Tag Archives: fitness

An Up And Down Week (or Working Through The Same Frustrations)

Posted on March 12, 2018 | Comments Off on An Up And Down Week (or Working Through The Same Frustrations)

This past week of workouts was a bit of a mixed bag of good and bad. I’m really working on not judging my workouts as much, but it’s difficult when I have previous workouts to compare it to. I keep reminding myself to focus on the fact that I’m there and that’s better than I was doing before, but it’s still not the first thing in my head a lot of the time.

Monday’s workout was a strength day. I knew I’d be going to Disneyland after my workout, so I planned on using the bike instead of the treadmill. But by the time I got to class, I wasn’t able to start on cardio so I started on the rower instead. It was a 3 group class and we had 2 rounds around the room so every block was about 7 minutes long. The rowing was pretty much the same with both blocks. We had rounds of sprint rows of 100, 200, or 300 meters. In the first block, we went up in distance and in the second block we went down. I tried to keep my rowing under my time goals and was pretty much able to do that each time.

On the floor, the first block had deadlifts, bear steps (which is kind of like a crab walk but face down), and lunges with upper cuts using weights. And in the second block we had sumo squats, alligators on the straps, and seated torso rotations. And on the bike, everything was pretty much 90 second push paces. Since the treadmill would have been at an incline, I tried to increase the resistance on the bike each time. And while I was tired, when we did have the all out paces on each block, I pushed myself really hard to pedal even faster. And that work paid off because I was complimented by my coach for working so hard!

Wednesday’s workout was a really interesting one! We’ve got a Dri-Tri coming up soon and this class was kind of like a mini Dri-Tri! We were in 3 groups again and I was in the group that started on the treadmill. It was supposed to be a 12 minute run for distance, but I’m still not really running yet so I walked the entire thing. I was hoping to get at least .7 miles done and I just got beyond that so I was pretty happy.

Next I was on the rower where it was a bit different from what we would do during a Dri-Tri. We had 10 minutes of doing 100 meter sprint rows followed by 20 power jumping jacks using a medicine ball. The goal was to do as many rounds of that as you could in those 10 minutes. I was able to do about 938 meters which was below the goal but I really did try my best. And after that I was on the floor where we had the same bodyweight exercises that we have during the Dri-Tri. But I was a bit more tired doing the floor work since it was toward the end of my workout. After that, we had a 1 minute tornado around the room with a 1 minute plank hold, 1 minute all out on the treadmill, and 1 minute all out on the rower.

Friday was a bit of an odd day. I wasn’t feeling totally myself and had some dizziness and vertigo issues in the morning while I was working. I thought I felt better when I got to the workout, but after my warmup on the treadmill I realized that I was still feeling off and I’d be better off being on the bike. It was also a strength day so I was a little bit happy to be avoiding hills on the treadmill and just working on resistance training on the bike instead.

Each block on cardio had a similar pattern with a base pace at an incline, a base pace at no incline, and a push to all out pace at an incline. For me on the bike, that meant working with increasing the resistance as a substitute for inclines. I didn’t get as high up in the resistance as I would have liked to, but I did match my highest resistance level from the recent past which was nice. And again, I tried to focus on my cadence and wattage to make sure I was replicating push and all out paces the best that I could.

When I was on the floor, we had 2 floor blocks and 1 rowing block. The first floor block was squat low rows with weights, triceps on the straps, and lateral raises with weights. The second block was a mini-band block. I’m still getting a hang of the mini-bands and this time I still ended up spending some time getting it straight on my legs and figuring out the best way to use them. This time, we had suitcase squats with weights, knee tucks, and side plank leg lifts using the mini-bands. I think I did better than I had in the past with the bands, but I also know there is a lot of room for improvement too. And the last block was on the rower where we had 3 rounds of 30 second all out rows followed by 30 seconds of recovery.

After an off day on Friday, I was a bit worried about Saturday. But I found out it was going to be a power day where we switched between blocks (plus it was a 3 group class) so I felt much better. Each block was only 4 minutes long so I wasn’t at any spot that long. So I felt much more comfortable using the treadmill this class. Each round on the treadmill was a similar pattern with a push pace, a base pace, a push to all out pace, a 30 second walking recovery, and a 30 second all out pace to end the block. I wasn’t doing my usual inclines and kept the push and all out inclines the same instead of bumping it up. But even with keeping the inclines a bit lower, I still felt the workout since there was minimal recovery time.

On the rower, each block was the same idea with counting pulls and seeing how far you could go. The first block was rounds of 10 pulls, the second block was rounds of 15 pulls, and the last block was rounds of 20 pulls. I was doing pretty great with 10 and 15 pulls, but when it got to 20 pulls I wasn’t able to do my super slow rowing that I can do with lower pull counts. And on the floor, each block had 2 moves. Those included uppercuts with weights, pop jacks, Y raises on the straps, sit-ups, squats, and hammer curls. The blocks were so fast that I really didn’t have time to think about getting tired so I was using some of the heavier weights for the weight work.

I sound like a broken record, but I’m really looking forward to when I will finally have progress in my workouts again. I miss feeling so accomplished every class. But then again, maybe this is what it’s like to work out on a regular basis for so long. I can’t always expect progress and I can’t use that as a motivation. But to have a little bit of that progress back again would be really nice.

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Struggling Sucks (or Thank Goodness It Was A Short Workout Week)

Posted on March 5, 2018 | Comments Off on Struggling Sucks (or Thank Goodness It Was A Short Workout Week)

This past week of workouts wasn’t that great for me. I wish I could put a more positive spin on things, but that really is the truth for me. And I’m not one to sugarcoat the truth. I’ve been struggling a lot lately, but this past week took things to a new level and I really wasn’t mentally prepared for it. I had one ok day, one horrible day, and one bad day. Not what I was hoping, but that’s the week that I had.

I didn’t have a workout on Monday because I was in Palm Springs, so I only had 3 workouts this past week. But that ended up being for the best for me. Wednesday was a power day and it wasn’t too bad. I think I lucked out because we were switching between blocks and it was more like a 3 group workout than a 2 group workout. So we never really spent that long in one section of the room. The first round was 3 minutes at each section, the second round was 5 minutes at each section, and the last round was 3 minutes at each section.

For the treadmill, it was pretty much push paces and push to all out paces. I walked everything and was able to do my normal speed and inclines which really surprised me. I thought since I missed my Monday workout it would have been much worse, but maybe doing my hiking helped me not feel too bad. On the rower we had 2 rounds of distance rows with lunges between and one round of counting pulls for the rowing. For counting pulls, we were counting for 200 and 100 meters. The goal for 200 is under 20 pulls, but because I’ve been working on taking my time with these challenges I managed to do it in 13 pulls! And on the floor we had burpees, crunches, hop overs, skier swings, and sit ups.

