Monday, July 22, 2013

One Week Down...

I completed week 1 as of yesterday. Yay! I feel it went pretty well... I'm sore anyway, so that's gotta say something, right? On day 3, I decided to try adding a little extra by going out for a short run in the morning. The problem though, was I didn't get out till later than I had planned (I like the snooze button, what can I say?) so it had started to warm up outside. It was also extra humid due to a big rainstorm the night before, so it got sticky pretty quick! I kind of wimped out and only ran a mile. I walked one more mile, then headed home. After all, I still had Shoulders, Arms, and Triceps to do... I got back to work, already sweating like crazy from my run. The warm up seemed redundant, but oh well. I found that I can do most triceps and biceps exercises at higher weights than I can do with the shoulder exercises. I don't know if that's common, or if I'm just a pansy.... don't answer that... :P I skipped the bonus round for this week, my arms already felt like Jell-o! Overall, though a good upper body workout. I can't wait to see what kind of definition I might get in my arms over the next couple of months! After the cool down, I put down my weights, drank a bit of water, and was ready to hit the shower... until the screen faded back in with a shot of a very well defined six pack...
Oh, @&$(%#!
I forgot all about Ab Ripper X! This is done at the end of most of the strength training workouts! It's a short workout, only about 15 extra minutes... but... I just... I dislike it so, so very much! It's a great ab workout, but quite brutal, and I suck at it! I can barely do regular sit ups, let alone the jacked up stuff Ab Ripper X has you doing! Ugh, oh well, I gotta do the work if I want to get anywhere, right? And my abs and core are one place I need all the help I can get! Ha! I plug through it as best as I can. Most of the moves I can only do about 10-15 of the 25 reps they do on the video, if even that many, and they're not pretty! But I'm only just starting, it'll get better with time, right? ....

Day 4 brought Yoga X. I haven't done yoga in quite a long time. I used to take classes in college and really enjoyed it. It kicked my butt, especially the first half, which did all the sun salutations, vinyasa moves, so you were pretty much moving constantly! The second half did mostly balance postures, and core stuff (because apparently Ab Ripper X isn't enough, harhar). Although it was a hard workout (duh, they all are), and it's the longest one at an hour and a half, it reminded me how much I really like yoga, and how much I was missing it! 

Day 5 was an interesting day. It falls on a Friday, and I decided that the best way to make absolutely sure I do my workout on a Friday is to do it first thing in the morning. During the week, it's not really a big deal for me to do my workouts in the evening because I don't normally have much of anything going on at night during the week. On weekends, however, we more often than not end up doing stuff at night after everyone is home from work and everything, so it would be really easy to skip a workout altogether if I put it off. Of course, doing it before work is a challenge in itself because that means an extra early wake up call, and I'm not much of a morning person! I forced myself up at 5:30, though and got my Legs and Back workout done! I was running short on time afterwards, however, so I did put off Ab Ripper and did that later that night. Not that I will make a habit of that, however. I just underestimated my time that morning. At least that particular workout is easy to squeeze in at another time because it's so short!

Day 6 was my Kenpo workout. Fairly straight forward. I had been doing this workout on its own from time to time when either it was too dark or the weather was too bad to go running, and I just wanted to do something at home. It's a good fun cardio workout, and kind of nice stress relief because I to get to pretend to punch and kick stuff!

So Week 1 I would say overall, was a success! I have to admit, however, I got a little lax in my eating towards the weekend. Not terrible, but I can do better. I was doing really well early in week when I was writing everything down. I started to slip when I slacked off on tracking everything I ate. So there's the problem! I know how to solve it, I just need to, you know, actually do it, and quit just talking about it! Haha! it's okay, though, I'm not too discouraged, I'm not beating myself up about it, because I know what it is I need to do. Plus, hey, I stuck to my workouts! Lots of positive things to be proud of this week!


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Day 2: Cardi-OOooh!

Today was Cardio X. I went into it thinking "This shouldn't be too bad! After all, I'm a runner!" ...Yeah, I was sweating bullets within the first 10 minutes! What I had sort of forgotten was that the Cardio program for P90X kind of does a little bit of everything. You warm up with power yoga, do some kenpo, plyometrics (jump training, yowza), and then repeat some of the core exercises from yesterday! So yeah, this kicked my butt. Was it hard because I'm doing something so different from what I've been doing the past year or so, or am I just not pushing myself hard enough when I do go running? Hmmm... probably both!

I'm already sore, but I'm having fun! I'm excited to see what the next few weeks and months will bring, and the changes that I will see take place as long as I stick with it. The tricky part is going to be staying motivated a few weeks, months, etc. down the road to stick it out! I'm trying not to think too far ahead about stuff like that, though. I mean, of course I'm planning my workouts and meals and stuff (I've actually put my workouts on a calandar, just like an appointment!), what I mean is not letting my mind wander and think about things that may get in the way down the road. What if I get sick, what if I have a really crazy day and just can't get a workout in? What do I do about eating at family gatherings or parties? Blah, blah, blah. If I do that too much, I'm practically making roadblocks for myself, and giving myself an out to fall back, or even quit. While it is important to have a plan of action when the unexpected comes up, at the same time, I have found out for myself from past experiences that worrying about something that hasn't even happened yet isn't going to get me anywhere but stressed out and feeling daunted for no reason at all! So sure, I'll have a couple of ideas to turn to for when (if) something weird comes up, but mostly I just need to be in the moment. Focus on the workout I'm doing right now, each breath, each move, the feeling I get after I finish one! That's a great feeling, and always a good reminder of why I do this stuff in the first place!

And So I Begin Again...

So I completely dropped the ball on reporting my progress preparing for my second Utah Valley Half Marathon. I will say it went very well. I beat my time last year by almost exactly fifteen minutes! It was a very fun and rewarding race! I'm 11 days away from running my fifth half marathon, the Timpanogos Half Marathon. However, I'm not writing to tell you about that... I'm returning to this blog once again to begin another round of P90X. Despite all the running I have been doing, I simply haven't been losing weight. I hope that by doing this program again, as well as cracking down and watching what I eat more closely, I can finally slim down again.

I decided to do P90X Lean again instead of the classic program, because I feel that it will help me burn more fat, and tone muscle, as opposed to adding a lot of muscle size. I began today with Core Synergistics, which is the first workout of the program. Wow. I forgot just how hard these workouts are! Here I am thinking I'm all in shape because I run half marathons! Ha! I've been slacking on strength training, and I'm feeling it now! Prison Cell Push Ups, Steam Roller, what am I getting myself into??

Oh, and did I mention that I run another half marathon in less than two weeks? I'm an idiot.

Here are my beginning measurements! They're not pretty, but I gotta start somewhere!

Weight: 164 Lbs
Waist: 33.5"
Hips: 42.5"
Right & Left Thighs: 25" each
Right & Left Biceps: 13.5" each