Day 28 - Off Day! (2/12)

Off Day one mo' time! This time we were up in D.C. celebrating 20 years of Teach For America doing its collective thang. Programming ranged from bangin' to lackluster at best. The highlight was totally getting to hang out with dear TFA friends who I don't see nearly often enough.

Off Day was exactly that - off. Other than walking the mean streets of D.C. and up and down the miles of the Washington Convention Center, I actually took a legit day off from exercising for the first time in what seemed like decades.

And yes, I felt hugely guilty doing so.

Day 27 - PCC VII (2/11)

The final holleration at Plyometric Cardio Circuit! Crazy to think it's been 4 weeks of QT with Shaun.

Where we def saw the improvement:

Power squats - my tempo was formally approximately half of half time of the Shaun T crew. Now I am seriously keeping up at times and otherwise just staying steady at plain half time. :)

Cold hard death needed straight away:

Ski abs - never came close to embracing this one. Essentially you jump from high plank to some kind of knee bent side squinching configuration on each side. And no your knees are not supposed to hit the floor through out the sequence. But guess what - mine still do.

Best Shaun T quote:

The part during the cool down stretch when Shaun chastises his boy Josh, "You want to make sure your legs aren't too far apart because you never want to overstretch your groin. Like....Josh! Bring your legs in closer!!!" What an F up that Josh cat is.

Day 26 - PC VI & CA IV (2/10)

So after last night's devastating loss which resulted in a much later than usual bedtime, I could not quite hoof it out of bed this morning to press play.

What that meant was that we get to have an after school workout party in H's room one mo' time. This time we were joined by another co-teacher, W, and one of our senior girls, J. With Shaun T projected up on the big screen PLUS volume blasting it was def one of the most exciting workout seshes to date. Plus all the better to hear Shaun T's classic one-liners.

Let's break it down for the final farewell to Pure Cardio:

From whence the true improvement came:

I think this can best be assessed my noting that I did not in fact feel and look like a melted puddle of goo upon completing this session as I KNOW I did the first and second times I did this workout. There was just overall a significant decrease in the number of times I felt well near death.

What would not die it's much deserved cold hard death:

Level I Drills - aka drop down, 8 pushups, 8 floor sprints, hop it up, repeat

Best one-liner:

Tie between, "Pretend like you're running with potato chips in your hands..." Really, Shaun? REALLY?! and "That s**t was BANANAS, yo!" in summation of the workout at large.

Day 25 - CR IV (2/9)

Watching the UNC-Duke game as we speak so we'll need to keep it tight. Let's hope I'm still as pleased with the Heels as I am now come the end of the 2nd half.

So this morning rung in my last ever in this bout of Insanity life bit of QT with the highly coveted Cardio Recovery workout. Let's break it down something proper.

Where I saw some definite improvements:

-Leg lifts in high plank - used to not be able to hit the 16 or even 8 in a row. Now? Cake walk.

What would just not die it's much deserved cold hard death:

-Holding a low lunge position for an extra (seemingly) 30 minutes after 16 slow as death lunges? Not possible. Your girl was always having some straighten out the leg breakage betwixt the pulses.

Shaun T quote I'll miss the most:

(when describing the benefits of his super tricky knees bent but off the ground butt lifts): "You're about to work your quads AND your glutes AND your abs AND your shoulders...BUT it's not cardio...it's controlled." He is just so smug when he decrees that. It's strangely endearing.

Elsewise - hit the gyms this afternoon to get my run on. Somehow my 5K training plan wants me to go from today's run 3/4 mile, walk 1/2 mile, run 3/4 miles to running 2 miles without breaking to walk tomorrow. This logic escapes me. However, I am going to muster every ounce of endurance I've got and bang it out. It wasn't SO long ago when I could run a 5K straight through so I've just gotta make it happen. Dig deep, as Shaun would say.

Re: eats. #1: greek yogurt, apple, almonds; #2: power bar, apple sauce; #3: turkey sandwich, tomato soup with edamame and corn; #4: crackers, turkey, cheese, carrots; #5: pork, asparagus, risotto; #lies: saltines and cheese, brownie (yes they're stale by now...sigh.)

Day 24 - PCC VI (2/8)

Let's keep it quick. Woke up hurting. Not just the sore muscles of usual from my workout-scapades, but with a headache. And it is rare for me get a headache these days. Honestly, it was probably my body's somewhat delayed reaction to this weekend's indulgences.

