W17, Community Partner, Sickness, Free Training and Pain

I'm not dead!!! (yet). I've just not been writing about my training... This past month I've been having a lot of trouble finding time to fit in 24 hours everything I need to do during a single day, 7 days a week, week after week after week. The blog has been one of the biggest casualties of this crazy period, and that does not make me happy. I actually apologize, to anybody who reads this, and also to myself for not stepping up. I'm doing my best to regain control of my life (that sounds sooo dramatic). This past Friday was a holiday so during the weekend we finally managed to clean and sort out the apartment, which was long due. I take this new order as a sign of better times coming.

About a month and a half ago, I was contacted by the guys of Freeletics Headquarters (in Germany) and was offered to step up my role as an affiliate, and become a Community Partner. It took very little thought for me: I said yes right away. Being a Community Partner means that I somehow "represent" Freeletics here in Chile, and one of my tasks is to set up public group training sessions so that we can reach more people and turn them into Free Athletes. I've set up a Facebook Group where I publish as an event where and when we will get together and train. At first I started training with colleagues and friends, but slowly I'm reaching out to more people. The group will be listed in the "Community / Groups" tab of the Freeletics page and I hope that will draw more people to our training sessions. So far it has been an interesting experience for me, going from training completely on my own to training with 2 to 6 more people (for now), explaining to others how to do exercises correctly and so on.

I'm currently in week 17 of my Coach, and I've been stuck in W17 for about twenty days. Everything was going great at the beginning; I actually got a PB on Aphrodite, which made me hyper mega happy!!! It has been a very long time goal of mine to lower that time. Aphrodite is and will remain my "key" workout, and I was aiming to get below the 27 minute mark I had established more than a year ago, back when I was training harder.

That night I even got some of the guys of my group to come and train with me in a public square near my house... But then I had to pause midway through the week because I got sick. I got a sinusitis which then turned into bronchitis. I had to take antibiotics for ten days, and it took me a little over two weeks to feel completely normal again. The first week I was feeling so bad that training was the last thing in my mind, but then the second week, as I was 50 - 70% recovered, I just wanted to do something! Once your body gets used to exercising a certain amount of hours per week, you really feel the urge to move when you have been standing still for too long. During those days I red this interesting post on the Freeletics Knowledge Center called "Exercising and illness: when excuses are allowed" that talked about sickness and exercise and how it was recommended that if you had taken antibiotics for X days you should wait another X days after finishing the therapy before resuming your training...

I was not going to stand still another ten days, but I was very cautious and waited until I felt really recovered before I re-started training. The problem is that the Coach said I had to do Atlas, and getting off of a bronchitis I was not feeling well enough to run those 2 kms in the autumn cold. I decided to keep the Coach on standby and do some free workouts with a little less cardio involved. With my crew being composed of guys who are trying out Freeletics and still haven't purchased their coaches, I only make them do exercises that are for free en in Freeletics App... so two weekends ago we did Venus, and I actually got a PB which surprised me tremendously,  coming out of my illness!!! After that, during the week I did Dione which felt harder and made me feel like a turtle. Hopefully I will regain my speed fast.

This Saturday I changed the usual training spot of my group for a park that I had seen that had a cool set of bars so that we could start incorporating Pull-Ups and such into our training. I'm not strong enough to do strict nor kipping Pull-Ups, but I can do some negatives (jumping P.Ups) and I'm convinced that the only way to get better at any particular exercise is practicing over and over again, each time with a little more difficulty added. That being said, we did Zeus, and it was brutal. One of the guys turned all white after round one and had to lay down for more than 5 minutes to recover... He only finished two of the four rounds. I was the only one doing jumping Pull-Ups (I had to lead by example, right?) and it was absolutely way too much.

With Freeletics I've learned to push myself, and three times I've pushed beyond my limits. Back in 2013, when I first started training, I remember I could not walk for three days after doing some Leg Levers, and then I also had an incident with my first Pull-Ups (see this post). The third time I've pushed too far was this Saturday. Finishing Zeus was hard, with all the Pikes, Pull-Ups and Push-Ups (Situps and Squats were my happy resting time). Afterwards I felt my arms extremely tired and tingly, so I knew muscle pain was coming my way. I ate protein and stretched well. On Sunday I had some pain, but it was manageable... But yesterday and today have been excruciating. I can't take off my T-shirt or put on a coat without help. Carrying my backpack and putting it over my shoulder has been awful. I feel that my biceps are "swollen", I can't bend or extend my arms all the way... At some point, I even started to worry about Rhabdomyolysis, but as I am very well informed about it (you should be too, and if you are not, please read this) I know I don't have any of the systemic signs. I'm keeping well hydrated and keeping an eye for any indicator of kidney damage...

