Cardio-Strength Program: week #8

Week #8 out of 15

This week I'm back on a more normal routine. No Hell Days, and I have returned to the boxing gym after the year-end break. Aside for 1 new workout, my training is based on familiar exercises.
The only challenge was that I have been assigned 5 sessions. To fit them all in my schedule, I decided to start the week with 2 sessions in a row.


Monday:

• Session 1: HADES (19:29* -personal best)
• Session 2: BURPEES MAX (64*) +METIS (05:30 -personal best*)

I wanted to start the week with a personal best. Hades had not improved over the past 2 weeks. Last week, I actually scored longer time than usual  due to the Hell Days. So that's the workout that I wanted to improve today.
My pace was good, but I quickly felt that my arms were still a bit strained from my last training on Saturday. In the end my time improved by 6 seconds. It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction. And it's good to start the week on a positive note.

Then I tackled the second session. For a while now I have been wondering when I would break the 70 rep ceiling in Burpees Max. This time I finished in the mid-sixties. Again.

And finally, I did Metis. As I mentioned, my arm muscles were a bit tired and I felt good from my new PB. This was the perfect receipt for slacking-off on the last workout: I had a justification to take-it easy (sore arms) + a good reason not to feel bad about it (already scored a PB). But that didn't happen.
Before training I didn't even bother checking what my personal best was exactly. I just started training. But when I saw that round 1 was cleared in under a minute, I knew that I was on track with my best pace. Personal Best, whatever the exact figure, was reachable. I kept going as fast as possible. Despite my efforts, in round 2 my pace had slowed down. The PB was getting away. But human mind works in strange ways: I became furious that my efforts in round 2 did not materialize in better performance. The last round was just an insane rush. Breathing had become secondary. At this stage, I had no idea if the PB was still possible. I just wanted to give it all to have no regret.
When the counter stopped, I laid on the ground for a good while trying to catch-up my breath. I had improved my PB by 1 second! It's a ridiculously low improvement compared to the effort, but it felt great nonetheless.


Tuesday: ATLAS (24:39*)

Atlas is a new workout for me. It includes running and had to be performed outdoor.
Lately you have seen me complaining a lot about bad weather. So, to be fair, I need to report that today while training during my lunch break, I had perfect conditions. 
Sunny but not too much. Mildly cold, but just enough to cool me down during the workout. Days like this, make me look forward to outdoor training in the spring.


Anyway, back to business. Here is what I had to complete today:

• 2km run
• 50 deep squats
• 50 burpees
• 50 froggers
• 50 leg levers
• 100 jumps

My first reaction was that it didn't look too good. But as you can see from my completion time, it didn't take me much longer than other workouts. Sure most exercises have 50 to 100 repetitions, but there is only 1 round.

The novelty for me were the froggers (like in the video below, but I had to bring my feet at the same level as my hands). It's demanding on the Cardio side, but nothing crazy. In term of difficulty, I put it on the same level as climbers.

Wednesday: BURPEES MAX (70* -personal best) +METIS (05:12* -personal best)

Same session as on Monday but this time I did have to complete another session beforehand. It clearly shows in the final results, with 2 personal best.
My favorite PB today, is Burpees Max. I had chased that PB for weeks now, and finally reached 70 repetitions. Ideally I want to go beyond but it's still out f reach.
I have done so many burpees since starting Freeletics, that honestly I don't really mind anymore. But when I have to complete many repetitions per round (50 or above), it remains a bit challenging. At this stage I don't know if it will improve as I keep training, or if I need to fix something in my execution (breathing, may be?)
If I get stuck at 70 for a while, I'll need to look at this more closely.

The Metis completion time is much better than on Monday, but this time no mad rush to finish, the effort was fairly balanced throughout the workout.



Thursday: Boxing training

First boxing training in 3 weeks, but without any major difficulty. Thanks to all the workouts these past weeks, my physical condition was good. I actually found that my execution of Jackknives had improved.



Saturday: APOLLON (23:32* -personal best)

I didn't get the chance to train outdoors on Friday and so I completed my last training over the week-end. This time I paid attention not to lose too much time during the 400 meters runs. All along the workout I was on track to score a PB. Unconsciously, I started to slow down in the third round (which is why it's sometimes preferable not to know exactly what is the reference time to to beat). I had to sprint over the last 80 meters to catch-up this delay. My PB improved by about 17 seconds. Next time if I stay focused during all 3 rounds I should be able to improve it further.


That's all for this week. I have now officially completed more than half of my program. Only 7 weeks left to go. Wow, time is flying. You can expect another post later this week, it's time to give an update on my body-stats.