week in training + yoga flow for focus (video)
Apparently, when faced with extra time I like to pretend I’m an Olympic hopeful. Training has honestly driven me through most of my quarantine days, and this trend remained last week. Lots of cycling and building mileage squished in between too many days baking baguette. Thankfully, the bread’s been delicious and J and I have no problem snarfing it down.
This week’s yoga flow is all about regaining concentration and loosening muscles knotted from a long day at the desk. Work from home is familiar to some and new to others, but the general population can probably agree that deskwork wreaks havoc on the neck, back, and hip muscles. Thankfully, yoga can help correct these postural imbalances and soothe achy areas no matter how long you’ve hunched over a workstation.
Week of workouts immediately follows, and the sequence thereafter – enjoy!
Monday, 4/6: 3.45 miles, 11:13 pace + 100 Squat Challenge + 27.23 miles, 15.6 mph cycling (105 minutes)
Full day of workouts, all completed before noon, though all I wanted was snoozes for the remaining hours. On the run I witnessed a playful dolphin in the bay! Hit a 10:59 mile and negative splits overall, and the leg is showing continual strengthening and better endurance. I performed 10 squat variations for 10 reps each based off my squat video, and planked for 3 minutes to get my core revved a bit.
I wasn’t really motivated for life all day, so I set aside my task list and worked at a puzzle J and I bought before the real quarantine madness commenced.
Cycling:
- 10 min easy warmup
- 34 min build to zone 3
- 4 x 6 min threshold/3 min easy
- 15 min zone 3
- 10 min easy cooldown
Tuesday, 4/7: 29.7 miles, 14.9 mph cycling (120 minutes) + 60 min pull workout
I quite miss gym access. As much as the dumbbells help my adventure in at-home workouts, I don’t think I’ll see much satisfying progress without adding heavier weights in the mix. Probably doesn’t help that I find resistance training utterly dull and have trouble finding my zen zone with such repetitive movements.
Morning bike ride was nice and largely even-paced with some 1-2 minute climbs mixed in. Grew quite restless once I finished my final nibble of a Skratch Peanut Butter & Strawberries bar, probably because I didn’t have anything to anticipate for another 30 minutes when my time expired.
Pull workout:
- 100 jumping jack warmup
- 4 x 15 hammer curl to tricep kickback
- 4 x 12 deadlift
- 4 x 15 shoulder shrugs
- 4 x 15 weighted Warrior 3 knee ups
- 3 x 18 biceps curls to upright rows
- 3 x 15 TRX biceps curls
- 4 x 15 TRX low row
- 4 x 20 dumbbell swings
- 4 x 30 X toe taps
- 4 x 30 bicycle crunch
- 4 x 15 inner thigh lifts
- 4 x 20 hover toe taps
Wednesday, 4/8: 4.21 miles, 11:23 pace + 33.61 miles, 15.5 mph cycling (130 minutes)
90% humidity during the run – days are showing increasing heat indices and I am not thrilled about what a month from now might bring. Nonetheless, a beautiful red orb of a sun said hello at the tail end of my constitutional and, as always, it’s a pleasure to get outside.
Pittor intervals left me with a bucket of sweat on the floor, but the workout moved quickly and felt pretty awesome.
Cycling:
- 10 min easy warmup
- 34 min zone 2-3
- 3 x (3x 3 min @ 85RPM/1 min zone 4)
- 10 min steady riding in between sets
- 20 min zone 3
- 10 min easy cooldown
Thursday, 4/9: 3.49 miles, 11:07 pace + 22.93 miles, 15.3 mph cycling (90 minutes)
Stellar-feeling run despite huge humidity and heat. I think I need to start carrying water on my runs to offset subtle dehydration – this might factor in to why my heart rate stays so high. I typically down a tablet of Nuun with caffeine dissolved in a big cup of water beforehand but nothing else, and with the temperatures rising my body awareness needs to, also. Regardless, a good negative split run – a 10:44 mile in there!
Bike ride was a straightforward zone 2-3 effort: 5 warmup, 80 minutes steady, 5 cooldown, and it went smoothly.
Friday, 4/10: 4.34 miles, 10:58 pace + 62 min push/leg strength
Negative split run with two miles well into the 10s! 11:37, 11:08, 10:42, and 10:25. Calf felt almost normal, and I think from now forth I can ditch the brace and run just with my ProCompression knee-highs as support.
Lower body and push workout felt brutally hard and so hot – Pittor and our weights live in J’s office – but I got it done.
Push/Leg Day
- 100 jumping jack warmup
- 3 x 15 sumo squat to overhead press
- 4 x 8 proper pushups
- 4 x 12 goblet squats
- 4 x 15 kneeling one-arm press/10 front raises
- 4 x 18 weighted calf raise
- 4 x 16 one-arm clean and press/10 jump squats
- 4 x 16 TRX pushups
- 4 x 15 TRX lunge-knee drives (per leg)
- :65 wall sit
- 3 x 18 standing clamshells
- :70 wall sit
- 3 min plank
- 3 x 30 plank butt-ups
- 2 min plank
Saturday, 4/11: 49.11 miles, 15.1 mph (195 min) long ride
I am utterly proud of this ride. I started out pretty sluggish but convinced myself to take it minute by minute, reminded my tricky brain that I usually take awhile to warm up during longer efforts. After the first hour, as promised, I breezed into a steady, comfortable pace, and all four of my main endurance blocks decreased in time as my speed picked up. Threw in 4 sets of 5 x :30 threshold to re-engage my brain and add variety, though none of the intervals were too stressful. These big rides are starting to feel more manageable as I reel in my pacing strategy AND my fueling. I drank a ton of liquids during this session and that above all helped maintain my energy level, I think. Good food with caffeine to munch doesn’t hurt either.
Before: 1 tablet Nuun Ginger Lemonade dissolved in water
During: 1 Clif Caramel Macchiato bar + 1 Clif Dark Chocolate Mocha bar (both with equivalent of 1 shot of espresso), 1 bottle of pain water + 1 bottle water with two tablets of Nuun Sport Fresh Lime
Sunday, 4/12 (Happy Easter!): 6.32 miles, 11:17 pace + 25 min core strength
Breezy morning for an awesome negative split long run! I fell from 11:32 to 10:51 splits and kept my heart rate at 160 BPM average. I REALLY thank my better hydration for these steadier efforts: I carried a good sized water bottle and sipped every 1/2 mile or so, which rendered it empty by the end of the workout. So good!
Straightforward core circuit followed. 4 rounds of the following:
- :90 plank
- 10 pushups
- 15 plank hip dips, R
- 20 banded leg drops
- 15 plank hip dips, L
- 10 pushups
Burnout of 3 x 50 flutter kicks/50 scissor kicks to end my quick mat session.
Total Mileage: 21.81
Total Bike Mileage: 162.58
Focus Flow