That being said. It was too much. I am a T-Rex. I'll re-start doing Pull Ups but I think I'll take it down a notch :D.

Coach W15 // HELL WEEK D1 - Helios (S) + Metis (S)

 Helios (S), *01:07:42 (PB) 

 Metis (S), *00:08:02 (PB!) 

This week, you will gain a major Freeletics experience: Hell Week. Every now and then we choose to go through hell to come out even stronger. Freeletics Hell Weeks are all about reaching true exhaustion, reaching our performance limits several times within a short period of time and with little rest and exceeding our own expectations. Hell Weeks made many of our athletes much stronger – both physically and mentally. Hell Week means a lot of training. Seven days, seven times Freeletics. All out: Seven days in a row, high volume and high intensity. As always, try to break your PBs. This week, however, it is even more important to successfully complete every single session. You know the game. Make sure to stay hydrated and to maintain good form, especially as you get weaker. And remember: This is Freeletics. Quitting is not an option. Once more give it your all!

Technically I didn't choose to get Hell Week, but I don't really have a choice and I'm think I'm more up for the challenge than I actually think I am!!! When I finished last week, I thought "I'll tell the coach this week was a bit easy and I'll ask for three training days, I can squeeze three workouts + two soccer matches". Instead of that, the Coach says I get Hell Week. I thought "well, it will probably be like last time, with 4 training days.." but no, it's seven days of training ! I have a relatively tough week at work and soccer matches on Tuesday and Saturday so I'm not really sure how I'll survive, playing and training the same day AND having trained all other days... but we'll see!

The first Workout of Day 1 is Helios, a workout I have never done before. If I had the choice, I wouldn't start with an unknown workout, and I think that's precisely why the Coach did it; to put me to the test mentally. I hate the unknown, and I have to start being more comfortable in uncomfortable scenarios. 

#CoachKnows

Helios is a one "A-B-C-D-C-B-A" series workout of Burpees (A), Lunges (B), Climbers (C) and Sit Ups (D); (and then again Climbers, Lunges and Burpees). The number of reps varies from 100 to 150. I think its very hard on the mind to have to do 100 or 150 times the same thing, repeating the same movements over and over. Workouts with several series of 20 - 50 or even 75 reps are "easier" on the mind. Even if in the end you did the same total number of reps, It's not the same to do them all at once or in several series. It took me absolutely forever to finish, but I did finish, which is a small victory in itself. I started thinking about the week of training ahead of me and I think that pushed me to take it slower than I ought to, "saving energy" for the impending future.

Of course, it wouldn't be Hell Week if I didn't have to do another workout after over 1 h of Helios. Luckily it was good old Metis: I knew it would take me less than 15 minutes to finish it, and then it would all be over. I took a 3 - 5 minute break and I jumped right into it. The tought of finishing Day One fast gave me unexpected energies, and I went all crazy on the first round of 10 Burpees and Climbers. I knew right away I was on track to beat my PB, and that gave me even more energy! I had to slow down during the series of 25 reps, and for a moment I feared I had lost my impulse, but then I pushed and pushed and managed to improve my time by 48 seconds!!! It was really a huge surprise. I didn't think I could go so fast after training for 1 hour. I'm sure being all warmed up and having done all those Burpees before hand played in my favour. Day One of Hell Week ended up the best way possible; with two PBs on my bag (ok... the first one doesn't actually count since it was the first time doing the workout, but still =)

Coach W12D3 - Atlas (Standard)

 Atlas (S), 00:31:52 

Last training session of Week 12, and it's a workout I've never done before: ATLAS. In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the Titans that rebelled and fought against the Olympians. After loosing the battle, Zeus punished Atlas by having him stand on the western edge of the Earth (Gaia) and hold up the heavens over his shoulders for eternity. That way he was kept apart from his brother Menoetius who was condemned to the tartarus. Atlas has been long time misrepresented as holding Gaia over his shoulders, when the myth clearly states that he is holding the heavens... The thing is, how do you represent the heavens? It's certainly easier to make a painting or a statue of Atlas holding the Earth!

Did Atlas, the workout, feel like I had to carry the weight of the heavens over my shoulders? Not really, but it is certainly was a complex workout, involving 6 different exercises which pretty much had me doing a bit of everything.

