Guinea Pig Workout Week 5 - by Carrie Adamson

Recovery weeks fly by. Last week was the first opportunity that allowed my body to rest and I wasn’t on a build week in my gym training and running schedule. I almost wish it could have lasted longer. When you hear the words recovery week you may think, “oh yay! I get a week off from training.” But that is not the case. My workouts were shorter, but the intensity was still there. In some of my exercises I even increased the weights. In my previous weeks I have been doing four sets of all exercises, but this week I only had to do two, but that doesn’t mean it was easier. I still worked my muscles, but I just didn’t get them to that complete fatigue point where I am cursing Alan and Corina under my breath when I try to pick up a glass or get out of my chair. They told me by the end of the week I would feel rested and sure enough I did. My body wasn’t tired and I didn’t feel beat up. It will be a few more weeks before I get another recovery week and it will be a welcome break I am sure, but I will still work as hard as I do on my build weeks.

I got what I think was a compliment from Alan this week. On Monday he was saying that I am a good client. I come in and do my workouts and don’t complain, make excuses, or try to use less weight or do less sets. I am the guinea pig, but sometimes when he clients who are paying to get results they do not come in and work as hard. The way I see it, even if I wasn’t the guinea pig and especially if I was a paying client, I’d want to come in and put all my effort into my workouts. Working out with educated trainers is a benefit that I want to get the full experience from and I don’t want to cheat myself out of my time or potential.

Next week is back to a build week for both weights and running. I am only six weeks away from running the Boston Marathon, my ultimate fitness test. I will begin making modifications to my diet to supplement my exercise program. I have three tough gym days ahead of me so I am definitely looking forward to that recovery massage on Saturday after my long run.