Day 56, Max Plyo

      You know how everybody goes through those stints where nothing seems to be going their way? I’m having one of those stretches… court is always awful no matter what it’s involving but when it is because of custody issues it turns the thing into a horrific experience… my baby’s life, happiness and future is on the line. Just walking into the courthouse is enough to make me ill. Two things happen when I get anxious: First I have a nervous stomach, whenever something extremely stressful approaches my bowels kick into overdrive… I’m not kidding I lose 5 lbs. every time we have a court date (quickly gained back by emotional eating.) Second and slightly stranger is my teeth ache, down to the roots my whole mouth is consumed by the odd feeling and I’m sure I look like a freak constantly opening and stretching my mouth while waiting on the bench. Lucky me, I’ll have to go back in less than 30 days to repeat the whole process. Whoo.
A couple days ago my mode of transportation decided to go on strike; I guess it wants to get washed more often or some such thing. I have a 1994 Ford Taurus that we usually refer to not so lovingly as, “The Boat.” The boat was the only thing I could afford at the time when I was desperately needing a car. Well, I was on my way back from getting gas on my lunch break when I came to a stop sign. Thankfully I was doing a California rolling stop and began turning right when I pressed down on the gas pedal and it went completely to the floor. Throttle cable snapped. The car was still running fine and I was able to coast to the side of the road where I could put it in park and kind of stare down into the gauges on the dashboard wondering what else could possible go wrong but wasn’t brave enough to say it out loud in case something else did indeed go wrong.
One of my dear co-worker friends eyeballed me as I came up the stairs after my little lunch time adventure. We’ve worked together for enough years that she can see past the fake grimace/smile I have plastered for everyone’s benefit and shortly after comes into my office holding a box of half empty chocolates that she’s been hoarding and slowly eating for a couple weeks (she possess some strange thing called self-control.)  At once I love her and hate her all at the same time. I love that she knows me so well as to bring me a chocolate offering to soothe my troubles without trying to pat my back in some awkward, everything will be okay, gesture and yet I hate her because I know I’m going to eat the rest of that freaking box before the afternoon is over.
My fiancé thinks that I’m being tested; by God or Karma I’m not sure which but whoever’s doing it has a really twisted sense of humor.Honestly, I feel like such a slacker and in truth I am… I’ve let personal issues interfere with my working out and I really shouldn’t have. I’ve been looking at it like these issues have drained me of all energy and will power needed to exercise but in reality it’s the exercising that gives me energy, releases endorphins to help me not feel so depressed over my situation. Today I got up out of bed when I was supposed to, strapped on my heart rate monitor and did my workout… only cut short slightly by the Little Monster’s wake up wail of, “Mommmmmaaaaa!!!”  Tomorrow will be better… if I can just have a slightly better day than the last then I’ll be moving in the right direction.

Day 55, Core Cardio and Balance

               Today’s word: FRUSTRATION! I was so proud of myself yesterday for crawling out of bed and popping in the most hated DVD of the whole program: Max Cardio and Cardio Abs. So freaking proud for pulling through and not wussing out to get an extra hour of sleep in my nice comfortable bed. Yet when I got up this morning to look to see what workout was next that pride turned into an internal wailing scream. What do you mean I did the wrong workout yesterday?? I did Cardio when I didn’t have to? Did someone swap out my schedule, this is really not funny! I know that the cardio helps me but really did I have to do that? I’m completely disgusted with myself for being a sleep zombie and for not waking up enough to actually look before I took a big ol' leap. So this morning I did the workout I was supposed to do yesterday: Core Cardio and Balance. There was a little more burning hatred than normal for our blonde, sweat proof Ariel but she’s a tough chick, I’m sure she can handle a few glares and sneers aimed at her.

Day 54, Max Interval Circuit

          Well, as it turns out taking a couple days break during Insanity did not kill me. It tried, but I'm not quite ready to quit yet, not when I'm so close to the end. Today it was almost like I hadn't taken a break... almost... probably could have done without that Cherry Coke the afternoon before though. I needed a pick me up after a lunch time nap but it was a major drag me down this morning. Almost as bad as eating a couple doughnuts in terms of sugar content; temporarily satisfying but in the end completely not worth it. I burned quite a few calories during the whole ordeal but not quite enough to break that 400 mark I've set for myself. Tomorrow's another day, another workout... and this one will be soda free.
         

Okay so...

           Okay I swear I haven't given up on Insanity, not when I'm so close to finishing. But I have been a slacker that last few days... having a migraine tends to do that to a person. Today I finally feel whole again so starting back up tomorrow I'm going to back to kicking butt at Insanity... or having it kick my butt, either way you look at it that's accurate.

