Week 51: Second Program - week 5 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: [bonus: 2K run (09:12)] +Hera standard 3/5 (12:08*) +[bonus: 2K run (11:04)]
- Tuesday: Venus standard (18:36*)
- Wednesday: Gaia standard (29:54* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Lunge standard 100 (03:36* -First time) +Kentauros standard 1/6 (03:49* -First time) +[bonus: 25 pushups standards (00:35*) +25 pushups diamonds (00:47*) +25 pushups wide (00:50*) +25 pullups standards (01:23*)]
Statistics:
No Hells Days. No Hell Week.
Week #5 turned out to be perfectly normal. Even more quiet than usual: with a total training time of 68 minutes, this is the shortest training schedule since re-starting the program.
(Reminder: training time only includes the workouts assigned to me by the Coach. The "bonus" workouts that I decide to add to spice-up things a bit are not counted by the app).
I have a bit of trouble to understand the progressivity of the workouts assigned to me each week. You'd imagine that each week intensity increase a bit, or that the program would alternate tough weeks with recovery ones. But week #4 wasn't particularly difficult, so I don't really see the point of an easy week #5. We'll see what the future holds, but so far I'm moderately impressed by the training generator algorithm.
I stated a few times that I'm not a huge fan of partial workout. Unless they are a complement to another workout (e.g. 1/3 Metis to warmup before something else) or a step toward a harder goal (e.g. 6/10 Strength Gaia, as a first step before 8/10 or 10/10 in the following weeks). But just getting 3/5 of standard Hera, (that was already assigned to me in Week #2)
, feels cheap (and it hurts me ego!)
Hence on day #1 I added a bit of running before & after the workout to feel like I had a real training session. And completed day #4 with a few pushups & pullups.
The toughest thing this week was Gaia on day #3. The standard version is definitely less crazy than the strength one, but even without the high jumps it's still an intense workout. I had never performed Gaia during my first program (only tried it afterward). This time, it seems I get it every other week, and I have learnt to respect it!
That's it. Short overall training training, no new workout: there was not much to comment about this time. Next post should follow shortly.
Week 50: Second Program - week 4 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: Dione standard (29:07*) +[bonus: 10 straights pullups (00:31*) & 10 Toes to bar (00:51*)]
- Tuesday: Gaia strength 6/10 (24:08* -First time)
- Wednesday: Venus standard (17:09* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Poseidon standard (04:51*) +Metis strength 1/3 (01:11* -First time)
Statistics:
I setup week #4 so that the difficulty remains similar to the previous week. As the saying goes: "once bitten, twice shy". After the 15K run assigned to me last week, I wasn't going to select "Far too easy" any time soon...
The week turned out to be fairly mild.
It started with Dione. My poor performance (~29 mn vs a ~26mn PB), clearly showed that I'm not back in full-shape yet. It gave me a good sweat, but it remains one of the basic workouts. It not outstandingly difficult.
I added a few extra pullups as I feel that it one of the area where my performance decreased the most. Followed by a few Toes to bar (I wanted to test if I could do this move and unlock it in the "advanced skills" menu). This new exercise is actually not that bad. What surprised me is that I expected this exercise to mostly target abs, but it turned out that it's mostly demanding for the shoulders (and you don't want to lose your grip while head-down!)
The only notable session was on day #2. At first I had just seen that I had to perform Gaia 6/10, assuming it was the standard version. I didn't thought much about it (why worry about a partial standard workout?) As I was ready to perform the workout, I noticed that in my program was the strength version.
My main memories of the 2 Gaia that I had performed a few months back, was that I was soaking wet upon completion. Well, strength Gaia take perspiration to a whole new level...
As usual with the new Freeletics program, the difference between standard and strength workouts is that the climbers are replaced by froggers and jumps by high jumps. Gais is no exception. The only novelty is that Gaia's unique standups are replaced by standup-jumps.
These standup-jumps being new, I wondered how they would go. Well, honestly if you already master the standup technique you shouldn't worry about these. The extra jump require a bit of additional energy from your tired legs but nothing unbearable.
What you should worry about are the 30 reps of high jumps. The full workouts has 10 rounds. That's 300 high jumps.
This time, I didn't complain that I was assigned a partial workout...
Usually I always try to perform workouts at max intensity and each time I get a good sweat. But overall, my cardio recovery is relatively fast (muscle soreness is another story). But this is one of the few workouts, which leaves me laying on the ground for a while to recover my breath.I'd say this is harder stuff than Kentauros.
Anyway, days 3 & 4 were not very hard. I actually was asking myself if the week was intentionally less difficult to recover from week #3 and may be as a rest before week #5. Traditionally week #5 is made of Hell Days.
We'll see...
Week 49: Second Program - week 3 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Far too easy"
Training:
- Monday: Metis standard x3 (21:33* -PB) +Apollon standard (27:30*)
- Tuesday: Artemis standard (25:16*)
- Wednesday: Poseidon standard (04:26*) +Metis endurance 1/3 (00:41*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: 15K run (01:31:30 -PB)
Statistics:
Last week I was disappointed with he partial workouts that were assigned to me. It felt cheap. I wanted a real training plan, something more challenging. And I wanted it now.
So when setting-up the parameters for week 3, I indicated that week 2 had been "Far too easy". A distant voice in my head. told me that it was a bad idea.
But hey, I'm no Joan of Arc. I don't believe in inner voices. I'm a "tough guy". Tough guys believe in sweat, testosterone and Chuck Norris.
