Second Program: Week #13 (Hell Week)

Week 59: Second Program - week 13 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: Kronos standard (45:00*) +2/3 Metis strength (06:54* -First time)
• Tuesday: 25 pushups (00:35*) +50 squats (00:57* -First time) +25 Jackknives (01:00* -First time) +Gaia strength (47:01*)
• Wednesday: Artemis standard (25:50*) +Hades standard (22:11*)
• Thursday: 25 burpess (01:20* -First time) +25 pullups (01:22* -PB) +50 pushups (01:51* -PB) +25 High Jumps (00:25* -First time) +Hera strength (23:16*) +boxing training
• Friday: Kronos standard (42:26*) +Ares standard (07:43* -First time new version)
• Saturday: 50 pushups (01:47* -PB) +50 pushups (02:07*) +50 squats (00:59*) +50 squats (00:55* -PB) +Iris standard (30:35* -First time new version)
• Sunday: Aphrodite standard (21:28*) +Hades standard (21:55*)

Statistics:

• 7'125 points
• 307 minutes

  

Week 13 started in shock & awe when this popped-up on the screen of my phone:

Hell Week...
Didn't see this one coming...

Technically I didn't expect either Hell Days the previous time (week 7), but that was bad maths on my part. This time I had really no reason think I would get a Hell Week, as it is traditionally assigned for the last week of the program (as "good bye party"). Not sure if it's a bug or if the new Coach can assign Hell Weeks whenever it wants.



Day 1
Kronos is already pretty tough on its own, but by combining it with Metis strength the Coach was telling me that I should expect no mercy this week!
A session of over 50mn that sets tone for the rest of week...
On the positive side, my Kronos time improved by 28 seconds versus last attempt 2 weeks ago.


Day 2
When I get assigned  a Kronos, Gaia often follows in tow. It happened again.
No need to comment the short exercises, these were just the appetizers before the real thing: Gaia strength.
Up to now I only got either the standard version or a fraction of the strength version. This was my first encounter with the full 10 rounds of Gaia strength. I had a bit of apprehension on how the last 2 rounds would go...
I took me 47:01* to complete the full thing. Compared to the 28-30 minutes range it takes me for the standard version, this shows that Froggers & High Jumps are not just cosmetic changes: the difficulty ramp-up is real.
It was another tough session, but I felt good and was pleased with my performance. My last Gaia strength that was a partial one, with "only" 8 rounds out of the normal 10, completed in  ~41 minutes.
Today my split time after round 8 was at ~38 minutes. A 3 minutes improvement is pretty good. During training, I felt that I had a good pace on froggers. Also I forced myself to complete all the high jumps by sets of 10 in a row, to have a regular effort all along and avoid burning my stamina in the earlier rounds. This tactic paid-off.


Day 3
Artemis+Hades made-up another big session (over 45mn in active training time). Probably due to Monday's Kronos I found the pullups harder than usual, strangely pushups felt much smoother than usual and I completed them rapidly.
By the time I started to work on Hades burpees became harder as well. Especially in the second half, when my pace dropped.


Day 4: the scariest day this week.
The only time I could complete the pullups was in the morning. So I woke-up earlier than usual (I need a good 20-30mn of awake time before starting working out) and did the 4 short exercises indoor.
For Hera strength, I waited lunch time to go outdoor and run. Completing 200 high jumps after after the 300 I already did on Day 2 finished to kill my lower legs. As usual after so many repetitions, I could already feel my tendinitis creeping back. Good thing these were the last jumps of the week.
To make my day complete, in the evening I had an hour & half of boxing training. No need to say that I wasn't in peak condition. Stiff legs & sore arms/shoulders. I had feared that having several workouts spread throughout the day would drain all my energy, but at least cardio & stamina were correct.
I need some sleep!


Day 5
Long day at work, it was only 9pm before I could start training. Hungry & tired with sore muscles, I wasn't thrilled at all at the perspective of going through roughly an hour of gruesome strength training. 
But a Freeathlete got to do what a Freeathetles gotta do, so I started my workout. No effort planning, no tactic, I just took it one rep at a time.

It turned out to be a great session!