Thusly, the workout was a total suckfest. It felt like I was doing that mess for the first time instead of the 24th or so - YIKES.

Somehow we got through it. Also got in an equally lackluster sesh on the elliptical this afternoon. Should have ran, but just couldn't gather my treadmill wits about me.

Meal #1: PB&J, greek yogurt; #2: balance bar; #3 salad with chicken; #4 turkey chili and cottage cheese; #5: fish (sticks), squash, and taters; #lies: brownie (cuts) and popcorn

Day 23 - P&R IV (2/7)

Today was a mile marker. It was the last time I'll do the Cardio Power & Resistance in my 60 day Insanity fest. Unreal. What this means is that after next week's Recovery Week (during which I do the same Cardio Core & Balance workout every single day for a week), it is time for Month 2 which means a new era of impossibility will be introduced into my life as I begin attempting Shaun T's Max series of workouts. God help us.

But don't worry - I actually will be taking an Insanity-free vacay before I launch myself into the Max galaxy. That's right - I'm headed to Buenos Aires with one of my best friends from high school, S, to visit one of our other best gals, M. But let's not think about how a week without Insanity may or may not cause my muscles to atrophy, let's bid a proper farewell to Power & Resistance.

Where I saw some definite improvements:

-Well my tuck jumps definitely got both tuckier and jumpier. Which is to say I'm not sure my knees were even bending at all 3 weeks ago - I was just doing all I could to just get my dang feet up off the ground.

-Finally able to (sorta kinda) do push ups off my knees! Okay not like lower myself all the way down to the floor type of push ups but definitely we got some real honest to goodness arm bending, torso lowering, butt not up in the air, push ups going on. Of course depending on the exhaustion level, we're definitely still interchanging these bad boys with ye olde knees down push ups as needed.

What would just not die it's much deserved cold hard death:

-Tricep dips. These weren't THAT bad until I suddenly realized the fact that I was turning my arms the opposite way of Shaun T & co was preventing me from actually bending my arms properly and thus actually dipping my triceps. Turns out I had just been kind of bouncing my hips. Not the same thing.

Which Shaun T line I'll miss the most:

-No contest here - his original battle cry of "C'monnnnn y'alllll - SKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" comes from this workout and is the OG of badass workout cries.

Here's to you, P&R. You'll be (sorely!) missed.

Oh and P.S. - went to another spin class this afternoon. Double socks and slightly orthopedic New Balances (so hot I know) def helped re: the blisters. The sweat level actually surpassed this morning's Insanity. Can't believe. Two-a-days are here to stay.

and P.S. the 2nd - Elite nutrition was back in town. Meal #1: Smoothie; #2: Protein bar and cottage cheese; #3: PB and jelly and yogurt; #4 - Power bar and cheese stick; #5: Brown rice, chicken, veggies #Lies: Why did my boo bring home the brownies from the SB party? Such a saboteur. It was a super small one though - promise.

Day 22 - PC IV & CA III (2/5 & 2/6)

Yes, you read that correctly - it took two days to bang out the latest edition of Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs. What had happened was...

So in my latest of disastrous/simultaneous workout endeavors, I accidentally activated the Groupon I bought for a month of classes at SYNCStudio in Durham. My old roomie, K, is a spinmaster there and despite my disdain for spin classes in general, I knew I needed to give his class a whirl as he promised me many hot jams and even choreographed upper body bopping on top of the bikes.

So I convinced my lady friends, C & K, who are essentially pro-spinstresses to come with me Saturday morn and we pumped the heck out of some pumps. And I actually sort of loved it. My feet however did not, as proven by the blisters that insta-appeared on my insteps. Poor choice of socks turns out. I was preeeeettyyy much wobble-limping the rest of the live long day, and so not even Shaun T's loving ways could get me to squeeze in the Insanity workout I had planned on hitting in the afternoon.

Sunday morn, I woke up absolutely spent after an evening of one or two too many Bud Select 55's (the Insanity nutrition guide low-cal beer of choice), dominating the party scene at Dance Central, and oh yes, the chips and dips of doom. But I pushed it and pushed it some more to bang out the most dreaded of Insanity episodes - Pure Cardio AND Cardio Abs. That's right, I finally did them back to back.

A protein bar and about an hour of recovery later and I was out on the track stomping the pavement in run training sesh #4. I shared the track with a man who moved extraordinarily quickly while expending what seemed like about as much effort as it takes me to chill on this here couch. I tried not to spit the hate with my eyes every time he breezed pass me, but I'm pretty sure I failed.