Once you have tried the various workouts available, it doesn't take long to assess the difficulty of a training plan. A minute after clicking on the "Next week" button, my testosterone levels dropped, and instead of Chuck Norris I could hear Al Pacino in the Devil's Advocate saying: "Vanity, definitely my favorite sin."
[After proof-reading this post, I'm starting to think that auditory hallucinations may be a side-effect of Freeletics!]
Reviewing the training plan:
For the first time in a very long time, I wondered if I would be able to complete my week's training program. I'm not speaking metaphorically, I really wasn't sure if I could do it.
The beginning of the week was clearly more challenging, but nothing insane. Actually that's exactly the kind of extra intensity that I had been looking for in the first place. On Day 1, Metis standard x3 would certainly give me a good sweat, making the subsequent Apollon harder than usual. Tough session, but less than a Hell Day. Artemis on day 2 and its pullups would certainly give my arms a run for their money. But I have completed Artemis 5 times in the past. Been there, done that. No concern.
What really worried me was the 15K run on Day 4.
I'm sure that for the runners out there this seems like a piece of cake. Well not for me. I run a bit as part of my cardio training, but I don't train to run. The last and only time that I ran a long distance was a half-marathon (21K), 10 years ago. And that was done without proper training beforehand. A painful experience/mistake that I didn't forget. Over the past few years, I ran 5.5K at once, at most. Since training with Freeletics, my running activity was pretty much limited to Iris, Hera & Apollon (~2K per session).
My cardio has benefited for that past year of intense training. So I was pretty confident that I could bear a 1h30-2h00 effort without getting any muscle cramps. My top concern was purely mechanical. Repetitive tendinitis forced me to stop rope jumping. Would my joints, tendons & ligaments hold-up to this sudden increase in distance?
Actual performance:
The week passed by as planned.
Day 1: Metis standard x3 lived-up to my expectations (definitely one of the toughest cardio workout out there). I was glad that in this new version jumps replaced the high jumps! Legs were heavy during Apollon, but overall a good session.
Day 2: My pullups are still not back to my pre-vacations level, so I wasted some time on Artemis.
Day 3: The short session (2 workouts: only 5 minutes!) provided a welcomed recovery day.
Thursday, I went to my usual Thursday boxing training but was careful not to ask too much out my legs. The perspective of the 15K haunted me all week, the last thing that I wanted was to have sore muscles before the run.
Day 4: Finally, 15K-Friday came. Given the short-notice I couldn't do a proper body preparation for this run, but at least I tried to stack the odds in my favor by:
- getting a decent night of sleep (undersleep is a bad habit of mine).
- organizing a longer lunch break to have enough time to complete the workout.
- avoiding to run on an empty stomach (well-sized breakfast +cereal bar 1 hr before the run).
- putting some band-aids to prevent blisters.
- bringing a bottle of water along with me.
I completed the 15K run in 1:31:30 (I had targeted 1h30). I'm glad to report that I also fulfilled my 2 secondary objectives: no break, no walking.
On the positive-side, it turned out that my cardio was even better than expected. I was barely out of breath at the end of the run, and didn't get any cramp.
On the "not-so-positive"side, as I had feared all my issues were mechanical.
Despite my precautions, I felt a blister appearing after a 5-6 kilometers. In the evening I couldn't believe the size of this thing (I'll spare you the graphic pictures). Luckily during the run, it was mildly annoying and didn't slow me down.
The real challenge came from the joints. Around 5K I started to feel a slight stiffness in my left knee. Past 7K, a similar sensation appeared in the right hip. First it was just a tingle, but it grew more painful and my articulations were losing amplitude (esp. the knee).
Progressively my pace decreased. A few times I tried to re-focus and accelerate, but the stiffness crept back. The last 2 kilometers were really tough.
My overall pace was 06:05 per kilometer. When analyzing the split times, it's clear that while my pace progressively dropped, the run can be divided into 2 chapters.
The first 7K, was "running as usual". Split times per kilometer all remained within a reasonable range. In this section, average pace was 05:30/km, versus 05:00/km-05:10/km per kilometer when I run 2K-3K. Not too far off.
In the last 8K, the pace was sluggish. Stats don't lie: best split time at 06:14, worse split time at 7:09 in the last kilometer. 06:35 on average.
Note: 1st K contains a steep flight of stairs hence I always lose a few seconds there. 2nd K is partially downhill hence I usually go faster there. 15th K is partially uphill. The rest of the run was performed on flat grounds.
In the following days, to my surprise I barely had any sore muscles. However, it took a few days for my knee to recover. From what I can tell, the pain didn't came from the articulation itself (i.e. bones friction), but from a ligament.
I was limping on Friday afternoon, and things progressively came back to normal over the week-end. The next Monday pain was gone, but I felt it would have come back rapidly if I had run again. Thankfully I didn't have any running planned the entire week.
I'm not sure if this was a warning of a knee problem that could become more serious in the future (I'm not getting any younger!) or if it was simply caused because my body is not used to such distances. Based on limited evidence, I'll settle for a symptom of "over-running".
As I look back at week 3, I'm proud that I was able to meet this challenge. I pushed my limits and accomplished something that I would never have tried on my own. But I won't lie, I don't think that I could have endured a much longer distance without walking. I will need much serious preparation before attempting longer distances.
The running is a nice addition to the Freeletics routine. But I can't help to wonder how the coach can go from assigning 3/5th of Hera (i.e. 1.2K aggregated) and then a full 15K the next week. Honestly, this feels a overkill and actually bit risky.
There are so many great workouts to choose, I hope that next time that I request more difficulty, I'll be assigned more difficult workouts, not simply asked to to run a marathon...
