When I wrote my last workout recap post, I said I hoped that this past week would be a good week for me. I can always hope for a good week but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen. But I had a few different things potentially working in my favor so I was really optimistic.
I recently did some new medical testing and discovered I have an iron issue, so this past week I was finally going to start doing something about that. I know that probably won’t affect my workouts too much, but I wasn’t sure how adding iron pills might make me feel. I’m always worried about side effects from medications, even just vitamins, but I was hoping that since I don’t take my medications until after my workout I wouldn’t have many side effects in the morning.
Monday through Wednesday, I had pretty good workouts. I had some of my usual issues like being lightheaded (which probably isn’t due to my iron issue but my low blood sugar), but that wasn’t affecting my workout too much. I also had a little bit of weakness after having a bad week, but that just pushed me to work a little harder in the weight room. I might not have been using heavier weights, but I was doing my best to make every rep count. And I really felt that in my muscles after each workout.
But I really want to talk about my workout on Thursday. We had a benchmark that morning, the 500-meter row. I’m very competitive with myself for all the benchmarks. And we were warned that the 500-meter row is always a bit of an odd one since it’s not a sprint and it’s not a long row that you have time to make up speed if you slow down. I know in the past, I have burned out very quickly on this benchmark because I go too hard at first and then can’t make up for it when I’m exhausted. I didn’t want that to happen, so I put my focus on just being steady and not stressing about beating my past time. I never have gotten this benchmark below 2 minutes, and as much as I wanted to do that I knew that it wouldn’t be the right thing to focus on.
When it was time to do the benchmark, I made my focus on the 500-meter split time on the monitor. I know that I usually get slower as the row goes on, so I wanted the split time to be below 2 minutes for at least the first half of the row so that when I slowed down, I would still be close to 2 minutes by the end. I took a deep breath before I started and got a couple of really hard pulls in first to start the row.
I was shocked at how low my split time was at the start of the row. I was close to 1:45, which I knew was not going to be sustainable. But it was a great way to start the row knowing that I would slow down. But I was able to maintain that pace for a lot longer than I thought. My split time wasn’t getting above 2 minutes once I was halfway through the row. But I was starting to get really tired. I struggled to catch my breath, but I also didn’t want to stop because I knew I had less than a minute to go.
I did end up burning myself out for the last 40 or so meters. My split time jumped a lot higher and I was really struggling to row. But I kept moving, even though I was going really slow. And once I was done, all the hard work I did for most of the row paid off because I PRed by a huge margin!
I was not only below 2 minutes but I beat my last PR by 7 seconds! I would have been thrilled to get a PR by a fraction of a second, but 7 seconds is unbelievable to me! If I hadn’t burned out, I probably would have been closer to 1:50, but I’m not upset at all. If I hadn’t gotten below 2 minutes, I might have been upset by the end of my row. And I’m glad that didn’t happen so I could have this awesome win to end my week!
I seriously needed this PR. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until it happened. But it was the reassurance I needed after my bad week that I wasn’t weak or having major setbacks. One week might not be as strong or as good as the other, but I’m still making improvements over time. And this row proved it to me so much!
You Might Also Like
My First Dri-Tri (or Beating My Expectations)
Another Hard Workout Week (or A Repeat Of The Last Week In More Ways Than One)
Another Good Workout Week (or It’s So Nice When Things Work Out Well For Me)
PRs and Pain (or Another Up and Down Workout Week)
I’m So Glad I Pushed Hard This Past Week (or Having A Good Day In A Bad Week)
An Unplanned Shorter Workout Week (or Making The Most Of Each Workout)
