NROLFW: Phase 7 Recap

See also recaps of: phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, phase 4, phase 5, phase 6. See weekly workout recaps in phase 7 here. 

After finishing phase 6, I ended up taking off five weeks from weight lifting before starting phase 7, and then by that point I was pregnant. So as you might imagine, it wasn't exactly the shining pinnacle and showing off all the great strides made during the whole program. 

Performance progress

I stepped back from where I had been, which was 15 to 20 pound dumbbells for pretty much everything, and just used 10 pounds across the board. Though, I might have also reduced weight somewhat because this phase bumps up to doing more reps (15 - 20, rather than, say, 4 - 8 that were becoming more common as you move up through the phases) for most of the workouts.

What I'm most disappointed by is that, with the break and gaining pregnancy weight, I lost the ability to do an unassisted chin-up. I had to add in a band to do any for this phase. I definitely want to keep up doing assisted chin-ups and pull-ups during pregnancy though - once the weight drops they'll automatically become that much easier, right?!

Appearance progress

Well, I gained 8 pounds over this phase... this was part of that awkward phase where it's very difficult to tell whether you're growing a baby or have just eaten a lot of ice cream lately (in my case, a little of both). 

Overall thoughts

These workouts were nice and short (though still intense if using higher weights). I do wish I'd gotten through this phase earlier in the year, so I could have really seen what I could do if stacked no top of the progress of the earlier phases and not started to be limited by pregnancy. But I still was glad to see I retained enough to step back into it, with those limitations, and still be able to do a fair amount with a not that unreasonable amount of weights.

I've now restarted with phase 1, keeping the weights somewhat low and of course skipping any ab/core stuff. Hopefully it will keep me enough in shape throughout pregnancy (even if I can't increase weights, at least maintain) and be able to jump back into it fairly quickly after pregnancy (and get back to chin-ups with less weight to pull up!).

NROLFW Phase 7 Week 3

Workouts: 

Monday: Run (with some walking, on a lovely 88° evening) 2.15 miles (14:50 pace) + NROLFW phase 7 workout 5

Tuesday: Rest day

Wednesday: Run 2.5 miles (13:34 pace) + bike trainer 4.5 miles (12.4 mph, 66 rpm)

Thursday am: "Speed"work run 2.85 miles (13:32 avg pace)

Goal: wu, 2 x 0.25 @ 5k pace (which is a relatively slow 11:00-ish right now) with 0.25 recovery, cd
I'm not doing anything resembling the speedwork I was doing last year, but want to get my legs a little used to the comfortably-hard pace that I want to aim for in 5k races over the summer.
Actual: 
0.95 wu: 12:45
2 x 0.25 intervals: 10:38, 10:52
2 x 0.25 recovery: 14:46, 14:34
0.90 cd: 15:15

Thursday pm: Swim 1,000 yards + half a round of disc golf

Yay for getting back in the pool! Despite not feeling particularly competent at it, it is relaxing. 

Friday: Unplanned rest day

Saturday: Prenatal yoga class (90 min)

Being in a room with 30+ pregnant women is definitely an experience! 

Sunday: Walk 2.25 miles (18:53 pace) + NROLFW phase 7 workout 6

Total swimming: 1,000 yards
Total biking: 4.5 miles
Total running: 7.5 miles
Average daily steps: 10,035

Working summer hours (yes, summer starts immediately after tax day in my world) (which is 30 - 35 hours per week with Fridays off), getting back into a routine, having time to do stuff, so lovely! I'm still freaking exhausted, which I thought would be less so with both tax season and the first tri behind me, but perhaps I'm still just recovering. We'll say that. Then there's hope for more energy over the next couple months, at least, before the third tri and then just being tired for the rest of my life, ok?

NROLFW Phase 7 Week 2

Workouts: 

Monday: Run 2 miles (11:38 pace) + NROLFW phase 7 workout 3

Wednesday: Walk 1.5 miles (17:29 pace)

Thursday: Run 2.3 miles (12:24 pace)

Sunday: Walk 3.5 miles (16:48 pace) + NROLFW phase 7 workout 4

Total running: 4.3 miles
Average daily steps: 8,074

While it's always a struggle, to some degree, to fit in much in the way of training (or just plain exercise) during tax season, in case you missed it on instagram - there's also another reason it's been a bit more challenging this year.

NROLFW Phase 7 Week 1

Workouts: 

Monday: Run 3.0 miles (11:54 pace)

Tuesday: Rest day - choir rehearsal. (We're almost to our first concert, which is exciting! We were running through full pieces with some staging movements and it was fun to be performing something again.)

Wednesday: Run 2.6 miles (12:38 pace)

Thursday: Run 2.85 miles (12:41 pace) + NROLFW phase 7 workout 1

Slightly abbreviated the weights workout (fewer reps and sets), cause, whoa, is it hard to get back into this after 5 full weeks off. But, yay, I did weights!

Friday: Rest day - a combo social/rehearsal event for choir. This actually happens every Friday evening (it's optional and fairly low key); but we finally prioritized going to get in a little extra practice before the concert next week.

Saturday: Run 3.7 miles (13:35 pace)

Sunday: NROLFW phase 7 workout 2

Total running: 12.15 miles
Average daily steps: 9,293