After the initial 100 pushups, my body responded very well. The big chunk of abs+squats+leg levers felt very natural and much smoother than usual. Pullups were slightly better than last few attempts. Overall this Kronos took me 42:26*, still far for my old ~38mn PB but much better than Monday's iteration (02:36 gain).
I still have to take breaks during pullups to let my arms/shoulders/back recover. The 100 reps take me ~10 minutes. Breaking my PB will require improving the number of consecutive pullups I can bear to do 100 under 6 minutes (for the records, my performance for 25 stand-alone pullups range between 01:00 and 01:30 so the under 6 minutes target is achievable... Some day...)

And just to make my day better, I finished my session by beating my Ares PB (unbroken for 11 months!) by 1 second. Scoring a new PB on a workout made-up mostly of pullups and situps after Kronos, was completely unexpected. I didn't even try. Yet it happened.

I probably mentioned this already in the past, but I love days like these. Motivation is super low and out of nowhere you pullout a great performance. It's just an amazing feeling. And if you score a PB in these conditions, this PB "tastes" even better than on a regular day.


Day 6
At this stage in my Hell Week, my confidence level was fairly high. The training plan was almost complete and all the "biggies" were behind me (i.e. the Kronos/Gaia/Artemis days).

To complete my assignment I opted for a session before breakfast. I completed the 4 short exercises indoor, before going to a park for Iris.
This workout was tougher than I expected. It started getting pretty cold outside and training at dawn on humid ground is never fun. But I think the main difficulty was that I had not fully recovered from the previous night's session. I felt sluggish, and the climbers killed me (I had to take many breaks to recover my breath).
The app indicated a PB but only because it was the first time that I completed Iris since the new program was launched, my overall performance was ~02:30 above my old PB.


Day 7
Another tough day. As I said, I thought the hardest part of the week was behind me. Technically, it's correct, the most challenging workouts were at the beginning. But in the last 2 days I started to feel the effect of aggregated tiredness from a week worth of training.

I started with good old Aphrodite. For my reunion with this tough lady, I really tried to give my best. I finished ~2:30 above PB.
Last but not least, Hades. Sames thing than for Aphrodite, I was in damage control mode: PB was never in sight but I was giving my max to avoid letting the timer run too far. These last burpees of the week were a nightmare! Results was ~4mn above best performance in the month and ~6mn above 10 months old PB.


Final thoughts on this Hell Week
This was my third Hell Week since starting this Freeletics journey (last 2 iterations were at the end of the free trial and the end of the first program). I have now started to get a good grasp on how to schedule this daily training load around my normal days. But all along the week, I couldn't help but think that the intensity and the overall training load was heavier than what I had done in the past. Now that I'm sitting to write this post, I'm comparing my training records to see if this feeling was justified.

It was.

Looking at the overall load, my first 2 Hell Week took roughly 200 minutes of active training time to complete. This last week represented over 300 minutes of training. That's a big increase.

But if we drill further than just overall length, there are other lessons to be found.
My first Hell Week was 200 minutes long because I was out of shape. These were the days of ~28 minutes Aphrodite and ~33 minutes Dione. So basically, just doing 1 single workout per day mathematically meant circa 200 minutes of training per week.

The second Hell Week started to become more intensive. My Aphrodite & Dione times had improved to respectively ~22 minutes & ~26 minutes. If the week also lasted 200 minutes despite my performance on these basic workouts having improved by nearly 20%, it's simply because the coach had given me more workouts (3 days out of 7, I had to complete a regular workout, with a second workout on top).

This third Hell Week, was made of multiple workouts every day. And not a comibination of short workouts, instead it was packed with long ones such as Kronos, Artemis and Gaia (strength!), with a short/medium workout on top.
Bigger workouts provide less opportunities to rest. 1 Kronos or 10 Poseidon may both take you 40mn of active training time to complete. But in the latter case, you can take a few minutes rest between each Poseidon or even spread them over the day. With the big ones you tend to keep breaks at their minimum to avoid training your completion time.
To put it differently, this time Hell Week didn't simply feel like I had to train every day. It felt like going through Hell Days for 7 days in a row.

If you are new to Freeletics and read this, before you run away screaming, please keep in mind that difficulty is progressive. I doubt that the Coach would have assigned me such a long training schedule if it took me an hour and a half to complete 1 Kronos.

