Notes by Nectar

I had a pretty good week at the gym. On Sunday morning, I decided to go back to Week 3 of the 10k Runner app – just to ease myself back in. I did Week 3 Day 1:

• Warmup x 5 min
• Run x 1.5 min
• Walk x 1.5 min
• Run x 2.5 min
• Walk x 2.5 min
• Run x 2.5 min
• Walk x 2.5 min
• Run x 1.5 min
• Walk x 1.5 min
• Cool down x 5 min

It was manageable (just) and I was pleased I’d done something!

I had a session with Pete on Monday morning. I did a 1 km warmup on the treadmill followed by some stretches. I knew I’d be doing mostly weights and the first group of exercises consisted of:

• Deadlifts x 10 (25-lb weights)
• Combined plank/shoulder tap x 30 (alternating 15 on each side)
• Rest x 20 s
• Repeat two more times

I had a 1 minute break where I drank some water and then did the next group of exercises:

• Pushups x 10
• Goblet squats x 10 (20-lb weight)
• Lateral pulldown x 10
• Rest x 20 s
• Repeat two more times

After another break of 1 minute I did the following set – it was a nightmare:

• Jumping jacks x 50
• Burpees x 10
• Jumping jacks x 50
• Burpees x 8
• Jumping jacks x 50
• Burpees x 6
• Jumping jacks x 50
• Burpees x 4
• No breaks!

When Pete told me what I’d be doing, I thought he’d lost his mind. That’s two hundred jumping jacks. TWO HUNDRED. The first 50 were OK, I have to say – but after the first 10 burpees I never quite recovered my breath and each group of jumping jacks got harder and harder. It was awful. Pete told me I wouldn’t be taking any breaks, but I did have to stop occasionally to catch my breath. I think I did all that in about 7 minutes – which isn’t great.

After I had some water and caught my breath properly, I moved on to abs:

• Reverse crunches x 20
• Elbow to knee crunches x 20 (10 on each side)
• Single-leg lowering x 20 (alternating 10 on each side)
• Side-bend crunches x 20 (alternating 10 on each side)
• Double crunches x 20

And I was done. I did some stretches and went home.

On Tuesday morning, I went back to the gym to do Week 3 Day 2 of the 10k Runner app. It was exactly the same as Week 3 Day 1. About halfway through my workout, one of the ladies who lives in the building came in and started walking on the next treadmill. And then she started singing. Badly. I didn’t even know what she was singing, but I could hear her above my own headphones. So when I was cooling down and breathing somewhat normally, I thought F*** it and I started to sing along to my own music.

I had another session with Pete on Wednesday. My warmup was 3 minutes on the cross-trainer, which immediately told me that I was in for one hell of a session! There were no repeated sets and there seemed to be no long breaks. I had to ask him to send me a list of all the things I’d done because I just couldn’t remember what they were:

• Squat jumps x 20 s
• Run on the spot x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Quick feet – forward/back x 30 s
• Combined plank/shoulder taps x 30 s
• Reverse lunge x 20 s on each side
• Sprint forward and back pedal x 30 s
• Rest x 1 min
• Stance switches x 30 s
• Wood chopper x 20 s on each side (15-lb weight)
• Skaters x 30 s
• Shuttle run x 30 s
• Rest x 1 min
• Quick feet – out/in x 30 s
• Combined plank/forward reach x 30 s
• Skaters x 30 s
• Lateral shuffle x 30 s (in a semi-squat position)
• Rest x 1 min
• Pushups x 30 s
• Combined lunge/continuous pulse x 30 s on each side
• Sprint and back pedal x 30 s
• Shuttle run x 30 s
• Lateral shuffle x 30 s
• Rest

It just went on and on and on… I later showed the list to a friend of mine and I thought she was going to pass out. I had some water and then Pete told me I had an abs circuit left:

• Hip raises x 10
• Elbow to knee crunches x 10 on each side
• Crunches x 10
• Treadmill run x 400 m
• Hip raises x 10
• Elbow to knee crunches x 10 on each side
• Crunches x 10
• Treadmill run x 400 m
• Hip raises x 10
• Elbow to knee crunches x 10 on each side
• Crunches x 10

Ugh! I was so glad when that was over! I did some stretches after that and went home.

On Thursday I was tempted to stay in bed but I knew I had a busy weekend and all I’d be doing was eating and drinking so I went back to the gym and did Week 3 Day 3 of the 10k Runner app:

• Warmup x 5 min
• Run x 2 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 2 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Cool down x 5 min

I didn’t work out again over the weekend. As expected, I did eat and drink a lot.

Total distance covered this week? 8.34 km – including the 1 km warmup with Pete on Monday.

Weight loss? In spite of exercising five times this week, my weight just went up and up and up.

Read more updates here.