Week 10 done and my oh my was it a good week! Aside from still feeling some after-affects from my prior Friday NTC strength training, I hit all of my workouts! Sure, Monday I had to cut a little short, but I am so proud of myself for listening to my body and not pushing myself too hard and risking injury.

I am also starting to test the waters of Apple’s Fitness+ platform. I am still on the fence, but for the routines I have tried so far, I am impressed. The routines I have checked out are definitely for beginners, but those types of workouts are good for me right now since my strength base is pretty low. The curated playlists are amazing. Probably the first platform to really nail this so well. However, there are a lot of complaints I have right now, which I’ll write up a review later and explain. However, their workouts are good and if you are looking for a duration workout that fits in a general category, like HIIT, Strength, Yoga, etc., then Fitness+ is really good. Is it better than NTC? In a couple ways yes, but mostly no. Fitness+ is brand new though, so we’ll see how it evolves over the next year.

Back to my week though. This week I hit all of my Galloway intervals and I finding that my legs are getting used to the start and stop, even with running on a treadmill. I am excited with the progress I am making so far and really looking forward to spring so I can see what my training translates to outside.

Monday 1/4

The plan for today was a 3.75 mile endurance run. However, I wasn’t able to workout until much later than planned, and I was pretty tired. I was able to get in a little under 3 miles, but my pace was a bit slower. Also, since I was in a rush, I didn’t do my usual NTC warm-up, so my muscles were a little tighter. All of this led to me cutting this run short.

Tuesday 1/5

Today was a 3 mile tempo run. Unlike Monday, I was able to workout at my normal time and I did my NTC warm-up. I nailed this run! My pace was on track and I hit all of my Galloway splits. Not only that, but I felt pretty good after my run. It’s a shame it took me so long to recover from my NTC Workout last Friday, but I am happy that it didn’t seem to derail my progress.

Wednesday 1/6

For my rest day, I did my usual trainer ride. I rode for 45 minutes at a light to medium resistance. I really love my rest days because it breaks up all of the running.

Thursday 1/7

The plan for today was speed work with a 5 x 400 meter run. I went at a 7.4 mph speed and felt good for all intervals. My HR seemed to peak in the upper 150’s for each interval, which is good to see consistency with my HR. Probably one of my better HR graphs for a speed workout.

Friday 1/8

After reviewing my NTC workout for today, I was feeling a bit nervous about completing it and having my long run tomorrow. It was another intense workout that was going to really tax my muscles. With how long it took to recover last week, I opted to try out a 30 minute HIIT workout from Apple Fitness+.

As usual, I started out with my NTC warm-up. I then followed up with a 30 minutes HIIT workout, called HIIT with Jamie-Ray. From reading reviews about Fitness+ workouts, I wasn’t sure if this would be enough of a workout. Man was I wrong! That was an intense workout and I was dead afterwards. I have to say, the music was paired really well with the workout and each routine within the workout. Also, Jamie-Ray was a pretty good instructor. There were some points he was talking a little too much and not saying when the next rep was, but that didn’t impede the workout at all. I would have liked to a see a little more warm-up, but this seems consistent with most workout programs…never enough warm-up. To this day, BeachBody’s workouts remain one of the few that have excellent warm-ups.

Saturday 1/9

I woke up a bit nervous since my HIIT workout had me really exhausted. To my surprise, and delight, I felt fine; perhaps even looser than usual. The long run plan for today is 7.5 miles. With my usual walking warm-up, I wanted to hit around 7.75 miles.

I did my NTC warm-up and proceeded to do my long run. I loaded up a movie, got my MultiTimer app ready, and off I went. My usual 5 minute walk to start actually felt too long, which was a first. As a matter of fact, very few times has it ever felt like it was enough. I started off trying to track my segments, but with how long the run was going to be, I figured I would just focus on the run/walk as my MutliTimer app alerted me. I was definitely struggling a bit for my last mile, but overall I felt really good. My HR didn’t go above 146, which although a bit higher than I would like for my long run, still decent enough. I went at my usual 6 mph speed for my 2 minute run intervals, and 3 mph for my 30 second walk intervals. Aside from one point where I was a little too focused on my movie and not the timer, I missed one interval. However, I felt fine even though I went well over the 2 minutes.

At the end of the run I felt exhausted and a bit shaky. I ate a Honey Stinger cracker bar, chugged some water, and felt a bit better. With how warm it got in my basement during the run, I had a hard time conserving my hydration. I had done a single Nuun Sport tab with 12 ounces of water. I could have easily finished it around mile 6, so I am pretty sure I was so shaky afterwards because I was a little dehydrated. With my long runs increasing, I might start keeping a second water bottle with me.

Sunday 1/10

It was nice to have a rest day after that long run. My legs were feeling exhausted when I woke up. It was cleaning day, so I was still going to be getting in some activity. After a finished up, I still wanted to do some sort of workout, especially to loosen up after cleaning. I thought I would try out some more of the Apple Fitness+ workouts.

First up, I tried Absolute Beginner Yoga with Dustin, which was a 10 minute workout. The soundtrack for this was Chill Vibes. I decided to use my Apple TV instead of my iPad so I could have a better viewing area. Overall, this was a really nice and relaxing workout.

Next up I figured I would do a little core work, so I tried out another 10 minute workout called Absolute Beginner Core with Sam, which had Throwback Hits. Sadly, I didn’t really get to do this workout because I was having all sorts of issues with Apple TV connecting with my Apple Watch. It was already late, and I didn’t want to waste time troubleshooting, so i just hopped on my trainer for about 16 minutes. The yoga plus the relaxed trainer ride really helped loosen up my legs and lower back. I think I’ll be using my iPad again though next time I do more Fitness+ workouts.

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