After having 2 weeks back to back of weird workout weeks, it was nice to get back to my normal schedule. Having a routine sometimes is frustrating, but it also is nice to know what to plan for. And I was glad to be getting back to it (although I have realized that soon I’ll have another weird workout week coming up). The only thing that worried me about this week was I knew it was probably going to be a tough one. Not only was I expecting to have some pain and nausea issues, I knew Monday might be tough since it had been a while since I worked out.
Monday’s workout would have been a tough one even if I hadn’t had a long break. We had a 23-minute row, which felt like something from Hell Week. Since I started on cardio, I didn’t have to start with the row. I started with the cardio/floor work.
For the cardio/floor work, we had one long block. It started with a .25 mile with cardio (1 mile on the bike) and then we had our floor exercises. We had hip hinge swings, chest flys, tricep extensions, push-ups to knee tucks, rollouts, and v-ups. Then it was back to cardio to repeat it the same way. I made it through 3 rounds and was feeling pretty good considering, but I knew the rower was going to be much harder.
The rower was a solid 23-minutes of rowing. But it was broken up into a few sections. We had team rows where one person set the pace and everyone was supposed to row in unison, recovery rows where we could rest but keep rowing, and 500-meter rows on our own. It was not easy and it was a big challenge. The team rows were really challenging because it wasn’t easy to see the person setting the pace and it was easy to get out of sync. I ended up being the pacer for the row for the last team row and that did make it a little easier on me.
Wednesday’s workout was a power day. While I had recovered from not working out for a while, I was dealing with nausea. But power days seem to be one of the easier types to deal with when I feel off.
For cardio, it was all set at our own pace. We had different distances we were supposed to do with recoveries after each distance. I kept my resistance level on the bike at my base level just to keep things easy for me. And I tried to not take a break doing each distance unless I was really nauseous. Fortunately, the distances were pretty short so I was almost always able to do that.
On the rower, we started with a 300-meter row with frogger squats after. We went down 50 meters on the row but then did that distance twice. Each time we went down in distance we added another round. I was doing ok with the rowing at first, but my nausea really started to kick in so I had to take it easy toward the end of the block.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had skier swings, hip hinge low rows, and Y raises. And the second block had clean to presses, pop jacks (which I modified using the bench), and low rows on the straps. It wasn’t my best floor block, but it wasn’t my worst either.
Friday’s workout was an endurance day, and it was also my toughest day. I was feeling so rotten and my medications didn’t seem to take the edge off of anything. It really became a day to just get through the workout and not focus too much on what I was doing and how much effort I was putting into it.
The cardio was rounds of push paces to all outs. I kept my bike resistance level at my base level and just tried to keep pedaling. I was taking a lot of breaks and the only sweat I had was from nausea. It was one of the worst cardio blocks that I could remember and honestly, I hope I never have a cardio block like that again.
The rower block started with rounds of 150-meter rows with tricep work in between each row. We did that until the end of the first block and then we looked at the distance on the rower. The second block was to repeat the distance from the first row and then there were more exercises. I didn’t actually finish rowing the repeat distance so I don’t know what everyone else did after that. I just worked on rowing and taking the multiple breaks I needed.
On the floor, we had a lot of lower body work. We had single leg sit to stands, swing lunges, and step-ups (which I modified to be regular lunges). We did those on both the left and right side and then we had core work with double crunches, sit-ups, and bicycles. The floor work went much better than the bike or rower, so it was nice to end on a slightly better note after a pretty bad workout.
Saturday’s workout was a strength day, and even though I was still feeling off I decided to make an effort and use the resistance levels on the bike. I was still going easy on myself, but I was trying to push myself a bit more than I had the day before.
Cardio had 2 blocks. Both blocks started with a 2-minute distance challenge and I kept the resistance level at my base level for those. Then we had a 3-minute hill with decreasing incline every 30 seconds. I used the resistance levels for this part and I did use the levels I was supposed to use. And each block ended with an all out which I did at my base level but working on pedaling faster.
The rower was all about stroke drills. Stroke drills are when you go slowly and focus on maximizing the distance with each pull on the rower. We started with 15 strokes and then we had overhead presses with the medicine ball. We repeated the 15 stroke round before moving to 14 strokes (and repeating that before decreasing). I like stroke drills because it gives me time to focus on my form. And I think this was the best rowing option for me when I wasn’t feeling great.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had seated bicep curls, low rows, and plank work (modified by using the bench). And the second block had overhead tricep work, chest presses, and toe reaches. This wasn’t that bad of a floor block for me, but I also know that I wasn’t pushing myself as much as I had with cardio. But I have to be gentle with myself sometimes and this was one of those times.
I’m looking forward to hopefully feeling better this week. I know the beginning of the week will possibly be bad, but that should hopefully end just in time for Hell Week to start! I know Hell Week will be hard, but I do look forward to it as it is a great way to challenge myself. And hopefully, I’ll be able to accomplish some really awesome things during those workouts.
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