The workout starts off with a 2 km run. On Sundays the large avenue in front of my apartment is closed from 9 AM to 2 PM and everybody goes out to run, ride their bikes, roller skate, walk their dogs etc. I measured the distance online and I managed to run up 1 km and down 1 km the closed street, and finish in around 12 minutes.  I hate running so I think it's a decent time, but it can most certainly be improved. After that, I got back into the apartment and went on with Squats, Burpees, Climbers, Leg Levers (which are supposed to be straight but I had to do Hand Helped so, no star) and finally Jumps. Overall it went smoothly, up until the Leg Levers which put me a bit in a bad mood because I see and feel the limitation of still not being able to do them straight. I'm working on it though, that's what's most important I guess... My psoas suffers tremendously during the Leg Levers  so,  having to jump afterward is a BIG challenge.

Coach W6D1 - Venus (Standard)

 Venus (S): 00:29:39 

A new week of training has started. I absolutely LOVE that after finishing each week the coach asks how it was: 1) too easy; 2) hard, but ok or 3) too hard. With that feedback, the training volume for the following week can be adjusted. It also asks if you want to change your training focus (endurance, strength or both), how many days are you planning to train and if you have any muscular limitation, to prevent injury by letting particularly sore muscles rest.

I thought last week was OK for me as a comeback to regular training. I really could not have fitted in another workout so it was overall good. I don't want to be burned out too quickly, specially at the beginning, so I'll keep the same intensity this week but I'll train 3 times instead of two (I have no soccer). I'm a bit sore but I have no real limitations, and as usual I want to keep on training endurance and strength at the same time.

The first workout this week is one I had never done before: VENUS. Named after the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility (equivalent to the Greek Aphrodite), this workout consists of four rounds of 50 Push Ups, 20 Sit Ups and 50 Squats. I feel like Venus is the most basic workout you can do since it only involves three of the "fundamental" (if you can call them that) body-weight exercises that exist. Nonetheless, workouts don't need to be fancy and elaborate to make you sweat!

Knowing myself and my absolute lack of push/pull up strength, I decided right away not to go for the star version and do Knee Push Ups. There's a saying here in Chile that goes something like "starting off like an English pure-blood horse, finishing up like a donkey". What that means is that you start with full strength, super fast but midway you burn out and fall back and can barely get through the finish line. That happened to me on the first round of Push Ups; I did around 15 super fast because they felt easy with my knees and all, and I had already started thinking I would finish up Venus in the blink of an eye when it hit me... I really really have low push up strength, and it shows! I struggled to finish that first round of 50 and the following 4 rounds I had to break the 50 into sets of 10 to be able to complete it. The sit ups were a walk in the park and the squats very manageable, so overall I think I must have spent around 18 minutes of the 30 doing my 200 push ups, BUT I DID IT! #ClapClap 

I got extra points for PB which I think is "wrong" because it's the very first time I do the workout! But hey, If you want to give me some extra points for that... To my surprise, I'm not even that sore today. Usually pain kicks in the day before and hits the highest note after 48h. Maybe tomorrow I'll say something different, but for now, I'm more than OK. I can raise both my arms and have mild chest soreness. After training I ate a piece of fish with veggies (bell pepper, zucchini and mushrooms) and a little bit of chick pea puree. It was super healthy (high on proteins and veggies, low on carbs) and super delicious. I'm ready to take on the next training session!

The Birth of Venus - Sandro Botticelli (1486)

Coach W5D1 - Aphrodite

 Aphrodite: *00:44:09 

So, as I anticipated on a previous post, we played on Monday the quarter finals of this summer's soccer league (I said before it was semi finals but I was wrong, we could have played another two matches). Sadly we lost our game... but it was a hell of a match! I ended up exhausted and I'm upset that putting in that much effort was not enough and that that was the the way our last game of the season went down. But hey, that's soccer, and I can't expect to always be on the winning side, right?! Now we go on break because it's summer vacation time here in Chile. The leagues will restart most likely mid March or in the beginning of April. 

This means I no longer have soccer on week days, so I have more time to dedicate to getting in shape with #Freeletics. Hopefully I'll come back stronger than I left. This also means I won't have to "arrange" and cut back my training so I'm not sore or tired on match days. For the next couple of months I'm a 100% Free Athlete and nothing more (sports-wise). I'm ready to give my all to the Coach, once again.

The Coach restarted on week #5, taking in consideration the four weeks I did before. I don't know why, but I was expecting a fresh start, beginning from week #1. It doesn't really matter though, but I'm just a little OCD :-P. I've set up two training session this week and of course, what else would the Coach give me to start off than a classic (and always a "favorite"): APHRODITE.

I usually train after work, very late at night. It's not always great because I end all pumped up and hyperactive, and sometimes it's hard to fall asleep afterwards. I therefore tried something new today I got up earlier than usual and  trained before going to work. 

