My final week of workouts for 2023 wasn’t my normal workout week. On Monday the studios were closed because of the holiday. And Tuesday had reduced hours since it was the day after Christmas. The reduced hours meant none of the class times would work with my work schedule, and since I wasn’t going to take the day off after having a day off, I just had to miss that day. But I still got in my Wednesday and Thursday workout, plus I got a workout in on Sunday for New Year’s Eve!
I knew this past week was going to be a tough week with pain and nausea, but I kind of got lucky and the worst day of the week for me was on Tuesday. Tuesday was pretty brutal for me and I was struggling a lot while I was working, but at least I didn’t have to go through feeling like that and working out. So it was probably for the best. I still wasn’t feeling great on Wednesday or Thursday, but at least those days were better for me.
And Thursday’s workout was a day I wanted to feel as close to normal as possible. First, it was a signature workout day. We had Everest, which is always a big challenge to get through and I wanted to see if I could get close to my past PR. But also, Thursday’s workout was my 200th class of 2023! In past years, I have gotten to my year’s workout goal a little bit faster than I did this time. But as I mentioned in my last post, I had a few things that set me back in and cut into my workout plans. But at least I got to my goal before the end of the year!
Everest went a lot better than I had expected. I was able to pedal a lot faster than normal for the beginning of the climb which added to my distance. As the incline/resistance levels went up, I did slow down quite a bit. That always happens and that is why I work hard at going quickly in the beginning. As the incline/resistance levels went down, I really focused on my pedaling speed and making sure I was going faster as the time was counting down. For the 3 group classes, Everest is 14 minutes long, so it wasn’t any longer than I normally am on the bike. But I knew that any breaks I might take could ruin my chances of getting close to my past PR so I pushed myself to try not to take any. I did have to take one quick break when my nausea really kicked in, but that was not that long. And when the challenge was done, I ended up beating my past PR and getting a new one!
I have no clue how I did that, but I also know I might have pushed myself too much because the rest of that class was not nearly as good for me. My nausea was hitting me really hard. But I guess I should be glad I was able to hold off feeling horrible until after the challenge was done!
And my final workout of this week and for this year was on Sunday! I didn’t go too early in the morning since I wanted to sleep in a little bit to stay up for New Year’s Eve. If I didn’t have to work in the morning, I probably would do a slightly later workout since I think my body does better in later classes (but working out after work doesn’t work for me so I have to do early morning classes). I was feeling rested and ready for my last class of 2023 and I had a surprise when I got there. The coach for that class was someone who worked at the Brentwood studio that I hadn’t seen in years! She wasn’t a coach the last time I saw her, so this was my first chance to take a class with her! I had so much fun in that class and it was awesome to see someone I hadn’t seen since much earlier in my fitness journey.
I’m so proud that I was able to get to my workout goal for the year. I don’t think I’ll ever make it higher than 200 classes in a year since going more than 4 times a week is probably pushing it for me. But knowing that I pushed myself 201 times in 2023 is something I am so happy about accomplishing!
Here’s to getting to my workout goal in 2024 and beyond!
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Wrapping Up My 2021 Workouts (or An End To One Year And A Start To Another)
Finishing Up The Last Workout Challenge of 2023 (or Working Around New Issues Again)
Working Out Into The New Year (or The End of My 2015 Workouts And Beginning of My 2016 Workouts)
First Week of Workouts After The Challenge (or Weird Workout Times)
Goal Recap Time! (or Things Didn’t Go Exactly As Planned)
A Normal Week With A PR (or The Break Between Holiday Week Workouts)