Day 53, Max Recovery

I love recovery. A blissful midweek break to an otherwise rigorous and sweaty regimen.

Day 52, Max Cardio and Cardio Abs

               Did you know it's extremely difficult to type while holding a crying two year old in your lap? Seriously. Almost as hard holding a bouncing and singing two year old in your lap once you figure out you can have youtube videos playing on one side of the screen while typing on the other. A little more pleasant on the ear drums though... thank you Gigglebellies. 

              Poor little monster had his two year check up today and got his booster shots on top of that. It's not been the best of days for him but he seemed to perk up when mommy got to come home with him early. Even more so when we stopped by the store on the way home to get ice cream sandwiches. Yeah I know, but show me one mother that doesn't feel sorry for their kid after getting shots.

            Workout this morning was awful... I think I've mentioned before my dislike of cardio... but with talking to my fiance this afternoon I realized something: cardio isn't near as dreadful as it used to be. When I started Insanity I had a horrible time even trying to get off the couch after I collapsed at the end of the workout. Now even after Max Cardio I'm wiped out but in a good way. I don't feel sick and I can immediately go upstairs to get in the shower, it's awesome. Who knows, maybe one day I'll find myself running a marathon, ha.

Day 51, Max Interval Plyo

               It’s day 51 of the Insanity program and I still have yet to learn how to “Land Softly.” How the heck do you land softly? Unless you’re a built like a fitness robot or a waif I’m afraid landing softly is one of those fitness myths they tell you in order to keep you feeling inferior. Hard to believe I’ve almost completed the program without knowing this most coveted secret but I have. My feet aren’t happy with me some days but I’m managing to push my way through.

                The little monster woke up early again this morning. We’re getting pretty good at this system now: bean bag chair, blanket, sippey cup, DVD player. He stays mostly content with the animation but this morning I had 20 minutes left of the workout when he decided he was hungry. That cut the exercising to an abrupt end. Almost a year ago he started learning sign language so he could communicate before he started talking so now he combines the two and makes the sign for eat while patting me with the other hand and saying, “Momma, eat… momma, eat… momma, eat!” Not something you can ignore.

Despite not finishing the full workoutI burned 300+ calories and tonight after we get home I’ll be popping in Cardio Abs to make up the difference. Why not complete the Plyo DVD? Because I don’t want to have to jump into the middle of something without warming up and you can bet I won’t be completely redoing the DVD tonight. Cardio Abs makes more sense, it’s about the same time and has its own warm up included.

Day 50, Max Interval Circuit

              I rocked this workout! I don’t know what is going on inside of my head or with my body but my calorie burn is at an all-time high. I’m so freaking excited about it, 481 calories burnt doing the Max Interval Circuit! I didn’t have the time to do the fit test this morning, Mondays are such hard days, but hopefully an opportunity presents itself to do the Fit Test this evening. I’d like to gauge to see how much I have improved since the last one. I should probably weigh myself too… when your weekends involve cake you tend to shy away from the scale. I’ve been getting a lot of crap about my lack of weigh ins though so tomorrow morning it has to happen. I know how I feel and how my shape is changing but I don’t know how it’s going to reflect on the scale. I hope it’s feeling nice; scales don’t have a history of tipping in my favor. Hah, that was lame… I knew it and I couldn’t help it.

                I absolutely love the energy I’ve been having lately. Before committing myself to becoming healthier I never knew what an immense difference exercising made to one’s energy level. Obviously I knew it did a little bit but never to this extent. I don’t immediately collapse on the couch when I get home anymore. The little monster and I have intense play sessions involving lots of running, chasing, tossing, wrestling, etc. and mommy doesn’t feel like she’s going to die afterwards anymore. I love feeling like this and I sincerely hope that things are just going to get better from here.

Day 49, Core Cardio and Balance

               This was the one that almost got away. Because of our camp out went a little late the night before we didn’t exactly wake up early. We got ready, went to church and then that the sisters came over for Sunday dinner. After dining on a delicious dinner of pizza (with wheat flour crust) a good portion of the afternoon/evening was spent on the front porch. The kids got to play on their little tricycles and push cars while the adults lounged in the shade or played ball. It was perfectly relaxing and wonderful to be able to spend that time with family.