Friday’s workout was just bad for me. I was dealing with pain and nausea and even though I took my medications right before class they weren’t helping. I thought I could do the treadmill since it was a power day, but after the warmup I was feeling so nauseous that I got off and got on the bike. I’m glad I’ve figured out that being on the bike helps keep some of the nausea away (walking is just too bouncy for me when I feel bad), but it’s still a little bit of a disappointment when I can’t use the treadmill. I’m working on getting out of that mindset, but I think the way I was feeling physically was affecting my mental state.

We had 4 blocks for cardio but we didn’t switch between blocks so we were on it for the first half of class. The first 3 blocks were push paces and push to all out paces. I really worked on my cadence with the bike and trying to work on increasing my gears for the push and all out paces. I did have to take breaks from time to time because of the nausea, but I managed to get through most of the workout on the bike just fine.

On the floor, we had 1 long block that was all Bosu and rowing work. We had pop jacks, sit ups, hop overs, back extensions, lunges, and side crunches all using the Bosu. Those were split into 3 sections and between each section we had a 250 meter row. I really had to take my time with the Bosu work, especially when there were exercises that went from standing to sitting or laying down. My stomach wasn’t doing ok with moving like that so I had to take breaks and go easy. With the rowing, the first time I was on the rower it took 2:21 to row (it should be around 2:15). The second time I rowed it was 2:16. And the last time I rowed it was 2:11. To improve with each row is good and I’m glad I finally got it under the time we were supposed to be within. But again, my nausea was kicking up a lot and before and after each row I had to focus on breathing and trying to feel better.

Saturday’s workout was one that I was very nervous for. I was still feeling pretty horrible (I had some blackout cramps before my workout) and I knew it was going to be a partner workout. I usually love partner workouts because it helps keep me motivated and I want to make sure that my partner isn’t waiting on me to finish so we can switch. But since I was feeling so badly, I didn’t want to let my partners down. When I got to class, it was a 3 group partner workout and it turned out that technically no partner was going to be responsible for the switch on their own.

We had 3 blocks that were each 13 minutes long. And in each block we rotated between the treadmill, rower, and floor. And the switch was determined by whichever of the 3 of us was finished with the work first. So even if I never finished first, my team wasn’t going to be stuck waiting on me. That was a big relief.

I used the bike again instead of the treadmill but I was able to use the rower and could do the floor work. The cardio was all short intervals (some of it was on an incline on the treadmills) and I was usually able to get the bike work done in about 3 minutes. On the rower, we had rows that were between 200-600 meters. And on the floor, it was the same work each block but we changed the number of reps each time. We had lunges, squats, crunches, and plank punches.

Even though I didn’t have to worry about my partners waiting on me, I didn’t want to be too slow with my work. And a few times I was actually the person that initiated the switch. I tried to take my breaks on the floor since that section was repeating each block, but there were a few times I had to stop on the bike to let the wave of nausea pass. It’s sad that I’m getting used to dealing with this, but since it’s possibly going to be like this for a long time I guess it’s a good thing that I’m learning to manage.

Overall, while this wasn’t a great workout week for me it was better than not showing up. It sucks to struggle and to feel like you can’t do anything to fix it, but I’m proud of myself for at least going to class. Working out won’t make things worse (except maybe walking making my nausea worse) and there is always a chance that it could be better after a workout. So I have to take the chance to see if it will help and if not, at least I’m keeping my commitment to myself to do at least 3 workouts each week.

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Getting Back To Stretching (or My Body Is Telling Me What Monthly Challenge To Do)

Posted on March 1, 2018 | 1 comment

The first two months of 2018, I had some abstract monthly challenges. I’m so glad that I did those challenges because they have been so beneficial for me. But I’m getting back to more concrete challenges now. But first, a quick recap on last month’s challenge.

In February, I challenged myself to work on not saying “sorry” as often, especially when there is usually a better and more appropriate thing to say since I don’t need to apologize. I normally say sorry instead of excuse me, like when I’m trying to get past someone at a store or when I am trying to get someone’s attention. It’s a habit that I have been wanting to break but it’s difficult because I’ve been doing it for so long.

I don’t know if I haven’t had as many opportunities when I usually would say sorry or if I haven’t been saying it as much for a while, but I was surprised when I noticed how easily this change was. I wasn’t finding myself saying sorry and then thinking I should have said something else that often. Mainly, I thought about it at stores trying to get past someone and I was very conscious of trying to say excuse me instead.

I’m sure that this will be something I need to think about a lot in the future to make sure I don’t slip into the habit again. But it just surprised me that I didn’t really have that many times that I said sorry in the past month. It was weird. But I also thought that it could have to do with my challenge from January when I worked on being a bit selfish. I’ve been putting myself first when I can and I think that has just given me more confidence. So maybe having that confidence stopped my habit of saying sorry earlier than I thought.

Since I have been focused on mental and abstract challenges, I really wanted to get back to a physical one for March. There were a few ideas that I was thinking about, but one thing was sticking out for me. I’ve always been a very flexible person, but I’ve noticed that my flexibility has been getting worse lately. I’m still more flexible than many people, but there is a noticeable difference. Also, I’ve been waking up with more muscle pain than I’m used to.

This could be attributed to a few things. I have been working out a lot and haven’t been doing the yoga that I was doing previously. Or it could be due to me getting older and needing to take more care of my body. Either way, I want to gain flexibility back and to help keep my body healthy.

I thought of a few things of what I could do to help gain my flexibility. I debated about doing another yoga challenge but that didn’t feel right to me. And I looked at a few different fitness related challenges but those didn’t seem to be what I needed. And finally, I found the idea of doing a stretching challenge and that seemed perfect to me! Stretching would be a good thing for me to do no matter what as it can help get my body moving throughout the day. I don’t move a ton while I’m working (I walk from my bed to my desk and then I’m sitting down) so getting in a stretch either before or after I’m done working would really help.

I looked into a few stretching ideas, and I found an app that I’m going to try out. It has 9 different stretches that it guides you through and each stretch lasts 30 seconds. So it will only take about 5 minutes for me to do the full circuit and that’s not too bad. And if that app doesn’t seem to be right, there are a ton of other options for me to find stretching routines to use. No matter what, I want to get stretching into my daily routine because I know my body needs it.

I’m not expecting this stretching to necessarily get my flexibility back. There are some specific things with flexibility that I know I want to work on and I will be working on those separately. I used to be able to do the splits easily. I can still do them, but I have to work much harder at it. I also can still reach my toes when I stretch, but in the past I could get my hands beyond my feet. That would be nice to be able to do again too. But for this month, I really want to work on general flexibility first and then start looking into more specific things. And even if I don’t regain all my flexibility back, I know that I will be helping my body and it will be good to have a little extra movement in my day when I know that it’s lacking.