Aphrodite was HARD. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about trying to do Aphrodite out of the blue and having to stop after the round of 40 reps because I was not feeling well at all. Today was not that different. The series of 30 reps had me feeling light headed, dizzy, wanting to throw up, pouring buckets of sweat... you now, all the not-so-fun-deal. I had to stop to catch my breath at least five times, for around 20 seconds each time -even a whole minute once-. I  wanted to quit. Really really bad. As I'm going up and down on the burpees, and see the clock ticking away, I started to question why on earth would I do this so early in the morning, no why on earth would I do this AT ALL. I've been down that road before so I know I have to power through and ignore my mind. I obviously was late to work because I was hoping to be around 35 minutes, not 45!

I think this is one of the most important victories one gets out of Freeletics; winning over one's mind. Being better than yourself. Developing willpower. It's hard to start training. and it's easy to quit mid-way through. With Freeletics it's just you against yourself, and I feel that every finished training is a victory on it's own. Even if you're far from your PB, like me today,you and only you have the willpower to start the workout, to go through it, to push harder when you are tired, to ignore your mind which will always want to take the easy road. 

About the whole "training early the morning" thing, I think I'll have to give it a couple more chances before I make up my mind completely. I'll write about this on another post, but nutrition in this situation plays a particularly important role. I ate a little something about half an hour before I trained and went through Aphrodite OK (energy wise), with maybe just one moment when I felt my three sips of coffee were coming back up... Then I intended to have a proper breakfast but I wasn't that hungry just finishing the workout so I ate less than I usually do... so of course on my way to work I felt dizzy on the subway and had to eat a banana I brought along to pump up my sugar and not faint right there! Then I started feeling really hungry and had a peach when I got to work... Man was I looking forward to lunch today!!!

#ClapClap

Cardio&Strength - W3D3

 1/2 Hyperion: 00:28:35

 Sit-Up Max: *97

I said to myself: 

"There's no way I'll be able to do Hyperion. It's simply beyond my physical abilities. Why try? Why suffer? Why risk an injury trying to do something I know I cant do. I'll better replace it with a workout I find hard (not to be lazy) but that I know I can do, like Hades..."

Then I talked back to myself...

"If I don't try, I'll definitely never do Hyperion. If I have to try again, and again, and again before I can finish the WO I'll just have to do it. I'll not make the progress I'm meant to do if I don't REALLY push myself and keep having a weak mind"

Also I remembered Freeletics' first email that said "at the beginning your first challenge is to complete the workout" so this is my beginning with Hyperion. My first challenge is to complete the workout.Last week when I tried to do a HS Push Up modified I couldn't even do one. Literraly, if I went down, my head touched the floor and then my arms just couldn't get me back up. Today I had a hard time, but I managed to do them.

In Hyperion HS Push Ups come in series of 6. The first 3 were quite OK; I just had to get my torso in a not-so-vertical position to do it.... Like a hyper-modified version of the exercise. The 4th repetition started to become quite hard but still doable in the "comfortable" pseudo-verticality. During the 5th repetition I really think I'll not be able to go back up, but somehow with all my inner strength I manage to do it. And then there's the final repetition where I simply have to bend my knees a little bit (NOT touching the floor though) to be able to go up and not squash my head on the floor in the process.

I felt really proud of myself for pushing, specially mentally, ang getting the workout done. My arms really couldn't keep going so I stopped midway; I did 3 out of 6 series. Next time I'll do Hyperion, I'll aim for finishing it. Since I only did my mandatory workout it halfway, I decided to add a Sit-Up Max to "compensate" for the "missed" of exercise. I didn't do so great at it, but exercise is exercise no matter what!!!

Cardio&Strength - W2D3

 Aphrodite: *00:34:39 

It's friday night! Last Friday I was at my friend's bachelorette party getting a little too much to eat and drink to endure the strippers. It was quite a tastefully performance must I say; I probably could have endured it without the alcohol, specially considering I'm not much of a drinker. Tonight I'm nice and clean, all showered up and ready to go to bed after doing Aphrodite and eating a good protein ration to help with my recovery process. What a good girl!

I'm very happy because I did Aphrodite last Sunday -that's only 5 days ago- and it took me 42+ minutes to finish, whereas today it only took me 34+ minutes. That means a) I achieved my goal to be under 35 minutes and b) In 5 days I lowered my time by ~8 minutes. I'm still 7 minutes away from my PB, but I'm getting there in no time! Next time I have to do Aphrodite I'll aim to be under 30 minutes.

I've been doing Freeletics (on and off, I know) for 8 months now, and I'm still amazed every time I see these unbelievable progresses happen in no time. Days like this give me strength to endure harder ones like when I have to do Hades or worse... Kentauros.