                I spent at least an hour on the swing reading a magazine. I found a really great recipe that I can’t wait to try. I’ve been looking for healthy desserts that I won’t feel so guilty about indulging in and I think I found one, they’re called Monkey Bites. It’s simple and looks delicious. I will be trying this out soon. You slice bananas and then freeze them. Once they’re frozen you make little sandwiches out of them using peanut butter and then freeze again. After they’re set up you dip your little sandwiches in melted chocolate, top with sea salt or a peanut and let the chocolate set up. Sounds good right? We’re sneaking in healthy with the banana and peanut butter, cleverly hiding it under the guise of chocolate. Make that dark chocolate and we’ve got a triple whammy of healthy goodness.

                Probably around 8pm I realized I had to get off my butt right at that very minute or I was never going to get this workout completed. The little monster still had to do his bath and his bed time routine and we were already going to be behind as is. So while the rest of my family relaxed on the front porch I donned my heart rate monitor, sports bra and tennis shoes and retreated to the upstairs where I could exercise in peace. I hadn’t even gotten through the warm up before I was drenched in sweat. Oh yeah, that’s why we do the workouts in the morning, because it’s at least 20 degrees cooler than the afternoon!

                I persevered and learned yet another lesson. Do the workouts in the morning or suffer through the heat in the afternoon because either way I have to do it… all that changes is the comfort level from morning to evening. Don’t be lazy; it’s not worth the extra half hour of sleep to sweat from every pore in the afternoon.

Day 48, Rest

                Saturday’s really screw me up. In the Insanity program your 7^th day is supposed to be your rest day… but that never seems to work out for me. I’m either working half a day at work or busy catching up on all the things I let go during the week. Either way it shakes out I never seem to be able to actually get my workout done in the morning. By the evening I’m just too wiped out to even pretend to try and get my tennis shoes on.

                So Saturday is my new rest day and I didn’t get to do one dang restful thing. There was a nice highlight to the day though:my brother and I arranged for a backyard camping trip for the little monster. We set up a couple tents, got a fire going in the fire pit and had a wonderful evening of smores and bug spray. The little monster was so excited he couldn’t contain himself and ran around in the grass the whole time with a huge grin. At night he had his little flashlight and shone it all over the roof of our tent. Just seeing the joy on his face the entire evening lit my heart up with an inner light. I know he won’t remember this when he gets older but I certainly will.

Day 47, Max Cardio and Cardio Abs

                Ah Cardio, my eternal enemy… we meet again. Really there’s not much to report other than it kicked my butt for the, I don’t even know how many times, in a row.  The little monster woke up about an hour ahead of schedule so he got to watch Mommy do Insanity for the first time. I set him up nicely in his bean bag chair with a blanket, portable DVD player playing Cars and a sippy cup. I could hear him a few times laugh at me while I exercised but for the most part he was engrossed in his movie. Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear are at the top of his favorite things right now.

                Once again, due to time constraints I had to break up the workout into two parts. I did the Max Cardio this morning and after the little monster goes to bed I will do the Cardio Abs. I am liking the Cardio Abs… while I still have quite a gut I’m positively convinced there are abs developing underneath it all. Now the only thing to do is burn away all the fat hiding them and I’m golden.

Day 46, Max Cardio Recovery

                I am so grateful for recovery. I’ll tell you something though; it’s not near as easy as you think. Recovery still pushes your body, still develops the muscles but doesn’t get your heart racing. You still sweat like crazy and you still have to be careful and execute the exercises correctly. I apparently did not do that today. My back is stiff as anything and just leaning forward is a chore. It’s not in pain thankfully, just really sore. My mom says I need to ice it but how do you go about icing your entire back?

                What I really need is one night of solid, blissfully uninterrupted sleep to help my body repair and recharge. I have been doing everything that I need to ensure I have successful workouts but the sleep still fights me. 

Day 45, Max Interval Plyo

               Another day above the 400 calorie mark! 421 of those suckers blasted today! I’m pretty proud of myself and I really hope this new Tortoise/Hare philosophy works out for me. I feel just as sore as when I first started the Insanity program and I’m taking it as a good sign. It’s impossible to pull a convenient muscle though; whatever you pull it’s always irritating and inconvenient. Somehow I managed to pull the muscles along my ribs on both sides just under my arm pits. Every upper body movement is strained because of that… putting on deodorant was a little embarrassing and I was the only one in the bathroom.

                I did notice something new today. The stairs no longer thwart me. Not that they really gave me much trouble to begin with but now I can literally run up the stairs and not be puffing by the time I reach the top. I take a little inner pride and pleasure at running up and down the stairs on those mornings when I forget to plug my brain in and things are scattered all over the house. It’s a small thing but I count it as a victory nonetheless.