I'm not complaining about the difficulty. This was a great challenge. A tiring week, but good for motivation and self-confidence. It showed me that I could withstand much more than what I thought (on my own I would never have tried combining Kronos with anything else!).
The only downside that I see from such a long week, is well that it takes time, a lot of time... Fitting 5 hours of training in your schedule might be really tough (especially for people travelling or with little flexibility). I was lucky that this popped-up in a normal week, and not one filled with personal/professional commitments.


At the end of the week, there was still 1 question on my mind: why did I get a Hell Week in Week #13? Does it mean that I will get another one in Week #15? 
#confused.



In order to provide enough time to recover after my extended week and in case the last week of the program is another journey through Hell, I decided that week #14 will only be made of 3 training days.

Second Program: Week #12

Week 58: Second Program - week 12 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: Metis standard x3 (19:35* -PB)
• Tuesday: Artemis standard (24:56*)
• Wednesday: Apollon standard (22:09*)
• Thursday: boxing training
• Friday: 100M sprint (00:19 -First Time) +200M sprint (00:41 -First Time) +200M sprint (00:37 -PB) +5K (27:03) +Venus standard (21:14*)

Statistics:

• 3'771 points
• 116 minutes

   
The stats of week #12 summarize well its content: lots of points but much less training time (compared previous month workouts). Most workouts were fairly short (i.e. no Kronos this week, so less time wasted staring at the pullup bar while my arms recover!), but packed a lot of intensity.


Day 1 set the tone with Metis standard x3. It was the third time that I completed this workout, so no real surprise there. I was glad to improve my PB by nearly 1:30 minute. It left me laying on the ground looking for my lost lungs, but it's a normal side-effect. And I can't complain when the coach is merciful enough to grant short sessions...


Day 2, I completed Artemis instead of Apollon (I was featherbrained enough to forget my gym bag, so my running session had to be postponed by a day).
I have to confess that I totally underestimated this workout. I mean, I know Artemis is tough on the arms, but I had been doing so many Kronos lately that doing 50 pullups instead of a 100 seemed (on paper) easier. Boy, was I wrong. Artemis' burpees and doing the pullups before the pushups are 2 factors to be reckoned with. As a result tmy arms were toasted and the 100 pushups were much slower than during a Kronos. No PB for me, that will teach me humility...


Day 3: burpees felt good but again no PB today (0:45 above my record). Running will need to be improved.


On Day 4 there was a novelty for me: sprints. I had done the 2x40m runs within workouts, but never tried stand alone short runs.
Last time I did a 100 m was in high school, I don't remember what my time was back then. It was probably really bad anyway. Nowadays, it took me nearly 20s (it helped me put in perspective Usain Bolt's insane 9:58 world record).
I used the auto-complete function, which I found extremely useful for such short distance (sprinting and watching your phone don't mix well).
 The 100m was followed by 2 sprints of 200m. It's a new kind of effort, with its own learning curve. On a shorter distance there is no/little holding back, but it still requires finding the proper breathing pace to maintain a constant pace. My second attempt was 4s better, mostly because I focused on breathing (a lot).
These discontinuous efforts were followed by a 5k. Unsurprisingly during the first kilometers it felt like my legs needed to adjust to the new pace. But I felt good. The only really annoying point was technical issues with the app (on iphone). I like running with music but couldn't do it in-app, so I launched the music in separate app but it conflicted with the sound from the Freeletics app. So I had no audio feedback (shuting down the music app didn't solve the problem). Furthermore my screen kept shutting down (screen saving mode), the only way to see my progress was to regularly fiddle with the phone to enter my code and look at the distance covered. Lesson of the day: for any run of more than 2K, I'll keep using a different app (for the moment Mapmyrun suits me the best) and log manually the results in the Freeletics app.
This long session ended with Venus. It's mostly a strength workout, so I didn't think my performance would suffer much from short runs. Wrong. My stamina had been more depleted from running than I had estimated. I was quickly out of juice on pushups, with an overall time 4 minutes above PB (this is a huge difference versus a ~17mn baseline).


To summarize nothing crazy this week, mostly short workouts and with a focus on legs.
Once again running was used as a complement to the usual gods/goddesses. The Coach is making full use of this new feature, I'm now expecting a run to be assigned almost every week.