**** it doesn't get easier... you get stronger! ****

I still have two more training sessions this week, so it will be a Freeletics week-end! Also I have the date of my first soccer match of the season: Tuesday April the 1st. I'm excited and also a bit nervous... though I think that with 3 weeks of training in my body I'll manage well enough to play.

Cardio&Strength - W2D1

 Hades: 00:42:11 

Today was one of those times where the training is so messed-up that I can't help to wonder "why the f**k am I doing this?!" This is not the first time I do Hades, but it turned out to be harder than the previous ones.

As I was doing burpee after burpee, just to move on to the pull-ups, which I cannot even do properly, I could only think of how much wanted to quit. It was super late, I was tired from work, I was hungry, I didn't want to do another burpee, I didn't want to try and do pull-ups the proper way... But I didn't quit. I kept doing the burpees, I kept trying to do each pull-up a little better than the previous, and I cannot explain why. Something kept me going. Something even more powerful than my own mind...

Cardio&Strength - W1D4

 Aphrodite: *00:38:18 

Wooohow! Last session of the week: in with the workout and out with the Maxes... The coach will finally finish learning about my performance and will begin busting my training. I dread all the pull-ups I'm sure are coming my way, but I know I will be thankful later on.

Since March the 7th until the 18th we are hosting here in Santiago the 10th South-American (Olympic) Games. This is, as far as I can remember and during my lifetime, the first really big sports event organized in Chile. There's been sports all over, and I've seen a few competitions on TV. This weekend, however, I went to the stadium to see the athletics competition (Saturday and Sunday) and the U-17 women soccer finale (Sunday), where unfortunately Argentina beat Chile 2-1. After seeing all that sport, cheering my a*s off, with everybody running, sweating, falling, rising, beating up scores and winning medals, I got home late and tired but excited to do Aphrodite.

My quads were still extremely sore (even to the slightest touch) and tight from the Squat Max. My upper abs were also hurting; I felt it more during the burpees than during the sit ups. After the first round of 50 repetitions, however, I was well warmed-up and the pain faded to the point I forgot it was there to start. Still I was slower than the previous times and felt tired throughout the workout. I wanted to be below the 35 minute mark. Unfortunately I was only below the 40 minute mark, and 10 minutes slower than my PB!!! Considering the circumstances, I guess it's OK. At least I did better then the previous first time I did Aphrodite(if a "second first time" exists) . That time it took me, if I recall correctly, 47 minutes. I'm glad I finished this week. I think I'm off to a good start. I don't know what the future holds but I'm  confident I'll be able to finish the whole program this time! One down, 14 more to go...

Cardio&Strength Coach - W1D3

 Sit Up Max: *137 (in 300 secs) PB! 

 Pull Up Max: 11 (in 100 secs) 

 Burpee Max: *41 (in 300 secs)

Day 3. I'm definitely back!!! Its a little weird because I feel, at the same time, that I'm starting fresh and like I never left. I guess it's like coming back home. Once you become a Free Athlete, there's no going back. 

In my last post, I said I was fearing yet looking forward to this session. I guess the idea of doing Pull Ups "scares me" because I know I will struggle and that I will do a ridiculously little number of ridiculously shaped Pull Ups. However I'm glad to be already seeing some improvements, maybe not in the number of repetitions (I did one less than the other day), but in the way I do the exercise -with more controlled movements-. That has always fascinated me about Freeletics. Even from one session to the next, you can feel and see subtle differences that add up and add up tho that great big goal of the 15 weeks. 

Today I was a little sore from yesterday's training, but mostly on my legs. The Push Ups helped ease the pain of the Pull Ups from the first training session, so it was great. Its my quads however that hurt quite a bit from all the squats. That, of course, has nothing to do with the abs that allowed me to beat my PB with 137 Sit Ups in 300 seconds...  Yay me! I'm almost getting to my 150 bar, which will mean a sit up every two seconds. Woohoow!!!

When I got to the burpees I was a bit tired, so I was doing them slowly. I'm still not able to jump backwards as fast as I'd like. I think I still have a long way to go to perfect this movement, but I'm making progress and slowly getting there. I guess I'd like to get soon around the 75 burpees in 300 seconds.

Tomorrow night I have a Friend's bachelorette party (I fear for my physical integrity LOL) so I'll be doing Aphrodite, my last session of this first week, probably on saturday. Wish me luck, and remember:

we may take breaks... but we NEVER QUIT!

