P90X: Week 8 - No Rest for the Weary

As with any good training plan, it's always important to schedule in a rest week. That's where I am today, coming to the end of what will be a great "rest" week. You're probably wondering why I put the word rest in quotes. Well, P90X is extreme. That's what the X stands for. It's not easy by any stretch of the imagination. And even rest is taken to the extreme. For one, you take a week off from the extreme weight workouts that you've been mastering over the past 3 weeks. For me, I actually add in more cardio during this time so that I can get the extra calorie burn. And the workout you do twice during the week is Core Synergistics. There's also 2 days of Yoga, a day of legs and back, and two days of stretching. All of these are integral pieces to the puzzle. It allows your muscles to recover after taking a beating.

But you know me, I modify things to fit my ridiculously hectic and crazy schedule. Here's a recap so far:

Monday: 5am run with my running partner Paul. We went out on a different course then we normally do. We headed out 2 miles up the new Twin Peaks interchange. It's a really steep hill, and was a nice increase to our normal flat 3.5 miles that we normally do.

Tuesday: This was my first double of the week. It started out at 5am with a Hill workout with the running group. About a dozen crazy individuals getting together to suffer as one. And suffer we did. The workout was 15x300 up a consistent grade. My target times for each set of five was decreasing at 1:28, 1:25, and finishing at 1:23. Let me just say....OW OW OW OW......1:28 seemed easy, I totally butchered and ran the next 5 too fast at 1:23. I then told the guy I had the same targets as to go ahead and I would try and keep up. And keep up I did, and I hit 4 of the 5 target times. The workout ended up at 5.9 miles on the Garmin and a little over 900 calories of fat SHREDDED. My second workout was Core Synergistics. That's an hour long Cardio Weights workout. OMG. Talk about another round of SWEAT drenching workouts. Over 1200 calories later, I was totally wiped out. So, 2100+ calories for Tuesday was a good P90X "Rest" day.

Wednesday: Well, I screwed this day up. Perhaps it was because I destroyed over 2100 calories the day before. Dunno. I was RIDICULOUS tired. So tired, that I never heard my alarm. I either didn't set it the night before, or subconsciously turned it off without even knowing it. What did that mean?? Well, it left Paul out in the cold. I always give him a hard time for missing, and it was my turn to take the ribbing. It also meant that I had to adjust my schedule. Normally Friday is my day off. Well, thanks to sleep in Wednesday, I am now going to run on Friday instead of sleeping in till 6am. No worries, I'm flexible.

Thursday: BACK to the grindstone of running with the group. I didn't sleep through my alarm and made it to the group run at 5am. Today's workout looked easy on paper. Well, that's the only place it looked easy. It was 4 sets of 800m, 400m and 400m. A total of 4 miles of HARD running. My target times were 3:50 for the 800s and 1:50 for the 400s. I have to say, I hit ALL but 3 of my target times. My first 800 was 3 seconds slow. I had 2 of my 400s 3 seconds slow. But, on the flip side of that, I had 3 800s that were all 5 seconds fast. So in the end, that all washes out. When you add in the warm up and cool down, I ended with 5.5 miles.

So, that leaves Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Right now I have a total of just over 15 miles for the week. Last week, I ran 22 miles. So, I am on track to easily run more miles then last week. Tomorrow I intend to run another 4 miles of the same course I ran on Monday. I may even make it 5 miles. That would take me to 20. Saturday, I'm going to run a 2 mile time trial. The group is running it at 6am, but I may have to run it before or later in the afternoon since we have the early football game. That will be a minimum of 4 miles. That would take me to 24. Then Sunday, probably 8-10 miles. That will take me over 30 miles for the first time in a long time. I also plan on adding in a Core Synergistics or Saturday and a Yoga on Sunday. I really love Yoga. It's such a great workout. You do SOOOO much without doing anything but move your body around. And the stretch at the end is such a relaxing end to such a great workout.

