I knew going into this past week of workouts that it would likely be one of my bad weeks. I was hopeful that maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as it could be, but I never can predict how I’m going to feel and it can change from day to day. Being prepared is helpful because I can be a bit more mindful of what I do in my workouts to not aggravate the situation, but sometimes there’s nothing that I can do to help and I just have to get through a workout however I can. Fortunately, this past week wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I had some really tough moments, but it was somewhat tolerable.
Monday was probably the day that I was feeling the best. It’s sometimes hard to judge what is the best day because it can vary throughout the workout and the workout itself can affect how I feel. I was dealing with some pain, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be that morning.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. For each block, we had 3 rounds of a push pace to a base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The base pace was always 30 seconds and the push pace ranged was 30 seconds in the first block, 45 seconds in the second block, and 1 minute in the last block. I was using the new resistance levels for my push pace and all-out, but I went into the workout thinking I would only do that for the first two blocks. But I decided to try it for the longer push paces and it wasn’t as bad as I expected so I just kept going. I am pedaling a lot slower, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
We also had 3 blocks on the rower. In the first block, we had rounds of a 250-meter row and then 20 curtsy lunges between each row. In the second block, we had stroke drills and did 20 strokes each time and regular lunges between each row. And in the last block, we were timed with cardio with the 1-minute push paces and 30-second base paces. I didn’t have any great achievements with my rowing, but I did it and that was good for me.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The longer block had 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block had lunges and squats. After doing 3 rounds of those, we had chest presses and push-ups. I didn’t use weights that were any heavier than I normally do for those exercises, but as I have said, I can’t always make improvements in every single workout. But I did use my regular weights even though they felt a bit too heavy for me at times and I wanted to go lighter. And for the last block, we were timed with cardio and the rowers and had a core blast. We did mountain climbers for a minute and burpees for 30 seconds.
When I got to the studio on Tuesday morning, before we had class I signed up for the Dri-Tri. I’ve done 10 of these before and it’s always a challenge. But it’s a good challenge and I’ve never regretted doing it. But I have felt left out when I didn’t do it, even when it was because of something that wasn’t my fault. So I wanted to make sure I got a spot this time before they all filled up and I guess I’ll see how it goes later this month!
For the workout, we had 2 blocks in each section of the room. For both cardio blocks, we had intervals with a base pace at an incline and without an incline before having an all-out. Because I’ve been using higher resistance levels for my push pace and all-out, I thought about also trying to increase my levels for inclines too, but I think I’m going to wait until my base pace level is higher. But the levels I did use were above what I use for my all-out, so they were pretty high and I had to take several breaks when the nausea was really bad.
On the rower, the first block started with a 250-meter row followed by in-and-out steps and lunges. The row decreased by 50 meters each time we were on the rower. And in the second block, the row started at 50 meters and increased each time. And between each row, we had more in-and-out steps and squats to calf raises. I didn’t go as fast as I wanted to on the rower, but I was happy that I didn’t get so nauseous that I had to stop in the middle of a row.
And on the floor, the first block had split-leg deadlifts, chest flys, and seated torso rotations. And the second block had step-ups, concentration curls, and plank toe taps. I had to modify the second block a bit and did lunges for the step-ups because I used the bench for the other exercises and didn’t want to keep lowering and raising the bench and taking up time. And for the torso rotations, I used a heavier weight than I normally do and it wasn’t too much harder so that was a good win.
Wednesday’s workout was a signature workout. This time, it was Infinity. This is considered a Dri-Tri prep workout since the floor block for this workout is the same as what we do in the Dri-Tri. But since I was in pain and dealing with nausea, I knew the floor wouldn’t be easy for me. I would prefer to have to deal with pain and nausea on a Dri-Tri prep day instead of during the actual Dri-Tri, so that made me feel a bit better.
For cardio, we started with a 3-minute push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace. The push pace decreased by 30 seconds each time and the base pace stayed the same. And at the end of the block, we had a 1-minute all-out. And I was able to use my new push pace resistance level for each interval, even the longest one.
The rower is the real signature workout part of the Infinity workout. Every row was 100 meters. After the first row, we had 20 squat presses with a medicine ball. And after each row, the squat presses decreased by 2. If we got down to the round of 2, then after the next row we started to increase them by 2 each time. I had a heavier medicine ball than I normally would use, but that wasn’t intentional. It was the only one left so I took it as a challenge and decided to just try to use it. Using the heavier medicine ball did make things take a bit longer for me, so I knew that I wouldn’t have a PR for my rowing distance for Infinity. But I was ok with that since I knew with how I was feeling it was unlikely for me to get a PR even if I had my normal medicine ball.
And the floor was exactly like the Dri-Tri floor with hop-overs, bench tap squats, step-ups (which I did as lunges), push-ups, plank jacks, and burpees. I did have to take my time because a lot of these exercises were making me feel worse, but I still was able to get 2 rounds done before the block was over which was a good sign for how I might do on my Dri-Tri later in the month.
By Thursday, I was happy that I wasn’t having as bad of a week as I thought it might be, and I had a feeling that I could make it through that workout without too many issues. I did have a decent amount of pain and nausea, but I took some medications before the workout and they did kick in during class so that helped quite a bit.
The first cardio block had a 30-second push pace, 1-minute base pace, 30-second push pace, 90-second base pace, 30-second push pace, and 30-second all-out. And the second block did the same thing as the first block but added 2 more all-outs at the end. I continued to use the new resistance levels for my push pace and all-out but kept my base pace the same. I don’t know if I’ll be increasing the level I use soon, but I don’t have to rush into doing it either.
On the rower, the first block started with a 10 stroke drill with squat bicep curls using a medicine ball. We then had a 15 stroke drill and 20 stroke drill with the same exercise after each row. And in the second block, we did the same except we did each stroke drill twice before moving on to the next one. I usually am really good at stroke drills, but I struggled a bit to go as slowly as I know I should go. But I was keeping it under the stroke count that we needed to be under.
And on the floor, the first block was a mini-band block. We had lunges with front raises, walkouts, and plank reaches. I did some modifications for all these exercises. I did the lunges with front raises normally the first time, but after that, I just did the front raises alone since I struggled with my balance. For the walkouts, I used the bench so I wasn’t doing as many steps with my hands. And for the plank reaches, again I used the bench for my hands. The second block was all about cluster sets where we did an exercise for 6-10 reps, rested for about 10 seconds, and then did the same exercise again until failure. We had reverse grip low rows, hip bridges, and Arnold presses. I did go heavier with my hip bridges than I have done recently, but it’s still a bit lower than I was using when I was my strongest. For the other exercises, I didn’t go heavier than normal but tried to get more reps in the second attempt than I normally would do since that would be an extra challenge.
Considering this was a bad week for me with pain and nausea, it wasn’t that bad of a week for my workouts. I think part of that was being prepared for this week and part of it was because it wasn’t as bad as it can be. I also have a new focus for my workouts with trying to keep improving a lot, and I think my stubbornness helped me push through other things that might have affected my workouts. I know that this week might still be a bit of a tough one, but hopefully I’ll continue to push through and have more things I can feel good about by the end of the week.
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