Training Log; 7-min ISOs

Since I've had this schedule for a few weeks, I've known this "7 minutes of work *all isos if time permits" was coming for at least 4 weeks. That doesn't mean I was excited about it. I knew it would be hard, and I wasn't disappointed. I'm so glad Will was there, because even though I work hard when I'm by myself, I definitely make myself work harder when someone else is there pushing me. Plus I knew I'd need his encouragement (and pressure).

• Lunge right--7 minutes. Ouch. I really didn't think I could do it. Will had the watch, but I know I lasted at least 2 minutes before I had to drop my knee at all. Even still, I was trying so hard the entire time to get my knee back off the ground. I think I got about a minute in between this one and the next one.
• Lunge left--7 minutes. Ouch. I knew I could do it this time, because I just done the other one. My first step out was awful; repeat. But then I just focused. I think I might have lasted close to 2 minutes again, but I felt way more fatigued since I'd just done the other leg. But I was still trying to get my knee off the ground the whole time. I wanted to quit. I wanted to cry because I was so frustrated that I couldn't get my knee off the ground. But I did neither; I just kept going. Then finally the end! Yesterday, he told me I was walking like an old lady after I finished, so today I was trying to "walk like an athlete" instead of an old lady! That itself took major focus. I was leaning some on these, but not nearly as much as yesterday. I never felt like I was going to fall over. When I finished (finally!), Will said, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that." I know he's done it, but it still was encouraging. That was so hard.
  
• Standing extreme hamstring--7 minutes. I did not pace myself at all. I just pulled hard the whole time, trying to lengthen with my hamstrings while pulling them and pulling with my glutes. I leaned on this one, too, mostly to the left again, but when I focused on pulling the same with both hamstrings, then I did a lot better. I'm pretty sure my left hammy is stronger than my right one.
• Wall squat--7 minutes. In the past, my legs have been really fatigued from the lunges that I haven't done well on these at all. Will had the watch again, so I didn't know how I was doing, but I definitely was up and down fewer times over these 7 minutes than I have been over 5 minutes in the past. And I pushed the whole time. When I was done, he said I lasted 4 minutes before I hit the ground the first time. Four minutes! Hooray! That pretty much made my day. I mean, if I can do a wall squat for 4 minutes, why can't I win my races (or at least run as fast as I can and do my best and push myself harder than I thought I could)?
• Push up--7 minutes, with my hands on benches and me on my knees. One thing I haven't been doing while on my knees is curling my legs all the way up (i.e. using my glutes and hamstrings to stabilize myself)--I have to remember that. I lost feeling in my arms around 1 minutes in and seriously felt like I was going to fall on my face (I never did, but I did have to quit a few times, sit up, and then drop back down). Will kept moving my elbows out; that made it harder, which means I hadn't been doing it right until he moved me to the right position.
• Curl--7 minutes, 5-lb weights. The last time I did this, I used 8-lb weights but had to drop the weights about 2 minutes in. This time, 5-lb, and he told me I could do it the whole time, so I had to prove that I could. And I did. However, I guess I have to work on pulling with my lats to get my chest out and sternum elevated, because I wasn't doing that right. Even though I was sitting the whole time, I was still trying to engage my legs and definitely felt like I was working them, too.
• The end! (Well, the end for the morning.)
• Dip--7 minutes. Definitely the hardest of all of them so far, especially because I felt like I'd used those same muscles in the morning while doing the push up. I lasted 2 minutes before I had to put my foot down. Then, when I fell too far and had to start over again, I absolutely could not pull myself down; my muscles just would not cooperate. I tried, I really did.
• Crate crunch--7 minutes. No pacing, only squeezing hard and shortening the abdomen. Ouch. But I did the whole thing.
• Scap pull up and one-leg squat--I didn't have time to do these, so I didn't and don't feel bad about it at all.
  

As much as I wanted to quit all these I wanted to continue; my desire to continue trumped my desire to quit. I guess I was thinking about winning. If I give up while it's hard now, who's to say that I won't give up when the going gets tough during a race. And I absolutely DO NOT want to quit during a race. I want to win! So I'm going to make myself work hard now so that I'll be mentally (and physically) prepared when those tough situations arise.

Summary: Wow. That was incredibly hard, but it was even more rewarding than it was taxing. Now I can't wait to see what next month holds!