This past week of workouts wasn’t a great one for me. I knew it was potentially going to be bad because of my pain and nausea, and that’s what happened. But I’ve got the Dri–Tri coming up and I want to be as prepared for it as I can be. So I just had to work through how I was feeling and do my best.
Monday’s workout was a partner workout. We had a total of 4 blocks, and 2 of them were partnered ones. It was a good partner day, and I thought it was a good variety for the workout.
For both partner blocks, the rower set the pace and switching. For the first block, the rower rowed 200 meters and then they switched with the partner using cardio. We did that for 10 minutes and didn’t reset the rower the entire time. For the second partner block, the rower rowed for 1 minute before switching. Again, for the full 10 minutes, we didn’t reset the rower. The goal was to try to get more meters rowed in the second block than in the first. My partner and I didn’t quite make it, but we were close.
There was also a regular cardio and regular floor block. For cardio, it was rounds of push to base paces. We started with a 3-minute push and it went down 1 minute each time. The base paces were 1 minute every time. And at the end of the block, we had a 1 minute all out. And on the floor, we had step ups, shoulder presses, and mountain climbers. The regular blocks were a nice break from the constant switching during the partner blocks.
Wednesday’s workout was a strength day. It was also a switch day and we had 2 blocks at each section of the room. I was starting to deal with nausea so it made things a little tough for me. But it did help that it was a switch day so I had a few extra breaks.
Cardio was a lot of hill work. Both blocks were the same. We started with a 1-minute hill, then a 90-second hill, and ended with a 2-minute hill. Between each hill segment we had 45 seconds to recover at a flat incline. I did play around with the resistance levels on the bike, but I didn’t go as high as I would have gone if I was feeling ok. But I still did more than I would have done if we didn’t have hill work.
On the rower, the first block was distance rows with medicine ball squats. We had a 100-meter row, 300-meter row, and 450-meter row. I just got through those when the block ended. And the second block was timed with cardio with doing the rows while the treadmills were doing the hill work and then we were supposed to do the medicine ball squats again while cardio had their recoveries. But I was feeling pretty rotten by that second block so I skipped the squats and just did recovery rowing.
And on the floor, we had a block of upper body work and a block of lower body work. The upper body work block had chest flys, chest presses, and single arm low rows using the weights. And the lower body work block had deadlifts, sumo squats, and plank reaches. I tried to go heavy with the weights as much as I could, but for the upper body work I had to go down to lighter weights because my arms were feeling oddly weak.
Friday’s workout was a benchmark class. We had the 12-minute run/bike for distance. I knew going into the class that I wasn’t going to break a record because my nausea was hitting me really hard. I had a goal idea in my head, but I also set it very low because I knew it would be tough.
My plan for the 12 minute distance challenge was to try to use my usual push resistance level on the bike as long as I could. I only lasted about a minute before I went down to my base resistance level. I was able to stay at my base level the rest of the time and never had to go below that. And I tried to do little intervals of pedaling harder when I wasn’t feeling too sick. That plan ended up working out because I did go further than my goal distance which was nice. I was still pretty far off from my past benchmark distances, but I tried to remember that those were done when I was feeling better.
The rowing block was supposed to be rounds of rowing with either frogger squats or lunges between each row. I don’t usually do the lunges during the rowing blocks and I didn’t feel like doing squats as those have been making my nausea worse lately. So I just spent the entire block rowing and taking breaks when I needed to. It wasn’t my best rowing block (and I’ve got the Dri-Tri soon so that worried me), but I had to keep reminding myself that I was not feeling like myself and I had to go easy.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block. We had bicep curls while balancing on one leg, weighted double crunches, push up to knee tucks on the ab dolly, roll outs on the ab dolly, single arm low rows, and triceps on the straps. I had to make a few modifications with the work. I did the push ups with my hands on the bench and did mountain climbers instead of knee tucks, I did the roll outs on the straps, and I did both arms for the low rows together because my balance was feeling off. I don’t love that I had so many modifications, but at least they felt like they weren’t too off from what we were supposed to do.
Saturday’s workout was an endurance day, and it was designed to be almost like a prep for the Dri-Tri. When the coach asked how many of us were doing the Dri-Tri, I was the only one who said they were doing it. It was pretty funny to see I’m the only one going for it from that class, but I was extra appreciative of the prep class.
Because I wasn’t feeling great, I was cautious about the workout. For cardio, we had 3 blocks that had the same pattern. We had a push pace, base pace, push pace, and all out. The second push pace got longer each block. I was using the resistance levels on the bike, but when we had the all outs I just kept it at my push level and worked on pedaling faster. I had to take breaks from time to time during each block, but I tried my best to push through them because I know I need my endurance to be up a bit for the long bike ride that I’ll have for the Dri-Tri.
On the rower, we were supposed to have long rows and then jumping jacks. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do jumping jacks (I barely can do them when I’m feeling great), so I spend the entire block just rowing. I took breaks when I needed to and I needed to do it a lot. I was having some horrible waves of nausea on the rower and it was getting pretty bad. But I did stick it out and got a lot of rowing practice in.
And on the floor, we had all body weight work. A lot of it was supposed to be done while standing on the bench, and I had to modify them to be done on the floor. With my modifications I had single leg bench sit to stands, single leg reverse lunges while using the straps for balance, lunges with high knees while using the straps for balance, and scissor kick crunches. Just like on the rower, I needed a lot of breaks, but I made it work.
This week, I have the Dri-Tri at the end of the week. Hopefully, my nausea will be done by then, but I know there’s a bit of a chance that it won’t be. But I just have to hope for the best and see what I can do.
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