Finally, on the weight front, I did gain a couple of pounds from last weekends binge eating. By a couple, I mean 2 pounds. Not much, but still not the direction I wanted to go. I can say that those 2 pounds are gone. The scale is back where it should be, and I have just a little over 10 pounds to hit my goal. When I close out this week, I'll be at Day 56. Four days later (one week from Today) I'll be taking my Day 60 pictures. I have to say, there is a HUGE difference. I can see new things everyday in the mirror. I'm starting to see the top two layers of ABs, and I'm really starting to shed that fat. I think I have at least 15 pounds of fat left. I'm FEELING PHENOMENAL! It's incredible how strong I feel. Doing P90X and doing Mamma Micheles running workouts are HARD by themselves. TOGETHER, they're even harder. Some would say insane. But that's INSANITY......A totally different set of workouts that I'll probably take up once I'm tired of this. I actually don't see that happening anytime soon though.
And thank you for taking the time to read my journey. If I can help one person attain their goals, then I'm happy. If you're reading this, and are looking for someone to help you attain your own goals, head to http://www.beachbodycoach.com/kidstallyn. I can provide you with free support to help you attain your goals.
Keep pushing play, and keep bringing it.

P90X: 42 Days to Go

That's right, here I stand typing this blog entry with just 42 days to go to meet my ultimate goal of being not only fit in body, but in mind. Last week was an amazing week. It was my first week of Doubles on 3 days of workouts. On Sunday, I did a nice 5.6 mile run in the morning, and after nice mid afternoon rest session, I did a hard legs, back and AB Ripper X session. I have to admit. Where I am in this 90 day session doesn't even compare to the last. I probably sound like a broken record. But, I am 100% convinced, that my attention to detail on my diet plan has made this the success that it has been to this point. I've built some nice meal muscle, and I'm excelling at every workout that I have been doing. I'm treating the food I intake on a daily basis as fuel, and not just food.

With that, I do have a small confession to make. This past weekend, I cannot honestly say that I did a great job on my nutrition plan. Not that I totally went off the wagon, but I didn't eat the way I should have. Friday night, we took the boys out for their 12th birthday to the restaurant of their choice. They chose a buffet. Well, I did eat too much. Plain and simple. And when we got home, I had birthday cake. Definitely not "Doing" your Best.......I totally forgot the rest. I was a little bit better on Saturday, but even there, healthy choices were replaced with higher fat options. I was planning on smoking a turkey that my inlaws had brought with them, but due to the high winds of a storm system that rolled through, I ended up cooking it inside and lining it with bacon. I gave in to my inner Emeril and Pork Fat won out. And then there was the wine with dinner. I hadn't had alcohol Since Jan 2nd. My tolerance was GONE. Not that that's a bad thing. I'll say this, I was KNOCKED out and slept like a rock Saturday night. I slept until almost 8am. I haven't done that in FOREVER!!! Sunday I was a LOT better, getting back to my "normal" eating plan. I only took in about 1800 calories, and by the end of the day was craving a Yoga Session.

So, I popped in Yoga X and got my groove on. First off, let me say WOW! I hadn't done Yoga in a while. It's not been a normal part of my plan due to the fact I need to do it on Mon, Wed or Friday. I just don't have an hour and a half on those days. I did it at the beginning of this round on Sundays, but that got overtaken by my long runs and double workouts. So I was really missing it to say the least. It's hard WORK! Normally in my workout room, it's usually about 70 degrees. Yesterday, it was about 55ish. Our high was only in the mid 40s which is really out of the norm. Shoot, it snowed overnight. That's totally abnormal for the desert southwest, especially here. What I noticed as I went through the workout is how many people complain about the length. I just laugh at that. Do you realize that when you do one of the weight workouts and Ab Ripper X your doing an hour and 15 minutes. Well, Yoga is really only 15 minutes longer. And the really hard portion of it is really only like an hour long, and it's 30 minutes of stretching. It's the Yin to the Yong as Tony describes it. Also like Tony, balance postures are not my thing. But I keep trying to do them, and I get better each and every time. Finally, I managed to do wheel for a full 30 seconds. I have never lasted that long. My Abs ALWAYS gave out. My new goal is to get through the FULL minute with the leg raise. And, oh, when I decide to put my mind to it, I will get it done! To me, failure is NOT an option.

With 6 weeks to go today, I am rolling into this rest week. I threw down a LOT of calories and sweat last week. My goal this week is to match the number of miles I ran last week, but the running courses change. Time to add in some hills. Today, Paul and I changed the route we run. The normal 3.5 mile loop is flat. Today, we went two mile straight out on the new Twin Peaks Rd. Straight uphill for two miles. Nice downhill on the way back. Each time we hit it, we're going to extend the run. I want to get use to the point where we are 3 mile up the hill and 3 back. Paul may not like that plan, but hey, he's going to have to suck it up. :) So, this is the "rest" that all of us in P90X have come to love. Enjoy the extra Yoga sessions, get your Core Synergistics on, and up the mileage. That's my recipe for success. GAME ON!!!!