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Is This A Rut? (or Trying To Not Feel Stuck)

Posted on February 26, 2018 | Comments Off on Is This A Rut? (or Trying To Not Feel Stuck)

For so long, my workout weeks were super exciting to me. I was constantly discovering new amazing exercises and I was surprising myself in what I was able to do. I never knew I could lift as heavy of weights as I did or that I could run. It seemed like each week there was something that seemed spectacular and it was so motivating. But lately, I’ve been struggling a bit to make sure that I don’t feel stuck. So this past week of workouts was another week where I really tried to find where I could improve so I could feel great about things again.

Monday’s workout was a tough morning for me. I had a lot of things working against me including a lack of sleep, having some back pain (I tweaked my back on Saturday), and my medications elevating my heart rate; but I was still in my positive mindset that I would be doing the best that I could and not thinking about what I should be doing better. It was a 3 group workout that morning and it was also a rowing benchmark class. And since I started on the rower that ended up being better than I expected.

The rowing benchmark was done in the first block where we had a 4 minute distance row. I knew what my PR was for it previously and I knew that I would not be hitting that in this class. But I did decide to set a goal to row for the entire 4 minutes without stopping. That’s not the biggest victory for me, but when I was having so many issues I knew it would be a big accomplishment. And I’m so happy that I was able to row those 4 minutes without stopping! Each of our row blocks had a timed distance row and the goal was to get at least half the distance of the previous distance row. And I did manage to do that! I did more than half of my 4 minute row in my 2 minute row and more than half of my 2 minute row in my 1 minute row. While none of these rows were PRs for me, I felt amazing for doing what I was able to do.

The treadmill work was a bit of a struggle and I thought about going onto the bike, but it felt good to walk and stretch my legs a bit after each of the row blocks. I stuck with my normal speed and for the first 2 blocks I did my normal inclines as well. But for the last block, I keep my push and all out pace inclines the same because I was getting tired. Each of the treadmill blocks was a pretty standard pattern and I’m so glad that they were shorter blocks because it did allow me to get through the treadmill time and I wasn’t struggling as much as I would have if it was a long block.

And the floor work was not my best time this workout. Of course on a day that I was having back pain the floor worked seemed to be very back heavy. The first block had good mornings to tricep presses, pullovers with weights, and knee tucks. This was my best block because I didn’t really feel any pain with any of the moves. I did end up doing sit-ups instead of knee tucks, but that was more due to knee tucks feeling super awkward for me and I just wanted to do something instead of struggling through one exercise. The second block was single arm presses with weights which were tough on my back but with a lower weight it was not too bad and I felt good. But the other move was pop jacks and my back was just not having those. The plank was hurting me and I ended up only doing the arm work that block. And the final block was lateral lunges with the BOSU which was fine but then we also had Y moves on the strap which again was back work that hurt. I ended up doing those by being far from the anchor point of the strap (the further you are the easier the move is) but I think it ended up being more of a stretch type move than an exercise. But since I knew I’d be making modifications to anything that involved my back, I was pretty happy I figured out a solution for the problems I was having.

Wednesday was a strength day and I was a bit worried going into the workout. I knew I wasn’t feeling totally great, but I was hoping a workout would make me feel a bit better. The treadmill was split into 3 blocks and each block had a similar format. When we had push paces, half of the time was a regular push pace and the other half was at an incline. For power walking, that meant that you increased from your push pace incline to one higher. So for each push pace I did the first half as my regular push pace incline and the second half at my all out pace incline. It wasn’t easy because the incline felt so much higher than normal, but I did my best to make it through. When we had the all out paces at the end of each block, I just stuck with my normal all out pace instead of trying to go a bit higher. Even though I had to take several breaks in the middle of each of the treadmill blocks, I felt much closer to normal than I had in a while. My heart rate wasn’t spiking as often and when it did the spikes weren’t as crazy as they have been. It was such a nice change from having crazy heart rate issues.

The floor work was one long block that had both rowing and work with weights. We started with a 500 meter row. Since I was still recovering from the treadmill, I didn’t really focus too much on what my time was for the row. It was probably close to what I normally do, but I’m not too sure. Then it was on to the weight work which was seated shoulder press to stands with weights, skier swings with weights, single arm rows with weights, plank work, and toe touches. Then it was back to the rower. We were decreasing the rows by 100 meters each time, but my coach wanted me to do things a bit differently. She wanted me to set my rower for a minute and 40 seconds to see how far I could get in that. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do 400 meters and told her that. But she wanted me to see what I would do.

I am so glad she set my rower that way because I ended up surprising myself! I was at 395 meters when the timer stopped and I honestly thought it would take me 2 minutes to do 400 meters! Then it was back to the floor and then back to the rower again. My coach had me do a 70 second row instead of 300 meters and this time I was at 298 meters. While it would have been nice to reach my rowing target in that time, I was more proud of myself for getting so close when I thought there was no way I could do that! The goal was to do enough rounds to get down to a 100 meter row, but I was only on the floor work after the 300 meter row when class ended.

After having an easier time on Wednesday, I was hoping that Friday would be the same. But of course nothing is predictable and I ended up having a bit of a rough day. It was a combination of my heart rate issues and some nausea that started right when I got to class. I started on the treadmill but after noticing during the warmup that I wasn’t feeling ok I moved over to the bike. The class was an endurance, strength, and power class and I decided to take the cardio blocks as seriously as I could on the bike.

During the endurance block, I was using the resistance on the bike that I had done the week before and I was paying much more attention to my cadence so I could make sure that I was doing more during the push and all out paces. I was definitely sweating a lot during this block and it wasn’t just because I wasn’t feeling ok. During the strength block I did work on increasing the resistance a bit more to replicate hills, but I wasn’t doing the resistance as high as I had before as I was focused on my speed. And during the power block I just focused on going as quick as I could to replicate doing an all out pace on the treadmill.

The floor work had 2 regular floor blocks and a row block. In the floor blocks we had single arm rows on the straps, upright rows with weights, side plank pendulums, deadlifts, low rows on the straps, and burpees. When we were supposed to be doing the burpees my nausea was kicking in a bit more so I ended up doing squats with calf raises instead. I didn’t love having to do something instead of burpees, but I knew it was necessary with how I was feeling. And for the row block, we were on the same pattern as the treadmill. Essentially it ended up being a 1 minute row, 90 second row, and 2 minute row. The goal was to be able to do at least 100 meters more each time and I was able to do just a bit better than that.

After the difficulty on Friday, I think I was much more mentally prepared for Saturday. I knew I’d be going on the bike again and I was excited to see how I could improve. The class was a power day and we did have some switching around. We only spent about 6 minutes at a time in one section of the room and we did 2 laps around. On the bike, I really was focused on my cadence and making sure I was getting it up higher for the push and all out paces. This class was the first one where I think I was above 100 RPM for all of the all out paces. It was tough, but it felt really great after because it finally gave me the sense of accomplishment that I think I needed. I’m still figuring how what distance I can do on the bike and how to improve on that, but I know that I’ve been getting slightly faster over the past few weeks.