Second Program: Week #11

Week 57: Second Program - week 11 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: 1.5K Run (07:25 -First Time) +5K Run (26:19) +Hades standard (18:18*)
• Tuesday: Kentauros standard (29:02*)
• Wednesday: Gaia standard (28:10* -PB)
• Thursday: boxing training
• Friday: Kronos standard (45:28*)

Statistics:

• 3'022 points
• 154 minutes

No external constraints this week. I'm back to my regular routine (training Mo-Fri, with a full rest over the week-end).


The week started with some running. Since the 15K early in the program, I'm always worried that I'll be assigned some long distance. But in the past weeks, instead the coach had a tendency to assign combinations of multiple runs of various length. That's what happened this week as well. I completed the 1.5K and 5K back to back. The overall distance (6.5K) is reasonable, but it feels a bit strange to stop running only to restart again minutes later. Upon restart it takes a short while for the leg muscles shake the numbness away.
But clearly, I find it less difficult to do 2 medium distance in a row, than completing several sprints (400m and lower) before a longer run. Running similar distances allow to complete both at the same pace, which is more comfortable.
As usual, the runs where completed outside during my lunch break, and I waited the evening to do Hades at home with my pull-up bar..Still below PB, but nearly 2 minutes below my last few attempts. It feels good to see the timer going down again!


Kentauros was a pain but at least the weather was ok. Which makes a real difference in the winter. It's hard to express with words how miserable one feels when completing this workout soaking wet in the freezing wind. Anyway, I have noticed that lately I appreciated this workout less than in the past. Not that I "loved" Kentauros before, but I never disliked it as much as most people do. I guess our relationship with the workouts is a cyclical thing.


Third day was dedicated to Gaia. I started well, but my pace dropped in the second half (esp. on jumps). In the last round I thought that my chances at a PB were fading away, so I literally sprinted. This session left me completely out of breath. Ironically after recovering, I realized that had messed-up my maths. My pace was better than I thought, I could have scored a PB even with a normal finish. As a result, I improved my record by a full minute. The new PB is a real one, I gave everything that I had left to get it. It might take a while to beat it.


So far the week has been mostly focused on legs, with many jumps. My lower legs tendinitis being never far away, and it's no surprise that I could feel it crawling back again. Thankfully, getting Kronos on the last day gave my legs a much welcomed rest (squats are tough on tights, but at least there no impact from hitting the ground). 
Slowly but surely, I'm continuing to improve my performance: 45.28* versus 46:26* last week.


It's been a long week with several challenging workouts, but I have recorded a nice PB and noticed improvements in pull-up focused workouts. Definitely a positive week in my book.

Body Stats: after 56 weeks

As the most visible physical evolution took place during my first 20 weeks, I'm now posting my measurements and pictures less frequently. However since it's really been a while since last body stats post (week #33), let's have a look at where I stood in week #56:


Height: 178 cm (5.84ft) 

Weight: 75.6 kg (166.7 lbs) - week 33 measure:  75.0 kg (165.3 lbs)

Waist size: 83.5 cm (32.9 in) - week 33 measure: 83 cm (32.7 in)

 
Both my weight and waist size have slightly increased. But such small increments are within natural fluctuations from one day to the next. My conclusion is the same as last time: my body has now stabilized in the 75kg-76kg range.

This time I didn't have to adjust contrast to bypass a lighting problem, so the tone of the photos is more natural. It gives them a warmer and healthier aspect. But if you put aside this aesthetic considerations and focus on the body, the pictures are not radically different versus last time. Unsurprisingly so, given the little variations measured in weight and waist size. May be I have kept adding a bit more muscle (thighs and back). But honestly there too, I'd say I have been pretty stable.

One thing worth mentioning is that in-between week 33 & 56 I lost about a month worth of proper training to vacations & injuries (boxing training, not stress injuries). I didn't notice any significant weight gains during this period but it took me a while for my workout performances to get back to pre-Summer level (especially for pure strength exercises such as pull-ups). That could have slowed a bit progress. But in all fairness, the most probable explanation is simply that I have now balanced my caloric intake and physical activity level. For significant short/medium-term changes I would need to alter either my diet or training routine (frequency or the strength vs cardio mix).

