Hell Week Day 7 and then a two week break

I completely forgot to write about the final day of Hell Week.

Day 7 was a gentle end to the week. Nyx. Just sit-ups, leg raises and stand-ups. Did it in 08:10, which was 1:30 better than my PB.

And then I gave myself a break for a couple of weeks. I had a bit of a cold during Hell Week and then had a mad week at work. And then last week I was away from home and working crazy long hours so didn’t have time to exercise. I know, I know, #noexcuses, but it was either get less than five hours and exercise or sleep an extra hour, and I’m not really any good on less than seven and eight.

Felt nice to have a bit of a break. I left it so long that Freeletics sent me one of those ‘what’s happened?’ emails.

So yesterday I got back into it. Conditioning. Was tough.

3 sets of

10 Assisted Pullups
15 Press-ups
30 sec Superman hold
15 Hanging Leg Raises

I’m getting better at the Assisted Pull-ups, and Press-Ups and Superman hold are no bother, but I find the hanging leg-raises really hard. Partly because my pull-up bar is in a door frame, so it’s hard to really hang and be able to get a good swing. But mainly because I’m not strong enough! Will keep practicing.

Went for a swim today. Also felt a bit tough cos I didn’t go last week.

Going to get back into the swing properly tomorrow.

Might even try to tick off some of those advanced skills…

 

Hell Week Days 5 & 6: Nearly there

Day 5 was a slightly easier day. Hyperion (Endurance).

5 sets of:

5 Pikes
25 HH Squats
5 Pikes
25 High Knees
60 sec rest

Completed that in 11:04. Wasn’t too hard. And I also realised half way through that I was doing normal squats, not HH squats.

So, not much to say about Hyperion really. Apart from that because it was Day 5, my thighs were beginning to hurt.

Day 6 was a real achievement though. Not only was I a little bit hungover (oops), I was dreading it because the app told me that the last time I did Dione it took me 55:05. That was a year ago.

Reading back in this blog though, I see that I quite enjoyed doing that workout. It exercises pretty much your whole body.

3 sets of:

75 Jumping Jacks
25 Burpees
50 Leg Raises
75 Jumping Jacks
50 Situps
25 Burpees

It also feels like a good cardio workout, what with all those jumping jacks.

As soon as I started I realised I was definitely going to beat my PB. I always have half an eye on those little blue bars during the workout – the ones that tell you whether you’re ahead or behind of your PB. And I get competitive with myself.

I was faster on every single thing. Some significantly. It was a real boost to know how far I’ve come in a year. Sometimes I don’t think I’m making progress at all, that I’m just flatlining, but then there are days like today when I can see how much fitter I am.

Even leg-raises, which I hate, weren’t so bad. Although I often think they’re doing damage to the small of my back.

I completed the workout a full TWELVE MINUTES better than my PB. TWELVE MINUTES. I was absolutely dripping with sweat and felt quite light headed, but my god it felt good.

I have one day left to do in Hell Week. I’m not doing it today because I went swimming instead. I’ll do it tomorrow morning. It’s a quick one – Nyx – which shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.

And then Hell Week is done.

I can’t quite believe I’ve been doing Freeletics for nearly two years. And it still hasn’t lost its appeal. Bring on the next two years.

 

Hell Week Day 4: Kentauros

Kentaurous, my old friend. How I have missed you.

Today it was a beautiful autumnal morning. Cold, crisp and sunny. I could see my breath. I headed out to the basketball court next to my house and trained there. There’s usually no one else there, so I can sweat and pant without fear of embarrassment.

I have a funny relationship with Kentauros. Today it was Endurance, so slightly easier. I kind of hate doing it, and I always think it’s going to take ages. But today I did it in 18mins, and I wasn’t cutting corners.

If you don’t know it, Kentauros is one of the tougher of the Freeletics workouts. It’s particularly hard on the thighs.

Six sets of:

2x20m HH Lunge Walks
10 High Knees
2x20m Sprawl Frogs
10 High Knees

But I did it. And it felt so good to finish. I genuinely think that my stamina and ability to finish things in all aspects of my life has improved because of Freeletics. Once you’ve pressed go on the app, you know that the feeling of giving up will be much worse than the temporary pain of pushing through. And you know that your workout is only going to be about half an hour, so you might as well finish.

And so when I’m at work, or at home, I find it much easier to start a task and not stop until its done. I’m much less likely to part-finish something, or get bored and go and do something else. I set myself a goal and I work until its done. Whether that’s clearing my inbox, writing a paper, cleaning etc etc.

Anyway, training outside today was lovely. I’m hoping I can fit another outdoor session in this week. Tomorrow is a lot easier: Hyperion. But then… Saturday’s workout is Dione. A year ago it took me 55 mins. So I’m hoping I can beat that, but I’m not looking forward to it.

 

 

Hell Week Day 3: Gaia

I’m writing this a bit late. Gaia (Endurance) was yesterday, but I didn’t have time to write.

Even deciding to do today’s workout felt like an achievement. As I mentioned in my last post, I had/have a cold. So I was feeling a little under the weather. But I someone managed to pull on my workout gear and roll out the mat.

I thought today would be relatively easy. But it wasn’t.

10 sets of:

40 Jumping Jacks
30 High Knees
20 Mountain Climbers
10 HH Stand-ups

When you don’t have much energy, this is a pretty full on workout. It’s pretty much all cardio, apart from the stand-ups, so it gets your heart beating and I was pretty out of breath. Also there are no breaks. And 10 sets is a lot. So by the time I was done, I was exhausted.

I’m only training in the morning now before breakfast, so I was also feeling fairly weak at the end as I hadn’t eaten.

But I did it. And I think it actually helped get rid of the cold as I was feeling much better by the afternoon.