Days 62-64: Last week of Phase 2

I had decided that this is going to be my last week of Phase 2… then on to Phase 3, which is basically a lot of P.A.P. More about that next week.

Recently, I blogged about the challenge of morning workouts vs. evening workouts. I was considering switching to evenings, which used to be my preference, due to my son’s sudden desire to wake up with me. After some thought, I realized this would be a horrible idea. I have under 30 days left of P90X2 and then I’ll be focused on running for the month leading up to the Lincoln ½ Marathon. My runs will have to be in the morning since I can’t very well leave two sleeping kiddos alone in the house. In the mornings I can leave them in the care of my also sleeping husband, which is no different from leaving the three of them asleep when I leave for work every day. I imagine by body would hate me if I switched to evening workouts for under a month only to have to readjust to the 4:30am alarm. As it is I’m usually up before the dreaded alarm. (Side notes: we got a new alarm clock over the weekend and I haven’t heard it yet. Hoping it’s not too annoying. Hoping it’s set right.)

Another vote against evening workouts is my daughter’s sudden aversion to sleeping. The past two nights she’s been up approximately every hour. Something about teething, most likely. All I know is that a screaming child doesn’t make for good sleep, or the ability to do other things. There will always be challenges. Amazingly, my supplements and Shakeology have kept me remarkably awake.

Chest, Back, & Balance was fun this week. Numbers were about the same as last week but the challenge of balancing on various ball combinations was a lot of fun for me. Yay for being able to do things I used to think were crazy!

Day 61: New Challenges

Alright, I’m in the last 30 days now. And I’ve hit upon at least one new challenge: time of day for working out. As much as I hated the 4:30 alarm clock at the beginning I’ve grown used to it. Most days my body is awake before the alarm. And it’s nice to feel like I’ve accomplished something before I go to work. Plus, vegging in the evening once the kiddos are in bed is kind of nice… you know, after whatever housework needs to be done. But, these last three mornings my son has gotten up during my workout. And he’s pretty unhappy about going back to bed. Can’t have him up that early or he gets crabby before his nap time. If this continues I think I’ll need to flip workouts to after the kids’ bedtime. Ironically, this is when I wanted to work out in the first place. But now I don’t like the idea. And it’s more likely (though maybe not anymore) that I’ll have to pause and take breaks when the kids need me. I think I’ll see how next week goes and make a decision from there.

Weekend is coming up, traditionally when I’ve taken the sloth route. Going to try to (at very least) do the Recovery & Mobility DVD one day. I believe my hubby needs additional motivation to workout these days, so his workouts will take priority if only one of us has time… but if I can swing it… I plan on doing something. Maybe just eliminating couch time… if there is such a time.

And after all that blathering, there was a workout today. Yoga!! So glad I’m back to doing it! My arms are super sore from yesterday and that complicated vinyasas. But, by the end my muscles all felt stretchy and happy. No progress with Crane, but didn’t really lose the abilities from last week. Perhaps Crane pose is something I need to play with over the weekend.

Day 60: Mixed thoughts

Two thirds of the way there! It's been quite the trip. I feel like I've accomplished a lot but still have a way to go. For one, I need to work on food choices still. I know I'm getting the nutrition I need, but am also getting too many calories.

The thing I feel best about is how I'm improving with the workouts. The numbers aren't bad, but after seeing the 60 day pictures I'm a little less excited than I was earlier.

Anyhow, in the past 60 days I've lost over 12 lbs and 4% body fat. I'd love to step it up and finish with a total loss of 20 lbs. I guess that's up to me...

Day 1

Day 60

Day 1

Day 60

Day 59: Energy galore!

I had reservations about today. Plyocide the day after a three mile run? Especially when I haven’t run in ages? After a night when I was awoken twice by crying? …and yet, it worked!

I don’t know if it’s the double workout yesterday, the nutrition, the supplements, or Plyocide… but I feel amazing today!! Tons of energy. Yes, my legs are sore (mainly on stairs) and I couldn’t push myself as hard during Plyocide as I’ve been doing recently. But I honestly feel like little-kid-gitty. I had to stop and put gas in my car this morning; usually this is the one time I buy coffee (black with just a squirt of gas station cappuccino for flavor). Today the warmth of coffee sounded good but caffeine was the last thing I felt I needed. So, I got decaf. And my day has been filled with the buzz of healthy energy!

Day 58: What a day!