On the rower, we kind of repeated things for the 2 times we were there. We started with a 90 second push pace and a 30 second all out pace on the rower. Then we had sprint distance rows with some rowing recovery in between. I wasn’t rowing as fast I could, but I was under all the times I usually try to be under so that was good. And on the floor, each time we were there we started with 30 second rounds of squats and plank work. Then we had other things like sit ups to squats on the bench, knee tucks, chest flys, and lunges. And by the time I was done with class, I was exhausted but in the best way.

Considering that going into this past week of workouts I was hoping to find some sense of accomplishment again, I think I’m finally getting closer to being there. I know there will still be struggles (although I’m hoping this will be ending sooner rather than later), but knowing that I can hit some new goals is encouraging me.

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Doing A Transformation Challenge (or Maybe I Need To Change Things Up)

Posted on February 20, 2018 | 1 comment

I’m currently in the middle of a transformation challenge at Orangetheory. This time, the challenge is 8 weeks long instead of 6 weeks and it is the same as how the weight loss challenges worked. You have to work out a minimum of 3 days a week during the challenge and there are official weigh-ins at the beginning, middle, and end of the challenge. Sometimes the winners are based on fat percentage lost, but I think this challenge is based on weight loss (I’m not 100% sure).

I pretty much always sign up for challenges. Most of the time it’s pretty much what I would be doing normally and there is the potential to win. I was in 2nd place during one challenge. And I love having a goal in mind to work toward and having the support of others. Whenever there is a challenge there is always some camaraderie between those in the challenge and we encourage each other.

But this challenge things seem to be different for me. I still get the camaraderie between people in the challenge and I love to support others who are doing in. But my heart doesn’t seem to be in it this time.

I’m definitely struggling with food and weight loss right now. My new medication dosage is helping a lot, but there are other factors I have to consider now. I do still have binge episodes even though they are less severe and less frequent that before. But I also am not able to work out as hard as I used to because of the medication. Also, while I am adjusting to things I am being a bit easier on myself and indulging from time to time on foods I love. I’m not necessarily going crazy, but I’m not on a strict plan either like I have tried during other challenges.

I’m also dealing with massive weight fluctuations right now. I’m guessing these have to do with hormones but I had one week were my weight went up almost 20 pounds and then I went pretty much back down to where I was. That is frustrating when I am trying to see if I have made any progress. And when I try to use things that aren’t the scale to see progress, like clothing, I have issues when I am bloating and none of my clothes fit. I wanted to have a breakdown the other day when everything in my closet was too small even though I know it shouldn’t be that way. But then a few days later the bloat went away and everything fit again.

I don’t think it is bad for my mental health to be in this challenge, but it can’t be great that I am currently focused so much on the challenge. If I just tried my best and wasn’t focused on numbers and food, I think I would be a lot happier. And now that I’m halfway done with this challenge, I think that’s exactly what I’m going to try to do. I will still track food like I have in the past because the way I track food isn’t numbers-based. And I’m still going to make my best efforts to do what I know I should be doing.

But at the same time, I’m not going to be tracking my weight anymore. I’m taking a vacation from the scale. This will only be a temporary vacation because I do like having the scale to help keep me accountable, but right now I don’t think it is the best thing for me. If I feel like I need to step on the scale to see what it says, I will do it. But I’m not going to obsess about weighing myself every day and tracking it. Eventually I will be tracking my weight again, but I think I want to start over with a fresh slate on weight tracking so I don’t see the recent fluctuations.

I really doubt this plan will help me win the transformation challenge, but that’s not really a focus of mine. The only time I thought I might win is when I was doing the cleanse at the same time as the challenge. That was awesome and I’m glad I did it, but I can’t put myself into that same obsessive mindset again. There are so many other things I need to focus on right now outside of this challenge and I need the mental freedom to do so. And if I happen to place in this challenge, that would be awesome. But I think I’ll be much happier assuming I won’t place and just seeing what I can do over these last 4 weeks.

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Default ThumbnailWeight Loss Challenge Time (or Not Worrying About Winning) Default ThumbnailIt’s Not Really A Transformation Challenge Fail (or Trying To Be Less Competitive With Myself) Default ThumbnailSkipping A Transformation Challenge (or This Was An Easy Choice For Me) Default ThumbnailStarting The Year With A Lot Of Transformation (or Who Will I Be By Next Year?) Default ThumbnailGetting Weighed In (or A New Orangetheory Challenge) Default ThumbnailEnding My Challenge Early (or I Guess I Made A Mistake)

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Settling Into A New Normal (or Seeing This As A New Beginning)

Posted on February 19, 2018 | Comments Off on Settling Into A New Normal (or Seeing This As A New Beginning)

This past week of workouts was pretty standard. I am feeling more and more normal with the restrictions that I’ve been dealing with and they aren’t as frustrating as they have been in the past. I think I’ve gotten myself more into a mindset of this being a new beginning and seeing where I can improve versus trying to get back to where I used to be. For all I know, even when I’m more back to how I was before it still can be very different. Maybe my running endurance will be better or I can run faster. I have no idea what will happen when I’m doing more running and now I am just focusing on getting myself ready to run again in the future.

Monday’s workout was a power day that had a switch format. And since this was a 3 group class that meant I was only at each section of the room for about 4 minutes before switching. I had been debating if I should use the bike instead of the treadmill because my legs were a bit tired from Disneyland, but since this was the format of the class I decided the treadmill would be a good choice. I would work on my walking endurance and see what I’m able to do. And even though I struggled a bit on the treadmill with my heart rate acting up, I think I did pretty great! Each of the 3 times I was on the treadmill was the same plan. We had a 1 minute push pace, a 1 minute base pace, a 1 minute push pace, and a 1 minute all out pace. I ended up treating the last 2 minutes as a 2 minute push pace with keeping my incline at 6%, but I was able to follow the plan pretty close to what we should have been doing.

Each of the 3 times I was on the rower, we had a similar plan. Each of the 4 minute blocks started with a 2 minute row for distance. The goal was to get over 400 meters and the first time I did it I did manage to do that. The second and third time I did it wasn’t as great, but I also know I was tired. After each of the 2 minute rows for distance we had a minute to recover and then we had work with weights for 1 minute. The first time we had overhead presses, the second time we had goblet squats, and the last time we had squats with overhead presses. And each time I used a 15 pound weight. And on the floor we had 2 blocks of body weight work like mountain climbers, plank jacks, and lunges. And we also had a block where we were using weights on the Bosu for pullovers. I was glad that each rotation I was on the floor because it did give me a little bit of a break so that when I went back to the treadmill I was ready to go again. I was really worried that the workout on Monday was going to struggle from being at Disneyland the day before (instead of going to Disneyland after a workout), but I was pretty proud to see that wasn’t the case and I had a pretty decent workout!