Cardio&Strength Coach - W1D2

 Squat Max: *104 (in 300 sec) 

 Push-Up Max: 25 (in 100 sec) 

Oh dear muscle pain, believe it or not, I've missed you! You feel so good (OK, that sounded masochistic, which I'm not). You make me really feel -litteraly- that I'm back in the game, that I'm alive and more importantly, even if it's only by a little bit, that I'm making progress... Yes I'm uncomfortable lifting my arms or going down the stairs, but I know it's for the better!!!

As usual, after the other day's Pull-Ups the worst pain is in my pecs and my Latissimus dorsi, that lovely muscle that goes from my back, across my armpit and connecting with my pecs. It doesn't hurt as bad as the last time (no T-Rex), probably because I only did 12 reps, but pulling off my t-shirt is not a walk in the park either!

Today I had to keep busting my pecs with the Push-Up Max. Since I was already in pain I decided it was wiser not try and do it with a star and I just went for the knee-on-the-ground version. I was right because I barely got to 25 repetitions!!! Well, my upper-body weakness is no surprise to me and I'm guessing the coach will catch on that rather soon.

I felt really good during the Squat Max and I managed to go above the 100 repetitions, which was the threshold I had set for myself before I started. I was surprised to notice I only did one repetition less than my PB, so after two training sessions I'm seeing that, at least in some aspects, my two month (or more?) break did not have as bad an impact in my strength as I expected it.

Next session: Sit Up, Pull Up and Burpee Max. I'm fearing it a bit. I'm also looking forward to it.

Cardio&Strength Coach: W1D1

 Burpee MAX: *48 (in 300 sec) PB! 

 Pull-Up MAX: 12 (in 100 sec) 

Well, I got back on the horse! Cheers for the beginning of my new ending!
I'm very glad I did. It was a "soft" training to start. Almost all week I just have to do MAXes, except the last day where I shall meet again my beloved Aphrodite ♥. The coach is supposedly learning about me and my performance through these exercises. I suppose if you can do a certain amount of reps you fall in a certain category and so on. Well, you don't have to be a genius to know Pull-Ups are one of my lowest points so, I expect quite a few of those bad boys in my training for the next 15 weeks... I won't say I'm happy about that, but I know it'll only make me better.

I'm glad we started soft though. Mentally it empowers you to "do well" right away, even if I consider my performance not that great... I beat my PB in the burpees?! I'm not sure how is that possible, but I'm still glad I did. Maybe my 5 extra kilos aren't that much of a setback... My knee still hurts when I jump forward and backwards during the burpees but I decided to power through it because it doesn't seem to get any better with rest anyways. I sucked at the Pull-Ups, as usual but the little 12 I did (girly style of course, jumping up) I did them well.

I'm really looking forward to getting on the training/sweating/improving zone again. I can't wait to feel stronger, as I did before. Soccer starts in three weeks so I hope it will be enough time for me to go back at least 90% to my pre-job/injury/trip self. The rest will come on its own time.

I'll try to upload a new set of pictures ASAP.

Cardio&Strength - W5D5

 Apollon: *00:32:45 

After Kentauros' hell week, and recovering completely, today's session consisted in Apollon, an all new cardio workout that alternates burpees, 400 mt runs and deep squats. Compared to a hard strength session as was Kentauros, I find these cardio sessions to be almost a walk in the park (emphasis in the ALMOST part of the sentence), and a "joy" to do. I finally finished week #5!!!! It looked like this day would never come...

Burpees are my friends now and squats were always friendly, so I had no problem doing the workout without any modified repetitions. Yaaay for me! I got a star right away :-P. I had to stop though every once in a while to catch my breath. It is very noticeable when I have not been training steadily. I believe that if I had to to this same workout a couple more days in a row, I could get my time near the 25 minute mark with relatively little effort. We shall see what comes my way now though.

And still on the brighter side of life... I keep on training with company =). My close-one that had trouble with my getting-in shape is now not only doing some Freeletics workouts with me... They are even joining me in the soccer pitch and jogging while I play so WE KEEP MAKING PROGRESS!  

Cardio&Strength - W5D4 // I'm back!!! + New Year Sale

 Kentauros: *01:15:08 

Happy New Year everybody!

I hope 2014 will bring only good things to all of you and that it'll be the year that you change your lifestyle for good with Freeletics :-). If you didn't already know, there's a 30% off deal on the website for the Freeletics Coach and the Nutrition Guide with the coupon code getitfor2014. The deal will last until January 15th so you still have a few days to decide!

