W8D2 doners... :-)

So last night after work, I rode the bike for 30 minutes (4.4 miles). It was a nice leisurely pace and I enjoyed it. Then once home, I did the ab ripper (or whatever the name is) dvd from the p90. After that I was wearing a little thin (also ran yesterday morning), so I decided to call it a night.

This morning I got up early, somewhat dreading the run. However I did manage to finish (had to have one quick stop in the middle as a rock got in my shoe). My running wasn't the greatest. Between being tired, the weather (hot and muggy), and still trying to kick this cold (I think I am going on week 4??). I didn't expect it to be that great of a run. Lazy legs kicked in after about 15 minutes, but faded shortly thereafter and I was able to find my stride again. Breathing was horrible nearly the whole time (thinking I need to head back to the allergy doc .. ugh).

The plan for tonight is to go to a cookout with friends and relax. Tomorrow morning another round of running.... The weekend, well who knows what it will hold. I have a few cookouts to hit up and what not, but will try to work in some running somewhere along the way.

W8D1 ~~ Skipped a few blog posts..

So I finished up Week 6 and completed week 7. I got to say the runs are starting to get challenging. I really have to concentrate on breathing and stride length. I can finish the runs, however usually am not pleased with the performance. I am a perfectionist and want to stay at the 10 minute mile pace or better. I also want to keep my strides within the acceptable range. I notice my legs get lazy around minute 15 to 17.

The weather here has gotten hot and muggy, this is not helping with my asthma. There are days where I do have to stop and walk for 30 seconds to get my breathing back under control then I can continue as if nothing happened.

I have also continued on the p90x workout routine and have truly enjoyed that. I tend to mix up the tapes and do at least one a night. I might pick up the pace a bit and do a couple a night. They definitely wear me out, but have toned me out. I have noticed improvements on form and the number of reps of each move.

W6D2 Done~ My loop is getting too little and I am running to quick....

So Sunday was a day of rest, I really didn't do much working out. Then Monday morning it was raining cats and dogs when I woke up, so I skipped running. When I got home in the evening it was chilly, but not raining. So I decided I would time myself on a 1 mile run. I did a 5 minute warm up walk, then took off on my mile run. I managed to finish it in 9 minutes 25 seconds. I couldn't believe it. I have NEVER been that fast... lol...

After running the mile, I did the p90 core synergistics and the ab workout. I also did some light weights in there. I always go overboard after taking a break for a day. I have this guilty feeling and really try to catch up on things. I went till I was tired, then relaxed and crashed for the night.

This morning I woke up and it was chilly, but not raining. I managed to do W6D2 of the c25k workout. My "loop" around town that I have set up, is getting a bit small (or I am getting a bit too quick.). It used to be I would do 2 loops and it was really pushing it to finish. Now I can do two plus some more. Not far enough to go three loops. I am going to have to map out a new loop later today.

Tonight the plan is to do p90 with some more abs....

My weight has been dropping but ever so slowly. I am now to the point where I will loose 2 lbs, gain 1 lbs, stay the same, loose 1 lb, etc. For the most part I have stayed between 154 and 157. However the last few days I have been 153 to 155. So it looks like I am starting to drop, it just isn't going to be in solid drops like before.

I ordered a body fat analyzer from amazon a couple weeks ago. It has been on backorder but should arrive sometime this week. I have decided instead of weight, I will track body fat percentage. I think this will give me a better idea of how "healthy" I am and hopefully keep me motivated. I am actually kind of anxious to see what my initial reading will be. I know I have toned up (even with the weight not dropping).

W6D1 Done ~ Week 1 of P90x complete

This morning I woke up before the rain and did W6D1. It was actually quite the enjoyable run. I am actually kind of getting into this whole running thing. In many ways this mildly scares me. HAHA

I continued the p90x workout. I have several videos from the series (p90x, p90, p90m, and p90X+..). Anyway, I am thinking of rotating some of the cardio workouts to burn off some more calories. I still gotta work this out, but I am thoroughly enjoying the workouts for the most part (hated yoga). However on some of the "leg" exercises, I am kind of limited by my knees. I can only lunge so many times before the knee feels as if it is going to explode. Usually I will do as many as I can, run in place for a few, then do another set.

W5D3 Complete....