Wednesday was Valentine’s Day and there was a special partner workout that day. But it was also a 3 group workout so it was a 3 partner workout (I would have guessed Valentine’s Day would have been 2 partners). I ended up being partnered with 2 of the front desk staff which made me pretty happy. Partner workouts can be competitive a bit and I knew having staff in my group would help make it a bit less competitive and they would be much more understanding if the switches took longer.

The workout was 2 long blocks each with a similar format. Both times whoever was on the treadmill was the pacer and they did .4 miles on the treadmill (since I was walking I did .2 miles). And in both blocks the rower was similar with them rowing 200 meters with a medicine ball move between the rounds of rowing. The first block was power jacks and the second block was squat raises. The first block on the floor had lunges, bench hop overs, and toe reaches. And the second block had chest flys, bicep curls, and tricep extensions.

Even though I was worried about being slow on the treadmill and making our switches take longer, I think all 3 of us were pretty equal on treadmill time. I know I didn’t row as much as my partners did when they were on the rower, but as a team we weren’t too worried about being competitive with how much we rowed during the entire block. And usually with partner workouts I’m extra tired because there isn’t really a break between things. This time, I did take the rowing and floor sections a bit slower and that seemed to help me in not needing as many breaks. Usually I’m trying to rush through things and do the most I can, but it was a nice change to not feel that pressure on myself.

Friday’s workout was one that was designed to test a benchmark. We used to have Peak Performance Week, but that isn’t happening anymore. Instead, we are going to have benchmark workouts a few times a year for each benchmark to see how we improve. This will be nice because it will be spread out a bit more, but I think I might miss the hardcore nature of Peak Performance Week. Friday’s workout was a benchmark workout for the 200 meter row and before class I checked my records for my previous PR to hopefully be able to beat it.

I started on the treadmill but our first block was pretty easy because we were just warming up for the rower. When it was my turn to do my row, I really felt like I was rowing faster and harder than I had before. But unfortunately, I was about 2 seconds off of my PR. But in non-PR accomplishments, I did a row so hard that I knocked over my water bottle so hard that when it fell the lid came off and leaked, so that was something.

After that challenge, we got back to more normal workout patterns. On the treadmill it was longer push paces with base paces between. I was having a bad hip day (it’s been a while since I had a bad hip day like this one) so I was walking a bit slower than normal while trying to keep my inclines normal. I did take a ton of breaks on the treadmill and debated about going over to the bike, but whenever I had that feeling the block was about to end and I decided to stick it out.

On the floor, each of the rest of the blocks started with a 200 meter row. We had the opportunity to see if we could beat our first time but I never was able to do so. I know that some of the slowing down was due to being tired but I know that it was also a bit because of my hip and the pain I was feeling while pushing back on the rower. After that row on each block, we had power moves on the floor. Those included single arm snatches, lunge work, pull ups on the straps, plank kick throughs, froggers, and power push ups. I was taking more breaks than normal on the floor, but I made it through each block with the best of my ability.

Saturday’s workout was a bit more successful than Friday’s. I knew going into class that I was going to be on the bike instead of the treadmill. It was a strength workout and I took advantage of being on the bike and using harder gears. Whenever the treadmills had incline work, I bumped up the gears more than I would normally do for a push or all out pace. I ended up being able to do a minute on the 13th gear (normally I don’t go above the 10th gear) and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! I also focused on my cadence steady during the push and all out paces and keeping it higher than I probably have in the past. Doing those few things made the bike a lot harder than I’m used to, but that made me so happy!

I was on the floor next where we had 2 blocks. The first block had low rows with weights and alternating chest presses with weights. It also had 2 moves with the new fitness bands we have in class. Both of those were moves where the bands were around our wrists which was an interesting twist. In the other classes, we had only used them on our legs. First we had low rows on the straps with the band around our wrists to focus on keeping our arms at shoulder distance (I really felt that on the outsides of my arms!). Then we had plank work using the bands while we walked our hands out and in. I really liked using the bands on my wrists because they didn’t twist as much as they do on my legs. But I also liked just having something different to work on. And the second block on the floor was hammer curls and ab work.

And I ended on the rower where in the first block we started with a 500 meter row followed by 10 ground to press with a medicine ball. I wanted my row to be under 2:15 and I was able to do it in 2:12! Next was a 400 meter row and I did that in 1:47 which was a bit longer than I wanted to do. And in the second block we followed the treadmill pattern so we had a 2 minute row for distance, a 1 minute row for distance, and a 30 second row for distance with breaks between each row. I hit the minimum for each of the rows which is all I can ask for sometimes at the end of a class.

Reflecting back on this past week of workouts and how I just wrote about it, I feel like I’m being so much more positive about my workouts than I have been in the recent weeks. I’m not letting my setbacks really be setbacks any more and I’m really focused on what I have been doing well. I really hope this will be the trend for me while I figure out what I can do and what is still going to take a bit longer before I can try again. It really is more fun when you are happy with your workout than when you are feeling frustrated and disappointed.

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Default ThumbnailFeeling More Back To Normal (or A Good Week Of Hell Week Prep) Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailFeeling Better About My Progress (or Coming Back From The Dri-Tri) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My 8 Week Challenge (or The End Is Really Just The Beginning) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Normal Workouts (or Balancing Hard Work And Taking It Easy) Default ThumbnailTransitioning Back To Normal (or Going Slow)

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Learning More Patience (or Figuring Out Where I Can Succeed)

Posted on February 12, 2018 | Comments Off on Learning More Patience (or Figuring Out Where I Can Succeed)

This past week of workouts were up and down for me. I really thought I’d be doing better with my medication but I also ended up allowing myself to feel ok with doing what I can do. I feel a bit lackluster in some of what I was doing because I keep comparing myself to what I was doing recently. But I think if I wasn’t comparing myself against that version of myself and maybe focused on comparing to where I was in the beginning to where I am now I could be happier. But the struggle is real and I am really working on accepting it.

Monday’s workout was a strength based workout. I wanted to use the treadmill (even with having to do inclines), but I was dealing with some random and unexpected nausea that morning. I debated about using a treadmill, but I knew that walking would probably make me feel worse so I ended up on the bike. But because I’ve used the bike a lot lately, I decided to try to do things a bit harder than normal. There were two blocks on each section and for the cardio it was a pretty similar pattern with a push pace, a base pace at an incline, and a push and all out pace at an incline. With the bike, you use heavier gears to replace incline so I tried to make my gears higher than I normally do with the regular push and all out paces on the bike. I did end up at a gear that made it really tough to keep going, but I was able to keep my wattage up on the bike which is what my coach emphasized I should be focusing on for my workout.