Second Program: Week #10

Week 56: Second Program - week 10 out of 15

Week settings:

• Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
• Number of training days: 4
• Limitations: none
• Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"

Training:

• Tuesday: Hades standard (19:53*)
• Wednesday: 400m (1:30 -First time) +400m (1:26 -PB) +5K (25:32 -First time) +Gaia standard (30:03*)
• Thursday: boxing training
• Friday: Hera strength (21:51* -PB)
• Saturday: Kronos standard (46:26*)

Statistics:

• 2'753 points
• 146 minutes

For readers arriving directly on this post, let me start this post by summarizing week #9:
Basically, I was sick most of the previous week and ran late on my training schedule (2 out of 4 sessions couldn't be done within normal time frame). To catch-up this delay, I completed both sessions on the following Monday and started my week #10 on Tuesday.

To put it differently, instead of my usual 4 training days I chose to complete 6 days worth of training over 5 days. So I approached Week 10 just like a Hell Week: as an endurance test. Don't get crazy about getting Personal Bests, the focus is to complete every single workout and ensure that I get enough sleep to avoid injuries.



As it was impossible for me to complete the running assignments on Day 1, I swapped days 1&2 and tackled Hades standard instead. I had some sore muscles from the previous day, and didn't score a stellar time. But it really felt good to be training again.


The coach had been very "generous" on Day 2. The combined running distance of 5.8 km was fine. The 2 sprints before the 5K increased a bit difficulty, as but it remained of moderate difficulty. The real challenge was to complete Gaia at the end. Thankfully it was only the standard version, but it gave me a good sweat. I was more dripping from Gaia, than from running 5.8 km under the rain...


Thursday I was glad to return to my weekly boxing session after missing the previous one. At that point of the week, my body started to grow tired. I could feel a bit more sluggish than usual, but nothing alarming.


On day 3, Hera strength started on a good pace, but it dropped round after round as I had to break my high jumps rounds into smaller consecutive sets. Nonetheless I managed to complete the last round of high jumps all in one go (motivation surges when one sees the light at the end of the tunnel!). This led to an unexpected personal best (8s better than 2 weeks ago). I find that these PB always feel more rewarding when happening toward the end of a long day/week.


For my last day of the week, I was assigned, surprise, surprise, Kronos.
My first intention was to complete it in the evening on the same day as Hera, in order to give my body a full rest over the week-end.
In the end, I preferred to spread the effort over an additional day. Once again my time was still far from my PB, but improving versus last time (02:12 better than last week).


If on Monday I was glad to be back to training, on Saturday I was equally glad when it ended! The week was demanding, particularly on legs. But at least I'm back on schedule, so mission accomplished!

Second Program: Week #9

Week 55: Second Program - week 9 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: Ares standard x2 (16:46* -First time)
• Tuesday: Kronos standard (48:39*)
• Wednesday-Sunday: sick days
• Monday: Atlas standard (22:12*) +Kentauros strength 4/6 (26:37* -First time)

Statistics:

• 3'209 points
• 114 minutes

Week 9 was mostly made-up of strength-focused workouts.

It started fairly lightly with a Ares x2. While x2 or x3 workouts usually represents a steep increase in difficulty compared to the single version, it's not the case for Ares. 

So far my best Ares standard time is 07:46*. Multiply it by 2, it gives you the theoretical time of 15:26*. My first attempt at the double version, was done in 16:46*. 
My actual time was 01:20 above the theoretical one. Which means that my pace wasn't completely off the mark during the second iteration. The first explanation is it's a short workout with short sets, so there is less of a stamina issue (Hades x2 is another story). But it's not the only factor (Metis is short workout, yet everyone will agree that the x2 or x3 versions are much harder). What makes a world of a difference is the 60s breaks every round. It provides enough time for the body to recover, making the double work load less relevant.


Tuesday, I started getting a bit of a sore throat but decided to train anyway. Again I had to perform Kronos. Again I was far for pre-Summer PB, but at least my time had improved by ~20s versus my last 2 attempts (49:07* & 49:08*).

I don't know if the effort from training made things worse, but my sore throat quickly evolved in a throat infection. The following 4 days I was completely unable to train. This completely ruined my training schedule. I was really eager to re-start training as fast as possible to catch-up with my program (especially since now the coach subscription only last 15 weeks, with no buffer for missed days). Sunday I started feeling better, but preferred to rest in-order to fully recover before restarting training. 


To offset the impact of these 5 lost days, I decided to complete my 2 remaining training days on the following Monday. And depending on my physical shape afterward to skip the rest period in-between weeks 9 & 10.

