Day 22

Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs

I just couldn't do it today. I woke up early, my joints were really hurting. I felt like I had had enough sleep, yet I still had a hard time making it down the stairs. I decided to do Cardio Abs (15min) first. I was hoping that it would loosen me up and help me to get through Pure Cardio (40min w/no breaks). I got through the warm up and just couldn't do it.

It's not that I felt any specific pain anywhere, just that I ached all over and felt as though a super intense workout was the very LAST thing I should be doing.

I think I will be taking my rest week early. This week I will focus on Yoga and getting a few more miles on my VFF's. I have a 10k on Saturday and feel really good about my goals. A little rest should give me the edge I need to reach them!

Day 19

Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs

I didn't sleep well last night - my stupid back was bothering me all night. I took a stab at these workouts and rested when I needed to. Not my best effort, but an effort nonetheless.

Seriously, do we EVER get over all of this jumping!?

I went ahead and did Cardio Abs first (thanks for the suggestion, honey). I knew that after 40 minutes of Pure Cardio, the LAST thing I would want to do would be another workout. My back was suckishly tight and painful, so this ab workout helped warm me up - as Shaun T says - "Nice and good."

As a side note: Dang, I'm tired. I'm almost through week 3 of this program and the "Recovery Week" can't come SOON ENOUGH. I try to do everything to the letter of the plan, but I've had to accept that with this - my best really IS good enough. I could make some excuses surrounding my age, my previous smoking and eating habits, or the number of children I have birthed and nursed, but that really doesn't mean a thing. I'm here, now. Right where I should be. Busting my butt and trying my best.

Day 17

Scheduled: Pure Cardio/Cardio Abs
Actual: 3.25 miles in 37:11

Wore my Mizuno Waves - tried to land front footed, but did miss that feeling of running un-shod. More treadmill miles for that venture, softer surface.

Nice easy run to get my legs back in to running. My GPS sounded off at the half mile mark with a 10:30 pace, and for the first time in my life I had to slow down. My legs are pretty fried from all the jumping lately, so I was happy when my "easy" run came in at 11:26/mi.

I skipped my INSANITY workout this morning and had a beautiful spring morning run. Tomorrow is Cardio Recovery Day, and I plan to do Pure Cardio/Cardio Abs on Thursday. I am not doing this program 100% to the letter, but running is more important to me. I need to *slowly* ramp up my mileage again for another Half Marathon on September 3rd.

Got my running fix, think I can handle DVD workouts in the basement again. :D

Day 9

Pure Cardio

Well, I should have been doing this:

But, instead, I decided to do this:

Running is therapy for me. Yesterday was really tough, and I had a hard time falling and staying asleep last night. I had dusted my alarm in advance, knowing that I would be in no shape for a 6am INSANITY workout. I figured that if I felt better later, I could always do it over nap time.

I was actually pretty tired yet and should have laid down, but my back was hurting me so bad that I wouldn't have slept anyway.

So I opted for a 5 mile run. I made pretty good time - less than an hour. I didn't wear my new kicks, as they are far from broken in enough for trail running. But I was free of my knee brace and concentrated on that mid-foot strike that is supposed to cure my ills. :)

Tomorrow - back to INSANITY.

Day 5

Pure Cardio

Oh. My. Goodness.

This workout started out just like the other ones. The 9 minute warm up consisted of several moves (jogs, butt-kicks, heismans, high knees, etc.) repeated and sped up three times. That was followed by a 6 minute stretching routine. The previous workouts follow the warm up model with 30sec water breaks in between each set.

I noticed there was 25 minutes left on the count down timer when the stretch ended. As we went in to the first set of the cardio portion I felt pretty good. As time ticked on and we continued to "Dig Deeper" I kept waiting for the 30sec water break.

There was none.

Even the people *in the video* were taking breaks and unable to finish all of the reps before we switched (immediately) to the next exercise. With 10 minutes left, the only thing that spurned me on was the hope that the cool down was about 5 minutes long. The last move was burpees...I could not make myself *jump* back into plank - but I walked it. I did keep moving the whole time, but modified towards the end.

I know there is a lot of hype around this workout series. It's supposed to be really tough, and they show sweaty people working out. I'm sure you think that some of that is contrived, like TV often is. Well, I'm here to tell you - it's ALL REAL. If you are even considering doing these workouts, I would caution you to seriously access your fitness level beforehand. I ran a half marathon earlier this month and it's kicking MY butt. I'm SO tired today...one more day and then we get a full rest day.