So I woke up this morning feeling okay. Not the greatest... but the weather was nice so I figured I would give this 20 minute run a shot. I was jogging in a sweatshirt and shorts... ya not a good idea. The sweatshirt got a bit too warm around minute 5 of the run. Anyway in 20 minutes I managed to run just under 2 miles (1.95 to be exact). So it looks like I am right around a 10 minute mile pace. I got to say, I am quite proud of this. I don't think I had this quick of a mile when I was actually in shape. Running has just never been my thing. From here on out... I just want to improve on the time. I will finish the program and then continue to jog the same path to see how quick I can get. It is a nice 2 loop circle around town. I think people are starting to recognize me.. hahah..

Tonight I have some more p90x... that is if I still feel decent. Cold meds work wonders....

Yoga X ~ oh boy do I suck

So tonight I did Yoga X.. well attempted to. The workout is 1 hour and 30 or 45 minutes. I have been battling a head cold and skipped running this morning, so I was really leary of doing this tonight. However I committed so I was going to give it a whirl. I started out okay. However I am not flexible, nor am I very good at balancing. So it was difficult. I made it about 45 minutes in and just wasn't feeling the greatest. So I threw in the towel. I really need to get a yoga block as I do believe that would make things quite a bit easier. I also think I will replace Yoga X with the yoga on the Wii Fit for a few weeks. The complicated poses of Yoga X I just can't do. Tight hamstrings and bad knees, make for some very difficult moves. Plus with the head cold, I am just physically exhausted today.


Ugh, I am hoping the cold will pass and I can actually put forth legimate effort next week. I may sub in another day of cardio instead of the yoga (ya I hate it that much.. haha).

If I feel half way decent in the morning I plan on running... we will see how that goes...

p90x lean ~Day 3 ~ Complete

Well tonight was arms and shoulders then another round of the ab ripper x. The arms and shoulders workout was great. The exercises are grouped in 3's and you do them twice. Since they are repeated, I was able to pick up the intensity a bit. The first set I got down what I was doing, then the second set I could keep up the pace with the people in the video. I kind of wish the rest of the dvd's had this format. Overall the workout was fairly easy. The exercises weren't difficult or anything that I hadn't done before. So this made it easier, along with repeating the exercises.

Tomorrow night is Yoga X... I think I am taking the morning off of running. Need a day of rest and well it is storming pretty bad tonight. So the dogs will likely be up all night and I will likely get lil sleep.

W5D2 Conquered

Yep I rose early again before work.. sore as can be from p90x and ran. I loosened up midway through the first run and from there it was somewhat smooth sailing. It was a bit of a rough run. Misty rain, chilly weather, and me sore... not the greatest combo for a good run. I did however still manage to cover a lil over 2.5 miles (this includes the walks... I don't have a watch yet to record laps... so I just google map the path I take). So my pace seemed to be about the same as before (before I ran 3 - 5 minutes... today was 2 - 8 minutes). I was kind of impressed that I managed to keep the pace up with the soreness from p90x.

p90x Lean Day 2 ~ Getting things done

I just finished the Cardio X DVD and boy am I sweating like a pig. The cardio x seems to take a bit out of all the other DVD's. I gotta say I do NOT like yoga. That whole stretch and balance at the same time, just doesn't happen with me. Though I have a feeling over time I will get better at this. Especially since one full workout a week is dedicated to yoga. I am still impressed by the workout routine. I actually feel like I did something at the end of the hour and I seem to have a moving soreness coming over my body. The other day it was abs, shoulders, then legs... ya it just keeps floating around. But it is a good "sore".

I plan on running tomorrow before work if the rain holds off. We supposedly have thunderstorm warnings all day, so it may be a lil tough to run outside. I am not a huge fan of running through lightening and thunder.

p90x Day 1 - Lean and C25k W5D1 this morning...

So last night I decided to switch to the "lean" version of the p90x. I have a spare tire around the mid section I really need to burn off before I could even think about being extremely toned. So the extra cardio will do me some good.

Last night I started at Day 1 of the lean version. I believe this is called core synergistics (or something like that). Let me tell you, I sure know where my core is now located. I believe I can happily point out every lil muscle in it :-). I wasn't able to do all the moves. Quite frankily on a couple of them I looked ridiculous. Allllllls I got to say is if anyone can make the Dreya roll look good on the first try, I will so worship the ground you walk on. After a couple tries I managed to do it, albeit it wasn't pretty nor was it nice and smooth. I am shooting for improving this move by the end of the 90 days. This is the one move I struggled the most with. On a few of the others, I wasn't perfect but it was minor. I was still at a lower intensity pace due to learning the moves. There are a couple that I would watch try it, think WTF, watch again, try again... They aren't difficult moves per se, just the sequence and going to your max without loosing your balance can be hard.

