breaks on the rower to massage the pain away, but I was able to have proper form again.
And on the floor, every block had mini-bands. We had 2 exercises for each block, which was fine since the blocks were so short. The first block had full thrusters with weights and side walks. The second block had squats and overhead tricep work. And the third block had reverse flys and front walks. We were supposed to have the mini-bands above our knees, but I can’t get them to stay there without rolling and hurting me. But I was able to keep them below my knees and not rolling which is a victory.
People joked that this past week was almost like another Hell Week, and it was hard but in the best way. And I’m glad I had a week that was strong when I’m potentially going to have a tough week this week. I say this all the time, but having these good weeks really does help me feel better about the bad ones.
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