Next I was on the rower and finally my nausea was starting to go away. The first block on the rower was rounds of 500 meter rows with some rest between each round. I don’t know if my rower was acting weird or I was just having a bad rowing day but all of my 500 meter rows were taking longer than they normally do. I was trying to go at it a bit harder, but I wasn’t able to get my time to what I’m used to. But with the second block, we had 250 meter rows with bicep curls using the rower handles between each row. And with that block, I was able to get my rowing to be just a bit longer than normal. But that it to be expected when I’m getting tired so I was feeling much better about the rowing. And I ended class on the floor. The first block was chest presses, lunges, and plank work. I was using some pretty heavy weight with my chest presses which made up for not using weights in my lunges in my head. And the last block was using the workout bands for hip bridges and plank side leg lifts. I put the bands lower on my legs this time (which made things much harder) and I did much better with the bands. They were still twisting a bit, but not nearly as bad as the first time I used them. And I’m sure that in time I will get more and more used to using them and will get better at it.

Wednesday’s workout was an endurance, strength, and power day. This was after I talked with my therapist about my medication and I felt much better about taking things easy. I still didn’t like doing it, but it seems like it’s not just an issue I’m having. And while it is frustrating having this issue last longer than I expected, it does help to know that my doctor thinks I’m doing the right thing and it’s ok to ease back into normal workout endurance. And as much as I wanted to try to run during the power block, I held back. And I knew I needed to because even walking at my normal speed was spiking my heart rate. During the strength block, I didn’t go too high with my inclines but I did work with them. I wish I had more interesting things to say about my treadmill work, but it seems like this might be the trend for a little bit longer.

On the floor we had one long block and I really enjoyed it. We had 1 rep of 5 different moves that were supposed to be done as a single movement. We had a deadlift, a low row, an upright row, a squat, and a shoulder press. I could have gone heavier with my weight for the deadlift, but because we were supposed to use the same weight for the entire circuit I used my normal deadlift weight (which was heavier than normal for the rest of the moves). After doing 6 rounds of that, we had 6 burpees and then ab work before we went to the rower. Then it was back to the floor to do it all over again. It was a challenge to do those 5 moves as a single movement, but it was a good challenge to have and I was really focused on my posture and form during the entire thing.

Friday’s workout was a special partner day for the Olympics. On cardio we were supposed to have teams of 4, but with my group there were 10 people so they did 2 groups of 4 and 1 group of 2. My friend Grace and I volunteered to be the group of 2. We thought it would be good because we were both stressed about letting a team down and knew we would be fine not worrying about that with each other. But it turns out having our group of 2 actually made things harder for us! It was a run/row format with 1 person on the rower setting the pace and the rest of the team on treadmills. When the first partner was done with the row, they tagged the next person and they rowed (and the first partner went to a treadmill). They went through all the partners this way. But because Grace and I were on our own, we were just tagging each other. So we had much less rest time between rowing than the other groups. In the end I was just taking my 30 seconds on the treadmill to catch my breath and drinking water, but I tried to do a bit of walking each time I was on there.

Once the partner workout was done, we were on the floor for the second half of class and it was much more of a standard format without the partner work. The first block was speed skater lunges, shoulder work with weights, and running men. The second block was skier squats with weights, regular squats, and sit ups. And the last block was Y raises on the straps, pop jacks, running men, and sit ups. The floor work was so tough after the cardio, but I tried to limit my breaks. But I was definitely feeling done mid-way through the floor work and I know that I wasn’t doing my best in class.

Saturday’s workout is where I feel like I turned things around. I could have used the treadmill, but I decided to use the bike. I was thinking about how when I started doing 4 workouts a week that I set the 4th workout to be on the bike. And I worked hard on the bike each time. But lately I have looked at the bike as a second choice, and while I have been working on it I knew I wasn’t working as hard as I could. It was an endurance based workout with 3 groups so I was on the bike for the first 15 minutes of class. We had longer push paces with base paces after each and I really focused on pushing myself on the bike. I wasn’t using as high of resistance on it so I could focus on pedaling faster. And it seemed to work because it felt like the hardest bike workout I’ve ever done! I’m thinking I should probably use the bike once a week or so while I’m getting over this medication issue and I bet it’s going to benefit me when I’m back to running.

Next I was on the floor where we had 2 blocks. We had upright rows with weights, bicep curls, and high rows on the straps in the first block. And in the second block we had squat low rows with weights, side plank pendulums, and lateral lunges. And I ended on the rower where we had decreasing rows with lunges between. We started with an 800 meter row and I managed to get within 5 seconds of my PR! Not bad for the end of a workout! I didn’t do quite as well with the 600 meter row but I did PR by 2 seconds on my 400 meter row which was the last thing I did in class! It’s pretty tough to do that well when I had been working so hard during the rest of class, so I was pretty impressed with myself.

The beginning of the week was a bit of a frustration, but I did come to the realization that I could focus on things I can do and try to not think about what I’m struggling with. And by the end of the week I was able to create new goals and accomplishments for myself which was awesome! I do still want to get back to running and that is going to be a focus of mine, but I’m continuing to practice patience and I think it’s finally starting to kick in.

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Default ThumbnailA Week Full Of Rowing (or Figuring Out What I Can Do When Nauseous) Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Progress And Practicing Patience (or Having Some Good Challenges) Default ThumbnailLearning How To Maximize My Injury (or Feeling More Normal) Default ThumbnailExtra Running Time (or Figuring Out What I Can Do) Default ThumbnailSetbacks and Goals (or Still Figuring Out What’s Next)

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Fitness and Nutrition (or Reminding Myself Of The Basics)

Posted on February 6, 2018 | Comments Off on Fitness and Nutrition (or Reminding Myself Of The Basics)

About 2 months ago, I shared how I was invited to be a part of the Runner’s Fit and Fueled course. I was so excited to be starting my year off the right way and to learn more about proper nutrition when it comes to fitness. I have studied nutrition a lot (many people with eating disorders know a ton about nutrition and food) but I was worried about how I would do when my fitness level was likely lower than what the others in the group were at.

But now that the official course time is over, I can say that I had nothing to worry about! The others in our private Facebook group were very supportive and most of the focus was on nutrition and not fitness. That was a big relief because I didn’t want to feel like I couldn’t do what was being taught because of my fitness level.

And I had every intention of doing this 4 week course exactly as it was set out and reading each of the lessons and watching the videos as soon as they came out. But of course, best intentions don’t always happen that way. Life took over and I wasn’t able to do the 4 week course when it was all released. I was feeling a bit frustrated because I wanted to do this as my first month of the year, but if I had done that I wouldn’t have been able to give it my full attention and I knew that I needed to do that.

Fortunately, this course wasn’t restricted to just the 4 weeks that it was happening. The Facebook group is still there and I can view any of the videos whenever I want. And I know that I will be wanting to go back to the videos a few times because I know that things will connect with me at different times. And I have all the handouts downloaded on my computer as well. And I have a feeling those handouts are going to be something I use for a while.