Completing Altas standard & Kentauros strength 4/6 back to back under a pouring rain was a rough session. I just told myself that this was as if I had organized my own little Hell Day. It's a once-in-a-while spike in effort. Just get over it, and you won't think about it once the regular routine comes back.
At the end of the day I was tired, but felt well enough to start directly week 10 on the following day.

Second Program: Week #8

Week 54: Second Program - week 8 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: High Jumps 100 (04:22* -First time) +Kronos standard (49:07*)
• Tuesday: Iris strength (41:10* -First time)
• Wednesday: Kronos standard (49:08*)
• Thursday: boxing training
• Friday: Hera strength (21:59* -First time)

Statistics:

• 3'003 points
• 165 minutes

Good thing that I didn't need an easy week, to recover from Hell Days last week. With 2 Kronos and 2 full strength version workouts, the coach was very generous with me...



I was a bit worried that the 100 High jumps would wake-up my tendinitis but since they were followed by a "no-jump" workout, I had no real issue. However, Kronos was a slap in the face. My completion time was more than 10 minutes over my PB... 
During the workout it seemed that I would never see the end of these 300 squats, but the real time wasters were pushups and pullups (I spent around 15mn on pullups alone).
I knew that I wasn't back at my peak on these exercises, but I had not expected such a time.


The difficulty of the strength version of Iris took me by surprise. I completed Iris (standard) many times in the past. The only change in the strength version is that climbers are replaced by froggers. And it turns out that, on Metis strength, I actually prefer to do froggers instead of climbers (I guess frogs are a French thing!)

I expected a nice little workout, under 30 minutes. Boy, was I wrong...
In Metis strength, we trade 45 climbers for 45 froggers. In Iris strength, it's 500 froggers. That makes a world of a difference.
They left me completely breathless. It took me 41 painful minutes to complete the workout (nearly 50% more time than the regular version!). Next time I'll know what to expect.


The main challenge with second Kronos this week, was that my abs were still on fire from the first attempt. The muscles didn't feel particularly painful over the past couple days, but it became noticeable as soon as I started the first set of abs. It resulted in a fairly slow pace, on abs and leg levers. However, I managed to go a (tiny) bit faster on pullups, so the overall time was only a second away from Monday's result. 


Last but not least, Hera strength completed my week. Interestingly, this was the opposite of Iris strength. I expected the training to be much more difficult and longer due to the high jumps, but it's not the case. High jumps require a bigger effort and bring more intensity to the training, but the extra effort is mitigated thanks to the 60 seconds breaks. As a result, for my first attempt at the strength version, my time was only 01:30 above my PB in the standard version.


My total training time this week was longer by nearly 40mn compared to the previous week and its Hell Days. Yet the app indicates that I scored less points (3'003 vs 3'184). As you know by now, I'm mostly indifferent points but I understand that they somehow abstractly quantify the efforts of workouts. Which means that it took more time to roughly generate the same output of energy.
Given the amount of time wasted on Kronos starring at a the pullup bar, I'd say that's a pretty good summary of my week. So the point system is probably not that far off the mark afterall.

Second Program: Week #7 (Hell Days)

Week 53: Second Program - week 7 out of 15 (Hell Days)

Week settings:

• Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
• Number of training days: 4
• Limitations: none
• Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"

Training:

• Monday: Artemis standard (24:20*) +Metis standard x3 (23:43*)
• Tuesday: rest day
• Wednesday: Artemis standard (25:17*) +Apollon standard (21:24* -PB)
• Thursday: boxing training
• Friday: Poseidon standard x2 (13:35*) +Atlas (standard 21:24* -PB) +[bonus 2K run]

Statistics:

• 4'878 points
• 128 minutes

For some reason, in Week #5 I was convinced that I would get Hell Days. I thought that the Freeletics guys must have changed the way the program worked. It's only now that I'm sitting to write this post, that I realized that it's actually normal. Hells Days were already in Week #7 during my first program.



So, if timing of Hell Days remains unchanged, is there anything else new?

Well, the first time I was following the program via the website (it wasn't included in the app back then). So the first novelty for me was to see that the usual blue color-code of the app, turned to red. This warns you that your week ain't going to be a walk in the park (most likely you'll be taking a "lunge-walk" in the park instead).

