Day 4

Cardio Recovery

I was ever so looking forward to a day marked "recovery." On Monday I did my Insanity workout in the morning and an hour Yoga class in the evening. On Tuesday I did my Insanity workout in the morning and then decided to run 3 miles on the treadmill at the YMCA while waiting for my son to finish baseball practice.

My cardio really needed some recovering!

This workout starts out with some yoga style stretching then moves on to some plank, lunge and squat series. I did work up a sweat with all the instruction to "get lower, hold and pulse." Ugh. There was a nice stretch series at the end and overall it was only 33 minutes. Not bad.

Before

This is me. Glowing red eyes and all - hey, not a bad photo for a 9 year old. I don't do the bra top photos... my belly has told me repeatedly that she's not going anywhere, so why show you before and after? If I send in my before and after photos, I will get a free INSANITY t-shirt. Woooo....

Day 3

Cardio Power and Resistance

And here we have a horrible picture after a horrible workout. I could not properly convey the amount of sweat dripping from my hair/nose/chin but you get the idea.

Cardio Power and Resistance started out with a similar 10 minute warm up, followed by 6 or so minutes of stretching. It's still a little weird to stretch for that long, that far in to a workout - but technically, those first 10 minutes ARE a warm up. I guess.

There was a lot more jumping in this workout - using your own body weight as resistance to tone your legs. I don't have a problem with squats and kicks - but this white girl CAN'T jump. Or, rather, "I currently struggle with" jumping. Not much air for me, but I keep trying.

We had some walking and inverted push ups, some triceps dips (one-legged as well) and some crazy Ball Tricep Dips. Hard to explain that one - but suffice it to say that I can feel all of this in my shoulders already.

Tomorrow is Cardio Recovery...maybe a little break!?

Day 2

Plyometric Cardio Circuit - 40 minutes

This workout was amazingly difficult. I'm used to running for hours - and sort of scoffed at the short duration of this workout. By the last 10 minutes I was thanking the Lord that it was almost over.

The warm up was 10 minutes of running in place, jumping jacks, Heismans (tires), and butt-kicks. It starts out slow and you repeat (hence "circuit") going faster each time. Following the warm up - which had me drenched in sweat - was 10 minutes of stretching. Oh what a relief! I've never done stretching that far in to a workout, but it was welcome!

The rest of this workout is just as it sounds. Repeating circuits of plyometric moves (squat jumps, tires, jumping jacks, butt-kicks, burpees, prison cell push ups) all done for two minutes with a 30 second break.

I pushed myself so hard. I can't imagine trying harder. I've run for hours on end and NEVER pushed through pain like this. In the last 10 minutes I nearly cried, but I didn't quit. I was so glad when this was over.

Seriously.

Insane.

Day 1 & Fit Test

Day 1 of Insanity leads you in completing your first Fit Test. Different than P90X, Insanity has the Fit Test as a workout day every 2 weeks, and there is a DVD to lead you through it versus a list of moves to complete every 30 days. It takes about 30 minutes, and I was honestly dripping with sweat afterward.

I felt pretty good about how many reps I could do as a baseline. Each move was "to failure" during a 60 second period. I did the moves as fast as I could and made it 45 seconds with most and 60 with a few. I struggled with the Power Jumps because my knee was being a big wuss. I hope that taking some time off of running will help.

Starting numbers on Day 1:

Weight - 163.0

Body Fat % - 34.5

Hips - 39.5

Waist - 33.5

Personally - I don't really care about my bicep, thigh, chest or neck measurements. If they get smaller - yay - if they get stronger, more cut, yay.

Fit Test Results Day 1:

Switch Kicks - 35

Power Jacks - 34

Power Knees - 57

Power Jumps - 20

Globe Jumps - 6

Suicide Jumps - 14

Push Up Jacks - 35

Low Plank Oblique - 46

I will post a "before" picture later. Today is Mother's Day so we are off...church, baseball practice, volleyball game...I've already yelled at everybody - so my day is at least normal. *sigh*

Mission Accomplished

Lincoln Half Marathon 5/1/11. Chip time - 2:39:22!

Let the Insanity Begin

I last posted here with the intent of training for a Half Marathon. Next weekend, May 1st, is the big day! I took a couple of weeks to collect myself, then on my 35th birthday on 12/28/10, I started training. I was going to start a new blog - but as a runner, my main blog is normally all about running anyhow:

Life is Beautiful

I hurt my left knee back in March. No big surprise...every time I increase my mileage I go to far and one knee or the other gives. This time I did it up REAL nice on a 10 mile run and couldn't run for 3 weeks. I learned to tolerate the elliptical trainer, love the bike, and even to swim. I continued to build my endurance in spite of the inability to run. I had to build back slowly, but managed to complete an eleven mile run on Wednesday to wrap up training.

I hope to complete 13.1 miles in 2:40. I'm running with my 19yo brother...so I'm counting on our history of fast runs together to do even better. My goal is to cover the distance, injury free and to RUN across the finish line. The time goal simply to make sure I pace myself.

So, what's next?

I was going to do another round of P90X - but now that I am a BeachBody Coach (and get 25% off!) I decided to try something new - with a fitting name:

INSANITY

I plan to do the 60 day program and follow the nutrition plan. My goal (once again) is to cut body fat. I'm not as concerned about the weight number as I am about the body fat percentage. I am finally at a point with my weight - within 20lbs of "normal" - that I don't care. I work hard and watch what I eat and things will work out. Muscle is my goal - it burns fat.

I plan to blog here on a daily basis with reviews of the videos and the eating plan.

And then?

A 60 mile relay through rural Nebraska the end of August.

And then? Hm...I will have to think about that. :)

Keep setting goals - I will see you after the Lincoln Marathon and Half Marathon, ready to get INSANE.