Bananas. (aka Insanity. Week 6.)

Yup.  This second round of four weeks of Insanity is going to be just that, Insane!  I know I was in shock a bit last week but this week reality has set in… Possibly because last week, I spent a good 20 seconds of every 45 second interval with my mouth gaping open thinking “there is no way I can actually do that?!?!”  This week I am trying a lot harder to actually keep up and take less breaks, unless I really need one but therefore also sweating like a pig and feeling more like I am near death – haha!

One thing that Insanity is helping me realize is that I am a lot stronger than I think I am.  I always look at the people on the DVD doing the moves for the first time and think to myself there really is no way I could actually do those moves and then I suck it up and give it a try and sure enough!  I can do at least some version of all of the moves!  Sure I sometimes drop to my knees for most some of the pushups but I at least do them!  And I try the diamond jumps and “Power Pushups”!

My new motto

On the topic of pushups, in the DVD I did tonight, there is one interval that includes pushups.  16x2x3 pushups to be exact… plus 16x2x3 pushup runs!  My goal is to sometimes be able to do these all on my feet!  Maybe another goal to add to my 2012 calendar?? Haha – probably not but I know I could keep up a bit better than I could last week and that is what is really important.  Progress is more important than perfection!

Sister and I have also been participating in a December challenge involving pushups.  Every day we are doing 50 pushups.  One would think that each day this would get easier but for some reason it seems to be getting harder…even with the promise of our advent chocolates waiting upstairs…

Mmmm.... I'll do an awful lot for chocolate... especially Chocolate Clif shots...

Well, now it is time to get back to my Christmas Movie marathon!  Getting kind of worried that we are going to run out of movies soon… although it’s appearing Snowglobe is going to be a real Academy Award Winner  I <3 cheesy spectacular Holiday movies!!

 

Fatigue.

It’s been awhile since I updated you on my progress with Insanity.  I have been doing the DVDs since October 17th.  Crazy!  But really, the DVDs just got a whole new level of insane…  I finished the first 30 day segment shortly after getting back from Hawaii and then they had a week scheduled of “Rest and Recovery” – funny joke… these DVDs seemed harder than the first set used in the initial 30 days but maybe I had just gotten used to those?  Then I had that whole little IT Band flare up and ended up skipping a few of these Rest and Recoverys because I actually think the fatiguing of my hip flexors is what helped cause my IT Band to spaze out a bit too… so anyways, that is seeming to be back to normal so I decided to skip over the rest of the recovery week and just go for the second 30 day set.

Oh.My.Goodness.  After doing it for the first time yesterday, I realized that this 30 days is going to be tough… I now realize that these DVDs are truly Insane and Shaun T might be a little wacky to come up with this stuff!  The time also went from about 40 minutes per DVD to 60 minutes per DVD and let me tell you, I can sure feel that extra 20 minutes is pushing me to the limit!!  After doing the DVD tonight (Max Interval Plyo) I think I may have come as close as I have ever come to being physically sick during working out  TMI?  Sorry.  But it’s true.  I was also introduced to this brand new move called the “Power Push Up” – Ok, this is fun – imagine doing a push up and then somehow jumping to a standing position and back down to a push up… and then repeat for 45 second (and then do another two rounds of this…)  Crazy!

Considering how insane all these new moves seem like they will be, I am hoping that they work and I can see some progress in my endurance for running.  But I guess we shall see!  Insane!!

Also, Shaun T was on Conan the other night and I think the whole thing was pretty hilarious.  Kinda impressed with Conan’s abilities I must say.  I think he might do the moves better than I can!

Insanity. Week 4.

Is is really the start of week four already?!?!  Man, time is really flying!  And only two more days and I will be on my way to vacation – Insane!!

So anyways, this week of Insanity went really well!  I actually am starting to feel like I can do the moves more correctly and keep up with the people in the video for the first two out of three rounds that are in each of the videosDVDs (videos? what is this 1998?)!!  So even though I have been too lazy to actually do the fit tests that would give me a true indicator of how I am doing, I am just going to say things are going better and better each week!  This morning I did the Power Circuit DVD and realized how much I like this one!  For some reason, I had been thinking this one was not my favorite, probably because it was the hardest, but this morning I found a new appreciation for it!  I was a sweaty beast by the end – per usual Insanity Form!  I really think this is something that I am getting quite addicted too!!  I don’t think I will ever find another exercise that gets me quite as sweaty as this!

