After much deliberation yesterday, this morning I woke up early and decided to just get on with Hell Week. If I have to take a couple of days break while I’m travelling, then so be it.
First up was Uranos and Krios.
I have a confession about Uranos. I don’t do the running bit. I cycle to work and back every day so get plenty of cardio and I really, really hate running. I did the running in Uranos once, so I know my time. I just set the workout going and do the warm up during the time when I would be running. Naughty, I know. And I also know that cycling and running use very different muscles.
I was hungry and hadn’t eaten anything yet, so Uranos was a bit difficult and I didn’t beat my PB. Was knackered at the end, but decided to push on with Krios as I knew it wouldn’t take very long.
And now I feel fantastic. I’ve done two workouts before 9am and it’s given me an energy boost and put me in a great mood. Must. Remember. This. Feeling.
There I was, Monday morning, feelings smug that I’d got out of bed and done 2x Metis (strength), which incidentally, is pretty tough on the old thighs (and the downstairs neighbours – all those jumps).
I completed the ‘week’ that I’ve been doing for about the last three weeks (sorry Coach), and was looking forward to what was in store, when blam, HELL WEEK. Jeez.
So this is tricky. If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I’ve been struggling with motivation these last few weeks. And last time I did Hell Week, it was after a similar period of inaction (maybe Coach knows). I found it really gave me the boost I needed to get back into regular training.
But here’s the thing, this time, the timing isn’t great. I have a major deadline this week at work, and next week I’m away for the whole week in another country, so not even sure where/when I’ll be able to train.
So, do I just crack on with Hell Week on my usual schedule and take a few days out if needs be, with the knowledge that it will take longer than seven days, or do I postpone until I return from being away?
If I postpone, I’ll have to select my own workouts in the meantime. And I’m not sure I’ll get the most out of training. It might not do my motivation any good. I’ll feel like I’ve got some time off. If I just get on with it, I might feel frustrated that it’s not ‘pure’ Hell Week.
Here’s what Coach has in store:
Day 1: Uranos, Krios Day 2: Venus, 200 burpees Day 3: Hermes, 2x Morpheus Day 4: Kronos, 2x Krios Day 5: Venus, Artemis Day 6: Kentauros (Strength), 200 burpees Day 7: 2x Ares, 100 pullups
Ugh. The first three days aren’t too bad (apart from all those burpees). It gets tough mid-week, and I don’t know if I’ll have running space and pull-up bar when I’m away.
Hmmm… I’m of a mind to just get on with it and adapt as needs be. What do you think?
A quick swim today. Usually try and do 20 lengths on a Sunday – there’s a 45-minute lane-swimming window at my local pool. Did 22 today – and didn’t really stop for a break throughout. Felt good. I’ve noticed that my legs are looking and feeling a lot stronger from doing Freeletics. More definition, bigger muscles in my thighs and calves.
I’ve noticed that my belly has come back a bit, which isn’t great. The result of over-indulgence at Christmas, drinking and not looking after my diet. Challenge over the next few weeks is to make sure I’m eating well – lots of fruit and veg.
Also, I’m booking a holiday soon – something to work towards…
Tomorrow is 2xMetis, which I’ve never done before. Let’s see how that goes.
Despite all my enthusiasm and renewed energy at the beginning of the year, I’m finding January really hard. I’m sleeping lots, feeling tired (work is also quite full on at the moment), and finding the motivation to exercise is really low.
I last did proper workouts nearly a week ago. I’ve still been cycling to work, and I did my first yoga class last week (more on that later), but Freeletics has been a really struggle.
Today I did 50 jumping pull-ups and 50 burpees, which is one part of a day that Coach has given me this week.
So here’s the thing. I think I need to make some routine changes. First, here are the problems…
I never work out in the morning, but when I do, I feel amazing
I’m always too hungry to work out after work
Here’s why I think these things are happening (bear with me on this)
I try and be in bed by 10:30pm, but then I often don’t go to sleep until about 11.30pm, which means that to get eight hours sleep I don’t wake up until 7.30am. I like to have a cup of tea in bed, check the news, plan the day. Which means I’m not usually in the shower until 8.30am, and then it’s a rush to get to have breakfast and get to work for 9.30am. And ideally I’d like to be there at 9am.
I tend to eat porridge/fruit or yoghurt/granola for breakfast and something light for lunch (salad, sandwich etc), so by the time it gets to 5.30pm, I’m starving and just want to finish work, go home and cook dinner.
So at either end of the day, I don’t have the energy / time / desire to exercise.
Now the solutions.
Go to bed earlier. Lights out by 11pm.
Get up at 7am
Spend less time drinking tea and looking at the internet in the morning
Work out in the morning
Eat a big breakfast and a bigger lunch
Then I can relax in the evening, or do other fitness stuff, having completed my Freeletics workout.
Which brings me on to… Yoga!
I did my first class last week. I’m doing Iyengar, which involves a lot of held poses, rather than yoga with ‘flow’. I enjoyed the discipline of holding stretches and poses, and I felt great afterwards.
Also, I was really surprised with how much Freeletics had improved my ability to hold the poses and my general flexibility. I’ll definitely be going back.
Tell me – what’s your routine? When do you work out?
Have to admit, I did stop training over Christmas. And only started again the other day.
My final pre-Christmas workout was Uranos, where I beat my PB, and then on Christmas Eve (when I was sick of my family already and itching to do something physical) I knocked out a quick Athena.
I’d kind of forgotten that I can break with Coach every now and then and do those super-quick, no equipment workouts wherever and whenever. It felt quite nice to do a quick 7 minute workout, just to get the blood flowing.
And then post Christmas I was straight back to it with KENTAUROS. Jeez. I did it on a beautiful, sunny, freezing cold day in the park. Even though it was cold I was sweating buckets by the end. Blimey that workout tires me out. And my legs were aching for days.
On Monday evening, just before going to back to work after the break, I did Artemis. I quite like this workout – 50 burpees, 50 pull-ups, 100 pushups, 150 squats, 50 burpees. I beat my PB, but no star (still not mastered the pull-up).
The other thing I did this week was cancel my gym membership. Probably the opposite of what everyone else is doing at this time of year. £17 per month, and I wasn’t really using it. I’ve decided that wherever possible I will exercise at home or outdoors. And that there shouldn’t really be any excuses about that. I don’t need the gym.
A Freeletics Journey 