This turned out to be a tough week. My wife Sally is a professional fitness instructor, and it seems like she gets certified in some new training regime about once a month. This month’s thing is MOSSA Group Power, and it is tough. It’s choreographed endurance weight training, and if it’s not as aerobically challenging as, say, PLYOGA, it is nevertheless very intense in its own way. It’s heavy on the negative reps, timed with music to make sure that you’re going as slow as you possibly can. Going through it with Sally and her friends Saturday morning was quite an experience. Needless to say, I was quite sore afterwards.
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| Swim, bike, run. |
Still, it’s wasn’t a bad week. Just challenging.
Swim
I swam twice this week, Thursday and Saturday. I did 2000 yard workouts in both cases, trying to stay on my schedule and keep my emphasis off of swimming. At this point, I look at swimming as a kind of cross-training. Saturday’s workout was my long one, with yoga, swimming, running, and then Group Power all in one stretch of effort, but I tried to keep the yoga and swimming pretty easy.
Good thing, too, because Group Power was a pain in the ass.
Thursday
- 5 x 100 warm-up @ 1:30
- 200 kick
- 3 x 400 tempo @ 5:45
- 100 warm down
Saturday
- 200 SKIPS
- 5 x 200 @ 2:55 (aerobic pace)
- 100 warm down
Swimming Total: 2 x swims (2000, 2100); 41 pts
That’s not much for me at all.
Bike
I rode my commute twice, and even then I got caught once out in the rain. Riding has been tough lately with all the snow, forcing me to make up the work in the pool. That’s not a disaster, but it’s not ideal, either.
Cycling Total: 2 x commute rides (2 x 10.7); 21.4 pts
Run
I’ve been run-focused of late, trying to get comfortable with three runs a week while slowly increasing my mileage. It’s not my best thing, but I’m getting there. For what it’s worth, weight training has been helping. I’ve been feeling better when I run, and I’m running faster. I’d not have bet that would be the outcome, but it’s been working for me.
Between snow, work, and jury duty, I only managed to get out once during the week, leaving me with two runs--including a “long” run--to get done during the weekend. Not ideal. I ran easy Wednesday but worked the hills, and that was great. As I said, Saturday was my long workout, which involved a quick 2.5-mile treadmill run after yoga and swimming.
Sunday was the tough because I was sore as anything coming off of Group Power but still needed to go “long”. My route took me about two miles from home and then up a long, slow climb that flat out hurt. My butt was super-sore from all the squats and lunges we’d done during Group Power, but I slowly pushed my way up, turning for home after three-quarters of a mile of gentle climbing.
Oof.
Three runs down, but now I feel like mush.
Running Total: 3 x runs (2.5, 2.65, 5.75); 43.6 pts
Aerobic Total: 106 pts
That’s not a bad week of aerobic work, but it wouldn’t be enough without all the weights and yoga.
Weight Training
Hannah and I lifted chest, shoulders, & triceps Tuesday, and it was great, if quick.
Warm Up
- 3 x Sunrise Salute
- 5 x Spider-Man with Rotation
- 10 x Bodyweight Squats
- 10 x Push-Ups
- General Stretching
Super Sets
- 4 x Flat DB Bench / Tuck-Ups
- 3 x Front Raises / Goblet Squats
- 3 x Dips (Weight Assisted) / Trunk Rotations
- 2 x Bench Dips
Hannah did sets of twelve with low weight. I (generally) did a progression of 10 / 6 / 12, with an emphasis on power in the middle and on endurance in the last set. As I said, that’s been working for me.
Group Power was Saturday, and yeah, it was tough. The hardest part was the emphasis on slow, hyper-repetitve movements. Hannah did PLYOGA with Sally first, so after the warm-up, I told her to sit out and rest. Speaking personally, I’d only planned to go through the warm-up, but once we got in there, it became clear that I was never going to successfully transition back to a more traditional weight-lifting routine, leaving me with the choice of either cutting my workout short or just pushing through the class. I pushed through.
I only really struggled with the legs while we were in the class itself, but those left me shaky and sore, and my shoulders were really sore the next day as well. I liked the class okay but told Sally that I don’t want to do it more than twice/month.
Looking Forward
It’s now Monday and the start of Week 2 of my typical four-week rotation, and I’m both tired and sore. Good news is that today is a rest day; because of the coming snowstorm, I’m not even riding today. I’ll still need to be ready to lift tomorrow and run later in the week, but for now, I’m trying to soak up a bit of recovery and prep for the week.
Good luck out there.
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