To explain my absence would be long story... but to sum up: I got discouraged by my last performances, I got super tired and even a bit ankle/knee injured with all the soccer and the training and I got a new job so I needed some time to settle in and figure out how to make time to train. On top of everything, the main reason I had to take this little break is because my training was causing trouble to someone very close to me who has body-image issues and a past eating disorder. I found it very hard mentally to keep going and getting better, stronger and faster when, while doing so, I was hurting someone I love. 

Now we're starting to work things out. We've talked a lot about this, they are going to therapy, and we agreed that my being better should be an inspiration and not a negative trigger... So, to make that change happen, we took action and trained together! I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me. After having to hide my training these past months, silencing my excitement about my progress and how well the blog is doing so that I wouldn't hurt them, now I can finally be open about it (well, still cautiously but at least I'm not in the dark). The best part is that it was their idea (I dreamed about it but I never thought that mentally they could take it)... So now I'm trying to make Freeletics a positive change in lifestyle not only for myself but for the both of us.

Along that line, I don't know if you remember that one of my last sessions was Kentauros, and I couldn't finish it. It took me over 40 minutes to get halfway, and I was in so much knee pain that I just had to quit. That day my decline began, and I ended up taking the break just when I had to do Kentauros again. So this, my first comeback training session was, of course KENTAUROS. I gave it my all, and was prepared with knee protectors this time. It took me an eternal hour and a quarter to finish, but I fricken did it, and with a star!!!!. It made me very very proud to finish up something a few weeks ago I just couldn't do. Now I hope I (we) will only keep going up, as I was doing before.

Cardio&Strength - W5D3

 Poseidon: 00:11:00 

 Burpee MAX: *46 (in 300 sec) 

I've had a crazy week-end and it was impossible to train for a few days. Today I finally got the time to do day #3 of this week, and I just realized this week has got 5 training sessions planned instead of the usual 4!!! I will definitely have finish up week #5 in way more than a week's time... Day 3 consists in two new workouts with well known exercises; Poseidon, all strength with Pull-Ups and Push-Ups, and Burpee Max. 

I'm getting better at the modified Pull-Ups, but I still have a hard time doing them all the right way and lowering my body completely in a controlled manner. The good news is the Push-Ups are definitely under control and I will never again do the modified version, so that's definitely a progress worth noticing :-). 

The Burpees however were a bit disappointing. I thought I'd be able to do way over 50. Without putting much thought into it I was expecting over 100 repetitions... then as I was doing the workout I realized doing 75 would be a great number, but not even 50?! I think that's a bit of a shame. I think I must review my technique, because I'm not getting any faster when I consider I should.

Cardio&Strength - W5D2

1/2 Kentauros: *00:40:41

Today I had to do a new strength workout; Kentauros. It is composed of six series of a combination of lunge walk, high jumps and burpee frogs. 

If burpees were my personal hell at the beginning of Freeletics, burpee frogs are a whole new level of torture. And lunge walks seem easier than they are... but it's all a lie. Also, I do not recommend to do Kentauros with shorts and over cement; I got bruised knees very VERY fast, and they hurted all the way.

I'm unhappy and I feel disappointed. Remember that we NEVER quit? Well, today I quitted. I was absolutely unable to finish the workout. It took me 40 minutes to do 3 of the 6 series of Kentauros... And I couldn't keep on going. It was, I think, 70% a mental wall, 30% a physical one. I underestimated how tough this workout was. I really believed I would finish it quite fast, and I went for the star right away. I don't think doing the modified version of the exercises would have made that much of a difference, but maybe it would have been enough for me to be able to complete the whole thing.

Now I go to bed feeling ashamed and wondering what I could have done different not to be in this position. A big part of me shouts excuses like: "I was exhausterd today because I've been getting up early al week and last night I didn't sleep well", but I knoww deep inside there shoud be no excuses...

Cardio&Strength - W5D1

 Hades: 00:37:12 

Starting week #5, I realize I'm about to get to the "same" point as with the Free Guide... I was fearing I would get a "Hell Week" for week #5, but lucky me that didn't happen. In total I've been training (well, at the end of this week I will have trained) for 10 weeks. It sounds like quite a long time. There's been ups and downs, PBs beaten and struggles, a lot of sweat and almost tears... I feel I've come a long way from where I started (not even able to do a strict burpee... not even imagining myself doing a Pull Up etc.) and I'm very happy about that.