It was one of those nights where I finished my daughter’s nighttime feeding with 15 minutes to go before the alarm clock. After one snooze hit it was either get up or reset for 6am. Two days until pictures motivated me to get up. So glad that I did!

Today’s workout was Chest, Back, & Balance/ARX. The last two weeks I haven’t done this routine; one week I substituted and the other I took an extra day off. I justified this in part due to shoulder pain. Today I killed it! Shoulder felt more or less fine throughout… the only time I was really aware of it was during foam rolling when it felt good-sore.

Ab Ripper went well; I meant to notice the time on the clock when Tony says “half way” but never heard him say that. Guess I was too busy working out. My favorite move has become the tornado. Feel that so many places but I can keep up with the reps.

The pull-up numbers were the same or slightly less than last time. I believe this is in due to the fact that with my slightly rearranged schedule today was the second day in a row of back moves.

What felt great were the chest/balance parts. Most of my numbers were twice what they were the last time I did this workout. I was able to balance on all the various ball combinations. The hardest was the Impossible/Possible; took me forever to get balanced on that one, so I only got 1 push-up done… that was one more than last week. Push-up side plank went from 7 dropping to knees to 10 proper position. Looking forward to seeing how I can do next week!

Speaking of next week, I plan on staying in Phase 2 for one more week… then on to Phase 3.

 

And if all that wasn't enough to read (for you) or do (for me) it was a beautiful day and I got out for a 3 mile run. Two months until the 1/2 marathon...

Days 56-57: Motivation on a Monday

Taking weekends (or any two days in a row) off certainly has its disadvantages. Even with foam rolling on Saturday (which I did while watching a movie, so not sure the mentality was the same, though the feeling was fabulous) it felt like two days off. And that leads to “I could get used to this” and “it sure is easy to not workout.”

I actually got to bed at a decent time Sunday night, but was awoken for a 2am feeding that lasted longer than I anticipated. Luckily, my amazing husband took over when happy girl didn’t want to go back to sleep after eating. I guess she just wanted to sleep on the couch with Daddy, where I found them when the 4:30 alarm went off.

4:30am on a Monday: I turned off the alarm and reset for 6am, thinking “maybe my throat hurts a little” and “I didn’t sleep solidly.” But, after crawling back under the covers I thought “it’s kind of warm in here” and “my dreams haven’t been very good.” So, I got up and stood on the scale; this is a great trick: if the number is good “I’m making progress, better keep going” and if the number is bad “yikes, better step it up!” The number was good (I’ll talk about that on Day 60) so I decided to keep going. The prospect of Day 60 pictures doesn’t hurt motivation either. Next obstacle: an adorable daughter and husband asleep on the couch. Do I wake them? Or is it the nicer thing to let them sleep and crawl back into bed myself? But, I sat out everything for the workout the night before so if I didn’t use it I’d still have to put it away. Happily, the girl was in a deep sleep so moving her to the crib didn’t wake her. And the husband didn’t complain about relocating to sleep in bed.

Another bonus on a Monday morning: I love the Base & Back routine. Part of what I love is that it kills me. For the second week in a row I used the pre-workout E&E drink and my numbers were great. In all but one move I was at or better than last week. Course, I didn’t stop sweating until Ab Ripper was done and often it was all I could do to catch my breath between moves. I kind of like that feeling: Going all out!

A funny thing I’ve noticed about Ab Ripper: When Tony says “halfway done” I think “that’s it? This has been going on forever!” But when he says “last one” I think “Wow, that went quick.” I wonder if his counting is off or if I just really prefer the moves in the second half.

Days 53-55: Five days until the next pictures!

Day 53 was Shoulders & Arms/ARX. Still loving that one. The repetitions and improvements make it a weekly favorite. Awesome to continue to see numbers increase. Though I'm weekly reminded that it might be nice to have a set of 8lb weights. An maybe a 12lb set. Sometimes 5lb is just too light, but 10 too heavy. Other times 10 isn't enough! Ab Ripper is still a challenge, but now that I'm fitting it in on a regular basis I am seeing progress.

Day 54 was Yoga... and I did Crane pose. Multiple times! I mean, I never held it for more than 3 seconds, but I would tap down and go back up for another 1-3 seconds. It was pretty awesome to feel the correct balance and know that with continued practice I should be able to hold crane for significant time. Makes me wish I hadn't skipped yoga so many times at the beginning of this journey. Ah well, can't go back in time.

Day 55 I rested... and foam rolled. Shoulders are still sore from day 53 and yoga vinyasas compounded the aches on day 54. Foam rolling was glorious.