What I loved about the way this was taught was something I wasn’t expecting. Because this is a course for runners, there are days that are your hard run days and days that are your easy run days. And of course you also have rest days. And the nutrition was broken down into what to eat for each of those days to maximize what you are doing. For example, what to eat before and after a long run to help your body work at its most efficient. Or what to eat on a rest day to not mess up all the hard work that you put into things on the other days.

While I don’t necessarily have hard or easy run days, I do have days where I have a workout and days when I don’t. And I can look at workout days as hard days and days off as easy or rest days. Each of those types of days has sample meal plans to use with different options. And as someone who struggles with meal planning, this is an amazing resource for me! Some of the things in the meal plan are things I already eat, some are things I have eaten in the past and kind of forgotten about, and others are things I wouldn’t think of as a meal option. So I’ve been going through the meal plans and seeing the best way to implement them in my life.

While the plan has some elements of carb cycling, it’s not necessarily that. It’s more about eating what will make your body work the most efficient way possible and making sure that all your nutrition needs are met. There are so many diet ideas out right now and I’ve been checking out a few of them. But it’s been overwhelming. The Runner’s Fit and Fueled course seems to be more about the idea of getting back to good and wholesome foods and not fitting into a certain diet plan or hitting certain macros each day.

I know that I’m going to keep referring back to everything in this course for a while. While it may seem like basic nutritional information, for me it was almost a reminder that sometimes a meal plan doesn’t need to be something crazy or elaborate. It can just be filled with good options that will help you work out and keep you full. I don’t need to stress about getting into a certain mindset or tracking things like crazy. I just need to get back to basics and make sure that I pay attention to what my body is saying.

If you are interested in doing this course (and I recommend it for anyone who has a regular fitness routine), there will be another round starting on March 5th. I feel like this course really did help me get into a better mindset about what I want to do with food and how I feel about fueling myself. And I hope that if any of you are looking to learn more about nutrition and how it affects how you work out that you will sign up! And you can use the promo code BOMBSHELL to get $5 off!

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Still Managing My Expectations (or Still Able To Surprise Myself)

Posted on February 5, 2018 | Comments Off on Still Managing My Expectations (or Still Able To Surprise Myself)

It was another workout week of needing to take things a bit easier. It is frustrating because I will feel so ready to be pushing myself when I walk into the workout and then as soon as I start it I feel like I can’t do it. This is something I do need to talk to my doctor about when we have our phone call because I don’t know if maybe I do need to go back to a slightly lower dose. I don’t want to have to struggle with my workouts like this for a long time because I can feel my progress slipping, especially with my running. But even with those issues, I did still manage to kick some butt this past week.

Monday was an endurance based workout. I had to start on the rower and I knew it would be a tough workout because it was my first morning workout on the new dosage. The rower I was on was acting up (for example it said I did under 200 meters in 3 minutes when it should have been more like 600 meters), but that might have been the best for me. I knew I was struggling on the rower and not knowing how much I was really struggling was helping me not feel as horrible about it. We had timed and distance rows, but for the distance rows I just rowed for the time it should take me to complete them. For example, the 200 meter row would have been probably about 3.5 minutes according to the glitchy rower, but normally that takes me about a minute. So I rowed for a minute.

Next I was on the floor. The first block was a pretty standard block. We had deadlifts, pull overs, and single arm rows using the weights. But the second block was when things got interesting. Orangetheory just started using strength bands in the workouts and Monday’s workout was the introduction of them.

I’ve used workout bands in the past, but not anytime recently and my experience with them was limited. For this workout, we had weighted squats, squat walks, and ab twists using the bands. I struggled with the bands, especially getting them on me without them twisting and feeling uncomfortable. I figured out that I could use them lower on my legs (which would make it a big harder, but that could be good) and I wouldn’t have struggled as much. But I tried my best and I’m looking forward to using the bands again.

And I was on cardio last and I was feeling pretty exhausted by then. I also knew I’d be going to Disneyland after the workout so I stuck with being on the bike. I’m glad I went with the bike because we had 5 minute distance challenges. If I was on the treadmill, I probably would have tried to run and possibly hurt myself. But since I don’t really have an idea of what I can do in 5 minutes on the bike, the pressure was off a bit. For the first distance challenge I did 2 miles on the bike and for the second one I did 2.1 miles so I was happy with the small improvement between the two attempts.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day. It was a bit frustrating to still not be able to run especially because when I got to class I was so sure I’d be working on running. But even walking was getting my heart rate up pretty high so I had to stick with walking. All the blocks were 4.5 minutes long and they were all pretty much the same pattern with a push pace, base pace, and push to all out pace. I was doing my normal walking speed and inclines and I tried not to focus on my desire to run. By the way, the fact that I have a desire to run is still a bit of a novelty for me and I think it’s pretty funny.

Things were more back to normal when I was on the floor. Again, all the blocks were 4.5 minutes long so things moved pretty quickly. The first block was full thrusters using weights and plank low rows using weights. The second block was snatches with weights and plank Spiderman. The third block was the toughest for me because it had full burpees but the other move was squat reverse fly with weights which was a nice break from burpees. And the last block was rounds of 100 meter rows with skier swings. With the rowing, I was able to get my wattage up pretty high, but I still couldn’t PR which was a bit frustrating. You’d think by having the best wattage on the rower I would get a better time, but it wasn’t happening that day.

Friday’s workout was a struggle for so many reasons that I’m just glad I survived. First, I was still dealing with adjusting to the new medication dosage. Also, I was dealing with horrible craps and nausea. And finally I ate too much at lunch that day (my friend Dani brought sandwiches over and we were hanging out before the workout). All of those things combined just made the day so difficult. It was an endurance day and I really didn’t think much about it. I just tried to get through it. There were 3 blocks on the treadmill and they all had longer push paces with going back to base paces. I was able to do my normal speed and inclines, but I did have to take a ton of breaks in the middle of each block.

On the floor the first block was a longer one. We started with an 800 meter row (I was done in just under 4 minutes) and then we had a bunch of exercises. Those included chest presses on the straps, lateral lunges, side plank leg raises, and sit-ups. Then it was a 400 meter row and the same exercises again. I was just getting through the exercises again before time on that block was done. Then we had a quick block with static lunges, bicep curls on the straps, and bicycle curls. The floor work was a bit better for me than the treadmill, but it was still a bit of a struggle.

Saturday’s workout was an endurance, strength, and power workout and it was a 3 group workout as well. I was still feeling off when I got to the class, so I used the bike instead of the treadmill. Each block started with a longer push pace and then had decreasing push paces with base paces in-between. With the bike, I’m not as familiar with my abilities (although I should be) so I don’t know if I was doing more than I normally could. I was getting my heart rate up and I was sweating, so I figured that was pretty good.