The second thing that I noticed is that on a Hell Days week, the number of training days that you chose is irrelevant. If you have a closer look at the "Week settings" at the begining of this post, you'll notice that I asked to get 4 training days. But the coach only assigned my 3 days (which is the usual number of Hell Days).


Looking at the training content itself, the only real change was that each Hell Day was "only" made-up of 2 workouts. In the past it used to be 3 workouts per day (although 1 of the 3 was usually a very short workout).



On the first day, I was fired-up and slightly improved Artemis versus my previous week attempt (24:20* instead of 24:42*). This is a moderate gain, but it's always feels good to be going in the right direction.
I performed the Metis x3 only a few minutes after Artemis, so I was less juiced up! It felt difficult, but the good thing about these cardio workouts is that even if the pace is slower most of the time you can carry-on (as opposed to pullups, where you just have to just stand there starring at the pullup bar until your arms recover). I didn't score a PB, but that I didn't really expect to.

The second day, I had to split my training. Artemis was done in the morning before breakfast (I had to be home to do the pullups), while Apollon (which requires to be outdoor) was done later in the day. My personal preference is to do workouts back to back, but I have to do with logistical constraints.
The Apollon PB was unexpected. I had assumed that my shoulders would be a bit sore from the early Artemis session, but the burpees were very fluid. It's good to finish a Hell Day on a positive note.

For the last day, I also had to split my day in the same way. Poseidon x2 before breakfast and Atlas at lunch. Once again, I scored a PB. It seems that my running has been improving lately. I had some juice left, so I decided to run back 2 kilometers to my starting point.



Overall it was a good week. The training load was heavier than a regular week, but it remained reasonable. If I could still run after completing the entire week, it means that my muscles were not completely burnt out.
So don't be afraid of Hell Days, they won't kill you (but they will try...)

Second Program: Week #6

Week 52: Second Program - week 6 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: Gaia strength 8/10 (41:01* -First time)
• Tuesday: Venus standard (17:26*)
• Wednesday: Artemis standard (24:42*)
• Thursday: boxing training
• Friday:[bonus: 100 jumping jacks (01:09*)] +Ares standard x2 (17:06* -First time) +[bonus: 25 pushups standards (00:35*) +25 pushups diamonds (00:50*) +25 pushups wide (00:46*)]

Statistics:

• 3'184 points
• 100 minutes

Last couple weeks felt a bit soft, but I still decided to keep intensity at the same level as before. That was a wise move, as my regular training plan proved to be more challenging this time.


Week #6 begun with a running start. When you get Gaia strength on day #1, no matter what comes afterward you can't call it an easy week!
In my case, I wasn't the full workout but only 8 rounds out of 10. My last encounter with Gaia strength on Week #4 (only 6/10), had left me breathless.
I didn't want to be burnt out before starting rounds 7 & 8, so this time I decided to take a slower start and focus on breathing. Also, while I prefer to remain barefoot when training indoor, I wore running shoes to help cushion the landing on high jumps (and limit the risk of my tendinitis returning).
Despite the slow start this workout was tough. My completion time was 41:01* for 8 rounds, to the 6 rounds in 24:08*,  (1 minute more per round; it's a 25% increase).

I can't hide behind the slower start to explain such an important drop in pace. The main reason is that this is a difficult workout. A single round is intensive, but can be done in a burst. However the repetition of rounds grinds down stamina exponentially. While I didn't think much of Gaia in the past, it has become one of my top bogeymen.

The rest of the week was mostly strength focused. Artemis has been improving (25:16* last attempt), but remains tough. For short sets of pushups/pullups (i.e. 15-25), I have almost gotten back to my pre-summer level, but longer sets remain challenging. It will take time and effort before I can do all 50 pullups without being forced to take breaks.

The last point I wanted to highlight, was that during my boxing training I start to feel the impact of doing the Freeletics program in parallel. When I was setting-up my own schedule, the day before my weekly boxing practice was usually a rest day, or at least a light session. Now that I'm following the program, I have less flexibility and there are times when I show-up at practice with sore muscles.
It's not something unbearable, but I want to bring it up as I know that many people use (or plan to use) Freeletics in complement to another sport. Finding the right balance between both is a fine art, and I'm already starting to think on how I should be organizing workouts during the week once I'm done with my current 15 weeks program.

Second Program: Week #5

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:

• 1'914 points
• 68 minutes

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.