I also did about half of the Kenpo workout. I wanted to do a bit more and the kenpo is kind of like a boxing cardio workout. So I figured I would start stepping through the exercises so I could learn them. Once again, I was at a fairly low intensity to see what the moves were all about. Next week (same workout as this week) I will pick it up a bit. The moves will be a bit more familiar so I should be able to go a lil quicker.

Then this morning I rose early before work and ran W5D1 of the c25k. I covered right at 2.5 miles and it felt good. Hips were good, knees were good, breathing was good, and my stride was good. I actually felt great about the run. I plan on hitting W5D2 either tomorrow morning or the next day. Likely it will depend on weather. This morning it was chilly and I actually ran in the misty rain.

Tonight I plan on doing Day 2 Lean of the p90x workout and may go for a bike ride. We have had lots of storms on and off so the ride may not happen. So I may do a bit more of Kenpo. I am a fan of the boxing cardio workouts.

P90X - Loving it after a day.. hehe

So I did the p90x last night. I decided to start with the classic (however am leaning towards switching to the lean version... explain this more in a bit). Last night was chest/shoulders. I did a lot of pullups and pushups (variations of each). For pullups, they offer a variation with the bands and for now I did that. It was fairly slow going because I was trying to learn the exercises. I have a feeling this first week will be extremely slow going. Some exercises I had to watch twice to get the difference between the previous one. I also can do no where close to the amount they do or at the intensity. I was however pleased with everything I did accomplish. I am mildly sore today. I think the slower pace and lower intensity due to learning everything kept me from overexerting too much. I also have been doing pushups and arm work with light weights. So those muscles have been worked recently.

Now the p90x comes with several dvds. Then they give you workout plans. There is classic, lean, or doubles. The lean version is more cardio, better for fat burning. Typically more women will pick this to tone muscles, slim down, but not "bulk up". The classic, well it is the standard formula, meant for extreme toning. The doubles, from what I can tell is a lot of cardio added to the classic. The problem with this is the length of the workouts. For the most part in classic and lean you will do it for 1 hour a day...6 days a week. Ab days are about 1.5 hours...I think they are 2 or 3 times a week. The doubles could easily hit 2 hours or 2.5 on some days.

Regardless of the program type, there are three phases. They just switch around and rebalance which dvd you do each day.

Now I did the classic last night (actually classic and doubles start the same). However was looking at the lean and realized there is more cardio type stuff to it. So I am thinking of doing the lean, then once complete do the classic. 6 months worth of working out easily. Lets see if I stayed motivated.....

They say most people quit at the 30 day mark. I believe this is when you complete phase 1 of all the programs (would have to double check that to be sure...). I guess some people don't see the results after 30 days and just quit. I read a ton online, it appears results are more prevalent into phase 2. At phase 2, you have done each of the dvds a couple of times, the workout is familiar, you have gained a lil strength, so at this point you can pick up the intensity and really workout. Hence the higher amount of results.

Slacking.... :-(

So for Mother's Day I made the trip home to my parents house. This usually means lil time for running. There is always family to see that I have not seen in sometime. So needless to say I have spent the last two days running around. I am going to head back to my place here in a few, however will likely get back too late to do any running tonight.

So the plan is to get back on track this week. Starting tomorrow morning. I will run W5D1 in the morning before work. I should be able to finish week 5 without a problem.

I have also decided to start the p90x workout program. Not sure on which version I am going to be working on. Most of them start out the same, so I will see how hard it is and then pick a path. I plan on doing this of an evening. I am not sure if I will be able to do every evening like the program. However I have noticed I seem to stick with structured programs a lot better than I stick to programs I developed. The Wii active/fit workouts are just too easy. I understand I am burning calories and that is progress and there has been some toning. But I feel like I need to pick it up a bit more. I also don't want to do solely cardio (ie the running and biking). So for now after much research I think the p90x is the solution. I will stick with the running of a morning and will likely still do the active and what not on certain days.

I am hoping with how the program is structured I can stick with it and get over the hump so to speak. I will update on here as I progress through it.....

Things I am proud of... and Lessons learned....

Wellll before I get to the title... an update on my running adventures.