However many hundreds of calories were burned on this here day did nothing to stand in the way of me partaking in pretty much all 50+ tasty treats that were to be had at Super Bowl fest. Disappointed? Me too.

Day 21 - PCC V (2/4)

Apologies for the drop off. This weekend was a mess. A hot mess of chips and dips. So many dang dips.

Anyway let's backtrack it. Got my AM Insanity workout onnnn Friday morn. And add to that literally rolled up outside of the Y in the afternoon ready to holler at a treadmill when I realized my Y card was still chilling at home. Cuts. And lies. PM jog turned quickly into beer tasting with K and Mexican food with J. Lord almighty.

This pretty much kicked off the weekend's theme of exercising admist consuming far too much Superbowl deliciousness.

Day 20 - P&R III (2/3)

Finally back to reality, away from the world of obligatory 3 course meals. The conference overall did have a lot of high points - some great trainings mixed with some of the sub-par variety, and tons of uproarious convos over elaborate meals. But I was def ready to get back to my kiddos this afternoon when I finally rolled back up at the PLC. And yes I'm thrilled to be a big enough dork to blatantly miss students when I don't see them for two whole days.

Re: the workout front, I did intend to get in some cardio this morn but it turned into lies. I kind of broke my own heart when I dropped that ball because it has been more than a few hot minutes since I played the F-u game to my alarm clock when the exercise gods were clearly calling my name. Luckily I did finally get my Insanity workout in around 5:30. I suh-heriously had no desire to press play but once I did I gotta report, I kinda killed it. I felt really good through out the whole 40 minutes, and dare I tell you, guess who's graduated from knee push-ups to semi-real ones?! Go ahead and let the jaw drop on that one - it is in fact warranted.

Day 19 - Fake-out Off Day (2/2)

Don't worry - the off day was always part of my master plan re: the conference. We switched out what would have been Friday's off day for today so I wouldn't have to bring Shaun with me to this fancypants resort. Turns out my roommate never showed so I COULD have been jump training my little heart out all the live long day (well, I suppose there may have been complaints from neighbors theoretically.) As it were, I may have ended up sending HH a desperate text asking her to upload the Power & Resistance workout to dropbox.com when the falsehood of this off day started weighing on my soul. Unfortch (or maybe just the opposite) she didn't get the text in time.

In redeeming news, I DID get my tail up at 5:30am this morn and bust tail non-Insanity style in the resort's fitness suite. Third run workout for the triathlon training = done and done as well as some good ole weight circuits.

In less redeeming news, it was HARD to keep it right all the live long day with all this food just up and appearing in front of me. I was so prepped to refuse dessert at the luncheon until it turned out to be key lime pie aka the most delicious of all pie typologies. The nerve! And even though I chose "heart healthy" (per the heart icons on the menu) app and entree at dinner (shrimp and then bison - YES bison - look it up its the trendiest of all healthy meats these days), there were NO heart icons on the dessert menu! Even though the heart-iest would have clearly been the sorbet again, the flava of blueberry lavender did NOT appeal. So I reasoned the next heart-iest would be the raz-cherry ice cream since those are also fruits. Delusion recognized.

Day 18 - CRIII and CAII (2/1)

Wanted to hit you with a quick update from Pinehurst. And yes I did holler at Shaun T this morn before I peaced out for golf course country.

First I need to note that this is the most overly pimped out conference I've ever been a part of. In the same vein, it is a hugely difficult conference to stay faithful to Shaun T on! Let's just sum it up with the fact that our conference attendance comes with mandatory 3 course dinners - I like to think I did the best I (maybe) could with a salad, 6 oz filet mignon, and sorbet. Yes that's right, while the rest of my table indulged in cobbler, creme brulee, brownie sundaes, and some kind of lava cake, I was cleansing ye olde palate with some raspberry and mango sorbet. Ya girl done good.

What also struck me during dinner was the fact that I am involved in a huge number of fitness pursits/challenges/charades/commitments right now. I guess I'd never regaled folks with a full rundown list in one fresh sitting. But I'm pretty sure the entire office of CIS now thinks I'm absolutely (and appropriately) insane. Luckily I found a believer who is going to get up at 6am tomorrow with me for a pre-conference workout sesh.

And in case the desperation isn't apparent enough - I just got back from an emergency run to the Pinehurst Walmart to buy $10 workout pants because I realized I didn't pack any. This may be committable at this point, I realize.