P90X week two is officially in the books after yesterday. Week one came in kinda like a lamb with the workouts, but week 2 I really kicked up the intensity. As you may remember, in week one I was unable to actually complete the workouts in full. Talk about epic fail. If it weren't for the fact that I had lost 7 pounds, it may have been a major setback in my mental aspect of training. And that's what really fueled me for the week 2 road ahead.
As I started into week two, coming off the emotional high that I had lost so much weight, I was really looking forward to so good hard workouts. Monday, was an early morning 3 mile run. I took that one pretty easy, but even in that, I marked each mile and got subsequently faster on each split. Tuesday was chest and back day, for this one I really worked hard. So hard, I went to complete exhaustion. I lowered the weights, and went for total quality on each and every exercise. Focusing on form. The same held true with AB Ripper X. Did get the full 25 on several exercises, but my form was good on the ones I was able to do. And mason twists, my arch enemy exercise.......30. I had to stop at 23, but I was able to bang out 7 more after a little rest.
Wednesday, I got out for my morning run. I set the tempo nice and easy, but found myself going faster and faster. It was weird. Negative splits again. ended up running around 8:15/mile by the end of the run. Not sure where that was coming from, because lately it's been a struggle to get the legs moving at anything but a slow speed. Maybe it's the decreased weight loss that's making me faster....who knows. All I know, it's really hard to get out of bed in the AM, but I'm still doing it.
Thursday was shoulders and arms. One of my personal favs in the P90X library. I absolute love working biceps. Big fan here. Again, I worked to exhaustion. I push so hard, my arms were screaming for a little Results and Recovery drink post workout. Well, they got their wish because they earned it.
Friday was my designated off day. Slept in till 6am, and that was such a nice reprieve. Saturday I did another 3 mile run. This time, the splits were even faster then the previous 2 runs. Again, not sure where this is coming from, but I like it.
Sunday is my designated longer run. Sunday morning, I didn't feel all that great. Not sure if it was too much coffee or what, but boy....My body was having some disagreements with me. So, needless to say I didn't run in the morning. By 2pm, I was totally dreading lacing up my shoes. But I went ahead anyways. My son was really pushing me to get going because he wanted to ride alongside. So lace up the shoes I did and we started out on the 3 mile loop. Once I got going my legs really felt in tune, and my body started to feel better. Totally crazy! At my normal turning point of the 3 mile loop, I made the decision to take it a little longer....and so I lengthened my run, and turned up the speed while my son road on home. I cranked up the gear to about an 8 min/mile pace. In all, I ran 3.8 miles. Not as long as I had initially intended on the grand schedule, but longer the the 3 miles my brain had settled upon. And when I got back and took a shower afterwords, I felt like a million bucks.
And that takes me to this morning. I got up at 4:15am to get ready for my 5am run with my running partner. Well, shocking news here, my running partner decided to bag the workout (again with another lame excuse) and not show up. So, what did I decide to do....Well, I kept it close to home by doing quarter mile hill repeats. The uphill segments I ran in around 1:45s. The downhill back, I ran in 1:41 as my fastest. Yeah, that's between a 6:40 and 7 min/mile pace. HELL YAHS!!! I kept telling myself during the workout, as Paul slept in, I was getting stronger, with each and every step. And I kept throwing in there, LAST CHANCE WORKOUT!!!! Yes, yelling at myself Biggest Loser Style!! Why??? Because today is day 15. It's weigh in Monday to see how much weight I had lost over the last week. And with each beep of the scale I kept wondering in my head if I could trhow down another 7 pounds. Well, it wasn't a 7, but it was an equally good 3. Today I weighed in at 196 pounds. That's a total weight loss of 10.4 pounds over 2 weeks, or 5.2 pounds per week. Not too shabby in my mind. And let me just tell you, this was a difficult week in training my diet. Holy crap have I been having cravings!! Probably one of the worst weeks ever. Seriously, I think that pizza commercials were put on TV to torture me. And then there's all the beer ads during football playoffs. DAMN YOU!!! And wine.....COME ON MAN!!! And finally, it was that late night run to Walgreens to get the kids some poster board to make fund raising signs for a community garage sale. Seriously....did EVERY candy have to be on sale that night. Well, I passed the test. I didn't buy any candy. I didn't buy any beer or alcohol. I didn't eat a truck load of pizzas. Not even a single whiff. It was a huge test in what I'm going for. It just means that when I get to where I want to be, that I will have earned it. But in moderation. Right now is no time to take steps backwards. Right now I the time to keep taking steps forward. Progress to the body that I know I can have. I have to make short term sacrifices if I want to make long term goals. Yes, I can have Pizza again someday. But not right now. Yes, I will be able to throw down a cold one or a glass of wine. But not right now. I need to cleanse my body of all the daemons that got me to where I am. It's all about being healthy.
As I close this out, I remind everyone.....Do your best and forget the rest.....and BRING IT!!!!
