This past week of workouts was a tough one for me for a few different reasons. First, I knew this would be a tough week because I was expecting to have to deal with pain and nausea, and I was right that it would be happening. Also, I had another week where I had 3 workout days in a row. And finally, this week was starting the 12 Days Of Fitness! I’ve done the 12 Days Of Fitness before and it’s a great challenge. The goal is to do 7 out of the 12 days and then you earn a winter beanie! Just like with Hell Week, I knew I’d be doing this and making sure I earned my hat!
Monday’s workout wasn’t a part of the 12 Days challenge since it was before the start of the month. It was an endurance day and it was also a day I wasn’t feeling too great. I was mainly dealing with pain that day, which can sometimes be easier for me to push through. And I think I needed the ability to push through in order to do the endurance plan.
For cardio, it was all about long push paces. We had 2 rounds of a 3-minute push pace and 2 rounds of a 2-minute push pace. Between each push pace, we had a 1-minute base pace and after the last 2-minute push we went right into a 30-second all-out. It was a lot of work and didn’t feel like it had a lot of rest. I did have to take my own breaks during the workout in order to get through some of the pain, but I think I did better than I expected to do considering how I was feeling.
On the rower, I really struggled and had to do a bit of my own plan. We were supposed to do long rows with hops between each round of rowing. But for me, the hops were making me feel really sick, so I decided just to work on rowing for the entire block and take breaks when I needed to. But I did try to be aware of the plan for the rowing and make sure I took breaks after each round. The rowing was supposed to be 800-meters, 400-meters, 200-meters, 400-meters, 200-meters, and 100-meters. I only got through about half of the rowing even without doing the hops between each round. That just shows how slowly I was rowing and how often I needed to rest.
The floor was a bit better for me. We had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. We were supposed to do each mini-block for 3 rounds before switching. The first mini-block had bench squats, goblet squats, and static crunches with scissor kicks. And the second mini-block had sumo squats, squats with rotations, and single-leg v-ups. I felt much better about my workout after the floor work since I think that was the best section for me.
And Wednesday’s workout kicked off the 12 Days challenge. And each day is themed around the day number that it is. So for Monday, since it was the first day we had a lot of things that were for 1 minute. Unfortunately, I was also feeling really horrible this day. I was really struggling to do anything, but I knew I just had to try my best.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a 1-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, 2-minute push pace, 90-second base pace, and 1-minute all-out. The second block flipped the push paces so we started with the 2-minute push pace and had the 1-minute one toward the middle of the block. I still took a lot of breaks to rest or let the nausea pass, but I think I did a pretty decent job considering how worried I was about being able to do anything.
For the rower, again I struggled as I did on Monday. The first block started with a 100-meter row and then we had high knees. I knew I couldn’t do high knees, so I did marching in place instead. Each round on the rower, we increased the row by 100-meters. And for the last minute of the block, we had a 1-minute all-out timed with the treadmills. Then we reset the rowers for the second block and we started with a 300-meter row and high knees. And each round on the rower we went down 100-meters. And again, we ended with a 1-minute all-out row. The goal was to do better in the second block, and I think my nausea medication was kicking in around the second block because it went a lot better for me than the first block did.
And on the floor, we had 4 blocks. The first and third blocks were longer blocks. The first block had goblet squats and hip hinge low rows. And the third block had deadlifts and shoulder presses. For the second and fourth blocks, it was a 1-minute block that went with the all-out on the treadmills and rowers. We got to pick one exercise to do for the entire minute. I picked squats and I was able to get a lot of reps done within the minute both times.
As I mentioned before, I did a Thursday workout instead of one on Saturday due to my schedule (I think this week will be the same way again). So I was at the workout for Day 2, which had a lot of 2-minute things and it was also a strength-based day and a 2 group class so I had longer on cardio than I usually do.
We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block was rounds of a base pace at an incline and a base pace without incline. We started with the highest incline and went down each round. But the incline base paces got longer as the incline got lower. And the block ended with a 2-minute distance challenge. I did work with the resistance levels on the bike, but I was pedaling really slowly because it was another day I was feeling rotten. The second block was the same idea as the first block, but we went up the inclines instead of down. It also ended with another 2-minute distance challenge. And the last block was one more 2-minute distance challenge.
On the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first block had single-arm high rows and chest flys. And the second block had single-arm chest presses and hip hinge reverse flys. For both of those blocks, when the treadmills were doing their 2-minute distance challenges, we had a 2-minute row. For the last block, it was 2 minutes long and the coach got to pick what exercise we had to hold for the entire time. Our coach picked squats so we had a 2-minute squat hold. We were told to take breaks when we needed them, and I also did wall squats for maybe 10 seconds at a time to make it a bit easier for me.
By Friday’s workout, my pain and nausea were a bit better (but still not great) but I was dealing with a little soreness from having 3 workout days in a row. But I still think it was one of the better days of the week for me. It was a power day, and because it was Day 3, we had a lot of things that lasted 30 seconds to fit with the theme.
We had 3 blocks for cardio and blocks 1 and 3 were the same. For those blocks, we had 2 rounds of a 30-second push pace and 30-second base pace and then ended with a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out. I tried to limit the breaks I needed to take to just the base pace time and I was still working with the resistance levels to make my push and all-outs harder. And for the second block, we had 4 rounds of a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after.
For the rower, we had the same 3 blocks as we did for cardio with the push paces to base paces and the all-outs with recovery. This was a lot harder for me than the cardio was and I took a lot of breaking during the rowing blocks. But it was also a lot of rowing even if I was feeling ok.
For the floor, the first and third blocks were timed out with cardio and the rowers. In the first block, we had alternating heel touches and static crunch in and outs with mini-bands and we switched every 30 seconds. And in the third block, we had front walks and side walks with the mini-bands and again we switched every 30 seconds. For the second block, it was supposed to be lunges and step-ups, but I usually replace step-ups with lunges. So I ended up having a block of lunges, which wasn’t easy but at least it gave me a challenge during a week I had to go easy on myself.
This week, I’ll be finishing up the 12 Days Of Fitness and I hope that I feel better for most of it. It’s an unknown how I’ll feel this week, but I’m trying to think positively so I can finish out the challenge on a good note!
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Almost Having A Second Hell Week (or Just Pushing Through)
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Another Weird Workout Week (or Dealing With A Different Type Of Nausea)
This Felt Like Hell Week (or An Unexpected But Fun Workout Week)