~Ran Week 4 workout at the track, pain was still present about the same time during the workout... so running surface didn't really affect things.
~Tired of trying to resolve the hip pain, I took Wednesday off... like totally off. I didn't do a thing.. no running no biking... no weights.. Ya it was cinco de mayo.. I drank... Gave my drinking hand a damn good workout..
~This morning, I started Week 5. Warm up for 5, jog for 5, walk 3, jog 5, walk 3, job 5, cooldown... I actually breezed through this. I was surprised.. Each 5 minute run I covered just over a half mile. It felt good, I felt good, the hips/knees not so much. Here I am a few hours later though, and they feel fine.


Things I am proud of:
~I have dropped a couple pants sizes... and those old skinny jeans are my new favorite pair
~The one style clothes I always had to hunt high and low for cause it was the only thing that seemed to fit (or hide the blubber.. however you want to look at it), is no longer the only style I look for.... matter of fact it is becoming more and more of an unflattering style. I swim in clothes that used to "fit"
~The muffin top... oh the dreaded muffin top has significantly decreased.... No totally gone, but I am proud to be a smaller muffin...
~My boobs in reality are bigger than my gut... Yes it is possible...
~I can run for over 5 minutes and not die... Yes in the beginning I had my doubts...
~I have cool running shoes... I never thought I would actually own a pair of running shoes....
~Increase in confidence level.. not really sure if this is just cause I physically feel better or if it is because the weight is lost and I am more comfortable. It could easily be a combination. However there are days, I am pretty sure I am walking on cloud 9 ;-)


Lessons Learned:
~DQ Blizzard is NOT an effective means of weight loss..
~Celebrating random "holidays" for which you have no cultural affiliation (St Pats day, Cinco De Mayo) is also NOT an effective means of weight loss....


Ugh time is short.. so that is all i have for now... though I am sure there are more...

Garmin Forerunner Freaks ... I need your opinion :-)

Okay so I was looking at this website to determine the differences in all the garmin gps watches..
http://www.sportswatchinformant.com/how-do-garmin-forerunner-gps-watches-differ


The last comparison is heart rate based calorie computation. I noticed the 305 says it does not do that. I was curious does it calculate the calories you burned at all?? If so what is it based off of?

Also, has anyone used the garmin for biking?? Opinions??

Thanks.... I am actually leaning towards the 305.. however noticed that whole calorie thing....

Biking.. oh what fun

So I got home from work today and was debating what to do to workout... I decided to bust my bike out. I did just over 3 miles in just under 20 minutes. I was going to do more but my bike needs a lil TLC first. The chain appears to be loose. So after that I will be biking more often.

I also did over an hour on the Wii Active.

Interesting tidbit.. with all that working out...my knees and hips didn't bother me at all.... hmmm must be something with how I run

Needless to say... I am now exhausted... I shall sleep well tonight...

Plans for tomorrow is to start the day off with running.. then go to work. Depending on how the day goes will determine what all I do tomorrow night.

W4 is complete...

So I have been slacking on the blogging. It was an extremely busy weekend, however I did find time to run, just not blog.

I ran Sat, Sun, and this morning. I did the week 4 workout each time. The workout itself is going good. However I have noticed something. My hips and knees start to hurt sometime around the end of the second 3 minute run or the beginning of the second 5 minute run. It is like a "stiffness" pain, especially in the hips. It will literally go away within an hour after the workout is complete. I noticed this awhile back, however it was literally at the very end. Just figured I was tired. Now that there is more "running", it starts earlier in the workout. It doesn't seem to matter if I take a couple days off or whether I do back to back days. I am always perfectly fine by the next run (if I ever go back to back and start to feel pain right away, I abort the mission).

I have been fitted for running shoes and insoles. Both feel fine. I even tried with just running shoes and no insoles. The problem still exists. I tried stretching more before starting, that didn't seem to change much (well I did feel looser when I ran, however the pain did exist). It really isn't a strong or sharp pain, but it is noticeable.

My next trial is going to be to do the workout on the track near my house. I am thinking maybe the more forgiving running surface will help me out. I will have to update after I try running there. I am going to run Week 4 again just to have the method of comparison. Since I know exactly when it typically flares up.

In other news, my weight has dropped a lil more. I am in the 155 range. I seem to be hovering between 154 and 155. 10 more lbs and the wii fit will no longer say I am obese. In a way, I am truly looking forward to this. I am not sure why.. could be because it seems the Wii Fit is criticizing you when you are obese. Granted I wasn't overly offended by this, however I really kind of want to see if the lil voice is a lil nicer when I am defined as an acceptable BMI.