As for actual changes on my body, I’m still not really noticing anything substantial. I sometimes think my arms and shoulders look more toned but then again, I seem to be very good at making things up in my mind so I wouldn’t trust me if I was you… I also have been slacking in the weekly check ins for weight, measurements and photos.  (Pretty much a failure at life in this post!)

To keep better track of things for myself, I am going to start posting what workouts I have been keeping busy with.  This past week my workouts looked like this:

• Monday: Insanity: Cardio Power and Resistance
• Tuesday: Body Pump
• Wednesday: Insanity Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs
• Thursday: Body Pump and CX30 (maybe??  Still not sure wth this class was…)
• Friday: Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
• Saturday: 5 Mile Run
• Sunday: 5 mile walk, Insanity: Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs

That last week was kind of sad in the running and resting department… I feel the vacation itch to workout now so I don’t have to on vacation  Knowing me, I will still WANT to but that’s fine with me!  And I am planning to have a few rest days then so that will make up for this past week’s really bad balance of work to recovery…oops!  I also may have skipped the Insanity: Rest and Recover DVD because I really don’t like it :S  LOL!!  And also the Fit Tests… maybe I should consider actually doing one of these once?  Yeah, probably not

Sorry for that kind of boring post but maybe tomorrow night I will have something a bit more interesting to share?  Ya never know!  Sister is currently baking up some Pumpkin Muffins that I am quite excited for so look on her blog for the recipe in the coming weeks I am sure!!

Also, is it just me or is this time change kind of annoying?!?  It feels so much later than it actually is, all the time!  Which includes work…like these days need to go slower?!

 

Insanity. Week 3.

So another week has passed with the insanity that is Insanity.  You might recall last week I was just starting to get a hang of this thing and starting to feel like I maybe could kinda keep up with the people in the video…Well, another week has passed and I still feel like a hopeless loser – lol!!  I still just can’t keep up with those crazy people!  I do feel like I am not getting lost as much and can at least do all the moves now though so I am seeing some progress!  And still absolutely loving the DVDs!  I honestly cannot believe how fast 40 minutes of exercise goes with these DVDs. And I really do look forward these workouts every day!

Since my half marathon was on Saturday, I could not do a DVD Thursday-Saturday and then we only did the “Rest and Recovery” DVD yesterday so I was seriously missing the sweat fest!!  And I think my body was kind of missing it too… But today I am back in the groove and hoping to get in 5 or so days of Insanity this week!  I actually also really think part of my success on Saturday was due in part to these Insanity DVDs.  I think the cardio training and even leg strengthening parts of the DVDs helped me to power along and keep an awesome pace and fresh legged feeling while running as a witch  I guess time will tell if this is true.  I have not been running much the last few weeks because of these DVDs so it’s hard to really say for certain.  I am excited to see where this can lead me in my running “career”!

Hopefully someday I will be crossing this start line?

In other news, you might have noticed I changed things around a bit on the blog… do you like it?  I wanted something that was not as congested looking and I think this might be a bit better.  I wish I could do a bit more customization but that will be saved for another day!!

Also, in our post race exhilaration Saturday, we signed up for ANOTHER run… a Turkey Trot!  I am very excited for this distance.  It is a 5 miler so I think it will be a good test of what kinds of speed I can push for!  I also will hopefully be able to keep up a bit of speed work running during the weeks leading up to this race.

And finally, because it is Halloween after all and this post has already been a big chunk of random  Here is a picture of my little Tricker

I know, I am mean. And he hates me for this... But it's so darn cute!

Happy Halloween!  Did you dress up?

Insanity. Week No. 2

So.  I have been doing Insanity for a week now.  After the initial shock of the first night, I have become quite addicted.  Like had to force myself to take a break for a rest day over the weekend… I don’t quite know how having my ass totally whooped could be so much fun!  But I honestly look forward to my 35-45 mins with Shaun T!

He looks pretty intense, no?

