Monday, April 9, 2012

The thing about p90x is that it's back to back to back soreness.  Like, there's only supposed to be one rest day per week, and after every workout you get sore.  So basically I'm never NOT sore these days.

This is Day 15... next week is a "rest week," but that just means I get to do yoga twice, core synergistics (sounds scary... I'm sure it is..), and legs and back.  Considering I did yoga last night and feel like I've been punched all over today as a result, I'm not sure how rest-y this so-called "rest week" will be!

I'm not seeing any results yet on the scale (actually I gained 2 lbs...grrr).  But people on the p90x forums say that sometimes you gain a little weight in the first 30 days while you build muscle, and then weight starts to come off.  I'm trying to remain optimistic.  My arms look a little stronger than before, but it's really subtle... no one would notice but me.

The main thing is... yay look at me, I'm sticking with something!  I haven't had much workout tenacity in awhile...15 days is a pretty good success streak.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

It's spring!

... and I'm finally back, and finally getting a little less lazy!

I can't even put into words how difficult this winter has been.  I hardly did any running.  I was really struggling with working full time and still finding time to squeeze in a workout while still leaving at least a little down time each day to unwind.  I have no idea how people busier than me balance all of the stuff they have to get done in one day.   Things are finally starting to even out, though, so I'm trying to get back on track.  I discovered that it works out decently well to run during the work day at least some of the time.  The rest of the time I've been working out in the evening.

Where I am with running:  I've been running only about 10 or so miles per week.  I'm registered for the Detroit marathon (in October), and in the next 2 months I need to be doing the 20 miles a week base-building that comes before the 18 week marathon training plan begins.  As of May 6, I'm off work until September... I will still have things to get done, but I'll be on my own time and can budget my time however I want.  This should make life a lot easier as far as doing runs and etc.  I wish I had longer for the pre-marathon 20 miles a week base-building thing, just to make sure I was REALLY ready to start the marathon training cycle, but I think it'll be ok since I've done this show before.

Where I am with other non-running workout stuff:  I'm currently on day 10 of p90x.  I tried to start that workout cycle at the end of last year, but got sick and then couldn't continue, and then got lazy and didn't resume.  It's going really well so far--it's a crazy-intense workout.  I have a friend who saw significant improvements in her running from the routine, and a guy I know dropped something like 25lbs just doing p90x, so I'm trying to "bring it" or "just press play" or whatever other cliche Tony Horton catch-phrases there are.  I never thought a dvd workout could be this intense.  A week of p90x in phase 1 looks like this:

Monday: Chest and Back, Ab ripper x
Tuesday: Plyometrics (jump training... omg hard)
Wednesday: Shoulders and Arms, Ab ripper x
Thursday: Kenpo
Friday: Legs and Back, ab ripper x
Saturday: Yoga
Sunday: eat potato chips (ok no chips... but rest day)

My plan is to squeeze in a run on Mondays (along with the chest/back/abs routine) and Wednesdays (if legs can handle it after Plyo the previous day). I hate Kenpo and think it's not a good enough workout, so on Thursdays I'm just going to substitute in a run.  And I might add a run on Yoga day if my legs feel ok after Friday.  We'll see how this all works out.

Short term goals: 
1) Stop beating myself up about sucking at running... this was a tough year, with a tough relocation for work, and some tough life changes.  There's no use in making excuses, but it's holding me back to feel so constantly shitty about myself.
2) Do a pull-up!  I've never been able to do a pull-up in my entire life, and I think p90x is going to finally get me there.
3) Eat more protein for phase 1 of p90x.  This also means to eat breakfast every day.
4) Do increasingly more running each week, while still sticking with most of the p90x workouts.

I'm hoping to give the blog a little makeover and then continue posting throughout the summer.  Lots of my posts will probably be about p90x, at least for now :o)

*waves hello again to everyone I've missed*