Yesterday I started at a new job. I will definitely miss being home and having tons of time to do whatever pleases me, whenever it pleases me. Of course that also means my training window has been dramatically reduced, I can't train at 1 AM anymore and, very important, I'm overall more tired. Today I got home late and exhausted. I had to do Hades again so I struggled quite a bit with finding the strength within me to train at 11 PM. I feel I have changed because, even with all that, I went out and trained, because WE REALLY NEVER QUIT, and that seems to have stuck with me for good. I did not beat my PB but today I don't care about that because for the first time I was able to do the modified Pull Ups the right way, i.e. getting down in a controlled manner, in (almost) every single repetition. It may have taken me almost 4 minutes more to finish the whole workout, but It's so worth it when I think that last week I was dropping down from the bar like a heavy potato while this week I'm lowering my body slowly!!! On top of that, I realized I'm getting quite good at the Push Ups; my struggles are a thing of the past, and so are the modified repetitions. I had no problem with doing all 15 repetitions the strict way!!!

So, there you have it. New job, new found strength, and soon new PB.
 Always remember: we are Free Athletes, and we NEVER quit.

Cardio&Strength - W4D4

 Dione: 00:36:53 

Last training of week #4!!! An old acquaintance: DIONE. Yet again I managed to be two minutes slower than my previous time. I don't know what's going on with me. I "feel" in better shape (and I think I look in better shape) but my times do not reflect that... 

What do you think might be happening?

Today I  tried to do the Leg Levers without modifications. I did a few -before I could not do a single one-, but It would have been really hard (almost impossible) to do all 50 of them, three times. My abs apparently are still not that strong because my back kept arching when I tried to do them. It is just SO much easier with my hands under my butt!!! Next time I hope I'll be better prepared and I'll just give it a go, no matter how long it takes.

Cardio&Strength - W4D3

 Metis: *00:09:58 

 Metis: *00:10:25 

Today is a double feature of Metis, all cardio, all sweat. I had a soccer match (baby soccer actually, a little different from what I'm used to) so I trained afterwards. As usual, not the best idea because I come into the workout already feeling a bit tired but hey, that's life when you are NOT sedentary, right?!

I was confident I could top my PB on the first run, and I was quite shocked to see it took me a minute longer to finish up! I would like to blame the soccer but I don't really know. I was expecting to perform worse on the second run, but to my surprise it wasn't much of a difference, just under 30 seconds. I think that's good, not taking that much longer, but I worry for not  topping my PB... I guess there are many factors to take into consideration and I shouldn't worry too much while I'm giving my best at each rep.

Cardio&Strength - W4D2

 Uranos: 00:45:20 

Today is my first time doing Uranos, a new cardio + strength workout. Uranos includes, among other things, a 2 km run, a series of 50 Pull Ups and a series of 50 Push Ups. PHEW!!!

I must be honest. I absolutely HATE running. With all due respect to the countless runners out there, I think it's the single most boring exercise ever. I always dreaded the times when I had to take those endurance tests in school and run long distances, or those 30 to 45 minutes of jogging the University soccer coach made us do before every training session... I'd much rather be chasing a ball than going round in circles! However, now that I'm in better shape running does not seem like such a hard thing to do anymore. It is still not my favourite thing to do, but I finished the 2 km in 12 minutes, which I think is quite a decent time, and I almost didn't have time to complain/suffer from it. I'm even confident I could have sped up and finished a bit earlier!

This week's instructions specifically say that the goal for week #4 is to take the workout outside one's house for the first time (mostly all workouts can be done indoors), and thus be forced to overcome external obstacles such as the weather. Lucky me, it's spring here, so the weather is good and not really an issue. I train late in the afternoon or night, so it's not that hot anymore. I don't have a park nearby though (well, there is one, but it's uphill so it's not ideal) so I decided to do the running in the street, and the rest of the workout in my yard. 

Let's call my house point A. I had already measured 200 meters (just counting steps, but it turned out to be quite an accurate measurement when I used the car to check) down the street to point B so I could do A→B→A and get the 400 meters I need for workouts like Hera. Yesterday I took the car and went from my house the opposite direction of point B, and measured 800 meters to point C. This way I have: B -200 m- A -800 m- C (1 km from B to C, with my house in between). So, for my 2 km run I did A→C→(A)→B→A and then I got inside to do the rest of the workout.

I've had some pain in my hands, arms and shoulders from all the Pull Ups I've been doing lately, but it's not nearly as bad as the first time. My gorilla grip is getting better and I hardly have any calluses forming. Today it still took me a while to finish the 50 repetitions, but I'm pretty sure it was way less than the 15 minutes it took me the first time. Baby steps, right? On the much much brighter side, I took it as a personal challenge to do the 50 Push Ups with a star, and I did!!!! I had to rest a bit every 10 repetitions or so, but hey, I think that's better than doing them girly style with the knees on the ground. I consider this a big achievement, perhaps my mayor breakthrough so far. I'm confident that rather sooner than later I'll also be able to do the Pull Ups the right way too so I can get a star on all these workouts!