Next I was on the rower. We started with a longer row and then we had sprint rows with medicine ball squats in-between. We were doing 100 meter sprints and I decided to see if I could PR. I hadn’t checked my records before class, but I was pretty sure I knew what my best was. I had my coach stand on my rower (sometimes when you go really hard the rower can jump a bit) and I rowed what felt like the hardest I had ever rowed. I was really disappointed when I was done because I was sure it wasn’t a PR. But I knew it was my best average wattage for a 100 meter row so I took a photo of it for my records.

To my surprise, when I got home and checked my records, I actually did PR! I took 4/10ths of a second off of my 100 meter row! I wish I had known that in class because I think I would have been happier with things instead of feeling annoyed that I couldn’t PR even with trying the hardest I could. I’m glad the hard work did pay off though! And I finished up on the floor where the first block was clean to press with weights, triceps with weights, and half squat swings. And the last block was a core blast with sit-ups and superman extensions.

I know I’ve said this the past month or so, but I don’t know how much longer I will need in this adjustment period. I know that my workouts are suffering a bit because of this but it will be worth it in the end. I’m working on my patience with myself and it does seem like it’s paying off in my strength and rowing work. And hopefully soon enough it will be paying off in my cardio and I’ll be back to running.

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Another Week Of Taking It Easy (or Feeling Strong While Not Working As Hard)

Posted on January 29, 2018 | 1 comment

Even though I’m continuing to increase my medication and it’s affecting my workouts, I’m starting to get used to having to be a bit easier on myself. It’s not easy to do it because I always do want to push myself, but I’m more accepting that this is a temporary issue and that I’ll be done with increasing my medications soon and I’ll get used to this new dosage.

Monday was a bit of a tough workout for me. It was the first time on the increased dosage that I had a morning workout (which meant I worked out about 90 minutes after taking my medications) and I really felt it. It was a strength based workout so I was fine with walking on the treadmill. And since it was a 3 group class, I was only on the treadmill for about 1/3 of the class and not 1/2 of the class. I was able to do my normal speed and kept my inclines at my normal inclines. I did have to take more breaks than normal, but overall I was pretty happy with myself.

On the rower the first block was decreasing rows starting at 500 meters with bicep curls using the rower between each round. My times were never that great, but they weren’t that horrible. I did have to take some breaks on this rowing block because of my heart rate going up too high, but it wasn’t anything unmanageable. The second block on the rower followed the same pattern as the second block on the treadmill with doing base, push, and all out paces. The idea was to not stop rowing for the entire block (which was about 5 minutes) and to get to 1100 meters. By the end of the block, I was just at 1100 meters. And on the floor we had squats with weights, triceps with weights, knee tucks using the ab dolly, lunges with weights, hamstring work, and roll outs on the ab dolly.

Wednesday was the first day on a higher dosage of Vyvanse (and what should be the dosage I’m sticking with so hopefully the last increase). It was difficult being on the higher dosage and my body felt it. I dealt with a little bit of light-headedness (I don’t think I drank enough water before class either) and my heart rate was getting super high. I knew that this would happen on the first day of the new dosage but expecting it didn’t stop me from being a bit frustrated at times that I wished I could be doing more. The treadmill format would have been a good one for me to do some running in normal circumstances, but I had to stick with walking. I did my normal speed but only used 4% and 6% inclines.

The floor was one long block. We had sumo squats, skier swings, triceps on the straps, push up to plank jacks, and knee tucks. And after doing all of that we had rowing. The first row was 1200 meters and I managed to do it in 5:45 and didn’t have to take any breaks. That seemed like a huge accomplishment considering how I was feeling. I then had the second round of the moves on floor and then a 600 meter row. This was at the very end of class and my rowing wasn’t my normal speed or intensity. I had to take a few breaks and just as I finished the row class ended so I never made it to a third round on the floor.

Friday ended up being a much better day than Wednesday. I was feeling more adjusted to the new dosage and the workout was a partner day so that helped to keep me motivated and focused. My friend Grace was in class that day so she was my partner. It had a bit of an odd format, but I liked it. Blocks 1 and 2 were the exact same thing. One partner was on the rower and one was on the treadmill. The person who started on the treadmill was the pace setter and did .25 miles on the treadmill (I walked so I did .13 miles) and then tagged the person on the rower. Then they rowed 400 meters and tagged the person on the treadmill. The other partner just ran and rowed for distance. One of us was the pace setter for the first block and the other was the pace setter for the second block.

After those blocks, we had the last block that lasted about half of class. It was a bit more complicated but basically the partner on the treadmill or rower was the pace setter while the other partner on the floor did exercises until they were tagged (so we rotated throughout the block who set the pace). The floor exercises were squat thrusters, upright rows, froggers, high rows on the straps, and mountain climbers. The pacer had .5 miles on the treadmill to start (I walked .25 miles). The next round was 800 meters on the rower. And the last round was .16 miles on the treadmill (.08 for me) and a 260 meter row. Grace and I each were able to complete all the cardio portions before time was called which was awesome! I didn’t want to be the slacker partner and I think that I was able to hold my own.

Saturday’s workout was a bit more like Wednesday’s. I was struggling a bit with the medication dosage and I felt it in the workout. So I just took things nice and easy and did my best. And it helped again that it was a 3 group class. I started on the treadmill where we had rounds of push paces that decreased as the block went on. I was at my normal speed and used all my normal inclines. I was tempted a few times to try running for the 30 second all out paces, but I knew that this was just the beginning of the workout and I didn’t want to overdo it.

Next I was on the floor where we had 2 blocks. The first block was weighted lunges, plank work, good mornings to tricep kickbacks with weights, and pop jacks. The second block had squat jumps, side plank hip dips, squat jacks, and sit ups. And I was on the rower last where we started with a 200 meter row followed by 10 squat jacks. Then it was a 30 second all out row followed by 10 squat jacks. Then 15 pulls on the rower followed by 10 squat jacks. Then we started back at the top again with the 200 meter row but had 15 squat jacks between each rowing segment. I took quite a few breaks and none of my rowing was what I know I could do, but it was the end of the workout plus I was dealing with everything else.

I’ve debated if I should have gone down to 3 workouts a week instead of 4 while I was adjusting to new medication dosages, but I’m glad I didn’t. I did struggle at times but I like staying in this good habit. And now that my dosage won’t be increasing again, I can focus on getting things back to normal and being able to do my workouts the way I want. It still may take another week or two, but I know I’ll get back there eventually.

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Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailRowing And Partners (or Enjoying A 4 Workout Week) Default ThumbnailA Week Of Progress (or Feeling More Like Me) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Pushing Through (or Feeling Strong Before Feeling Sick) Default ThumbnailShort and Sweet Workout Week (or Taking It A Bit Easy) Default ThumbnailWorking Through Physical Challenges (or Not Letting Feeling Bad Ruin My Workouts)

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