So anyways, after day number one of being totally scared of this program, the subsequent 5 days have been really good.  I still am having to take tons of rest breaks and feel like I am maybe doing 50-80ish% of the moves that the people on the DVD are doing so I know I have a ton of room for improvement, which is good.  Most home DVDs I have tried previously normally have me no longer feeling it after like day 3 maybe?  But I think this is one of those programs where you always work hard because you can push yourself as hard as you need to get your heart rate up, up, up!  And the sweat really starts to drip, drip, drip!  Gross!

Tonight I made a comment to my sister that I really felt like I was half-assing it but then she looked at me and said, “I am pretty sure if you are sweating that much you are not really “half-assing” it” – She is so smart!!  Cause clearly when buckets of sweat are pouring down your forehead and you can’t say 5 word sentences, you are not working hard enough  Apparently someone was being a bit hard on themselves tonight  Oops!  But nothing a good workout cannot cure.

Some things that I am noticing are:

1.  I have felt a lot more energetic during the days even with doing this and running.  I thought I might get a bit burnt out from working out so much but so far, it seems to be the opposite?  After this weekend, I am planning to cut down on the running a bit and focus more on this plan for awhile.
2. I have been hot ALL.THE.TIME.  Like burning up sweaty :S  People at work keep walking down the halls complaining about how “cold” they are as I am sitting there with steam pouring out of my shirt – lol!!  That probably means my metabolism is just roaring, right?
3. I have not been nearly as “hungry” feeling as when I run a lot of miles during the week.  Which seems counter intuitive to number 2 above but yet I also feel like when I am training for long runs, I must misinterpret ”hungry” because I always end up gaining quite a bit of weight.  So somehow this must me sort of working in my favor??
4. I already feel like my stomach looks more toned.  That’s probably just wishful thinking but hey, I’ll take the motivation where ever I can find it…

I have done most of the DVDs once now and one or two twice and so far I am going to say the Pure Cardio one is my favorite.  That will probably change as time goes on but for now that’s what I’m digging  I can’t wait to see what kind of progress will be made after 2 more months of this!  Although I already hit my hands on the ceiling during certain jumps so I might have to find a way to control that a bit

Only five more days until the Haunted Hustle?!?!  The sis and I were going to make our costume t-shirts tonight but I am thinking that might not end up happening since we are both just sitting here doing nothing and it’s already 8:00pm… oops!

TGMO!  (Thank God Monday’s Over!)

 

Insanity.

Alternate titles for this post…Sweat-Fest 2011, I Didn’t Know My Heart Could Beat That Hard Without Leaving the Basement, Oh Crap, What Did I Buy??

So Insanity came today.  I was really excited when I logged into Amazon today to see that my DVDs had arrived at 11:40am!!  The sister and I decided to jump right in and give the first disk a shot.  We skipped over the Fit Test because the instructions for that seemed a bit confusing and it was easier to just watch a DVD, or so we thought  The first DVD we tried was the Plyometric Cardio Circuit.  All I can say is OH MY!  I got a pit of humble pie served to me tonight…

I imagined this DVD would be hard but I figured I would at least be able to complete the various moves appropriately but um… not so much!  There were one or two moves that I had to just shuffle through because it was such a thorough butt kicking!  I got these DVDs to help get in better shape for an upcoming vacation and try to get rid of my half marathon “train gains” (FYI, if you are susceptible to gaining a few lbs during training, it’s not the best idea to load your summer full of races… oops) and all I can say is if these DVDs don’t get me in shape, I am pretty sure nothing will.  I had soooo much sweat dripping from my forehead it was flying all over the basement.  Sorry if that was gross but it’s all too true.  And I am the girl who does not really sweat “that much” during hot flow yoga…

The full Insanity plan calls for 6 days of work and one day of rest.  I still want to keep up with a bit of running (one tempo, one long run) every week so I am planning to modify the plan a bit to incorporate 4 days of Insanity and 2 days of running and one day of rest.  I know that’s not technically what will give the best results but hopefully it will at least help a little bit!  Sister and I took “before” measurements and pictures so we shall see what our “after” photos end up looking like… provided you can tell the difference

I am very excited to get started with this program and DVD 2 is on tap for tomorrow night!!  Hopefully I can manage to survive that… and hopefully I can manage to stay awake for the end of Castle, one of my favorite TV shows… massive fails so far this season.  Can you say Old Lady??